It's the End of the World As We Know It
Hello my dear friends -
Well, it's over. It doesn't seem possible -- but it's true. Lost is over.
As I mentioned last week, I'll be back with my full -- and I do mean full -- analysis before the end of June (at the very latest), but until then I'll just say that I am extremely happy with how everything wrapped up. There wasn't a dull moment in those two and a half hours, that's for sure. And all of the incredible parallels to Season One? Amazing.
But let's get to what everyone's sure to be debating until the end of time: the last fifteen minutes. I'll admit that on my first viewing, I did not like the "twist" near the end (I'm purposely not mentioning any of the details so that those overseas who might stumble upon this post aren't inadvertently spoiled). But that's also probably because I totally misinterpreted what was going on. Then my husband, Miss M and I talked through it, watched those last fifteen minutes over again, and now I get it. And I love it.
What did you think?
Catch ya in a few weeks... and if you don't trust yourself to remember to check back, you can sign up for my emailed posts (to the right), or follow me on Twitter. Or mark your calendar for June 30 -- I should definitely be done by then.
In the meantime, I'm going to post a very short comment right now (below this post) with my understanding of what went down in the closing moments of the series. And you can of course feel free to write whatever you'd like in the comments. Which means those of you who have not seen the finale yet -- steer clear.
Until June,
- e
213 comments:
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OK, so first and foremost, the Island was NOT purgatory. That's what I originally thought -- and I was freaking out.
Rather, "whatever happened, happened" turned out to be true. The crash happened, the Oceanic 6 left, they came back, the time-travelers jumped around through time, they attempted to detonate Jughead... but that did NOT work. The Island timeline was the only one that was ever "real." So Sayid died, Sun and Jin died, the MIB took Locke's body, Jack became the next Jacob, then Hurley took over and Ben because the new Richard (without the immortality). When Jack finally died after restoring the Island to its proper state with the glowing light, he saw the Ajira plane containing Lapidus, Richard, Miles, Sawyer and Kate taking off above him. And Vincent kept him company in his last breaths.
The "sideways" timeline was the afterlife for all of the main characters. It was not any sort of alternate timeline that occurred because of the Jughead detonation. It was each character's version of the "in-between," to steal a term from The Lovely Bones. Jack was the last one to realize he was dead, and when he did, all of the Island peeps who had grown to be close friends met together in the church to move on to the next phase -- which I would assume to be full-on Heaven.
The reason people like Des and Penny were there... and Aaron as a baby... was simply because (in my view): 1) As Christian said, there was no "now" in the afterlife... Penny could've died 40 years after Jack... they weren't dealing with the human space-time continuum at that point, and 2) as far as Aaron goes, maybe people were just shown in the state others remembered them in or something like that. That's what I need the next month to think about. But Ben didn't want to move on yet because I guess he still wanted more time with Alex.
But it is clear that THE ISLAND EVENTS DID HAPPEN. That is why Hurley said to Ben that he "made a good number 2." They both lived out their reign as Island Protectors and eventually died at some point long after Jack. It's just that in the afterlife, once again, there's no strict sense of time.
So that's how I interpreted everything, and that's why I loved it. I certainly hope Heaven is where you're back together with everyone you love.
More soon!
- e
I'm with you 100%. Tremendous.
I thought it was a genius ending. I'm really too emotional to say anything else.
Where was Michael and Mr. Eko?
Thanks for your summary and point of view. I agree- I loved the whole thing until the last 15 minutes. I'm going to take your advice and watch the last 15 again :) We think you rock and SOOO appreciate all your hard work helping us love Lost even more over the years!
I interpreted Ben not being ready to go into the church (Heaven) becuase he still had sins to atone for.
After reading your comments about Jughead, NOW it finally makes (some) sense to me. I'm kind of upset with myself for not thinking of that.
I went through the very same thoughts as you and after some time came to the very same conclusions that you just mentioned. It was without question a great ending to what was a great Series! Thank you LOST!
I agree.
btw typo in 2nd paragraph...
"Ben because the new Richard"
because = became ?
Hey e,
You wrote that Ben "because" the new Rochard rather than "became"
Oops - yes, I meant Ben "became" the new Richard... sorry, I was typing EXTREMELY fast in order to get down to see the Jimmy Kimmy special (which, I thought, was awful... he totally wasted a great opportunity to ask the cast GOOD questions. Sigh.)
- e
I think you nailed it, e! I agree with everything you said...took some thinking it through. I am a person of faith and the ending was simply awesome!
Again, thanks for all of your insight over the years...
m.
I thought it was a very satisfying ending. So basically, everything that happened on the island... really happened. Ive been seeing comments on other sites where they are either ripping on that or still dont get. I actually like the fact that it turned out to be realtively simple. Of course there are still unanswered questions (e.g., why cant women have babies... but some could?). I imagine there are things that Ive just missed. Im looking forward to watching it again. I never re-watch tv shows, but this I will for sure!
I love your summary. In my opinion though, they did create the alternate world. It was their own personal purgatory. Juliet's thoughts after the Jughead - "It worked." Christian said something to the effect of you created it. The in-between for the Losties was that much more special because they created it. Such an emotionally satisfying finale.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who wasn't happy with Jimmy! I wanted more time for questions. I wanted a better reason for not having walt in the last show. But all in all, great ending. I will watch last 15 minutes again soon. Right now I'm still in shock! Thanks e for everything!
OH MY GOD! I don't think I'll be sleeping tonight. :-)
First thing. Thanks, e, for all the work you put into this blog. I found it from darkufo, and this has been the best summary/recap/theory blog I've been to.
Secondly. For anyone who complained about the episode, I agree that there were no crazy, crazy twists, and they didn't answer some things, like the outrigger chase or Walt, BUT, who (frickin') cares, it was an AMAZING finale, nonetheless.
Excellent ending to an excellent show. I'm so sad now but all good things come to an end... and maybe I'll meet up with the cast/crew in my ALT/epilogue lol.
And by the way, e, the Real John Locke is BACK, baby! The scene when he moves his feet and remembers was awesome--especially the flashes from "Walkabout." And then, forgiving Ben and meeting Jack of Faith (who gave it up to Locke back when he and MIB lowered Des into the light) finally... simply stunning.
Thank you, LOST, for helping me believe and let go during a time of crisis in my own life.
Normal life ended when Oceanic 815 crashed. We know that because of the empty crash scene when the credits roll. The crash scene had long since been disassembled on the island, this can only be shortly after the crash.
The island was purgatory, which Jacob brought people to when they needed more time to prepare for heaven or hell. Everything on the island was real, as real as purgatory is.
Some people find living in purgatory a blessing compared to their ordinary lives. Some struggle in it. Some even have to rule it or attempt to destroy it.
Young Jacob had faith and lived out the life he never got to finish in the real world there. MIB never came to terms with being dead or moving on, and chose instead to conquer purgatory and escape back to life. Doing that, though, would destroy purgatory and the path it offered to sinners forever.
Kate wasn't ready to go until she helped Claire. Hurley needed to be a leader for a while. Ben needed a long time to work with Hurley and redeem himself. All of them had to go on longer in purgatory before they were ready to move on.
The sideways was their souls meeting up again at the gates of heaven, as they each became ready to move on. Only the people that did the right things in purgatory made it to the gates.
What comes next depends on your view of life after death. Maybe they live on in heaven. Maybe they get reincarnated. Anything is possible now that they have acknowledged and let go of their past lives.
BTW I am not actually religious, but this is my interpretation of what the show implied.
P.S. Kate FTW!!! :-)
That's a great analysis of the ending...and it makes more sense seeing it from that point of view...just one thing, what was the point of the entire island then? To me that ending had nothing to do with the entire island scenario...they could have just had a raucous time of regular old earth if the point was to end up with the folks you know and love...
and where's Lapidus, Miles, Charlotte, and Faraday? What was Desmond "even" with with Eloise Hawking? Who was the Economist? What happened to the MIB? I know Jack killed Locke's body but what happened to the man inside? Was that it? Kinda anticlimactic...this man causes much havoc on the island, and...boom! on the rocks...he's dead? Grrrrr!
I'm one of LOST's biggest cheerleaders, but I think we just lost the finals (no pun intended)...I got nuthin but love for this show, and I'm left wanting...like a guy that has everything that I want but there's this one thing that won't allow us to be together.
I hate that I hate that ending...I'm gonna sleep on it, maybe I'll love him in the morning.
-M
Not that I want to knock such a good show but I agree with Robin in asking - where was Michael, Mr Eko and where was WALT!?!?
Also, what has all the cast being dead and doing a Frodo and Gandalf at the end of the LOTR got to do with the island, MIB, Jacob, time travel, and many more weird things that happened!
Although the ending was well written and well acted I can't help feeling angry and frustrated.
I saw an interview with Michael Emerson recently and he perfectly summed up what I was hoping for but didn't get and that would have been a big reveal to make you want to go back to season one and start again.
But my immediate reaction is that if I go back and start again I'm just have a niggle in the back of my mind saying "its all pointless, they all die and go and live with Frodo and Gandalf"
I'm going to have to stop and rethink and rewatch the last 15 again.
REALLY REALLY looking forward to you mega post - e
I loved the ending as well. I just needed your input one last time to really feel the closure. Thank you e for all you have done for us, your loyal readers.
I'm just wondering where the pilot and Miles are? Are they still alive and will meet the others in heaven later? What about Ben again?? Is Alex dead or alive? I can't remember if I saw Faraday and Charlene in the church but they didn't have the same recognizion of each other as the others, meaning the visions of them in the past. What gives with them??
Awesome ending. One question that is coming to my mind right now is why was the island shown under water in the beginnning of the season? Any thoughts on this?
Thanks SO much, e!!
another e
I can't wait to see what you have to say in June. I have to say I have been reading your blog for a long time and love it.
I guess I will be the first to say that I did not like the ending. They built this show on mystery, suspense, questions and kept us guessing for six years. Then tonight all they give us is the fact that they are happy and dead. In Sawyers own words tonight"That is a hell of a long con doc"
Wow. Ok then, well once again it was a brilliantly constructed episode. like you I think we need a month to get our heads around the sideways timeline. I think I will watch the whole episode again to get my head around the "in-between" theory. But Hurleys comment about Ben being a great number 2 was when the "penny" dropped, all of a sudden this wasn't 2004 it was no time and when Christian said there was no now it really hit home.
Not sure tho' how I interpret jack and Christians hug being described as "real". Does real only mean Flesh and Blood or are they suggesting that spiritual is real.
I must admit I wasn't completely satisfied when it ended but as bits continue to fall into place I am becoming very satisfied now.
Jughead was a hydrogen bomb. As of its detonation, if it detonated "in reality" - there wouldn't be an island at all. HYDROGEN bomb.
whooosshhh
BOOM
LOST.
I am so, so, so happy to hear you say that it was not purgatory. A TON of people are saying that on message boards. But purgatory is a place where you atone for your sins. They'd already earned their redemption on the island.
And I am so glad that the island events were real. If they hadn't been, I'd have felt cheated. I'd invested too much into this show for them not to be real.
I think that the reason they were brought together at the end is because on the island they came to love each other with a love that is beyond explanation. They gave each other everything, their very lives, their very souls. The reason some of the other people weren't there - Frank, Daniel, Charlotte, etc- is because those people had not become a part of that deep soul-filled love.
Thank you, e, for helping to make this Lost journey so eternally fun. I am going to miss it so much.
I completely agree about the Kimmel thing. Gah!
~JOSh-X
I enjoyed all 4 1/2 hours! Loved all the couples getting back together and we even saw Vincent. Of course we still have questions and theories will still be discussed for a while. Thanks Erica for all your work and taking care of us Losties.
And one last thing. Looking back at the beginning of the show, who, in his right mind, would've ever imagined anyone flying off the island in an airplane?? Ridiculous.
Oh, and sorry about all the posts. Still so excited ...until the depression sinks in.
I agree! And Im glad that the feedback is so wonderful. I truly think this was one of the best finales in tv history! Look forward to ur post Erica! long live Lost! =)
I am one of the unsatisfied. I think the theme of atoning,or sorting issues is too hackneyed. They were a pretty violent bunch - but not all. What had Rose and Bernard to atone for? If what happened really happened there are too many unanswered questions. It takes great writing skill to build those compelling characters, but very little to spin out six years on ever more complex and yet ultimately meaningless plot detail, throwing every mythological or religious or popular-culture reference in along the way. The question we were promised an answer to was What is the Island. I am prepared to accept that I am completely thick and have missed everything of import, and would love to be enlightened. I look forward to your analysis.
Thanks for your write=ups. I don't know, I'm split on this one. I'm glad the emotional connections we've had to the characters came full circle. I love the role Jack and Hurley played in helping "save" the island. It was a fun episode, but ultimately, kind of a cop-out. Why introduce SO MANY mysteries only to answer NONE of the important ones? I.E. What were the Dharma food drops? Why couldn't women have babies? What did the statue represent. What is "the light"? who is mother"? Why did Inman know Sayid, who in turn knew Desmond (There are way to many examples of these connections and it wasn't explained as to WHY?). What was the point of there being a Temple and Temple Master? What was with the cabin? I mean I can do this all freakin' night!
