Using the Mangold Premise* that great literature doesn’t answer questions but raises them (and I’ll add great storytelling to that) and remembering my take on negative terminology used to describe honest curiosity or interest in a topic, here are a few unapologetic thoughts and a lot of questions about last night’s final LOST episode:
I went in knowing it would be impossible for all the convoluted threads to come together. Six years of surprises left too many things to cover. I figured if the main storyline and character arcs wrapped nicely, it would be enough for me (the pre-finale show hinted at this, to prepare their audience, maybe?).
With that in mind, I have to say the finale was fabulous. I love how Island Time and Sideways Time both ended up happening (I was sure one would negate the other). I love the way the characters were redeemed through supporting and forgiving one another and that their lives were bigger than themselves.
Loved the cyclical nature of things, like Jack ending up back in the bamboo (though how did he get out of that light/energy place?), sacrificing himself as the plane — intact — passed overhead.
Loved the love (and forgot how many love stories made up the show).
This was the first episode I bought the Sawyer/Juliet romance.
I’m fine with my questions left unanswered, but I still have to ask:
Christian says everyone was dead. Huh??
When/where did everyone die?
Sure, we saw some characters who had died in the past, but what about all those people who never did?
Why didn’t Ben go inside?
- Because he was an Other and maybe wasn’t allowed?
- Because he wanted to pursue the life ahead of him (with Alex and Rousseau?)
- Because he wasn’t dead?
- Because he hadn’t “earned” the afterlife the others had?
What was this place they all knew to go to? Some sort of afterlife it looks like, but what did Christian mean when he said they “created it to remember and let go”?
How does uncorking the light place make a way for fake Locke to die?
Was all the Egyptian stuff just to show us the place had been around for a long time?
Who was Jacob’s fake mother? Was she the first to be the island’s protector?
What about moving the island? Tunisia? The Dharma people dropping food?
I watched this episode alone and have deliberately avoided any reviews/commentaries before writing this. A funny aside: my husband, who’s been out of town, just called to say the show was completely unsatisfiying, that the creators threw 100 things in the air and caught five. To each his own, huh?
Be sure to read the discussion over at Nathan’s and Amy’s. I’m off to read them myself.
USA Today’s review
What was your take?
*Ms. Mangold. Junior English. Eldorado High School.
My take: the best part was Claire and Charlie’s reunion. And I didn’t even like Charlie.
I also liked when Kate told Jack she loved him, even though I knew I was totally being manipulated.
The Sawyer/Juliet thing was also a little too manipulative with the emotions. I just didn’t get those two, but they had to do that for Jack and Kate to be satisfying.
Mostly – I felt a little cheated since the writers have insisted they are not in purgatory since the first season.
I haven’t kept up with Lost this season – hope to catch it in the reruns. I only watched the last 5 minutes of it last night – but enough to like the ‘feel’ of it. Can’t wait to see it all.
I stopped watching after season two. Maybe one day I’ll watch the series on DVD. Might be a long time from now.:)
I struggled with the ending. I’m so sad the show is over and didn’t feel like it fulfilled anything for me. Today is a sad day for me. 🙁
But I am happy for you that you liked it!
I do love some of the emotional moments in LOST — you’re right I totally forgot how many couples there were.
The Claire/Charlie reunion was really emotional — teared up at that one. And totally lost it when Vincent lay down with Jack as he died in the bamboo.
Still have tons of questions of course. Especially with Walt. Was he special?
My take on the sideways world was that they tried to “create” a world where the crash didn’t happen and redeem themselves in their own way — hence Jack having a son to work on his Daddy issues.
Still on the fence about the end but I knew it wouldn’t be perfect.
But it did affect me. All day today, I’ve been walking around like I’ve lost a dear friend. 🙁 LOST will be missed.
You brought up pretty much all the questions I was thinking of! There were parts of the finale I loved (like the last part with Jack on the beach) but I guess I’m one of those people who likes answers! Still, I’m going to miss the show.
I thought that Ben didn’t “cross over” because he finally realized that his place wasn’t with the LOSTies but with his daughter. In “remembering” his past life, he would have remembered that he let Alex die and also never buried her, never said goodbye. He’s got a lot to atone for with her. He’s probably going to wait in that place until she is ready to move on and move on with her.
This was the first show where I loved the Juliet and Sawyer thing too. Their reunion was the most beautiful I think.
I heard Matthew Fox on Kimmel explain that some religions believe you can’t move on from this life to the next until you have joined those that meant the most to you and remembered together. That’s one explanation for the purgatory. And regarding the people we didn’t see die, Christian answered that when he said to Jack, “Some died before you and some long after.” Because “There is no now here.” That’s kind of what I believe about heaven/eternity – that it’s outside of time so we’re really all there together already.
I wrote my take on my blog. Definitely tons and tons of unanswered questions, but after mulling the whole thing over for a while, I’m pretty satisfied. The relationships were my favorite part anyway. I was really hoping the Sideways and the Island would converge somehow – I thought Desmond would be the catalyst for that in both worlds – and would become a happy, moving-forward sort of whole. In that sense “purgatory” was very unsettling for me. But still.
You should read this article:
http://www.42inchtelevision.com/2010/05/perfectly-perfect.html#more
It’s really interesting and cleared some things up for me. I thought it was a wonderful way to end and I was just so happy to see everyone reuniting. Yes, there’s many unanswered questions left to ponder but seeing that reunion made it okay for me.
Ghenet, thanks for this link! I really enjoyed all I found there.
Serenity, it’s always lovely when you stop by. I’m looking forward to your take popping up in my inbox.
Oooh, I’m about to blog about LOST, too, so I loved this entry.
Re: Ben, if you buy into the concept that certain clusters of characters on the show are destined to meet up over and over, in various incarnations and lives, then Ben doesn’t quite fit with the Oceanic Flight 815 group. Perhaps he needs to reconnect with more of “his” people (like Rousseau and his “daughter”) before he can move on.