THE WRINKLE IN TIME CONNECTION
''Hi, Doc! My initial reaction to the end of Wednesday's episode was less Harry Potter and more A Swiftly Tilting Planet, the third book in Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quartet series. I think the Oceanic 6 and Left Behinders have been sent back to stop Ben from becoming bad, thus averting all of the things that happened in the future.'' —Anthony
Kudos to Anthony for blowing my mind. I know many of you have long suspected a tie between Lost and L'Engle's beloved time-travel books, which began with A Wrinkle in Time. I must confess that this fantasy saga is one of my pop culture blindspots — I've never read the books. (Too busy reading comic books, I guess.) But the second I finish this column I intend to go to the local Barnes and Noble, because I'm now wondering if ''Namaste'' may have been trying very, very hard to nod in L'Engle's direction. Remember that aforementioned moment with Sun, Frank, and Christian in the old Dharma building? Remember that creepy moment when a gust of wind suddenly opened the door? As it turns out, the second book in the series is entitled...A Wind in the Door. Goosebumps, huh?
In the first of L'Engle's books, a group of kids travel to a distant planet called Uriel via ''tesseract,'' the titular ''wrinkle'' that allows them to travel through space and time. Apparently, Uriel is a Planetary Dharmaville, a Utopia that aspires to peace, love and understanding. Alas, Uriel is under siege by a Smokey-esque monster, dark and cloudy, called the Black Thing. In fact, the whole galaxy is being bothered by this mysterious menace, including Earth, where scores of enlightened philosophers, artists, and religious leaders have waged war against it for a very long time. The kids then travel to another planet, called Camezots, which is under the control of a psychic, disembodied intelligence called IT. (Jacob?) It seems that IT has kidnapped the genius father of one of the kids, and they have to rescue him. (See: Jack/Christian?) In the final book, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, the young hero must save his world from nuclear disaster by traveling to different points in time that are apparently flashpoints in an epic struggle between the forces of good and evil.
I could go on, but I think I should read the books instead of relying on external sources. Besides, I don't want to irk the Cult of L'Engle the way I irritated the Church of Narnia earlier this season with my bad research. And anyway, this sounds like some awesome literature that I would enjoy even if it had nothing to with Lost. So while I go and edify myself with Great Works of Art, I invite you to watch our soul-growing contribution to culture: The ''Namaste'' episode of Totally Lost. In addition to analysis and teasers, you'll also get a huge dollop of — get this — Totally Lost mythology! Plus, Dan and I have a few words to say about our archenemy's infiltration of Facebook. So enjoy. Next week in this space: More reader mail and No Prize winners. But before then, please, come back tomorrow for my recap of ''He's Our You.'' I promise you: Refreshments will be served!*
*No, they won't.
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