“The
Lost Experience”
Between seasons 2 and 3, an alternate-reality game (ARG) was put out to keep fans interested while the show was on hiatus. It involved going to various websites, watching videos, and deciphering clues in order to fill in some backstory on the DHARMA Initiative and Hanso Foundation that explained why they were interested in the island, but ultimately was not relevant to the main storyline of the show. Here I will try to summarize what was learned in the ARG and see if it sheds light on anything left lingering on the show. Damon Lindelof has said that, with the possible exception of people or things appearing outside of the internet in the real world, this should all be considered part of the canon of “Lost”.
The Hanso Foundation Website
Players were first guided to the Hanso
foundation website, where it contained various points of interest about the
organization. Among the “Active Projects” listed were: Mathematical Forecasting
(trying to anticipate where humans and animals will find themselves if certain
patterns continue), Worldwide Wellness and Prevention (educating poorer
countries about sanitation and disease prevention), Mental Health Appeal,
Electromagnetic Research Initiative, Genomic Advancement (seeking eradication
of disease and birth defects by studying the human genome), and Life Extension
(which cites a 105-year-old orangutan named Joop as its great success story).
Several correspondences were available
to look at, which mainly involved the Foundation being accused by the Global
Welfare Consortium (GWC) of unleashing a virus in Africa while studying
life-extension techniques. The Foundation’s lawyer, Peter Thompson (who
apparently joined them as Counsel after they cured him of cancer), responds
that the Foundation was in no way related to the outbreak. The GWC offers an
apology and later announces a partnership with the Hanso Foundation in their
efforts to combat disease, but this time it is seemingly signed by Thompson.
There are also letters detailing a contract with DaimlerChrysler for a fleet of
cars to be sold to Hanso but a final letter states that due to “recent events”,
the contract is rescinded.
Persephone
It becomes clear while perusing the
website that a hacker known as Persephone has tampered with these pages and is
trying to expose Hanso as corrupt. She also exposes dark secrets against Peter
Thompson and Communications Director Hugh McIntyre. A newspaper article is
revealed that alleges the Foundation was harvesting organs from patients in
African hospitals, but another article from the next day retracts that
accusation. An audio clip between the reporter and Persephone reveals that
Hanso had just bought the newspaper. A letter from Dr. Eliza Vasquez reveals
she took Alvar Hanso’s bloodwork (against his will) and is trying to warn him
that something she found in the sample could cause heart problems.
When the hacks are revealed, Hugh McIntyre
assures everyone that the website is safe, but by inputting certain clues the
user finds a message from Persephone claiming that Alvar Hanso is a prisoner
and that Chief Technologist Thomas Mittelwerk has taken over and is driving the
Foundation to evil deeds. The website is then shut down.
Bad Twin
The Foundation puts out an advertisement
in newspapers warning people about the new novel by Gary Troup called “Bad
Twin”, claiming it contains lies about the Foundation and its partners. An
interview with Troup (who is confirmed to be the man sucked into the engine in the
show’s pilot) is discovered, showing him discussing the book and his inclusions
of the real-life Hanso Foundation. They discuss his previous book, “The
Valenzetti Equation”, of which Hanso allegedly bought every single copy and
refuses to let others read it – and Troup says he plans on writing another book
exposing Hanso. Troup is then implied to have a romantic relationship with
Cindy Chandler, the flight attendant. The full interview can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYLyDQRE590
DJ Dan
DJ Dan is a podcaster who attempts to
expose the truth about Hanso with his co-host, Tonya. Many clues were provided
using their website, and Persephone even calls in at one point.
Rachel Blake
Rachel Blake (a former employee of
Widmore Industries) started a blog and video diary about her travels to expose
Hanso. She heads to Copenhagen and learns that Mittelwerk is researching islands
and shipping lanes, and that Hugh McIntyre is having an affair. A commenter
named GidgetGirl requests her to stop exposing McIntyre’s secret and to halt
the entire investigation, but later has a change of heart. A man is captured on
video entering Rachel’s hotel room and answering a cell phone call about a fire
in Iceland. Rachel knocks him out and escapes the room. Through GidgetGirl, she
discovers that a fire occurred at the Vik Institute in Iceland (a
Hanso-supported facility), where a famed mathematician was killed.
In Iceland, Rachel meets with Armand
Zander, Vik’s president. He reveals that Mittelwerk has organized a secret
basement there containing world-renowned mathematicians and savants working on the
Valenzetti equation. Armand Zander soon goes missing, and Mittelwerk flees
Iceland. Rachel admits that she is in fact the hacker Persephone, and
GidgetGirl tells her Mittelwerk is in Italy, possibly to find Enzo Valenzetti
himself.
A leaked letter from Mittelwerk shows
him dismissing several islands for the implementation of the “Spider Protocol”,
returning instead to the “original island target”. She tracks him to an Italian
hospital where she learns he has been receiving many blood transfusions, but
soon loses the trail. She receives a call from GidgetGirl (real name: Darla
Taft) who outs herself as McIntyre’s mistress and requests a meeting in Paris.
