An Easter egg is hidden content intentionally inserted by the creators. With respect to Lost, such content may be:
- hidden inside either the episodes themselves, where they range from personal jokes, to foreshadowing or development of a plotline or;
- integrated within the retail DVD interfaces as hidden functions, interface behaviors, and full videos, where Easter eggs have become an expected part of this product industry.
The solutions to the code puzzles on the back of the Lost jigsaw puzzles may also be considered a form of Easter egg. Also, other media content such as comics and other television programs occasionally make allusions to Lost, which may also be considered Easter eggs.
The actual term Easter egg derives from the traditional Easter egg hunt, a Western holiday tradition where children search for Easter eggs which have been hidden outdoors. An Easter egg in the figurative sense is hidden content that creators of certain media, have decided to place within their creations, for reasons that may be personal, novelty, or in the case of DVDs, marketing reasons.
Family and crew cameos
Harold Perrineau's and Michael Emerson's wives have appeared on the show as Mary Jo (Brittany Perrineau) and Ben's mother Emily Linus (Carrie Preston). Lost visual effects supervisor Archie Ahuna played Tito Reyes ("Numbers"), and editor Stephen Semel played bookclub member Adam ("A Tale of Two Cities"). Executive producer Jack Bender's daughter Sophie Owens-Bender plays a patient at Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute ("Dave"), and his dog Lulu popped up in the painting in Jacob's cabin. Director Stephen Williams lent his name to the director of Exposé. ("Exposé")
Damon Lindelof, a fan of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, invited Sunny-star Rob McElhenney to guest-star as Aldo. ("Not in Portland")("What Kate Does")
Hidden messages
Anagrams
The funeral parlor from the season 3 finale, "Hoffs/Drawlar," is an anagram for "Flash Forward." The episode's twist revealed its flashes to be flash forwards. Locke's coffin goes from the funeral parlor to Ben's "Canton-Rainier" van, whose name is an anagram for "reinarnation." Mittelos, the Others' front science organization, is an anagram for "lost time." And "Herarat" from Season 3's Herarat Aviation, is an anagram for "Earhart."
Reversed audio
Fans have reversed the audio of Lost's mysterious whispers to uncover messages. Other audio elements have also contained reversed messages. Room 23's audio, reverse, yields the message "Only fools are enslaved by space and time." ("Not in Portland") When Kate enters the courtroom during her trial, a man screma the reverse of "We hate you!" ("Eggtown").
Internal references
Character connections
Characters share numerous connections in their flashes. These connections are sometimes as subtle as a character appearing on a TV in the background of another character's flashback.
The Numbers
A series of numbers recurs throughout the show.
Recurring elements
The show contains numerous fictional companies and figures that recur in scenes. These elements include Apollo Candy, Butties Diapers, Exposé, Gannon Car Rentals, Geronimo Jackson, the Hanso Foundation, Minnesota Metallurgy, Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack, Oceanic Airlines, Paik Heavy Industries and the Widmore Corporation. Images of polar bears also often appear.
External references
Fictional crossovers
Henry Gale's balloon reveals Nozz-a-La Cola as a sponsor. The fictional brand comes from Stephen King's Dark Tower series.("Lockdown"). Lost also references a writing exercise King proposed with their rabbit with the number 8 printed on it. ("Every Man for Himself") Gannon Car Rentals also appears in NBC's Heroes. Lucy Heatherton says her father is buying "some paper company up in Slough," referencing the UK's The Office. ("Homecoming")
Season 2 Easter eggs
2x02: "Adrift"
- As Sawyer and Michael cling onto the broken raft, a shark with a DHARMA logo visible on its fin swims past. This was confirmed as an Easter Egg rather than a plot clue (although it was later referenced jokingly when Jack was in the aquarium).
Season 3 Easter eggs
3x01: "A Tale of Two Cities"
- Jack's crossword answers shows several easter eggs, including references to characters in the show.
Season 4 Easter eggs
4x01: "The Beginning of the End"
- When Hurley is talking to Abaddon the chalkboard behind them shows a drawing of a ship, an island, and a shark.
4x04:"Eggtown"
- Membata, the name of the Island Oceanic claimed the Six lived on, is Indonesian for "doubt" or "uncertainty", linking to the lie.
- On the enhanced version, Jack revealed that Boone, Libby, and Charlie are the other 3 (in the cover up story) that died on the Island. These three characters are the only characters that have appeared in prominent visions of other characters after their demise: (Boone appearing to Locke, Libby appearing to Michael and Charlie appearing to Hurley).
4x13:"There's No Place Like Home, Part 2"
- As the Oceanic Six arrive on Sumba, the blocking and set dressing of Sumba's shore is similar to Elliott's second flashback from Lost: Via Domus.
DVD Easter eggs
All five Complete DVD box sets contain Easter eggs. These are viewed either by watching certain menu backgrounds for long enough or finding hidden menu options with your DVD controller. The majority of eggs are bloopers, behind the scenes footage or novelty items.
Season 5 Easter Eggs
Episode 3 Jughead
- 4. There is a model of a sailboat in Charles Widmore's office. The boat looks alot like the one Desmond used for his race around the world.
- 5. In the scene between Desmond and Widmore in the office shows a painting on the wall featuring a polar bear, Buddah, and the word NAMASTE.
Lost: Via Domus Easter eggs
- After Locke leads Elliott to the caves, go back to the Hatch and the beam of light can be seen. ("Via Domus")
- Eko, Hurley, and Michael were all seen inside of Hotel Persephone. Eko and Hurley were overlooking the loft, and Michael was eating lunch outside. ("Hotel Persephone") ("Whatever It Takes")
- The shark from "Adrift" can be seen inside of the Hydra aquarium. The DHARMA logo is visible as well as bullet wounds. ("Worth A Thousand Words")
Gallery
Jigsaw puzzles
Between July 2006 and August 2007 a series of Lost themed jigsaw puzzles were released. Although seemingly each one a 1000 piece puzzle based on a particular theme, each puzzle when completed holds several secret messages when viewed in the dark. Gregg Nations, part of the Lost production and writing team, has cited information gained from the Easter eggs in this series of puzzles as canon[1].
See also
The following articles describe other content that might be considered to be easter eggs.
- Character appearances - table of character appearances, including appearances of characters in the flashback storylines of other characters.
- However, these are generally not considered to be Easter Eggs, but rather evidence of a future plot development.
- Find 815 - this alternate reality game had easter egg content
- Literary references - list of the books that have appeared in episodes
- Logos - list of fictional logos that have appeared in episodes
- Music - list of music that have appeared in episodes
- Outside references to Lost - some references to Lost are easter eggs in other works
- Running jokes
- Whisper transcripts
External links
- Humpys.net - Fan site known for its Easter egg collection.
- Doc Arzt's Easter egg blog
- Dark UFO's Easter egg blog