*Do Not Read If You Haven’t Watched the Show and Don’t Want To be Spoiled*
So after six years, Lost has finally come to an end. When I first heard about Lost I thought it was a terrible idea. I was expecting a modern Gilligan’s Island only as a drama instead of a comedy. It sounded like something you could do for one season, maybe two. I tuned in for the Pilot episode and that changed everything. It is still one of the best Pilots I’ve ever watched and it made me believe this show was going to be different than anything else on TV and it would be high quality acting, writing, and production. After watching every episode of every season for six years, I can say that it lived up to the promise of the Pilot and many times even exceeded it.
I want to start with The End. I’ve talked to several people this morning that seemed to think last night’s finale meant that they were all dead from the beginning. I don’t think that is what we were shown. I think everything that happened on the Island was real and it mattered. The flash sideways is where they were dead and didn’t realize it. In some religions/beliefs after death you must first come to terms with the fact that you have died. Then you have to acknowledge and pay respect to all those who impacted your life and who you impacted, good or bad. Once you do that and make peace with it, then you can move on. Clearly some people like Eloise Hawking were aware they were dead and able to move on, but wanted to wait. Her son was not, and she didn’t want to move on without him. The flash sideways was a way for them to all get back together and then pass on with the ones that were most important to them.
As for the issue of them all being there at the same time, Christian said to Jack, there really isn’t a “now” when dealing with the afterlife. Time becomes irrelevant. He told Jack some had come before him and some had come long after. I think this means Kate, Sawyer, Lapidus, Miles, and Richard got off the Island and lived out their lives. Hurley and Ben clearly spent time on the island after Jack died. Their exchange about Ben being a good #2 and Hurley being a great #1 tells us that. I think it also shows us that Ben’s time on the island with Hurley was wells pent and he redeemed himself. Otherwise I don’t think he would have had the option of coming inside and passing on with them. He wanted to stay with Alex though until she remembered and then pass on with his daughter. I can understand Ben not coming inside.
We started the show with Jack and I thought it was fitting to end with Jack. I also thought it was fitting that this season we started off with his death and didn’t even know it. When Jack was laying there dying, he looks up and sees a plane going overhead. We started this season in the flash sideways with Jack on the plane again. There was turbulence and as soon as it was over, Rose looked over to jack and said “It’s okay Jack. You can let go now”. Jack takes his hands off the arms of his seat and a look comes over his face. I think that moment was literally Jack passing on from life on Earth to life in the flash sideways afterlife. That is how I took it at least.
The finale also had some truly great moments. Every scene with Jack and Locke(both the smoke monster and flash sideways Locke) were amazing. Those scenes showed you just how gifted of an actor Terry O’Quinn is and also how great Matthew Fox is as well. If Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson don’t get Emmy nominations I’ll be surprised. They brought a level of gravity to the show that few actors could do. The finale was full of great moments. Best line of the night goes to Miles though “I don’t believe in many things, but I do believe in duct tape”.
I could write page after page about this finale. For me, I thought it was a beautiful way to end the show and I’m happy with it. Did we get all the answers, no. I didn’t expect to though. After six years of watching this show and always getting more questions than answers there was no reason to believe the finale would be any different. Where was Walt? What exactly was the light at the heart of the island? Why did the light spit the MiB out as a smoke monster, but it didn’t do the same to Jack? Those and a whole host of other questions that have accumulated over six seasons didn’t get answered and that’s okay. Sure, I would have liked the answers, but not having them doesn’t lessen the show for me. For me, the show has always been about redemption. Last night both the characters and the show itself found it.
I’ll write an overview of the six years later. Also, I watched the finale at The Jimmy Kimmel Show. I’ll post about that whole experience later too.