It's like the writers didn't think the characters were strong enough to invest in, so they introduced these mysteries to keep viewers coming back.
Luckily I enjoyed wach episode as a stand alone entity otherwise, if I viewed the series as a sweeping epic, I would be even more pissed than I am now.
Thanks for blogging and hopefully, we get more insight from Darlton when they come out of hiding.
Ah that cleared up a few questions I had. I didn't understand why the Ajira plane containing Lapidus, Richard, Miles, Sawyer and Kate meant they were dead too but I see now. Time in heaven is irrelavent.
I got up at 5am here in the UK to watch and it was well worth it. Loved it and sad it is finished. Spent all morning crying as I watched.
Okay, thank you for clearing that ending up...I thought the island was purgatpry and I could NOT get my head around it at all......
I think I reacted exactly the same way as you. At 11:30, I was crying because I thought LOST was ruined and that the writers had fucked up the end. But then I breathed, took a step back, and came up with exactly what you said.
This is a beautiful ending. Honestly, once I 'got it', I felt pretty serene, safe, and hopefully this is what really happens after we die.
I'm actually pretty disappointed by a lot of people's reactions to this episode. I think a lot of people still don't 'get it'. And it made me angry that because it was the finale, a lot of people who had watched a few episodes here and there decided it was okay for them to go around and bitch about the ending.
The way I see it though, they 'aren't ready yet' to understand the end of the show.
Can't wait to read your thoughts in a month!
I've been lurking on your blog for quite some time now. Love all your interpretations of what's been happening, but REALLY love your last recap here in you comments. It makes such great sense and I agree that I hope Heaven is where I will end up with all the people I love!
Long live Lost!
Wow, that was emotional. I didn't have a clue how they were going to wrap that all up, but they did a great job. Thanks, e for all of your help thru the past 6 years!
I am sooooo disappointed, but I kinda was expecting because there is no way a show like that could ever fullfill some many different people's expectations. I guess from the writer's point of view they they wrapped things up but the "in between" explanation felt short of what I wanted to see, simply because I am NOT a religious person and what I always loved about the show was that it never forced anything like that; you could always interpreted with a broader reasoning, more metaphoric, mythological and metaphysical if you will.
The whole Christian Shepard being god and his son saving the world like Jesus was too "in your face" religious. I was like "oh man, here we go with you are all dead and going to heaven". And in the end the "island timeline" being the actual reality didn't make sense. *sigh*
I LOVED it. My one complaint is the way the "tail-ees" were pretty much written out of the 2 hour pre-show catch-up special, and they were written out of the finale itself. I thought it was odd that Rose and Bernard ended up in that church even though they had sworn off the rest of them during life. Ben's decision not to "move on" puts him where? I would have imagined the sideways timeline was not a place to linger after you realize you are dead.
Agree totally. I'm so conflicted with it being over. It's nice to have the light turned on, but I'm going to miss the show. Thanks for your hard work on the recaps and commentary! You rock!
Just finished watching in the UK, still in shock a bit. Still need a bit of time to mull it over, but loved the finale, definitely agree with your analysis! Will be watching it again later with the Mrs.
Thanks again for your recaps, let us know how that book is coming along!
E, thank you so much for the summary. I didn't get it at first but I now believe you're right - i have to rewatch it. I loved it. I am at peace. It gave me a sense of closure. There's only one thing I'm disappointed about - that Michael and Walt didn't get their reunion - they deserved it as the island time were their only time together, no? But maybe it was only about female-male couples?
In any way - gosh, did I ever cry... Fabulous finale.
Huge thanks again Erica!!!
Thanks e - you made the last 15 minutes clear, and made me cry even more! I hope that heaven is like that too.
Thank you, e, for everything over the course of this wonderful show. I'm really looking forward to your final recap.
Also, I just had to share this:
I follow your blog (along with other blogs, newsfeeds ,etc.) in google reader. When I logged on this morning, I had 108 new posts to read. I'm pretty sure that I screamed aloud when I saw the 108!
Perhaps I am confusing coincidence for fate?
-jason
Wow, I guess I am in the minority. I HATED IT. I feel like they negated the entire series. The flash-sideways was the "inbetween" (to use your term)...that was the big reveal. NOTHINING that happened on the island was explained. I call BS. I am very unhappy this morning. I feel cheated.
I totally agree. Several people at my LOST viewing party didn't understand this and I compared it to the last scene in Titanic. It helped people understand the "waiting for them in the afterlife" part. Can't wait for your final post!
I think it is entirely possible that as the new island protector, Hurley created the sideways world to help everyone "move on." Perhaps it was part of the "rules" that he created. Doesn't Jack or someone towards the end say that Hurley can help people? Or bring them together? Maybe, just maybe that is exactly what he did.
What's so frustrating is that even Good Morning America is "reporting" this morning (Mon) that they were all dead when the plane crashed and the island was their purgatory as they worked toward redemption...how do they work for ABC and not get the memo? I'm with you. Not purgatory...
e
thanks for this interpretation....i was thinking the EXACT same things, but too emotionally hung over from crying to contemplate over it....my favourite scene was Jack's death(never thought i'd say this)...but it blew me away...and VINCENT showed up!! i really feel for Jack....i've always had trouble deciding who my favourite character was b/w Jack and Locke....but now its Jack for sure. :D
And the Hurley/Ben thing was seriously cool, how they got to be the island's protectors....and i'm with you that Ben wanted to spend some time with Alex.
AND i was really happy to see the moment b/w Ben and John....he forgave him! and i truly believe Ben redeemed himself.
thanks for this post,and i'll be waiting for your 'real' recap...
manish
Well, I'm very glad your friends helped you realize that only the Alternate Timeline was "purgatory". Because if you thought everything was purgatory, you would be rightly pissed off. (It now worries me that other people will come to the same misconception that you originally did, and not have the fortitude to re-examine that misconception. Get the word out!)
My only differing viewpoint on this is that I thought that the Jughead explosion DID create this particular purgatory. Christian said that this was a place that "you all created", and I thought he meant "when you blew up Jughead". Not that that really makes any sense, but that's what I took away from it.
I do wonder about the absence of Michael. I can forgive the absence of Eko, Walt, Ana Lucia, and Vincent (the latter went straight to Heaven, naturally), but Michael? Perhaps they figured it wouldn't sit right to have Michael and Libby and Hurley all hugs and smiles. Weird though, to have Boone, Libby, Penny... but not Michael.
Vincent lying down with Jack made me cry.
I have really mixed feelings about the ending.
I love that Hurley became the next protector of the island and that Ben finally felt valued. I'm so glad all the island events were real. I also loved the whole feel of the finale, there were so many amazing, spine-tingly moments from all the references to what came before (Sawyer telling Jack it was a long con, Ben telling Hurley he can make his own rules) to all the emotional reunions. I don't even mind so much that they were all dead in the sideways story, nor do I feel the need for more "answers".
But what I didn't like was a) how explicitly religious the last 15 minutes were and b)that the moral of the story seems to be it doesn't matter how much you screw up in life, you'll get a chance to fix it all/redeem yourself after you're dead.. Or have I completely missed something?
I don't know, maybe I need more time to think about it. Or maybe I'm just expecting too much - how they were ever going to create something totally 100% satisfying I don't know but I was just really hoping they were!
I think the reason certain people weren't in the church is because they haven't died yet. Maybe.
Hello I guess I am the only one who didn't like it, thought it was another "dream" finale. christian said they ALL died in the first Oceanic 815 crash. Therefore none of it was real.
Nailed it! One question leads to more questions......I am satisfied and in a few more days/weeks it will be explained in "real" detail...GB
Michael is still stuck on the island because he was bad, at least that is what he said on Jimmy Kimmel. Ben didn't go in the church because he hadn't died yet and wasn't quite ready.
I am left with all the nagging unanswered questions everyone else is wondering, but something I haven't seen addressed yet on here is the point of Eloise Hawking... I mean, I know she served a purpose in helping them get back to the island, but what was her role in the "in-between"/sideways world? She was trying to keep them from moving on? Why? A few seasons ago, when Desmond turned the failsafe key and ended up in an alternate reality and she was there telling him he's not supposed to buy the ring for Penny, was she trying to help him get out of that "in-between" world and go back to the island? I don't get this at all. Anyone have any ideas?
Also, I too feel cheated about all the important characters that weren't there in the end, Michael, Walt, etc., but I also felt a little robbed by how swiftly they took out Widmore. He was such a mysterious, enormous presence for much of the series and then boom, he's no more, just like that.
The one other major thing that's niggling at me is WHO were The Others, really? Where did they originate, if not from the Dharma Initiative, but also they weren't with Jacob and MIB's mother? And she killed the people from the Blackrock, so it wasn't them, though Richard made it... The whole "we're the good guys" theme that was so apparent a while back, yet they were still kidnapping people and killing people... what does all that have to do with anything?
Ben didn't go in the church because he wasn't ready to move on, but was very much dead. He wanted more time with Alex and possibly Danielle too.
I'm completely satisfied with how LOST ended, because the way I see it...The Island Mythology and our Characters are two completely different stories that happened to intersect at one point or another. They concluded the story for our characters, but the Island will continue to be and thus, our imaginations can do the rest.
The show was always about our characters, more so than the island's mythology, and I don't think I would've appreciated an ending that was just going down the checklist of questions yet to be answered.
E, you rock, and I'm so glad I got to experience this with you, in person AND across the world, via internet.
As for what happens next? Who knows. But maybe we'll all meet up in a church at the end of the world.
E, you seem almost certain that the Island events did happen, but that is what is left open for interpretation.
They each needed to find their own salvation but they needed to realize that they couldn't do it alone. They needed to accept the help from others before they could move on. The crappy thing is that all series I was about 30% right with my predictions but tonight I was 90% right. I even told my wife we will learn that they are all dead. That the cork needed to be removed to take smokey's powers away, that they will all end up together in the afterlife and that the coffin would be empty and that Hurley would take over and that the show would end as it started with Jack lying there closing his eyes..
All in all it was a great ending to a fantastic show. But a tad too predictable.
I can hardly bring myself to comment. I was not happy last night. Still am not happy. That last 15 minutes was HORRIBLE, in my opinion. I couldn't believe it. Anyway, I am trying to process it all hoping to feel better about it. But for now, I am disappointed because I hoped that such a great show would end up a coherent body of work that I would enjoy watching over and over. It's not. In fact, I don't think I can ever bring myself to watch it all again because I will know so many of the crazy mysteries that made the show will not make sense or be answered in the end. That is what frustrates me. It doesn't seem like one, coherent body of work. It seems cobbled together. [case in point: on Kimmel "Charles Widmore" commented that he still doesn't really know if he played a good guy or a bad guy]
That said, I still will always have enjoyed the characters and their development, the acting, and the uniqueness of the show. It was a great ride. I'm just disappointed that I don't want to ride it again, and that it doesn't make more sense right now.
I loved the charcters and and the island ending, but not the other one. I've got a few friends that are atheists that hated it and a lost that are Christians that hated it. Here is a blog post I wrote at http://chosentobefree.blogspot.cim to explain why I think they got that one wrong.
Spoiler warning! Do not read if you are a LOST fan and have not seen the series finale! You must have seen it for understanding this article. Repeat Spoiler ALERT!
I just finished watching the LOST series finale. I have a couple mixed feelings about how the show ended. I loved the Island ending for the most part with Hurley being the protector, but I despised the off world ending.
You may or may not have noticed the universalistic nature of the ending. In the chapel where Jack and Christian were speaking there was a window with all the symbols of the major religions of the world. Then all they all meet in the chapel and the “light” encompasses as they “move on.
I'm not sure, but it also seem to have a sense of Purgatory with Ben staying. It seemed as though he still needed to work his way to “move on.”
Here is the problem: Not everyone does go to Heaven and no one goes to Purgatory. You don't quote lead a good life (as Hurley suggested to Sayid) and then get some great reward when you die.
It seems the premise of the end was that there was good in everyone. The Bible makes it clear that is not true at all.
“As it is written: 'None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.'"
(Rom 3:10-12)
We are all completely sinful in the in the sight of God. Many of us feel or think we are good but it is a lie.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
(Jer 17:9)
Thanks for your comments E! It really helped sum it up. I liked it, now I love it.
While so many island mysteries were not answered, I think it just confirms the show is about the people...more specifically, it's Jack's story. Everyone found their way in their current form (ie Aaron = baby) b/c that's when their lives intersected AND that's how Jack knew them.
I really appreciate that they left things hanging a little mysteriously. Afterall, that was the most fun part about the show: wondering/discussing/reading blogs like LLL. I was just recalling the first time we saw the 4-toed foot. It was one of the best moments. Once we knew more, the mystery was less awesome (but still, who built it?).