When she fails to show up, Rachel finds an article showing Taft and McIntyre
were killed in a car accident, but Rachel believes it was intentional. In a
video, the man from the Copenhagen hotel (who goes by the name Malick) chases
her. He offers to tell her the truth and they sit down and he hands her a key
to Hugh and Darla’s apartment. Inside the apartment is a plane ticket to Sri
Lanka and a video from Darla, telling her that McIntyre was still a good man
who wanted to get out of the industry after the Sri Lanka job.
During Comic Con 2006, Rachel Blake
appeared in-person, chiding the “Lost” producers for invoking the Hanso
Foundation for their show, and directing people to HansoExposed.com to find the
truth before being escorted out by security.
Sri Lanka
Users then had to find 70 different
video fragments across the internet and bring them together on HansoExposed in
order to create the “Sri Lanka Video” that Rachel claims is the most damning
evidence against the organization. It begins with a 70s-era video of Alvar
Hanso explaining the Valenzetti Equation, the numbers, and the DHARMA
Initiative, as a way of saving humanity from destruction by changing
environmental factors and improving human conditions. The video camera then
zooms out to reveal it was being played for a number of employees in a
warehouse, where Mittelwerk explains that DHARMA failed and that radical action
must now be taken. He explains that Sri Lankan villagers will be infected with
a virus (which they believe was caused naturally) and that the bodies of the
dead must be brought in for examination. It must have exactly a 30% mortality
rate or else they will have failed, and this will save humanity. Mittelwerk
notices Rachel filming them and she is quickly apprehended – however, she was
later freed by a mutual friend of Malick’s. The video is viewable here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PPCCcXarkc&index=1&list=PLACB819F7FCA5CBFB
Arriving in Norway, Rachel enters the
house where Alvar Hanso is being held. He takes blame for grooming Mittelwerk
as his successor, and wishes for the Sri Lanka plan to be exposed and for his
own name to be cleared. He tells her that he is her father, and that he has
been paying for her education, a fact that prompted her on the journey to begin
with. After the video is posted, Mittelwerk escapes the authorities with the
virus in hand. Hanso is freed and reinstated at his foundation.
Overall Impressions:
I did not follow this game during that
summer, and although I was aware of some broad strokes in this storyline, this
was the first time I really sat down and absorbed all of the information
presented. It’s a good globe-trotting conspiracy mystery, with a little
branching out that ensures not everything is wrapped in a nice little bow at
the end. Rachel Blake is given some dimensions in her videos and blog posts (given
the limited budget and low priority of the ARG, it’s better than we probably
earned or even deserved), and it’s cool to see a glimpse into the structure of
the Hanso Foundation. Their goal (altering the Valenzetti Equation) fits pretty
closely with what we know of DHARMA in the show.
Based on what we’re given, it seems like
Mittelwerk was frustrated with the lack of progress in fixing the Equation, so
instead of trying to solve it that way he decided to create a virus that will
kill 30% of the population so we don’t put as great of a strain on our
resources. This seems to be the Spider Protocol. It’s nice because you can see he
actually has SOME semblance of a point there, as it basically boils down to
“kill some, to save many”. So it’s not just a megalomaniac causing mayhem just
for the hell of it. But that still makes him a shitty guy, so we want to see
him brought to justice. The choice to let him escape with the virus is odd,
considering this whole thing never comes up in the show and I don’t recall any
other games that planned to address it.
The whole father-daughter thing is a
little schmaltzy, although it does provide her a reason to investigate the
group in the first place. The revelation leaves no emotional mark whatsoever,
almost like they scrambled to make that last video and had to add it in there
with no time left. But, yeah, it’s fine.
Connecting the Dots:
The “Bad Twin” novel is about an
American branch of the Widmore family, and references the Hanso foundation.
It’s not confirmed if these characters are actual members of the Widmore
family, but the game does make a point to mention that actual people are
referenced in the book. If we take it as truth that there are multiple members
of the Widmore family in the Widmore Industries business, that would go a long
way to explain how Charles was able to head his own giant company despite
spending so much time on the island. Otherwise it’s difficult to see how he
could get a business off the ground, much less make it a giant power, if there
was no record of him living in the “real world” for much of his life.
Hugh McIntyre confirms that funding for
DHARMA was cut in 1987. Right around the time of the Purge, I believe. So was
it cut BECAUSE of the Purge, or was it due to lack of a breakthrough?
Paik Heavy Industries was commissioned
to make a ship with quarantined wards for the Sri Lanka plan. I wonder if they
also built the Kahana freighter. It would be neither here nor there, but kinda
cool anyway.
This contains the first reference to the
Hanso family being involved in the slave trade back in the day, an early hint
that the Black Rock was captained by Magnus Hanso.
Confirms that the food drops are made
“in perpetuity”.
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