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SPOILER ALERT: Discussion Post for “The End”

May 24th, 2010 § 138

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FROM THE LATEST EPISODE OF LOST.

Mini-recap will be up tomorrow!

After the jump: Let’s freak out about this together, guys.

I loved this finale!!! For those of you who are still scratching your heads over that ending, here’s my own personal opinion on what happened:

The Flight 815 crash and everything after that really did happen just as we saw it. Then people died one by one, either on the island (Shannon, Boone, Sayid, etc.) or off; all the people on the plane – Kate, Sawyer, etc. and Hurley, Ben, Desmond all kept living their lives after the moment of Jack’s death, each dying later down the road. Then they all ended up in limbo, and one by one they were able to understand what was happening, and once they all understood, they could move on together. Think of the end of Lord of the Rings, with the hobbits and Gandalf sailing away, or the end of Titanic with Jack and Rose meeting in the ballroom with all the other people from the ship. Since time doesn’t exist in the afterlife, to them, they had all just died, despite the fact that Jack died in 2007 and Hurley died 60 years later. I think Christian Shephard was the one who finally helped Jack “let go” because he was the one Jack trusted most, but I don’t necessarily think Christan was god, it’s just that god/the higher power/etc. was using Christian’s face.

Overall I absolutely loved it, it was funny, moving, crazy, action-packed…basically it was all the things that we have come to expect from Lost. I am totally satisfied! They’re no longer Lost now that they’ve Found one another. Get it?

Questions:

1. How could Desmond go between worlds when one was actually the afterlife?

2. How did Jack end up on those rocks outside the waterfall?

3. Was David just Jack’s subconscious wishing he’d had a child?

4. While we’ll never really understand the magical light in the island, why did the light going out make Smokey vulnerable?

Thoughts:

So I guess after all, it was Live Together, Die Together!

So when Juliet was dying after the bomb went off, she was getting glimpses of the afterlife! Edit: I didn’t even realize she said “It worked” about the vending machine trick. Now we know what that meant – it had nothing to do with the bomb!

On Jimmy Kimmel they showed the first Sideways World scene when we saw the plane’s turbulence, and Rose looked over to Jack and said, “It’s okay, you can let go.” So that’s when it all started! Perhaps that turbulence was the moment Jack died.

Now we know what Desmond meant last week when he said Ana-Lucia wasn’t “ready!”

As many of you know, I am all about Sawyer/Kate, so seeing Jack and Kate make out and proclaim their love for each other was my least favorite part of the finale. Also, Sawyer and Juliet finding each other in the Sideways World was definitely very moving, but again, not what I was hoping for. I’m just going to pretend that Sawyer and Kate got off Lapidus’ plane and went and lived happily ever after together so I’m not completely bitter. :D

Now we know why Eloise was so hell bent on stopping Desmond – she was “enlightened” and could have moved on, but she wanted to stay with Daniel. I think that’s also why Ben didn’t go into the church – he didn’t want to move on without Alex.

I’m so happy Hurley was the one to take over the island, and that he was a much kinder and gentler Protector than Jacob ever was! And that Ben was his Number Two! I wondered why Jack couldn’t have just made Ben the Protector and left Hurley out of it haha.

So Michael and other people who were not in the church are the Whispers on the island – they’re stuck there. I get it now! They can’t get into Sideways World!

I’m so happy Richard gets to die of old age! And that Frank Lapidus was totally alive!

The epic way Smokey died was incredible. That was some crazy shit right there.

Lots of moments made me cry, but the Charlie/Claire/Kate/Aaron scene pretty much broke me. And the Sun and Jin flash.

I loved seeing Rose and Bernard again, and of course Vincent.

The very last minute, with Jack laying down in the grass in the same exact place he first woke up, with the plane flying overhead, was fantastic. As was that shot of Jack and Locke looking down the waterfall, which was the same shot as them looking down into the hatch at the end of Season 2!

I absolutely loved Ben and Locke’s exchange outside the church. Someone finally telling Locke he was special gave me the warm & fuzzies.

Seeing everyone in the church together was so awesome. And it was great seeing Shannon and Boone again!

Now Jack’s “appendix scar” and that cut on his neck that wouldn’t stop bleeding all makes sense! PHEW!

I’m sure we’ll all have more to say over the days to come, but I wanted to get this post up ASAP. WOO!