Lots of doors still open. I like it that way.
How could Martin Keamy possibly die in the purgetory?
Emotional and satisfying end, I think. I interpreted it much the same way you did after discussion, e. But I did wonder, was Jack's son totally imaginary? - how far back did the 'inbetween world' go? Did they start over after dying, or did they just pick up the life they had always wanted, starting from the time the Oceanic plane crashed?
Bit upset that my 'Locke Lives' t-shirt (thanks again, e) and the title of this very blog are now out of date in all senses! At least we know he 'moved on' to a better place.
E, you have been enlightening and funny - really enhanced my LOST experience. It's been a blast and so great to share the journey with you and your readers. Thank you.
BTW, I heard that on the DVD there could be an extra 20 minutes 'to offer fans answers to additional questions they couldn't get to in the body of the final show' which could be helpful.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/cult/s10/lost/news/a220730/lost-dvd-to-include-extended-finale.html
Oh where to start - thanks for all your recaps and i agree 100% with your conclusion about the finale and the sideways timeline. Miles spelled out what was really going on at the end of season 5 - that the bomb created the "incident" and necessitated the button pushing, etc. and that it wasn't a way to push the big reset button and create and alternate timeline where the plane never crashed.
And that's the thing i'm most satisfied with the finale, that there wasn't some easy, mysterious do-over switch that caused the flash sideways world. I think that would have really cheated the rest of the series if something like that had happened. So i was pretty excited about the "twist" being that the sideways world was really the afterlife. That actually made sun and jin's deaths more impactful and to me gave a sad but serene overtone to this whole last season.
One really sad thing to me - It really bummed me out that Jack never really got to have a son and be the father that his dad never was. I was hoping that he would get some redemption that way, but his redemption was all about protecting the island, and that was satisfying in it's own way.
All in all though it was a great way to end the show, and I think contrary to most people i felt it made the island timeline that much more real and that much more impactful.
Thanks again - can't wait to read your final recap!
Is the Island Purgatory or was it "real"? This will be the debate for the ages.
It is clear that the Alt universe was an "in-btw place"...I love that Anthony Cooper is stuck at in a vegatative state.
So to me this makes the Island real bc why have 2 "in-btw places." Also for Island to be purgatory then why does it need a protector? No one can charter a sub or crew to commercialize purgatory? You also then have to deal with Widmore leaving the Island to father Penny...Jacob leaving the Island to see all the candidates etc. We saw Michael/Oceanic 6/Ben etc leave the Island.
When the characters "remembered" the flashbacks centered on the Island experience. Hurley did not see images of his Mom/Dad or winning the lottery. Jack didn't see graduating from Med School or his Mom. So that speaks to the Island being the most important/central experience of their lives. I don't think you "flashback" "come to grips with your experience" in an "in btw" place.
You can't totally dismiss the Island as purgatory...some really unexplainable stuff happened. And if you want to say the time travel, polar bear stuff was not real then saying it was "purgatory" makes sense. But why were kids born into purgatory? Also, if the Island is purgatory then everyone DARMA etc was dead so then how did Miles/Charlotte leave the Island when they left as kids? Not everyone died in the crash.
e: I loved the show. I immediately didn't like the ending, but after reading your insights it all makes sense. Thanks again for saving me from myself. Take care, my friend. It's been a fun ride.
I think for those people who are upset about answers it is best to relate the "Lost" world to real life and that Darlton are recording a history based on known information. In real life we don't know how Stonhenge was built and how it is linked to other stone circles via laylines, we just accept that they exist but we will never really know how.
Also accept that the missing characters at the end had decided not to pass over just yet or had already done so.
I think i will watch thr Finale again now!
yes, yes, the island will stay with us where-ever e go!
e,
My song for you:
by Tears for Fears...
Everybody wants to rule the world
i'm feeling kinda eh about it but i did like the reunions. made me think that the alt timeline was the purgatory but in a better way. i think overall, the title of the show relates to jack being the one that was lost. still wish i knew more about the island...
sigh.
Island not purgatory...Another challenge with "they were dead on the Island" then all the "love stories" involve folks that essentially met on the Island (Jack & Kate, Sawyer & Juliette, Charlie & Claire, Sayid & Shannon, Hurley & Libby (though Hurley and Libby met in passing before). So, it's hard to picture that you connect with your soul-mate that you will spend eternity with in an "in-btw" place rather than during in the course of life.
The brilliance of this ending isn't in anything that was specifically said. There is an element of ambiguity to it that I think is absolutely fitting for a show like Lost to go out on.
After all, Lost was a journey, an experience. And the best part of that experience was sharing and theorizing with friends. To put all your attention into that final climax would've been missing the point entirely.
The ending is ambiguous so we all still have something to talk about, even though the show is over. Any of us who've made friends through this show will still have something to debate and think about for forever. In a way, the finale just cements what a tremendous gift that Lost has been.
All that said, my own interpretation of the ending is pretty much exactly what you've come up with e. Right after the finale, a few of my friends were angry because "it WAS purgatory all along." Which I guess is what you said was your initial reaction. But I had to talk them down from their anger, citing Christian Shepard's little speech. Specifically, the part where he says that what happened, happened.
I'm glad that most of the threads left unresolved at the show's close had little hints about what would be happening next. Richard WILL finally be able to die... but not before doing some real LIVING first. Desmond is going to be allowed to go home, presumably to be with wife and child. Hurley and Ben are going to run the island "A Better Way" which likely means not bringing people there to test the validity of The Lord of the Flies anymore. Miles is going to cash in his $8 Million in diamonds and live the good life. Maybe he'll even stop stealing from dead people. Kate, Sawyer, Claire and Lapidus though... I'm not so sure about. There's totally room for an epilogue there... but I'm still on the fence about whether or not I'd really want one.
Am I the only one upset that Hurley remembered his life (in the in-between).. and never bothered to pass on Michael's apology to Libby? What a jerk.
Thanks for your blogs, comments, and all your hard work, e!
I find myself in the "hated it" camp. Yes, I get it, I understand what the sideways flash represented. I laughed out loud at Kate's "his name is Christian Shephard?" I loved it that Hurley ended up being the protector - as I had long suspected he would be. I loved it that Ben got to stay on as #2. I even liked the dying-in-the-bamboo-with-vincent.
But I think the alt/sideways world was a total copout. They tried to spread the love with the cutesy "all religions" window, but the sideways flash could have been so much more.
Our beloved Losties could have united in the sideways world, realized they had unfinished business, and travelled to the island to finish off smokey. (was smokey really dead at the end? if so, why does the island need a protector?)
I wondered why Jimmy Kimmel didn't offer an alternative ending where Hurley, towed behind the sub (the "Tinytanic") on water skis, jumped the Dharma shark. but then I realized that was the ending we were given.
Love your reviews but this time you lost me right off the bat with "There wasn't a dull moment in those two and a half hours".
WHAT?!? The whole finale was a long dull moment. Yawn. They could have edited it down to 2 hours easy. I kept looking at the time, hoping it'd end soon. Not as bad as the BSG ending, but still...
As for the episode itself, it was alright. Again, not as bad as BSG's ending but that's not really a very high standard with which to compare.
Erika,
I have loved your recaps! I agree with you 100% on the island (reality) and the 'ALT'/'FS' being a limbo/afterlife.
I think it's sad that some people are confused about this, thinking 'none of it happened' or 'the island was purgatory' or 'they all died in the crash', if they can't see what was real and what the FS was, they are not going to understand the ending, and aren't liking it. Tell them to WATCH IT AGAIN!!
I Loved it, the whole thing. I loved it last night & woke up feeling even happier about it. Its weird because I thought I'd feel more depressed today and last night. But I think Terry O'Quinn said it perfectly when he said its like reading a good book over 6 years and not wanting it to end. And yet when you turn the last page you close it say- Wow! That was a great book. I feel happy. I feel content. I feel like I experienced the best storytelling of all time.
I might be the only one believing both the LAX time frame and Island time frame was real. And yet- Everything in your theory/reaction rings true with me and makes sense. I guess I need to watch it again and see if I still feel this way.
Forever Lost!
I had the same interpretation except that I think jughead worked and was necessary to connect then with the alternate timeline or to create it, and make it possible for our dear folks to meet together in afterlife.
LOVED IT! The whole thing. We started off the series emotionally invested in the characters, that is what attracted me to the show, finding out about everybody's lives.. I for one am really glad they ended it how they did. Showing us that it's not about all the questions it is about the bond of these amazing people and their journey though life.
*tear*
WAAAAAALT!!
So much of the focus of Season One was his being "special" and so much of Season Two about who & why he was taken.
And he doesn't even make an appearance? I don't know.....
E, I just want to first say thank you. At times, I've felt like you're the Christian to my Jack, guiding me to where I need to be. This is the only LOST blog I've ever found worth my while to take the time to read every week. One thing I will miss is your insight.
Secondly, I am one of the "didn't get it first time round" people. And I was angry. Maybe it's because I;m on the Brits who got up at 5:00 in the morning to watch it (and then Sky messed up, so I had to run downstairs naked an hour in to find a TV), but it was only after checking out the wikipedia page that I understood that the alternate timeline was purgatory, and not the island. Then I went back and rewatched it, and, other than worrying that it was unclear writing, even for LOST, to the point where I had understood, I felt all the anger and disappointment flow out of me.
I'm definitely happier with this way, because the island still means something, and a lot of the lines make a lot more sense - "everybody dies, some of them before you, some of them way after you" presumably refers to Hurley and Ben, and also shedding light on how they knew that each other was a good no. 1/no. 2. Even having understood the new ending , I was a little upset - given all the joy we've seen that's come of their gaining their memories but being in a better place (Jack has a son, Locke's alive and can walk etc.), I so desperately wanted that to be real. But if it was all just there for them to remember and move on, it initially felt like it didn't count for anything, like they don't get any time to savour that joy, that love, that safety, those opportunities, that knowledge... I didn't initially see anything in those final moments to convince me there could be anything better waiting for them than the place they'd built for themselves...
It's been almost 11 hours since the finale ended now, and I have been listening to Michael Giacchino's Life and Death on repeat all day, and I do mean all day. I've just been drifting around London, like a friend has died, or like I've just woken up from one of those really vivid dreams that put you out of kilter for the rest of the day. I have cried three times with no further provocation than the music and the bittersweet thought that LOST is complete. I even wrote a poem (to be read over that song). Perhaps because of this, or perhaps because I've just had time to reflect on it, but I have come to the conclusion that I don't think they could have come up with anything more perfect, even if it is, as Michael Emerson said, a bit of a slow burner.
I have loved this show, from beginning to end, and the finale itself had me heart in mouth or choking back tears for most of it. I wouldn't take back these 6 seasons of brilliance for anything. Speaking as a songwriter and aesthete myself, I can truly say that LOST is one of the most humbling pieces of art I have ever seen. Thank you all for sharing it with me.
Thank you Erika for your ability to concisely line things up.
What a long strange trip it's been and I am so grateful to have been along for the whole ride.
-I Named my Cat Sawyer-
Thanks e for your wonderful and entertaining posts all these seasons. Its been a pleasure to share an intriguing show and know I wasn't the only crazy person caught in the enveloping story of this show.
I am one person who is very satisfied with the ending. As I read some of the other posts I am a bit sad that not everyone found the ending satisfying. I think that could be due to weather you are a 'Jack' -man of science or a Locke -a man of faith. I wonder if a persons own preference to these beliefs/ways of thinking affected their interpretation. or maybe there are those who aren't ready to let go their search for all the answers to all the questions...
thanks again
-andy
How on earth did we (or was it just me?) miss the whole Christian Shepherd thing - I realised it as soon as Kate laughed at his name, and makes me think the writers had a bit of an idea all along. However memo for the future if anyone ever comes up with another self-contained show like Lost. Make sure you've thought it through, not necessarily all the little details, but enough so that you've got the whole framework to add your bits and pieces then if you can come up with a whole Christian shepherd thing at the end then all well and good.
As it is there's just too many unanswered questions - some I'm sure can be explained via a Lost 'readers guide' e.g. the air supply drops (plus it's a shame about the outrigger shooting - you can see how they were going to get it in and then had to abandon it, but like the Pierre Chang video prior to season 5). However some should have been properly thought through beforehand e.g. the whole role of Eloise Hawking as some sort of time guru. Having said that I will give the writers some slack especially for stuff introduced in Season 2 and the first part of Season 3 before they had a fixed end date - yet again make sure the network's committed to a whole self-contained show, and then you can keep your artistic integrity/vision.
Mike
p.s. one last thing. Think the final scene in the church (them all there that is) was unnecessary. Could have just had Jack meeting his father, realising he's dead, cut to his death on the island, and the whole alternate reality (heaven I guess) would still have been in place i.e. them all meeting at the concert, finding all their loves etc. etc. - I definitely tears in my eyes at certain points as they flashed back to island events. What a show and one that will Long Live in the memory.
