Before I begin I am going to write this in massive letters to that I don’t get hate mail/comments:
THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS LOTS OF SPOILERS, CRACK POT THEORIES AND INNANE BABBLE RELATING TO THE END OF THE TELEVISION PHENOMENON “LOST“. IF YOU HAVEN’T YET WATCHED THE SHOW THEN STOP READING NOW.
Ok. Good. So the only ones left will hopefully be those who have seen the show. Just had to get that out-of-the-way. Now to begin…
————————————————————————————————————————————————-
On Sunday 24th (Monday 25th here in England) May 2010, I, along with millions worldwide, bade goodbye to what in my opinion has been one of the smartest, gripping, interesting, intelligent and infuriating shows of all time. Ever since it first aired, I have been gripped by everything Lost. I read all the blogs, studied the crazy theories and investigated all the theological and philosophical nuances included for those nerdy enough to notice them. Hell, I even used the characters of John Locke and Rousseau to help remember philosophers in my A Level Psychology exam! It has been a show which through the highs, lows, hatches and smoke monster chases I have always enjoyed. Above all though, Lost has never disappointed me…well, not all the time anyway.
I am going to come out and say it; I was thoroughly satisfied with how the show ended. Now, of course we didn’t get all of the answers; we still don’t know who created the Tawert state, where the hell Claire went between the end of season 4 and start of season 6, why the Island could time travel, how Allison Janey killed the whole village and filled in the Donkey Wheel, why the Donkey Wheel worked (the explanation they gave was NOT an explanation), why were babies so important to The Others, why did that guy look so much like John Lennon at the start of season 6 and how the hell can I look like Josh Holloway?, amongst other things. However, I don’t actually think that any of that matters (except the Josh Holloway thing, I really really want to look that good). The point of the show was never the mythological stuff, that was a side-show to keep us guessing and to make sure Lost didn’t turn into some crap soap opera like so many American dramas become. Lost was about the characters, their trials and tribulations, their awakenings and, importantly, their finding themselves after being effectively lost their entire lives.
I am not ashamed to say I shed more than a tear during the finale as well. Seeing Claire and Charlie reunited was a massive moment and during their flash I was reminded of the tragedy of their story (I lost it when we saw the ‘honey jar’ in the picnic on the beach). The moment when Jin and Sun ‘woke up’ and even when Ben finally got his wish and became important and special as Hurley made him his number 2 also had my bottom lip all a quivering. But that final image of Jack in the Bamboo field was truly special. Yes, there will be people who boo and hiss about the end being the easy way out and idiots who claim they ‘were right from the start! They were in limbo all along!’ Well, yes and no. All of the adventures on the Island, everything that happened, happened, to paraphrase the show’s favourite catchphrase. But in the end, in that final scene in the church we got to see the culmination of all of the characters journeys.
Some weren’t ready to move on yet. Ben, rather touchingly (and in another brilliant turn by Michael Emerson) stayed behind, living, I like to imagine with Rousseau and Alex, being important and part of a caring family as he was never able to as a child. Michael was trapped on the Island, forever whispering just out of sight in punishment for, well, being a general douche for the first 2 seasons. And Walt, well, Walt simply got too tall. Yet those characters who we did see in the Church at the end- those who did move on- all managed to find closure and safety with the others. We didn’t see them all die of course. Kate rather beautifully said that she had missed Jack so we have to believe that she lived the rest of her life, rather tragically without the person whom she clearly cared for more than any other on the Island. Sawyer as well went on living without Juliet but beautifully they met in, for want of a better phrase, the specially created purgatory, and were then able to spend eternity together.
The ‘real world’ events I feel were also handled incredibly well. Richard’s first grey hair was the first sign we had that things were changing on the Island and the rest of the episode continued in that vein. We were left with the sense that together Hurley and Ben managed the Island in a new way. There were no games, no rules, no stoppers and bottles. Instead they managed to create a place which protected the Islands gifts (it’s light if you will) while they were alive. I say when they were alive because in my head, when they died, no one else was left to protect the Island because it no longer needed protecting. Jacob and his crazy mum were wrong about humanity as we saw from the characters relationships and loves in the other world. Humanity isn’t evil but in fact the complete opposite. So, because of what Hurley and Ben achieved in their time in charge no one needed to protect the light when they were gone as it didn’t actually need protecting in the first place. You may have your own theories and think I’m mad and please, feel free to post them below. However, this is what I like to think happened. What can I say, everyone needs to think glass half full once in a while!
I guess what I am trying to say is that in the end then, it didn’t really matter about all the theories about what the light was, what MIB/fLocke/Smokey/Bad Jacob’s name was or why Jacob turned out to be such a mummies boy pansy. That’s never what Lost was about. Damon Lindoff and Carlton Curse said it was about a 4 letter word and whilst we joked it was “What?” it was actually love.
Yet, I feel that Lost was based around another word. One slightly longer but which sums up the journey that everyone on Oceanic 815; “redemption“.
Now then, I’m off to re-watch it from the start to see what I missed first time around.
Namaste
xxxx
Reece's Pieces 