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§ 138 Responses to “SPOILER ALERT: Discussion Post for “The End””

  • Kimmerz says:

    *wails* i started to sob when LOST appeared on the screen.

    i still feel like i didn’t get what happened and need to rewatch and redigest everything.

    i can’t figure out what the whole island was anyway.

    and i’m annoyed that it was all about jack and he was so pompous during the jimmy kimmel part. what a turd.

    it’s weird to me that jake and kate and juliet and sawyer are together at the end when in real life they spent not that much time together.

    but neither really did any of them.

    i still need the sideways world explained to me.

    effffff

  • Renni says:

    I think I’ve been relying on you loving it and showing the good stuff for what it was, and I’m glad I did. Every since the finale I’m been a mix of empty and despressed, but reading this and seeing your view on it just made it..all okay. Thank you ack, for this little recap which made everything right again! You know how to recap properly, that’s for sure! ^^

  • Kimmerz says:

    and

    LOST WAS NOT ABOUT JACK SHEPARD

    hence why the title was not (and i don’t remember who said this but it’s stuck with, this isn’t my creativity):

    SUPER SPINAL SURGEON JACK AND HIS AMAZING ADVENTURES

    /rant

  • Jigga says:

    I need a rewatch of the entire series….NOW.

    I’m never getting to sleep tonite.

    There’s a lot of the “questions” that I can let go and say “well the island is magic” but Desmond’s flash stuff is gonna bug me.

  • Teleholic says:

    I agree with you about every single thing EXCEPT the Jack and Kate thing! Actually more the Sawyer and Juliet thing! The fact that Sawyer and Juliet ended up together MADE this finale for me! I was SOBBING last year’s finale because I was like NOOOO SAWYERANDJULIET4EVA. I’m not a Jater though, it was nice that Jack and Kate ended up together but I honestly didn’t care that much which is weird because I think I was supposed to?

    Anyway I can barely think straight right now Jears are flowing down my face IT’S ALL OVER HOLD ME *SOB*

  • Kimmerz says:

    i also think lost was trying to tell US the FANS to let go as well

    good luck with that

  • Kate says:

    I loved that episode. Somehow they managed to not answer all the things I thought were the most pressing questions, and I somehow don’t care.

    Sun/Jin, Kate/Charlie/Claire, and (sorry) Juliet/Sawyer all had me crying.

  • Arcadia says:

    I see your theory and while I don’t necessarily disagree, I really very strongly dislike the idea that all of this was simply a means to enlightenment. That to me cheapens the entire show in a way that I’m having trouble explaining right now.

    I don’t know. I’m still sad that this is over and I really haven’t come to terms with it.

    Did this come off angry? I hope not! I didn’t mean it that way.

  • tbirdy says:

    Weepy at Charlie/Claire reunion. Weepy at Sawyer/Juliet (Yay!!). I thought the ending was a little bit of a copout, but not really a disappointment. I enjoyed it a lot over all and thought the bookend eye closing was a nice touch. Not being someone who needed or wanted all the questions answered, I was pretty satisfied. I would have liked more explanation about Dharma, but ultimately, it didn’t matter. Crying forever now. It’s over. T_T

  • Matt says:

    I loved the ending. It’s so open for interpretation, but at the same time it is a really happy ending that most people (or at least just me) wanted. Everyone lived happily ever after in Sideways World/Afterlife. I was on the verge of crying at the end because we got to see everyone all happy, and see Jack in his final moments, and the plane finally took off.

    I’m also really glad the Lapidus was still alive, and I’m very happy that Hurley/Ben took over as protectors of the island. The only question I have is what happened to Desmond? Did he stay on the island or leave it?

  • Liv says:

    It could just be that in recent months I’ve had my own struggles with faith (and thus have been feeling more connected with Jack than ever before), but the ending hit me. Hard. The eye closed and I just frakking lost it. So beautiful, heartwrenchingly poetic.

    The only thing I wish they’d answered/resolved was Walt. WHY WAS HE SO DAMN SPECIAL? Guess we’ll never know…oh well. Still an amazing finale. Better than I could have hoped for.

  • Eric says:

    Still processing it all, but I’m liking it more and more as I think about it. When Christian first told Jack he was dead, I was like oh hell no. Now it is making more sense to me. I do want to believe that Desmond took his boat and went back for Penny and that Hurley, Ben, Rose, and Bernard lived happily ever after. Penny and Desmond had to end up together.

    Everything else is really left up to the imagination. What became of Kate and Sawyer? I guess you can believe what you want to believe. I’m choosing to believe either Ji Yeon, Aaron, or Walt took over the island after Hurley to protect it. I had so many questions going into this episode, and now, I guess none of them really matter. Which gives me a weird feeling.

    And the Jears were flowing throughout the whole episode. I can’t wait to read your recap. Is there a way that you can publish these into a companion book for when I buy the DVD set?