I took the reason that they appear how they are (Aaron as a baby etc) because it was showing them as they were when they were all at their happiest, their greatest time in life - when they were together.
Can't wait for your recap, E!
Excellent! Exactly my thoughts!
Hi e-,
I agree with you completely that the island events are real, and the flash sideways is the "in-between" / purgatory / afterlife. I was having a hard time this season watching the alternate reality scenes because without knowing exactly what it was, I felt like it was wasting valuable time in which more questions could be answered.
But it is clear now that Season 6 and the whole show for that matter, is about the characters and their humanity. It's about their lives, their hardships, their love, their accomplishments, their failures, their friendships etc. It is NOT about time travel, electromagnetic energy, polar bears, mind control, the numbers, Dharma, consciousness jumping, or any of the countless other odd phenomena that occurs throughout the show.
I am struggling with the idea that these characters could have been placed ANYWHERE on the planet, lived out their lives together in some completely different scenario, and the ending would be EXACTLY the same. This to me makes the island and everything on it completely irrelevant, and I do not like that.
I'm desperately trying to piece together how Jacob, the MIB, Mother, their rules, their games, the light, and the island play an important role in the overall plot, and I am having a hard time with it. I can't connect those elements with the characters' final outcome, and I really want to.
I can accept that many questions are unanswered, but some of those really should have been. I want to know what the light is exactly. I want to know WHY and HOW throwing the MIB into the light created smokey...especially since Jacob's brother never seemed evil to me in any way. And I want to know who carved the big stone cork to plug the hole at the center of the island. I want to know why pregnancies don't work on the island, yet Jacob and the MIB were born just fine. I want to know what drinking wine/water from a container does and how it makes you the next protector and why sometimes you have to chant in Latin before you do it, other times you don't.
Did Jacob bring these people to the island to protect it, or did he do it so that they would find meaning in their lives?
I really loved the finale. It moved me emotionally and it did feel like every character had closure. But I am not religious whatsoever, and I find all these religious themes a little irritating. Watching the characters I have loved for 6 years ascend to heaven is not the climax I wanted to experience. It seems a little silly and cliche to me for a show that was so ingeniously crafted otherwise.
I will still say confidently that LOST is the best damn TV show I have ever seen, and I loved being part of it. I'm not sure there will ever be a show as compelling and original is it has been. I feel a sad emptiness inside me now that it is over....so weird. And how many shows have ever been able to do that to me?
Thanks e for making it so much more fun and giving us all your great insight. I can't wait to see what you have to say, and I'm hoping that through further discussion I can feel more comfortable with the ending.
What about the island being at the bottom of the ocean? How did that happen? Does it mean that the protectors of the island failed at some point in the future?
All in all, and after some time, I am very satisfied with the ending. But I do believe the producers left enough open ended items that the ending could be interpreted in two ways. The first is more likely and explains many more happenings on and off the island:
1) They DON’T die in the plane crash. They DO experience the island, time travel/DARMA, off island experiences (OC6) and going back to the island. I think Eloise needed the OC6 to go back to the island to ‘create’ the ‘alternate’ world where they can all meet up and she can live with her son. I think Eloise and Widmore are aware that the sideways/‘alternate universe’/Limbo/purgatory/whatever is just that, but they want to stay there to remain with their children. This is why she is so opposed to Desmond ‘waking’ them up, and why she played a role and tried to steer Desmond in various directions through out the show. Meanwhile, Jacob and MIB exist on the island. They represent good and evil forces, where Jacob must ensure the evil force doesn’t get off the island. Juliet detonating the atomic bomb, creates the alternate world where they all go when they die (This is what Eloise wanted). But when they go there they are unaware that they are dead, until they meet up with their ‘constant’, their ‘love’. I think Eloise and Widmore are each other’s constants and this is why they realize what’s going on. This ‘alternate world’ provides the ability for the characters to redeem themselves. Almost everyone is a better human being and makes better choices...Then true to his name Christian Shepherd, shepherds them and helps them let go and move on to the light.....Maybe back to the island to 'not live' but 'be', happily ever after....
This theory explains, Ancient Cultures...
Egyptian culture references, reincarnation...
Buddhism references, reincarnation but through redemption and shedding of karma, you can move on to nirvana....the light....
OR, and I know most disagree with this theory, but I think there is a case to be made for it,
2) They DO die in the initial plane crash. The island experiences ARE ‘real to them’, they are in Limbo (their spirits/alternate life on the island) and are redeeming themselves through their choices, love for one another, sacrifices, etc... There is no ‘real’ / ‘now’ as Christian Shepherd said, Jacob and MIB represent good and evil, and the ‘non-survivors’ need to make choices/free-will to move on. In the on island events, they make sacrifices for one another, and the “island” rewards them with afterlife. Again, Christian Shepperd shepherds them through. The camera panning on Jack’s eye opening at beginning of the series corresponds to the closing if his eye at the end, the island experiences are their journey, redemption, ability to love and sacrifice, in the ‘time’ of their deaths. Remember, ‘time’ is relative.
Some open questions I would love to have resolved,, and I don't mean polar bears or the darma initiative; i mean ...
(1) why wasn't Aaron suppose to be brought up by another?
(2) what was the consequence of him being brought up by Kate?
what was the light in the cave
(5) What about Miles communicating with the dead, or was that why he was on the island b/c they were dead?
I would love another season to tie it all together, not necessarily answer all question, but to tie all the loose ends.
I’m so looking forward to your analysis!
The ending as they are all united reminded me of Titannic right after the lady jumps in the water and she goes on the ship and is reunited with the people that she share this tramatic experience with. It was a great ending.
Now one wonders if we will see a new show with Hurley as the protector of the island. This just opens up a whole new avenue for new stories and for many of the unanswered questions to be answered. I just still want to know what the island IS.
e - Thanks for the hard work on this site.
I liked the finale at first, and loved it upon second viewing. I agree with your points, and I am really confused by the number of people who think the Island was purgatory. There are some ridiculous "fights" about this on a variety of sites. What Christian told Jack was accurate - I don't think there's much room for interpretation there, if any.
Good stuff!
My goodness Tom S you have written exactly what I wanted to write!
You have explained in writing exactly how I feel/felt when it was all over.
The nearest I can think to the feeling I got today was a mix of a favourite pet dying/last day at school.
I keep saying to myself "its just a TV show, its just a TV show" but I can't shake this horrible feeling that there is no more!
Imagine how the actors feel!! Terry O'Quinn from his interviews obviously cared a lot about his characters.
Is there a Lost helpline I can call from the UK?
No TV programme has ever done this to me before ever!!
"And Vincent kept him company in his last breaths." -e
Vincent was there so that Jack wouldn't have to "die alone."
question: why did jack need to have an imaginary son in purgatory?
I knew there was something up when locke pointed out to jack that he did not have a son, but I didn't expect him to be entirely, uh...fictional i guess would be the appropriate term.
maybe this might make more sense if I believed in purgatory.
I have an issue with Clair's story - when she gets on flight 815 she thinks her mom is going to die (Shes on life support and christian tells her to pull the plug, which she doesn't) - why doesn't anyone tell her that her mom is alive and has Aaron?
Also in the flash sideways she says she has NEVER MET christian....
About 3 months ago I read a book called The Man Who Turned Into Himself. It was a book about parallel universes, and just as a point of interest, if you apply what happens there to the LOST story, you get a completely different perspective! (More sci-fi, less religious).
I'd love to hear from others who've read it, and want to offer their opinion!
Everything on the island happened. They did NOT die in the crash & everything we saw happened to real people. Jack's sacrifice at the end enabled Frank,Miles,Richard, Sawyer,Kate & Claire to get off the island. Hurley became the protector with Ben as his advisor so Hurley could make up his own Rules about the island & probably would find a way for Desmond to get home.
The LA universe was actually an imagined "place" that all of our Losties made up in their heads. Let me explain -
There is a movie with Albert Brooks/Meryl Streep called Defending Your Life (great movie) that has an intriguing storyline. The idea is that after you die, your spirit goes to a sort of cosmic weigh station before you move on to the next place (heaven, hell, maybe reincarnation, whatever you believe)
In this weigh station, your life is reviewed & judgments are made as to whether you have learned the necessary lessons you were supposed to before moving on to the next step.
This finale was similar. When each of our Losties died, their spirits went to their version of a weigh station - the LA universe. Christian told Jack the time they had spent on the island & the people there were the most important things that had happened to all of them & in death, they wanted to be reunited before they moved on to the next step.
Doesn't matter who died first or last, because this weigh station of LA does not have a sense of time. Although we saw it from Jack’s POV just dying and going to this church, we can assume that some of them, like those who made it off the island & also Hurley, Ben, etc who were still on the island at the time of Jack's death, lived a lot longer in real life.
Hurley told Ben that he made a great #2, so that insinuates Hurley protected the island for quite a while together with Ben=they lived for quite a while.
You have to give up the idea of time as we know it to believe in this theory. But most Christian religions believe that we are all reunited in the afterlife & that means we probably have to accept that time means different things there anyway.
Jacob told the truth-he brought people to the island because they needed the island as much as the island needed them.
I think the LA alternate timeline, which I believe was basically a weigh station for their spirits, was just a way that the spirits could all ensure that they didn't move on without being with their friends again. No matter when or how they each died, their spirits couldn't move on until they were all together again.
Can't think of a better ending than that.
To me the island was NOT purgatory.
Although bad things happened on the island, good things happened too. We know that the island acted as a protector of the world - the island held captive the Smoke, which was an indiscriminate malevolent presence. What we DON'T know was whether a new smoke monster emerged after MIB/Locke was killed.
There have always been legends about good & evil & I think this island is exactly what we were always led to believe - a place with special powers that some people want to capitalize on & other people want to protect.
For Jacob & MIB, their Rules for the island were exactly like the backgammon game - Jacob kept trying to prove that humanity was good, while MIB kept trying to prove that humanity was bad. That's why THEY found ways to bring people to the island & maybe when The Mother was guardian of the island, it was that way for her too.
With Hurley as the Guardian, he could set his own Rules, just like The Mother did (making it so her sons could not directly kill each other), and just like Jacob did (making it so no one could leave the island & so his candidates could not be killed directly by MIB). So maybe with Hurley's Rules, things were different. We'll never know that, we can just imagine...which really is the whole point of Lost anyway, dontcha think?
I agree with what others have said in that I was very uncomfortable with the religious imagery and themes that were used in final 15 minutes. All of them meeting in a church, the symbols of the world's major religions in the chapel where Jack and his father meet -- and the white light coming through the doors of the church was so cliche.
As I've said before, I was also very uncomfortable with the white and black imagery -- "if you're white you're right, if you're black, get back" -- with Jacob and everything "good" being white and his nemesis literally called "the man in black", in black smoke nonetheless. Very unoriginal, very conventional white/black imagery.
I will say though that I am comfortable with having a lot of mysteries unexplained and left for the audience to think about. In fact, I suppose I am a minority in that I thought the writers revealed too much rather than not enough. I could have done without the whole "Across the Sea" backstory about Jacob and his brother and mother, or at least have parts of it woven in to the rest of the story in a more organic way. I was disappointed with the finale, and through sleeping on it and thinking about it more, I have become more and more disappointed -- not for what they didn't reveal, but what they DID reveal.
Anyone noticed the dharma initiave logo on teh shark in the opening scene of the Season 6 firt episode ?
a hint that the sideways wasn't reality ?
My big question is this. The only argument that I have to the ones who are saying that the events on the island really happened is that in the final scene of the finale with the credits rolling we see the wreckage of the plane (Flight 815) from the first episode and there are no survivors. In the series the wreckage gets dismantled then burned. So since the wreckage is still lying on the beach and nothing has happened to it this entire time maybe they were all dead through out the entire series and their souls were struggling with moving on to the light.
I so not want this to be true. Someone please tell me what is wrong with this theory. I so want the island reality to be true.
@ Adel That shark was tagged by the Dharma Initiative. The shark made it's first appearance in the season finale for season 1. During raft's exodus.
You cleared up the problem I was having, which was why Aaron was a baby in Jack's heaven.
Thanks for the great insight.
i hated it at first, b/c i was SO confused/thrown off by the very end. but the more i read online (including your explantion, e!) and having had a night to sleep on it, i love it more and more. I absolutely think that your theory is correct. there are too many loop holes that are created when you operate on the notion that the ISLAND was purgatory - the events make much more sense with the alt. time line being purgatory/an in-between space.
i am reading a wrap-up posting by Tracie at jezebel.com and she is tying the end into the tibetan theory of bardos, or "death cycles." she says "bardos are the different phases the deceased experience between dying and rebirth. It's a dream-like reality, created by the "awareness" (or a soul) that is freed from the body upon death. Because of the disconnect of the awareness from the physical body, the deceased doesn't immediately realize that he or she is dead. In the different bardo phases, the "awareness" needs guidance—from different deities, or, you know, guides (hello, Desmond)—to attain enlightenment, i.e., realize that they're dead. A karmic mirror (remember all those mirrors?) is held up to the deceased so that s/he can reflect and eventually recognize. Once this happens—and it can happen in any of the bardo phases, depending on how much emotional baggage a person has packed for the afterlife—the deceased achieves Nirvana, and can 'move on.'"
anyway, thanks for all the fantastic posts, e. I am so depressed that it's over. someone else commented earlier that they were feeling something like a combination of losing a pet and the last day of school. what a perfect way to describe the feeling we're probably all having right now!!
