The opening scene of tonight’s episode might have confused you a little, and not for the reasons you might think. Yes, I know that the dimensional rift caused the buildings to meld together, along with the people. But that’s not the little difference I’m talking about. I’m referring to an offhand remark that puts the opener in a different perspective than it originally was.
When the coworker asks the man “Is that real coffee?” I thought it was an odd thing for her to say, but I didn’t think much of it. Maybe coffee was outlawed in their building or something, I reasoned. It wasn’t until after the episode that I realized that real coffee would be rare in a universe that had a blight killing off all the plant life, as Thomas Newton mentioned in “Grey Matters.”
So this means that the opening scene of the episode was acutally placed in the alternate universe, as opposed to our universe like I’m sure some of you (but not all) have realized. It’s a very interesting notion to think that the blight is so bad that it’s even killed off coffee crops. No wonder they all want to come over here.
Sam McPherson began writing for Walter's Lab in August 2009. He also writes for the sites TVOvermind, MovieOvermind and SpoilerTV, in addition to being an administrator on Lostpedia since March 2009. Sam's favorite shows are Lost, Fringe, Doctor Who, Flight of the Conchords, FlashForward, True Blood, and Monty Python's Flying Circus. Follow him on Twitter (@mcphersonator) or send him an email (sammcpherson@tvovermind.com).
Manhattan was spelled “Manhatan” in the opening scene, another clue that it was taking place in the alt universe. They spell it different there…
Was just about to post about that. You beat me to it!
[...] you’re still scratching your head, remember that the opening scene of the episode was set in an alternate universe. Therefore, it’s likely that Over There simply has a differently named Manhattan. Manna-hata [...]
Am I the only one who noticed that the flag in the background of the schoolroom only had like 11 or 12 stripes? At least I think it did. Also: the numbers at the end of the web address for this page are freaking me out.
I also noticed in the building just before it got yanked over that there were hand sanitizer stations spread around the room, and the guy pointedly uses sanitizer before touching his coffee cup.
Blight related?