  • Devon says:

    Charlie/Claire/Kate/Aaron scene was love! I was just like “Did that really happen? Sweet!” after that, so I’m probably going to go and watch that again before bedtime.

    I don’t think I’ve quite grasped that Lost is over yet, but I was satisfied with the ending..kinda. In a way that I really want the DVD package now.

    And Ack, I totally get where you’re going with the Sawyer and Kate blahness. I really like them together, but could see that it wasn’t in the cards for the finale. :( I’m hoping they spent time together when they landed as well.

  • Ack says:

    @Kimmerz I don’t think any of us will ever know what the hell the island really was because all we really know at this point is that it’s got this magic light inside it that makes good or bad things happen, and it needs to be protected. That’s all we’ll really ever know haha. But I think I’m okay with that because Hurley is the best guy ever, and he wouldn’t abuse his power the way Jacob did. He’d use the light for good and not evil!

    In the end I think we have to just face it that the island is a Hot Pocket of energy that is magical, and when that light went out Smokey was actually vulnerable.

    @Renni I’m sure there will be people who hated the ending, but it’s exactly what I expected, and so I’m totally happy with it!

  • Anonymous says:

    I loved the finale, but I think it would have been the final nail in Kate’s coffin as a character to just have her entire meaning really boil down to ‘OMG which guy is she going to end up with?’

    I was actually very proud of the creators for being able to show that there really was something more to her than that, and having her epiphany during a time and with a person who really meant something to her and touched her life in a way that some love triangle never could actually made Kate as a character finally Okay.

    P.S. The Jimmy Kimmel Suggestion that Jack somehow died while on the plane bound for LAX makes no sense – not even with Lost’s screwed-up notion of Time-Space.

    P.S.S When Lapidus was all right and Sun and Jin were all right and John Locke was all right and Ben and Hurley were BFF Masters of the Island together? Best parts of the finale.

    P.S.S.S This finale made me realize how much I really had missed Charlie.

  • Ack says:

    @Arcadia – All of the time spent on the island was NOT the afterlife, so I don’t see how this ending cheapens the show. The Sideways World was the path to enlightenment, but not the island itself. The island actually happened!

  • Devon says:

    I forget Sayid and Shannon as well! That was a lovely scene although she hardly said anything. I’m gonna have to start a rewatc soon.

  • iczorro says:

    Well hey, look at that. Jate was, in fact, Fate.

    BOOYAH.

  • Ack says:

    I loved the finale, but I think it would have been the final nail in Kate’s coffin as a character to just have her entire meaning really boil down to ‘OMG which guy is she going to end up with?’

    That’s why I loved the thing with Kate and Claire!

    The Jimmy Kimmel Suggestion that Jack somehow died while on the plane bound for LAX makes no sense – not even with Lost’s screwed-up notion of Time-Space.

    And also, Jimmy Kimmel meant that Jack died on the island, and the turbulence on the plane was the first moment of his journey in limbo, not that he actually died on the plane.

  • PJSander says:

    I think that Jack died in the bamboo field. He saw the Ajira plane fly overheard and knew that Kate (et al) had escaped so he could die in peace.

    To me, the finale was P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

    : ) P

  • Ack says:

    @iczorro I know, I cannot BELIEVE that Jate was Fate, although at least in the real world Jate was Fate for all of 5 minutes haha.

    Right now I feel like if Harry Potter would have ended with Harry and Hermione getting married. It just feels so wrong.

  • LostTeaParty says:

    We can let go now, thank you Lost, thank you.

    very emotional and beautiful

    lots of comic relief too, I lol’d at Kate putting on her ‘birthing scrunchie’

  • Sheets says:

    The Claire/Charlie/Aaron/Kate scene just made my night. Wasn’t too thrilled about the ending, as I came to the same conclusion you did, but the more I think about it, the more I’m coming to like it.

  • Kimmerz says:

    my friend Leah in our discussion after the show about mathew fox on jimmy: Mathew Fox just moved himself.

    because he was all jearsy when he walked in, “i just watch the ending” “and .I. was amazing, I even made myself cry from watching myself”

  • Lauren M says:

    I can’t even count the times I burst into tears during this episode
    Sun/Jin flash
    Charlie/Claire/Kate flash
    Sawyer/Juliet flash
    THE ENTIRE ENDING

    I thought the finale was amazing. I can’t really say anything else, I just thought it was great.

  • Amanda says:

    Seeing that Hurley and Libby really and truly did end up together in the afterlife is what made it for me. I cried to see them get their happy ending.

  • iczorro says:

    I saw a couple things that were great. First off, like Doc Jensen pointed out, appendix scar, my ass.