PS: regarding juliet detonating the bomb. someone argued that it DID go off b/c juliet said "it worked" right before her cryptic coffee comment. BUT......during her convo with sawyer in alt.world/purgatory, she said "it worked" when he unplugged and plugged back in the candy machine! and when they both remembered, she asked him out for coffee!! so BAM, e is right. as usual ;)
also. for Adel: we've seen the dharma-logo shark before, in one of the first seasons. unfortunately, that shark you're referring to proves nothing except for the HORRIBLE special effects this season :( lol
Well said, and I am re-watching the last 15 because you told me to-LOL
I think the people who committed murder and didn't redeem themselves are still on the island as whispers-they used Michael to illustrate that. And Ben has more people to appologize to I guess, or he's waiting for Alex and Rousseau.
I have been thinking about the episode for a while... and have decided that I am okay with some of the long term questions going unanswered, but...
Did Jack have a son or not? Why did he have a son when he was "in-between"?? and why would Juliet be the mom?
Why would Sayid end up with Shannon and not Nadia?? I mean... wasn't Nadia the love of his life, but he will spend eternity with Shannon?
So did The Aijira plane really take off and land safely at LAX?? Did Lapidus, Richard, Miles, Sawyer and Kate live a real life in real time?? What would Richard do in current day LA?? He hasn't been off the island in 200 years, talk about culture shock.
I still LOVE the show and i'm not totally disappointed. but it does kind of make me feel like "what was the point?"
Also...
Tom S - YES!
I second everything you said and that is exactly how I feel!
I love the posts and will miss my Tuesday nights with Lost. Glad we saw Rose and Bernard wish we could of seen Walt. Glad everyone ended the show with smiles on their faces when they saw their flashes and in the church. Have to give a shout out to the Target commercials, love the one with the boar and BBQ sauce.
The ONE question on my mind after having all day to think about it was: "does anybody know whether the plane Jack saw at the end was Ajira or Oceanic?" That would have helped me see the light - so glad to hear it from e!
Hee hee... there are 108 comments right now. (I'm ruining it with 109...)
Will comment on other questions in my big post... but to the Eric directly above this comment -- those crash scenes were shown AFTER the final LOST credit. They were just a shout-out to Oahu from the producers -- still shots taken from the filming of the pilot. Matthew Fox has always known was the last scene was going to be, and he confirmed on Jimmy Kimmel that it was Jack's eye closing (and Jack dying).
Hope that helps.
- e
The ending was fantastic! Except I can't understand where The Good Eggs Massacre fits in all this... It was the only case when somebody died THERE... and from what I understand you can't die when you are dead... :)
this show was clearly made for religious folks.fortunately,i'm not one of those people.i'm not surprised with the other writers and producers,but,jj abraham,he was supposed 2 b the smart guy with some sense of science and logic.how could he agree with such a nonesense? after life,heavon ... r u kiddin me?what were all those physics laws about? no offence 2 anyone,but i had no idea the virus called "religion" has even spread 2 the mind of so-called broad-minded individuals such as jj abrahams. never been this much disappointed in my entire life.
as 4 u,dear e,tanx 4 all the time and effort u put into this.just cant believe a sophisticated person like u could buy that ending 4 a sec.
D from I
To Brittany:
"Why would Sayid end up with Shannon and not Nadia?? I mean... wasn't Nadia the love of his life, but he will spend eternity with Shannon?"
I think it is because Nadia had no connection to the island, she was an outsider... or maybe the actress was simply unavailable :)
"What would Richard do in current day LA?? He hasn't been off the island in 200 years, talk about culture shock."
He has been off the Island many times: he was visiting and keeping tabs on Locke since he was born, also he recruited Juliet, and all this time he was perfectly fitting into the civilization and culture of different times... It should be easy for him to find his place in a world :)
I did not go through all the other comments, but I believe that Ben was not going into the church because he WAS granted the immortality of #2....
-DML
"this show was clearly made for religious folks.fortunately,i'm not one of those people.i'm not surprised with the other writers and producers,but,jj abraham,he was supposed 2 b the smart guy with some sense of science and logic.how could he agree with such a nonesense? after life,heavon ... r u kiddin me?what were all those physics laws about? no offence 2 anyone,but i had no idea the virus called "religion" has even spread 2 the mind of so-called broad-minded individuals such as jj abrahams. never been this much disappointed in my entire life.
as 4 u,dear e,tanx 4 all the time and effort u put into this.just cant believe a sophisticated person like u could buy that ending 4 a sec.
D from I"
I am not religious person, but I liked the ending very much, and I find it very complex and smart, it was not about just a religion or religions, it was about faith, philosophy, characters emotions...and lots of other thins the more I think about the ending the more good sides I see in it, and I know there are a lots of smart people who will agree with me :)
PS. You have a really "smart" spelling ))))
Glad to find you on here E. I liked and agreed with your take, although I wasn't crazy about the ending.
I just wanted to say thank you for posting this, and for having posted all these years. Reading your blog was an integral part of my Lost experience, and I'm very grateful for your clear mind! I really enjoyed the last episode, but I confess that I was pretty confused at the end - until I read your post, and it made so much sense, and made me feel so much better :)
Good luck in all your future adventures!
I have watched it again and I really liked the ending but of course it still has many questions I would like answered (Hope you will help E! :) )
I had much the same queries as one of the other comments. I remember Jack had a son earlier in the series but he wasn't close to him and then in his "in between" he had a great relationship with him, which makes sense but why was Juliet the mother? (He met Juliet on the Island) and Why did Locke say he didn't have a son? Does this mean he never did have a son? What does this mean the scene earlier in the series was?
Also I think Sayeed would have bene with Nadia but understand she wasn't part of the Island but feel this is a bit forced. Sayeed hardly knew Shannon.
I think many people like Walt and Michael weren't there because they went straight to Heaven and didn't need each other to remember and move on.
Thought it was a great ending, but it could have been even better, one with 2 happy endings. Why couldn't Desmond have flashed back in time when he switched off the island's light source, met up with Eloise and Jacob and then potentially changed history (wouldn't have to show this). Us viewers could then choose which of the 2 endings we wanted i.e. the one with Jack dying, but the island carrying on under a new and better leader, or the alternate timeline in which case they all have happy endings, Eloise's son doesn't die for example, Desmond becomes the new Jacob (he guides all the characters to start reliving their island memories), while Jacob and the man in black have gone down with the island like in the finale, which would bring us back to the opening scenes of the Season 6 opener with Oceanic flight 815 flying over the sunken island and Desmond appearing to Jack on the plane.
Great thoughts, as always! We are 100% along with these thoughts! A -addicted to Lost- fan couple from Greece!!!
"the smart spelling part" sounded like sarcasm.it's called textin/sms method which u certainly know.still prefer 2 type 2 instead of two rather than thins instead of things or became instead of because!! just messin with u.as a matter of fact,i always wondered why nobody types like that in the comment section.now that a real writer mentioned it,i'll try to improve my writing skills.
D from I
Thanks so much for your analysis of the show week after week - I always enjoy reading them! I believe that when Jughead was detonated, it worked... but everyone died. Since the soul is eternal, the souls of those who died melded with the souls from the alternative time line. Because Desmond was special and a constant, he knew he had to reconcile the memories of the island souls to the memories of those who were re-living their lives (hope this makes sense). Jack was the one remaining person who still needed to remember - he had to unite his man of science with his newfound man of faith memories/feelings which was more of a struggle than the others. So... at the end, the man of faith all along (John Locke) triggered the man of faith in Jack and Jack was finally able to rest. I enjoyed the finale but was put off by the ending as well. I am a Christian AND I believe that science is a glimmer of God's intelligence and creativity not just happenstance. I enjoyed the finale, although I didn't agree with the "all roads lead to heaven" stained glass window at the end. However, I think the writers did a fantastic job pulling it all together :)
Am I the only one who felt cheated by the finale? Six years watching that show, for...what???
WAAAAAALLLLLLLT !!!
Loved the show - loved the ending- can't wait until Christmas when hopefully my 5 children will go together and buy me the complete set :)
Thank you for all the hard work you have put in on this blog. I thought the last episode was shot beautifully and I am really sad that there will be no more lost :-( A big thank you for not printing any spoilers, exspecially for us living accross the pond :-)
Loved the finale, it is sinking in slowly and profoundly.
I watched it alone last night; this morning I went on a new Job and the first lovely being welcoming me was a Golden Retreiver looking almost like Vincent...
imagine my joy & tears :)(:
Remembering and moving on, wishing you all the best,
v.
I'm surprised to hear so many think that the finale would appeal to "religious" people.
I don't consider myself religious, but I know others would. I believe in God and the Bible which is why the whole ending doesn't jive for me as a "religious" person. Maybe people who consider themselves spiritual and believe in a higher power and nothing more would appreciate it, but not me.
Oh No, it's tuesday, what am I going to watch tonight?
The finale was emotionally satisfying but I felt let down intellectually. All of them walking into "the light" at the end seemed to be the easy cheesy way out. The "afterlife" brings up logical problems for me as do most religious matters.
What kinda of crazy purgatory has gun fights and shootouts? Were the people who died is the sideways "real"? We know some people in the sideways were "real", like Ben. What about David, was he only a figment? I hope so as his parents ditched him to crossover. What about Helen? Did Locke leave her or was she a figment for his after world?
Sayid with Shannon was a joke. He pined for Nadia for 5 of the 6 seasons. If they used her because she was on the island then why include Penny? And not Des and Penny's baby Charlie?
Is there a group discount rate for entrance into heaven or was this just all Jack's heaven and the people that were special to him?
I wanted the sideways to be a real time line. Making it the afterlife is a giant red herring and it didn't matter/make sense. At least, with alternate realities there is some theoretical physics that could explain how it happened.
I did enjoy the show, but would have preferred the sideways ending a bit earlier, right when Jack had the realization, then to his eye closing on the island.
I liked it...I really did.
But almost no one I know did.
And their criticizms and anger are tainting my view of it.
If only their arguments weren't completely valid.
All of those who hated it have wonderful arguments for why it was disappointing and they feel cheated.
Those who liked it can only really say "I liked it"
It's Tuesday and I'm having a meltdown, because, no Lost tonight, and no Lost ever again. I think I finally realize it, and I'm having a REALLY hard time letting go.
I'm not unhappy with the ending, I can't claim to understand everything about it though, so anxious to see your thoughts on it Erica. So many horrible, bad things happened to our Losties, there wasn't any other ending available to them but this. At least in my (limited, lol) brain. If I had to choose between answers and the reunions I have to vote for the happiness.
It was a fantastic ride, and no show will equal it for a long time, if ever. I do miss it already. Peace.
The reason people cant admit that it was disappointing is simple : noone wants to accept that they have been cheated for six years.it's like you have been in a serious relationship for a long time and your partner kept admiring and worshipping you with unimaginably romantic talks and kept telling you how much he/she loved u while in fact they were cheating the whole time and when you find out,it's perfectly normal that at first you dont believe it,you live in denial,just like some lost fans.bill said it all,they can only say i liked it,nothin more.
Significance of the wreckage shown during the ‘Lost’ finale’s closing credits
I think it is a shot of wreckage/flight that we'd never seen before! The Island survives! When Hurley and Ben eventually die, we can assume that Hurley found his own candidates and passed on the Jacob role to someone else. The island is still important and people will continue to go there to find themselves when they are ‘lost’.
The numbers sentimentally explained...
Each of the numbers adding up to 108 corresponded to the people who were key to the incident.. Locke (died prior to, but brought them all back), Jack, Hurley, Jin, Sayid & Sawyer.. these were the hatch numbers, the all important numbers that supposedly haunted Hurley all his life.. but it was the people these numbers corresponded to that aided in the incident, placed the bomb, which turned into the failsafe, which was turned by Desmond giving him the ability to bring them together in the afterlife.. Hurley's cursed numbers weren't a curse at all.. when all these CANDIDATES worked together, when the numbers were added up, it resulted in Desmond's abilities, which helped save the island, and their souls.
Why Island Questions are Left Open
This was a masterstroke because it allows everybody to do what they have always done = interpret the answers their own way. By leaving them open, the writers have created a legacy that will continue to be discussed and debated for many many years. If they had spent season 6 answering Island questions then there would be nothing left to discuss when the show ends. It would have been all too easy and common place to answer these now. Leaving them open has left the mysteries of the Island in the hands of us viewers.
