After 6 seasons, one of the television events of my generation came to an end last week. The story of our castaways finished, leaving a number of people angry, confused, and also delighted in equal measure.
Here are a smattering of my thoughts on the finale. They’re not all encompassing, and there are some things which I may not touch on, so I’m sure this will get revisited in the future.
If you want an account of the finale that covers every possible angle, I’d recommend having a look on the forums, or on DarkUfo, where there are people who’ve devoted a lot more time than I have to this.
When I heard the news that Sky would be showing the finale at five in the morning (at the same time as in some parts of America), I knew that I would be making an early start. Not so much because I couldn’t wait to see it, but more because I really didn’t think I could make it through the day without stumbling across some spoilers.
I have to admit, my first reaction once it had finished was one of disappointment. It felt like a huge anti-climax. After all we’ve seen, could they just end it like that? I drove to work feeling a little despondent.
And then, over the course of the day, a strange thing happened. I began to mull it over, and the more I thought about it, the more I was coming round to the fact that I did in fact enjoy it.
OK, so we don’t know what the island actually is, and we know little about the magic light in the cave was, but at the end of the day, I decided that I’m ok with that. As it dawned on me that the alternate time line was in fact a waiting room in the afterlife, the whole parallel universe theory fell away, and it began to make sense.
It’s not about the island. In a way, it never really was. It was about our characters needing to find their way, and letting go of the past, and whatever baggage they were carrying. I found it quite ironic that given all the sniping on internet message boards, the overall theme was about letting go, making your peace with what’s happened, and moving on.
As far as emotional scenes go, there were plenty to be found. I don’t mind admitting there were a few tears shed as I was watching it. So many triumphant moments through the last six years. Charlie’s sacrifice perhaps the most moving.
As each Lostie discovers the truth about where they are, we are reminded of the pivotal moments in their life, and why they are all connected here, in this place.
My particular favourite was the meeting of Juliet and Sawyer next to the vending machine at the hospital. Right at the start of the season, we saw Juliet die in Sawyer’s arms, telling him, “It worked”, and that they should go grab a coffee sometime. We all took that to mean the bomb worked, and that they’d created the alternate timeline where they never crashed on the island. Now we see that again in a completely different light, as the conversation is replayed in the afterlife, showing us that Juliet was headed there right then.
Full circle – The ending itself was perfect symmetry. Where we started, with Jack opening his eye, Lost and adrift on the island, we finish with him closing his eye, having finally found his purpose. If that wasn’t heart wrenching enough, everyone’s favourite golden retriever Vincent ran out of the bamboo forest, and lay down at Jack’s side, making sure that he wouldn’t die alone. With the fantastic score tugging at our heartstrings, this was a superb way for Jack to sign off. It was reminiscent of early episodes of Lost for me.
I’ve read online that apparently, this ending was written at the same time as the pilot was, which makes a lot of sense.
What happened, happened – I have read a lot of opinions about what actually happened, and a lot of people seem to believe that the island was all a dream, a figment of Jack’s imagination. I find it difficult to understand this train of thought. We’ve been constantly told all through this season that “what happened, happened”, and to finish off, Christian Shepherd (Christian Shepherd, how did we not get that??) spells it out in as plain a sentence as you’ll hear on Lost. What happened on the island was real. It happened.
Next up, we realise that yep, what we’ve been watching (in alternate timleline world) is the afterlife, a purgatory, a waiting room to hang round in until we’re ready to move on. And we see that the most important times in these people’s lives ar the times they spent together. Whether it was spent arguing about a button, or playing ping pong, the island is what saved these characters from being lost. And brilliantly, at the end, they get to see each other again. To acknowledge their worth to each other, and to move on, letting go.
So then, it was all over. The customary drum beat, and the end credits, and a significant portion of my life, and I’d imagine many other people’s lives, was over. For me, it was completely worth the journey. For six years, we’ve lived with these people, we’ve watched them grow, we’ve watched them try, fail, and ultimately succeed.
As in most things in life, it’s not about the ending, it’s about what you do for the journey that’s the important part, and we’d all do well to remember that.
As I’ve been typing this, I’ve remembered a load of great scenes I’ve not even mentioned (Hurley and Ben’s talk before the big finale for example), and I’ve realised that this blog’s nowhere near comprehensive enough. Ah well, there’s always the chance to watch it all again when someone buys me the box sets…..
[...] read quite a few articles (the following are particularly interesting 1|2|3) and scoured the brilliant Lostpedia, and reckon that it there need not be any urgency in figuring [...]