    I thought the death of Flocke was a little sudden, a little abrupt. Didn’t really do justice to the character.

    I’m A-OK with not getting the giant “What was the Island” type answers. I defy anyone to name a better way to end this series.

    I must have gotten smoke in my eyes a bunch of times during this episode. Like at almost every awakening/remembering scene. I loved Kate’s comment to Jack after the concert. “I’ve missed you for so long” or something like that. Very illuminating to the whole afterlife/no time concept. She missed him for the rest of the time she was alive, however long that was.

    Honestly a little confused as to where Jack’s son in the afterlife came from. Maybe he was a never-happened wish, or something like that. or maybe he was just part of the construct they had all created to facilitate rejoining each other.

    Beautiful ending to an amazing show.

  • Anonymous says:

    @ ACK

    Ah, I see what you mean now.

    P.S. I would have to say that, for as many seasons as I hated Jack’s character, in some ways the show was All About Jack – or, rather, Jack’s tale as he we saw it here was just a sort of shorthand for the larger, overarching story of everyone else on the Island. Jack was just a sort of Everyman or focal point.

  • John says:

    Show of the Decade

  • punkind77 says:

    I think this is my first time posting. But I’m a LONG TIME fan/lurker:

    At first I was, like, WTF? But I gave myself some time to mull it all over. And in true LOST fashion, the more I contemplated, the more I LOVED the finale.

    Although it felt very Jack/Rose-ish of Titanic proportions on the surface, I still like it.

    A few of my thoughts on your questions:

    1. How could Desmond go between worlds when one was actually the afterlife?

    I don’t think he was alternating b/t sideways and island. He did get off the island and had a life with Penny and his son. He WAS made special by the initial hatch explosion in that he was able to time travel. Everything that happened on the island and after they got off (and subsequently returned) actually happened. He got off the island with Miles, LaPenis, et al. Des’s sideways could happen long after that.

    2. How did Jack end up on those rocks outside the waterfall?

    The well spit him out like MIB, but unlike MIB, he lived for a little bit longer. Did you notice he was in the same position as MIB?

    3. Was David just Jack’s subconscious wishing he’d had a child?

    The sideways world was an alternate place that initially people would think is their “heaven” – where all is the way they THOUGHT it should be in “real life”

    4. While we’ll never really understand the magical light in the island, why did the light going out make Smokey vulnerable?

    The light “created” smokey – it unleashed his dark soul. So putting the light out, made him mortal again.

  • […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by PhanArt and LG, Rachel Ack. Rachel Ack said: The End #LOST Discussion Post! http://bit.ly/aZkGvH […]

  • Vantaysia says:

    I loved the episode, and I agree that David was Jack’s afterlife/fantasy/whatever-you-want-to-call-it of what he would have wanted. Also don’t care about the unanswered questions. It rained on my face through practically the whole thing.

    Thank you so much, Ack, for your WONDERFUL recaps! You are a true fan, and the ultimate Lostie!

  • Animenutcase says:

    I was happy to finally see that hug between Jack and Sawyer – the two acknowledging that yes, they really were friends. I started crying at the very end. It’s strange that I’ve only been watching Lost for just over three months, but I’ve gotten so attached to all the characters.

    Am I sad? Yes. But I’m happy that everyone got to meet up again. I hope that one day, Michael, Ana-Lucia, and all the others will be able to get there, too.

  • t says:

    Yes!!!!!!!!! Thank you, Ack. Your explanation is perfect. It was an amazing way to end it, and I completely agree with your interpretation (especially the Kate-Sawyer / Juliet-Jack thing! But it was sweet nonetheless).

    I’m going to miss this show so much, as well as your recaps.

  • Ack says:

    @PunKind77

    He got off the island with Miles, LaPenis, et al. Des’s sideways could happen long after that.

    This is true, however Desmond was having visions of the Sideways World while we was still alive…and that’s just crazy.

  • thefop says:

    I was profoundly pissed at first….it seemed like they were doing that whole “the island is purgatory” thing, which was discussed to death some time ago, and which they said would not be the case.

    Then it hit me….and it’s actually kind of beautiful. LA is them getting ready to move on, after dying at different times. They looked the way they did when the plane crashed (roughly speaking) because for most of them, like Christian said, their time on the island, with each other, was the most important time in their lives. when they died, whether it was that day, or 100 years from now, they returned to the way they were during that important time.

    Kind of beautiful. Now I’m going to go off and be all misty eyed again because I can’t shake the feeling that I’m never going to see a bunch of my friends again.

  • LithiumRox says:

    Ok, I have lots of thoughts, and I’m gonna attempt to organize them in the most coherent, least ramble-y way possible.