Hey Erika! Awesome blog! Have you seen the lost tribute video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twz_lRbRaF4
Explaination of Walt, missing children, babies.....
Children do not sin intentionally. The island is where you go to redeem yourself before the afterlife. The kids of the show (Ji Yeon, Walt, Sawyer's daughter, etc.) were never meant to be a part of the game...that is why babies weren't supposed to be born on the island...it was never meant to involved kids...that is why, in the end they were not in the church...it is not as though they didn't get to heaven, but that they were spared the memories, suffering, issues of the island life and memory because of original sin. (last season Locke saw teenage Walt and said he didn't have to go back to the island to complete his work, b/c he was a kid he had "been through enough already" )
Baby Aron was in the church at the end, because he died in womb when Claire died in crash.
They crashed on the island on Oceanic flight 815. After the initial shock wore off and they went looking for food, they unknowingly found and ate powerful hallucinogenic plants. The whole series was a massive trip. This explains everything- entities, time shifts, deep insights, religious-like experiences, all the WTF moments, deep emotional bonding, non-sensical plot turns, the need for a "constant" when a trip goes bad, etc... The calm, happy ending full of group hug type emotions is typical of a "good trip." The final scene showing the crashed plane is exactly how they would feel when coming down and looking around and confronting reality- the effect wears off, you look around and the plane did indeed crash and the wreakange is still there.
Anyone who has experienced something like the ayahuasca vine can testify to this being the most logical explanation for the series. When viewed in this light, its quite a satisfactory ending as well that ties up all loose ends, and still leaves a lot to the imagination. (who was real? who was an entity? where are we?)
BTW- this theory also explains Moses & friends wandering aimlessly in the desert for decades talking to burning bushes. What was that "mana" they were eating out in the desert? ;-)
Hi E,
Have been following your blog for several years now, and we owe you so much for sharing your thoughts with us. It's been so great to keep coming back here! Surely, this is something that will be missed by many.
I fully agree on your thoughts regarding the ending. I loved Hurley’s comment to Ben about "being a great number 2", but the one thing that really stood out to me was Kate's "I've missed you so much" to Jack – just minutes before we see him die on the island while realising Kate and co. is escaping on the air plane. Simply amazing. I am not religious, but who would not love death to be all about being with your loved ones again.
Looking forward to the big write-up. Much cheer from Denmark!
Check this out, I just remembered it and sought it out on the internet.
It is a promo for LOST season one for C4 in the UK - take note that Sayid is dancing with Shannon and Locke and Walt look like they are conducting the characters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XBtWYBPTns
My two cents
-light. what was the light? Don’t know, don’t need to know. How does warp speed work? If you had an answer to that, then that’s what the light is.
-jacob. Was just a guy given a tough job by a women driven mad by the job, who was probably given the job under similar circumstances.
-walt. Walt was special, but his father made a deal with the others and got him off the island, game over for walt. Desmond and miles are also examples of ‘special’ people.
-others. Jacob tells Richard everyone else he’s brought to the island are dead. With Richards help, some of the people Jacob brings from that point forward survive to be ‘others’, like cindy and the kids from the tail.
-statue. Since each guardian can run the place as they see fit, some may have brought ancients to the island who honored it’s powers with statues.
-sideways. Everybody in the sideways was ‘dead’. Ben just wasn’t ready to move on. It’s a dimension where time has no meaning. This was hinted at when things like sayid and jin’s timelines not syncing up or locke back at school a few days after being run down.
-church. I think the light at the end was the light jack turned back on. Not sure why penny was there but not jack’s mother.
-island babies. Babies can be born on the island, (aaron, miles,etc), conceived there (sun & jin’s not sure of spelling). I’m guessing the electromagnetism causes miscarriages,
-wreckage. Since it came after the LOST bumper, I don’t think it’s important.
I had to think about Jack's son and why he never existed. Locke said to Jack,"You don't have a son". Does anyone remember when Jack's wife re-married and was pregnant? I think that in his sideways life he got to explore his relationship with his father through the eyes of his "son", the child he could have had, but didn't, with his wife; and he was able to and come to terms with his own uneasy relationship with his own father, as well as the fact that he had not fathered that child...a child he wanted more than he had ever let himself realize.
It's seems very appropriate to be writing to you while the World Va'a (Polynesian outrigger) Championships take place on the beach just across from my office windows...how many times did they tease us in the last few episodes about the outrigger shooting incident? ;-)
Maybe it was because of the Magic Ice aka Magic Shell, but although the finale was not at all what I had expected, I felt very satisfied with it and I really admired Team Darlton's courage in the approach they took in the last 15 minutes. And, really, isn't that how many great epics end? I might have wanted Frodo to stay on in Hobbiton with Samwise Gangee and have a happy family life and many children but instead he had to sail off into the West with the elves. And since I wanted to be the reader/viewer and not the writer/producer, I was willing to accept that my vision and theirs could never be the same.
But I can understand your initial reaction, too. Apparently my kids in France, mislead by Itunes' tricky numbering of the episodes, did NOT watch "The Final Journey" until after the finale and my daughter told me my son's reaction at the end of the finale was: "e is going to be really upset". LOL. But then they watched "The Final Journey" and understood the ending better and felt relieved. And reading your blog helped enormously, I'm sure.
I was sad about David but I think Jack needed him in the 'way-station to eternity' the ALT represented, because David was himself and Jack was his own dad. Jack needed to come to grips with the fact that while his dad had been far from perfect, he hadn't been as awful as he had made him out to be. Once Jack had accepted that, he was one step further on his own personal journey.
As for Sayid, Shannon and Nadia, it seemed to me that no matter how good a person Nadia was, she and Sayid were too similar and too connected to their pasts to have a happy future, whereas Shannon was Sayid's opposite and pushed him to go beyond the image he had made of himself. It was a very bold move for them to become romantically involved in 2004 and I'm glad Shannon came back.
In any event, we'll have plenty of time to chat more about this once you have finished working on your book. So, get back to it ;p
Thanks again, and lucky you had your less LOST-obsessed husband with you for the finale.
I just wanted to make a comment on your view of why Ben did not move on. I feel that he had too many sins and that he didn't believe he could make it to heaven. If he wanted more time with Alex (we assume she's dead also) she could have stepped inside the church as well.
I slight problem I have with the way things happen is why did Jack have a son? Locke comments on this when he realizes but where did he go? Did he simply disappear?
So many more questions could've been answered if the producers had taken the time to analyze what they hadn't responded to.
Overall it was an okay finale, not too bad, but not the best.
Thanks for writing for us all these years. It's nice to have some insight (:
My thoughts:
1) I agree 100% with your interpretation
2) I think Kate finnally earned her right to be alive in the show by shooting the MIB.
3) I loved seeing their reunions, but the only one that brought me to tears was Sawyer + Juliet, for some strange reason.
Well, I had no idea there was so much confusion out there over the ending...it seemed so straightforward to me...I thought they made things pretty clear! But since I was wrong, I'm so glad you are setting the record straight!
I honestly thought it was a great ending. I look forward to watching it again soon. Thanks for all your insights & humor!
Hello E! Long time lurker here.
In my humble opinion it was a wonderful way to end a wonderful series. I thought that Christian explaining to Jack that the time he spent with those people was the most important of his life was basically the explanation behind a lot of what the whole series wants to convey.
I feel that the core of the story was watching those people getting over their life's problems and eventually decide what to do with the experience they had in such an unique place (like Hurley taking the position of the island's protector and Ben as his "Number 2").
The sideways/afterlife stuff was a clever way of enforcing the whole "what's important it's what you do with your life" theme (tricking us with the posibility of the alternate reality) and maybe proving that Jacob was right when he said "it only ends once, anything that happens before that is just progress". The "flashes" or "realization" that they have are beautiful moments, i loved when Jack (with his island memories) had the chance to see Locke again! =)
Yes, there are lots of unanswered questions like the true nature of the island, the time discrepancies with the rest of the world or the ultimate fate of the polar bears but like some of life's real mysteries i prefer them to be a source (no pun intended) of debate and amazement.
Thanks for all your posts about my favorite series, i hope you REALLY liked the finale like me.
Greetings from Mexico City. =)
I am happiest believing none of the above. I think Jack was dying after the plane crash and everything that happened in the six seasons were the visions of a man struggling not to die. In the visions he gradually was shown that he was a good person who deserved a nice fulfilling life, which made him come to terms with his death. He went into the light a happy person. He died of the same wound he had in the pilot episode and in the same spot that he never left.
An explanation for all the mysterious happenings on the magical island cannot be found as it was all made up in Jack's visions/imagination/delirium. Now we know what happens in the moments just before you're dying.
Hear me out on this, it will be worth it!
I was disappointed with the flash-sideways portion of the ending. I wanted the alternative world of LA X to somehow be connected back into the main story line. I felt that it was a let-down, and had no bearing on the real-life island mysteries.
Until this morning.
Some faiths, notably Budhism, believe in reincarnation. What if one or more of our losties was reincarnated? Those losties could then somehow participate in the island struggle. They would not have to come back as a person, but could be some kind of animal. Perhaps as a dog.
What if Jack came back as Vincent?
He could then help out several people: Waaaalt, Michael, Shannon, and himself at awakening in the bamboo and later dying in the same thicket.
I think that's cool.
"-church. I think the light at the end was the light jack turned back on. Not sure why penny was there but not jack’s mother."
Because Jack's mother had nothing to do with The Island. Everybody in the church was in some way connected to The Island... including Penny :)
I was thinking that after Kate and Sawyer (James) escape on the airplane that they may eventually get together. In the "real" reality, the island reality, Jack and Juliet are dead but Kate and Sawyer will live out their full lives before they die and "move on" in the church. They may not be the soul mates that Jack and Kate, and James and Juliet are meant to be, but they can have many, many happy years together before being reunited with their soul mates(James with Juliet and Kate with Jack)
I won't espouse like so many others have, about the point of the show or how the two timelines interplay, because it's basically pointless - no one will ever agree on what all this means- which means the writers succeded. I will note that in my mind, you're spot on, E. I had to sleep on it and had a 5AM "Eureka" moment Wed. morning.
Just a few wrap up questions (and if the answer is "no one knows" I'm cool with that, too:
1. Why was Ben able to kill Widmore? I remember the scene in Widmore's bedroom where "the rules" were discussed. Makes me wonder if there were no "rules" at all and a bit of Thomas Theorum going on (if everyone believes something to be true, it becomes so)
2. I was going to ask about Jack's kid, but I think that's been nailed by another comment re: Jack seeing the dichotomy of a working father through his own eyes helping him come to peace with his father's decisions
3. Anyone else ever thought they were in love, then realize that wasn't as good as it gets after they meet someone better? I think there was a lot of assumption on all our parts that Said was always 'pining' over Nadia. I remember more than once him mentioning 'my true love was taken from me' and the writers being INTENTIONALLY vague. I think there was one in the temple. Anyone remember other examples where no names were mentioned? Anyone remember examples where he was specifically pining over Nadia AFTER he met shannon? This is the writers' shout out to love at first sight and predestined love.
4. I feel like there are some serious answers to some of the other questions in Eloise's discussions with #1 brotha and him agreeing not to bring Faraday and thus, necessarily, ginger. I like the take on eloise being greedy and wanting her son to stay with her. Maybe she can't move on because she has no true love? Widmore too?
5. Anyone else think Eko's coming to faith/peace right before his death sent him straight through to the other side? His loss was Yemi, not the islanders.
6. Polar bears were brought there by Dharma, right? I saw a bunch of comments and thought this was settled.
Thanks again for the blog and to you and all the insightful commenters. It REALLY added to the experience and every week helped me pick out at least one extra answer than I otherwise would've gotten.
Loved it! Sorry if this has been said before - I just can't go through all of these comments. I believe that they were a soul cluster (to borrow from Doc Jensen who borrowed from one of his readers). But this wasn't their first go-round, they had been entertwined for all of eternity. Somehow, their joint experience on the Island placed them at the gates of Nirvana in this sideways world, where they "let go" and reached enlightenment. Clues that there were multiple reincarnations:
1. Remember the big deal in S1 and S2 of all of their paths crossing well before O815? They were already a cluster.
2. Ms. Hawking's snake-eating-its tail pin in the real timeline, which switched to those parallel shooting star things.
3. MIB: "it all ends the same" Jacob: "it only ends once, everything else is just progress."
Maybe the only thing that they could do to achieve enlightenment was to rid the Island of evil. Maybe they were the group that crashed there with Jacob & MIB's mom, maybe they were the ones who built Tarawet. Who knows how many other opportunities they had to get it right?
I need a LOST helpline!! :-(
LOST Anonymous :-)
Also while I'm on my break at work I've been doing a crossword (I know I live life on the edge), and 23 Across was Candidate and 42 Down was Constant!!!!
(The answers if you are interested were "applicant" and "unchanging")
Also the printer that is situated right behind me has started to make noises like smokey, which gives me a shiver down my spine everytime it starts up :-(
How is it that the show is over, I'm glad it's over, I've come to terms with any disappointment I felt and brewed up my own version of what makes it OK.....
.....and yet I'm still haunted by the show? Like Garry, everything around me seems to be LOST related. I went to a baseball game last night (my first ever) and was always looking for numbers on jerseys. Seating section 108 was right in front of me. When i go to Target, the cash registers make exactly the same boop as the hatch warning (and that was like, years ago!)
I hope no one else ever makes a show like this. I don't think I could take it!
First, thank you E for all of your insight. It has certainly made it easier for a viewer who didn't start at the very beginning.
Second, good luck finishing your manuscript. Hurry Up please so we can read your final write up. :-)
Finally, I just read this tasty news about the big DVD Collection:
"For those people that want to pony up and buy the complete Lost series, there is a bonus feature," Michael [Emerson] just told our Kevin Pereira of Attack of the Show!, which airs tonight at 7 on E!'s brother network G4. "Which is um, you could call it an epilogue. A lost scene. It's a lot; it's 12 or 14 minutes that opens a window onto that gap of unknown time between Hurley (Jorge Garcia) becoming number one and the end of the series."
How amazing would it be if they showed clips of how all the 815'ers who survived lived out their lives after Jack died!?!
See you in another life.
After plenty of time to consider it, I can only say that I hated the finale and it is all I can do to hold back from saying that they ruined the series. I think that simply ending the series at the end of season 5 would have been preferable to this.
One of the great things about Lost was the marriage of a character driven show with a legit sci-fi plot. Well, this ending simply ditched all the sci-fi fans for the fans who were only interested in the character issues - in short, it was a soap opera ending. It is amazing that there was not even an effort made to pull together some of the plot threads that kept many engaged for so long. On some level, I feel like we had a deal with Lost - we stick with it and we get some answers, some resolution. In the end, we got conned. What about the numbers, the polar bear, the Dharma Initiative, the Others, the Temple, the ash and sonic fences, etc., etc., etc. Anyone who says that they left a "few" things unresolved is simply ignoring how truly lame the finale was and clinging to their love for the show. It's like an abusive relationship - wake up and acknowledge that you've been abused.
This whole last season has been leading up to this and I'm not entirely surprised. In fact, rather than answering questions, they simply created more. Who was Jacob and MIB's adoptive mother and where did she come from. What was the island and why does a rock in pool turn something on or off. What's next - a movie to drag in the suckers who want more?
Having seen the whole thing, I believe that the problem started with the introduction of Jacob and MIB as actual characters. This created a box that the writers could not escape from without resorting to a supernatural as opposed to sci-fi explanation. Consider if Jacob remained as a vague character. Maybe Ben or Richard created or used him or his myth for their own purposes. Sort of a Dread Pirate Roberts or Bunberry. This would have left several options for concluding the show that would have been better than what we got.
As I watched the finale, I had a fear that the source of the glow in the cave would turn out to be a spaceship. That would have been lame but as it turns out, it would have been better than a giant magic drain stopper. And the sideways time line - do you need to say anything other than, "they went to the light." Too bad the little girl who played Carol Ann in Poltergeist died or she could have done an awesome cameo. Honestly, I have loved shows in the past that had lame endings - Twin Peaks, X-Files - but I have never felt betrayed like this.
Turns out man of science Jack was right - it all meant nothing.
Mark - do what I did.
I got pissed. I ranted. I explained my rant in exquisite detail (like you just did) Then i got an idea. A way to save the show from my eternal disgust. My idea (up a few posts) works for me, and probably doesn't work for anyone else.
It still isn't a science answer, which I craved, but at least it fits the show and doesn't make me want to puke.
Thanks Hatch-man - I'll take a deep breath. Also, thanks E. This site has been as much of a pleasant habit as Lost was for (most of) six years.
Namaste.
Hugo knows best!
- e knows best!
I loved it, I loved that you did MANY people a favor by spelling stuff out (because apparently several people were completely befuddled by the ending) and I can die happy now.
I think the H-bomb was irrelevant because it was THE ISLAND. if jacob could touch Richard and make him immortal, or the island "not being done with Michael" was enough to foil what, 3 suicide attempts, than the island that houses the everlasting light can snuff an H bomb if it wants.
It was really emotional, but I feel bitter now, nothing has been explained, just you all dead and we still know nothing about this damned island. I can go back to my wife and tell her she was right I LOST my time watching this series for so long; I was expecting answers, and I'm not talking about polar bears for G#*S sake but essential question like WHAT IS THE ISLAND, what's the purpose, all around this, and we had just NO ANSWERS at all, the writers avoided all of it by giving us a love related ending, true very emotional and all, but disappointing to the max as well.
I'm done with that.
I agree with Mark. For me, the show was ruined. It's been a week, and I still feel the same. However, the finale didn't ruin it. They were on a path to ruin all season, especially towards the end as I realized that answers to many, many things once deemed very important were not forthcoming.
There's a great video on YouTube of some college guys who put together a song of the 100 questions not answered by LOST. I was already angry, but even I didn't realize just how many things they played up and then left hanging.
I'm a huge fan. I watched every episode. It's not that I didn't put in the time. But, I don't believe the writers really knew where they were headed. There were too many different directions, and major things that suddenly became irrelevant. They could have gone so many different ways. They took the easiest way out, and the way that would hold us all off to the very end. It's still very, very disappointing to me. But again, it's not just the finale that disappointed. My disappointment grew over this whole season as I realized that it wasn't going to be the wrap up that I expected. I agree that I'd have rathered it just ended with no answers then to have this pretense of a wrap up.
I also agree that those who loved it and are trying to flesh out the whole purgatory/sideways thing seem to be unwilling to face the disappointing facts. They don't want to admit that their beloved show has been tarnished. But, I do see how your point of view affects your perspective. Whether you trend "Man of Science" or "Man of Faith" probably does factor in. And the reasons you enjoyed the show also. I agreed with the NYTimes review that laid that out very clearly.
So are you going to commit suicide now that lost is over? cause it seems it was your life
To the Anon above -
Um... hmm, I guess you misinterpreted things! No, I'm doing quite well and am happy it's over. I loved the show, but am glad they ended it when they did.
- e
e, I wanted to ask you this for quite some time now...
Did you like Fringe? and is there any chance that you would start writing reviews for it too? :)
It is not as good as Lost but it is the closest thing we've got right now :)And it has some fantastic moments, especially at the second half of the second season :)
ICE - H -
I watched the series premiere of Fringe whenever that was a few years ago, but haven't seen it since. Don't think I'll be blogging about any TV show again... but do intend to start up my other site, According to e, about random stuff, very soon. In that one I'll talk about other shows I watch (once everything's back in the fall). But there's no way anything will ever compare to Lost!
- e
I watched Lost's last episode by default (I seem to be generally immune to becoming hooked by this type of show) simply because I was surfing for something good and saw a few minutes of the pre-final-episode show, thought of you and decided to see how long the last installment could maintain my interest.
Not having followed the series but nevertheless trying to make sense of the multi-multi-level story line was an interesting if not sometimes exasperating experience.
So I have to admit that it maintained my interest all the way to the bitter end, and as a result I really can't wait to read your write-up. I'm sure it will showcase every bit of your considerable talent for entertaining analysis. I just hate to wait until the end of June though, so hurry up!
What I am most sad about is this....I had all intentions of watching the entire series all over from start to finish after it was over this past Sunday. I thought, if I did it that way, it would make more sensse and I could see things I missed previously. But, now, with the way things ended, there is no point in re-watching it. Nothing matters, nothing to figure out because we have no definitive answer to anything. I think that is what is most depressing to me. Plus the fact that I never missed a single show, never had to see a re-run because I watched every single episode as it was shown on tv. And now, 6 years later....I am shaking my head. Yes, the ending was nice, hopeful, even romantic in it's own way. But, they missed a huge block of information, a HUGE block!! Like, they were in a hurry to end it as quickly as they could with any old explanation but no real answers. I feel like I wasted 6 years of my life in front of the tv. I certainly won't invest my time in another tv show like that again. I think a lot of people feel the same and that means that the producers ruined it for many other shows that could have come along. Who wants to invest their time, emotions, life, like that again for nothing more than a dream. I thought I'd fell better after several days of thinking about it, but I only feel worse. Mad, Cheated. But most of all, sad.
Lost was a DISASTER. If you don't want people to wait for answers, then, for heaven's sake, don't raise the questions! What about this blog and other blogs and sites that wasted their time coming up with theories? Were all these people stupid who simply didn't realize that the show was just a character drama, as the writers are saying now? That is a COMPLETE and UTTER lie. If it was only a character drama, then they would have spent more time on the Sun/Jin reunion for example and much less on the completely pointless alt timeline. If all the 815ers wanted is to wait for everyone to die so that they could move on together, that could have been presented in the finale and not waste half the season.
Lost was a disaster because it failed to satisfy every possible audience. The casual watchers, who did not want to get involved in the Lost mythology, more or less abandoned the show, because it got a lot complicated and confusing. All those questions and all the time the writers spent in raising them, prevented these people from focusing on the characters. Those who stayed faithful to the show were the ones who were convinced that all this is leading to something. They embraced the confusion, because they believed that all will be explained in the end. So, the writers managed to betray the true fans of the show.
Did we have a good time watching it? Yes. But that doesn't exonerate the writers. The truth is that they didn't know what they were talking about. Which means that the reason they decided to end the show in its sixth season is not because they wanted to conclude it they way they always imagined it (what a shameful lie!)but because they lost COMPLETE CONTROL of the show and if they hadn't finished it now, the complaints would have been much, much worse. And they knew it.
"I watched the series premiere of Fringe whenever that was a few years ago, but haven't seen it since. Don't think I'll be blogging about any TV show again... but do intend to start up my other site, According to e, about random stuff, very soon. In that one I'll talk about other shows I watch (once everything's back in the fall). But there's no way anything will ever compare to Lost!
- e"
It would have been very interesting to hear your thoughts about Fringe. And yes, I agree with you completely: Lost is and always will be the best!
Also I wanted to ask everybody who hated the ending... If it were your choice how you would have finished the story? If you think that you could have done a better job than creators of lost did, then please tell us what kind of ending you would have done.
To Petros -
Which questions are you referring exactly?
They didn't answer all questions, but they answered to a lots of questions.
To ICE-H:
ΟΚ,questions:
1) What exactly was the loophole that MIB found? The only thing that he needed to do was to convince another person to kill Jacob? In all those years, couldn't he have found someone else to do the job?
2)Jacob said in Ab Aeterno that no one gets in (the statue) unless I invite them in. Then why was it so easy for MIB and Ben to go in? Did Jacob want to die?
3) What were the Others? Were they just greedy people who came to destroy? Why didn't MIB kill them? Was it because they were candidates and that was against the rules? They certainly took orders from Jacob. If that were the case, then why were they hostile to the 815ers? Were they afraid that the 815ers came to destroy like everybody else? If so, why didn't Jacob tell them to leave the 815ers well alone, because he brought them there?
4) Why were they so fascinated with babies? They kidnapped Claire and took Rousseau's baby. Was it because babies couldn't be born on the island? But that wasn't always the case. In the 70s babies could indeed be born on the island, Ethan being the obvious example. What changed?
5) Did the numbers have any special significance? The writers led us to believe that they did (cursed and all that), but apparently they didn't.
6) Did Desmond cause the 815 plane crash by forgetting to push the button? Does that mean that they would never have crashed if he hadn't? But they were supposed to come, Jacob invited them. Whatever the case, it was a lousy way to bring the candidates to the island by killing at the same time so many people. If he were just the protector of the light and not God, he shouldn't have had that kind of power.
7) Jacob chose these people because they were "lost" and they needed the island as much as the island needed them. Oh, really? He chose Kate and Sawyer when they were just kids. OK, Kate was shoplifting, so what? And Sawyer may have lost his parents, but that didn't mean he would necessarily grow up to be "lost". Why didn't Jacob just wait and see?
8) If "Dead is Dead" how did Sayid come back to life, after he was dead for two hours? Candidates can't kill themselves, but they certainly can be kiled.
9)What was the deal with Rousseau? Why was she kept alive for so many years by MIB?
These are just the first questions that come to mind. I'm sure if I watch the show again, I will find many more. I certainly hope they were answered and I missed them somehow.
People are saying that they were touched and moved by the finale. True, I was touched and moved also. But that was despite the fact that I was disappointed by the careless writing. I was touched and moved because I saw Charlie reunite with Claire, Kate saying to Jack "I've missed you so much" and all that. I was touched and moved because I came to love those people after six years of watching, even though the writers apparently never cared for me.
Boy am I confused, never have I felt so fulfilled and yet left so empty By a TV series.If I had never seen an episode of Lost but watched "The End" on its own I would have said what a brilliantly crafted, touching piece of Television.
As Ive always said answers to everthing are not important, I mean look at how many "rushed" answers fell flat, the whispers for example, better left unanswered I think.
But what I really wanted was a huge series reveal, not just a season 6 sideways timeline reveal. A sort of sixth sense/Others reveal one that would make me want to go back and watch many episodes again and say "Wow how clever was that!"
The more I think about it I am sure they always Knew how it would end namely Jack on his back, eye closing, its just the rest of season 6,creating an alternate and yet similar ending to what they had envisaged.
To clarify, I think they were rumbled way back in season one when many thought the island was the "P" word, they denied this with a vengeance, thus I think leading to the creation of the sideways timeline and a sort of waiting room/Holding area, Purgatory, but not quite! Didn't go back on their word but a definate get out of Jail card!
Just a thought...
To Petros:
1)
Convincing to kill was not enough, the loophole was about getting into the body of candidate, because only candidates had access to Jacob. And he couldn't kill a candidate.
2)
My theory is that he deliberately let them in, because he had to die so the next generation of island guardian could step in. When Ben attacked Jacob he didn't even try to protect himself, as we later found out he was hoping that he was wrong about Ben. So for him it was very sad but win-or-win situation. If he would have been right about Ben then Smokey's loophole would have been total failure. But if he was wrong about Ben, then he opened a way for the new candidate, the one that hopefully could have done what he couldn't - kill Smokey.
3)
The Others were people. I think MIB can't just kill anybody he wants, only the "evil" or "bad" ones... I think it was one of Jacob's rules. And good or evil also are being defined by the rules. They would have communicated with 815ers sooner, but 815ers were too blinded with urge to get home to even consider
staying. Others had a submarine and other means of contacting the outside world. So everything that happened makes perfect sense. And they weren't hostile.
They took the ones that they knew would understand importance of staying. And Ethan was doing everything in his power to save Clair and the baby... he of
course went little over the line, but it was his own actions, no one asked him to kill that poor guy.
4)
Yes, it was because of fertility problem in Claire's case. In Rousseau's case there is no question at all - it was the only way of saving both of them from
Charles Widmore. In 70's there was only one baby born on the island - Ethan, he was an exception. Nothing has changed.
5)
Numbers were representing the candidates, and I think their appearance at other places meant to represent a connection with the candidates.
6)
Desmond's failing to push was part of the invitation. Or if he didn't fail the there would have another chance of bringing the candidates to the island...
Remember this? "You were trapped on this island long before you even got here." Considering that the rest of the world was in danger from Smokey I'd say that
he chose lesser of two evils.
7)
There were only Sawyer and Kate that he visited in young age, he was only keeping the eye on the rest of them. As for shoplifting, I think it wasn't about
just shoplifting, it was about Kate's family with drunk daddy and weak mom...
8)
It was not only Sayid, same thing happened to Claire... and yes, this is will remain a mystery :)
9)
Because he had no reason to kill her, and because she may have been of some use to him in the future.
As you can see some of the answers are there, they just didn't spoon-feed us with them. :)
e__ be a good Shepherd... (&)
I was wrong Erika... you do owe these peeps something.
"I can't stand this indecision
Married with a lack of vision"
...and i apologize.
let me leave your island and i won't even be a whisper.
Ice-H, first of all, thank you for your time.
1) Was that specifically stated? Or is it just the only logical explanation you can come up with? Even so, there were other possible candidates that were killed before Locke, most notably Charlie, Shannon and Boone. Were they not candidates? Do we actually know? No, we know nothing for certain, that was my point.
2) You say at the beginning that it's your theory. Again, no answer from the writers.
3) Were the Others candidates or weren't they? If they were candidates, there was no reason for Jacob to bring the 815ers to the island. If they weren't candidates from the start, the fact that they knew about Jacob and of the importance of the island and since no one actually wanted to leave, weren't they the perfect men for the job? What about Dogen? Wasn't he the perfect candidate? We know from Kate's case that you don't actually need to be a candidate to become the protector. Kate's name was crossed out, that's why she was of no interest to Widmore, but she could still get the job if she wanted it to, as Jacob told her.
4) We may know only of Ethan being born on the island, but that doesn't mean that he was the only one. Ethan's mother was never anxious about her pregnancy. If the island had a problem, she would have been worried, wouldn't she? In fact, when Juliet was brought to the island by Ben, there were MANY pregnancies that have gone wrong. We have no reason to believe that were no other pregnancies on the island in the 70s. What about Miles? I'm not sure whether he was conceived on the island or not.
5) I'm not satisfied and again it's your theory, not something that was made clear.
6)Claire was specifically told by the psychic to take that particular flight. So, it was all arranged. Desmond's input remains a mystery.
7)Still not satisfied. He couldn't possibly know what Kate and Sawyer would with their lives.
9)I'm not satisfied with how they treated Rousseau. She seemed to be important but her death was "easy" She managed to survive for so many years on the island and she was killed off instantly. It is things like that that makes me say that the writers have lost control of the story.
Petros, actually writers did something wonderful. Instead of giving us a straight answers they gave us clues and different facts scattered throught all six seasons. They gave us just enough to give us a chance of logically constuct the complete picture of events. And doing so is really fun!
1)
Of course we don't know for certain, but I think Charlie, Shannon and Boone died too early and didn't have access to Jacob.
2)
Yes, writers didn't carve any answers into the stone. And actually it is a very good thing, just like I said before - they left us some thinking to do.
3)
There always was some group of people on the island, even when there was no need for candidates. I think their main function is to keep the island in shape.
4)
In 70's Dharma was sending out every pregnant woman on the sub to outside world, most likely to Dharma headquarters in Ann Arbor. So Miles was born off the island, just like everybody else. And since we have seen Richard off the Island in 1954, we can conclude that Others had a means of leaving too. All on-island birth we have seen had one thing in common - they all were conceived off-the island. So it is possible that Ethan was conceived that way too.
5)
Yes, and again it's about creativity and imagination :)
6)
It just occured to me that plane would have came to The Island no matter what, it was flying through one of Mrs. Hawking's windows. Desmond caused it to crash, he didn't bring the plane to The Island.
7)
But at that moment they were just like Jacob, all alone. And if they would fix their lives they would have stopped being a candidates, like Kate did after becoming a mother.
9)
This was not writer's fault, Mira Furlan decided to leave the show because "She got bored of Hawaii" (how can someone get bored from that kind of beautiful place?).
NOT RELIGIOUS??
They all reunited in a church for christ's sake (pun intended)
Probably the best part about LOST is all the theorizing, comments, speculation, and what not that we viewers have done.
So many days after the end, and folks are still posting interesting observations!
Post made me feel better about the end, I didn't like it until I read this. However, I wouldn't call it exactly Heaven. I think they left it a bit vague on purpose. It is where you go after you die, perhaps where your consciousness goes. Since in previous episodes there was a lot of consciousness jumping from different points in time. This also is trying to show that time is relative and not linear. Also, all the egyptian artifacts, etc. In egyptian culture they beleived in life after life, your consciousness would reincarnate or move on to another state after your physical body died. Just some thoughts that may come in handy during your final write up.
At the time of watching, I thought it was a good ending but have been more dissatisfied as the days have gone by. Petros is right, there have been too many questions raised and not answered. I think those questions he has highlighted are valid and not satisfactorily answered (sorry ICE H, your attempts were good). What about the island itself? How can a whole island move in time by the turning of a wheel?
I agree that they wasted too much time on the flash sideways in season 6, which were enjoyable but didn't add anything to the story on the island. They were just a diversion.
But despite these disappointments, I still think it has been an amazing show in many ways and got us all thinking and talking. I cared very much about the characters, more than the mythology, and it was gratifying to see them reunited and happy at the end, even if it is a wishy washy end that disagrees with my own beliefs.
I'm just not sure yet whether I want to watch it all again, knowing it's a waste of time.
"How can a whole island move in time by the turning of a wheel?"
I think this is same kind of question as "How can smoke have a consciousness?", or "How can Walt control the weather?" and so on... Some things just don't have a scientific explanation.
And no, island wasn't moving in time... it was people who were moving :)
But the island disappeared from view! The Oceanic 6 in the helicopter saw it vanish!
ICE-H,
I would have rather had it end with the sideways not being a huge waste of time. The only reason for it was for the sentimental "realizations" between the characters. Which I'll admit I did enjoy at the time, but it didn't add to the narrative.
I loved the ending on the island, btw. I want to watch season 6 again with all of the flash sideways scenes removed.
Kelly, UK:
Oh, I totally forgot about that moment... The Island did move trough time...
When you asked about island's movements I was thinking more about this dialog:
"Juliet: So The Island is moving through time?
Faraday: Either the island is, or we are..."
HappyNat:
Actually sideways stories where very interesting even as standalone stories... so I wouldn't call them waste of time :)
Did you finish the book?!?
jorge's little dog, nunu, got hit by a car:
http://www.popeater.com/2010/06/01/jorge-garcia-dog-killed/
ICE-H gets it! We watch t.v. because it is not real life, things happen that can't really happen! Once you accept that, you can be free to enjoy the amazing experience you had while watching that one of a kind, mysterious, fantasy show! From the acting to the storyline, the growth of charaters, and the simple fact that it kept us not just interested, but always wanting more, Lost is a treasure! You don't get the answer to every question in real life either-sometimes you just have to accept it and go on. Just don't let a few questions or things you don't understand ruin the experience you had! Embrace the ending losties-it was worth it and it was beautiful!!!!
e, i've loved your posts since i found them starting circa the little prince. i have to say though, i am shocked you loved the finale. you have been so insightful and full of mystery. the finale - heck, the final season - dodged, trivialized, understated every mystery, every twist, every set-up. while the acting may have been good and the scenes well-directed and well-shot, i thought the finale was nothing other than a big ball of cheese. sure, we are all alone and capable of many things if we open ourselves up to the vastness of it all, and able to make meaningful connections with random persons if we shed our guards, but i was, and continue to be, utterly disappointed. i thought the best show on television ever went out like a firework that was a dud. it should have gone out with a bang, but instead the biggest mystery went splat on the rocks and we got flashbacks to various parts of the show and the resolution was the most anticlimactic thing i have envisioned in a long time. i am looking forward to your final recap, and for your good and entertaining writing, but i can't share your opinion. the end = epic fail.
I think you have to look at the possible alternatives.
Even now I still feel frustrated because I am torn.
I loved the finale, I thought it was great and I am not a religious person.
However I am also thinking 'well...what was all that about?'
I am well into season 2 now and watching it with my son, who was too young to watch it the first time round.
He can't get enough of it, he is loving it, he is also asking me too many questions which I always respond........."I'm not telling you"
Anyway the alternatives and some of these are idea's that have come from other forums and bloggs.
If it was to end with a BIG answer, what could it be?
1) They were all in a virtual reality game, or at least some of them were.
2) They were being experimented on by Aliens.
3) It was all a dream.
4) It was ALL Purgatory, I don't believe this, however some arguments for it do have some substance i.e. If the events on the island were "real", how can they experience time travel, conciousness shifts, superior beings, smoke monsters, instant travel to Tunisia(Without a passport) <-- these things aren't "real" they can't happen in "real" life! But could possibly happen in some kind of purgatory.
5) I can't think of anymore!
The other question is, did the events on the island have anything to do with sideways timeline at all?
If Jack had died and not succeded in killing Flocke and not plugging up the island, would that then mean there would be no reunion in heaven/purgatory?
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
I need to go shopping :-)
Specially for sideways haters!
This guy is cutting out the sideways from episodes )))))))
Personally I think this is a lame idea.
http://lostrevised.tumblr.com/about
Oh by the way -
I am proud to be one of - e's Peeps!
:-)
Am I the only one who thinks the light that floods the church is the light from the island well? I think the sideways world is ‘in’ the light.
By turning the light back on, Jack saved the sideways world. If the light had stayed off, there would be no ‘afterlife’.
To me it makes the story more self-contained, island-centered and gives more meaning to the re-corking.
The other time we saw the white light was at the end of season 5, when jughead did or did not blow-up. Assuming that it didn't detonate, I think that the electromagatism finally shook the white light loose which blasted our time travelers back to the present.
@Nathan -
I've just got to the end of season 2 watching it again with my son and the first time we see the bright light is when the Swan Station implodes!
Then everytime there is a timeshift we see the light.
When the light appears in the sky for the first time, the others are sending Michael on his way and they have Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sawyer captured.
Once the light stops the only people who are not shocked or concerned about the light are Ben and some of the Others.
Not sure if this is the same light, but that time it didn't seem to have any affect on the Island. That we know of. Yet.
"Once the light stops the only people who are not shocked or concerned about the light are Ben and some of the Others."
That because they have seen it before, during the Jughead incident.
The light in the sky is not an every day/week/year event though surely?
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