    First off: OMG YOU GUYS. IT TOTALLY *WAS* PURGATORY. THE N00BS WERE RIGHT!! WHAT? Ok, so maybe not the whole show, or the Island, but the SIDEWAYS world kinda basically was a form of purgatory. I kinda really love Darlton for doing that to us after all these years. haha.

    Second: I wasn’t 100% ok with how it ended, but a perfect ending was kinda impossible for a show like this. Its one of these things where you really have to look at the Journey as a whole, and not the final Destination. And the journey was frakkin AWESOME.

    Third: I, like Matthew Fox, knew the final image of the show was going to be Jack’s eye closing (Does that make me as big of a tool as Matthew Fox? =P). I didn’t know it was gonna be him dying though. That I didn’t see coming until I saw that old shoe & realized he was in the same exact place that he started from all those years ago. And Vincent lying down with him at the end? OMG. That just killed me.

    Fourth: I’ve never been a huge fan of the love triangle/quadrangle/dodecahedron on the show, and I said early on this season as a joke that I hoped Kate ended up with Jack in one reality and Sawyer in the other. And for me, that’s kinda what did happen (or at least that’s what I’m choosing to believe) because in the Sideways world he & Kate were sitting there together at the end, and in the “Island Present” she flew away with Sawyer on the Ajira plane, so she and Sawyer probably eventually ended up together…or maybe she just helped Claire regain her sanity and raise Aaron to actually be a well-adjusted human being. And I totally agree with what people above said about her flashes not happening to one of the boys, but to Claire, who was truly important to her.

    Fifth: When Miles and Richard found Frank in the water, I was like “YAAAAAY!” And then I immediately tweeted “So, Frank Lapidus, Miles Straume, and Richard Alpert get into a boat…does that sound like the start to the best joke ever or what?” and my current facebook status is “In everything that Lost has said about having faith in Jacob or Ben or believing in the power of the Island, or whatever Christian Shepherd said there at the end, nothing has made more sense than ‘I don’t believe in much, but I believe in Duct Tape.’ I’ll miss you, Miles Straume.” I’ll also miss Darlton’s ablity to write great snark even in the middle of the ridiculously melodramatic Finale. :) I loved on Jimmy Kimmel when Michael Emmerson said that he sometimes felt like he knew he was in a comedy, but no one else did. I love those kind of characters.

    There’s more that I wanted to say I’m sure, but I should probably end this for now…sorry if I repeated something someone said before me, but this took awhile to type up and my brain is exhausted. I can’t wait for your Final Recap (*crying forever*) on Sunday. I feel like this whole thing won’t really be over for me until you’ve had your say in this.
    Good luck in trying to sum all this up in a single recap.

  • Barb says:

    I really don’t know what to think at this point. I DO like the idea that they all waited for each other in the afterlife so they could move on together. I think it’s a great explanation for the sideways world.

    I DON’T like that Jate and Suliet were the supposedly the “true” pairings, who are moving on together. The fact that Kate and Sawyer left together on the plane … OK, we can fill in our own blanks about whatever life they might have lived together, but they totally cheapened them and what was a beautiful story. Their hug in the afterlife-church was so far in the background it was barely visible. I know the show wasn’t just about the triangle, but THEY made it front and center for all six years – and the emotionally abusive pair and the “blip” are the true couples? Seriously? Yes this is fresh, and yes I am bitter. I could have really, really loved this entire ending, but right now, this aspect is coloring it for me. Somewhere down the line maybe I won’t care. Right now, I care. Shame on you Darlton. “Kate made her choice.” “Sawyer and Juliet only exist for [a few] episodes.” Not to mention the commentary on “I Do” about how in love they were. Liars. — AND, it ends up being all about the guy who was supposed to die in the pilot episode? Who was mostly a douche for six years?

    OK – other issues. Where was Richard? I guess he wasn’t part of their afterlife group. Which makes me a little sad. Although I’m so glad he became mortal and was able to leave the island.

    I like that the church had symbols for various faiths in that stained glass window. I didn’t note them all, but I saw the Sanskrit for OM in there.

    Vincent! Happy we saw him happy with Rose and Bernard, who were happy.

    I’m sad that Michael is stuck with the island. I thought his redemption would have allowed him to move on. And I’m a little sad about Ben not going with them. Maybe he does join them, because they were still all seated in the church. He just wasn’t quite ready.

    I loved the last scene between Ben and Locke. Hope Locke was going to wait for Helen.

    Sigh. It’s a TV show. I will let go. Maybe sooner than I thought.

  • kc says:

    I must say, I’m really surprised that they went with WTF endings for the romantic stuff – the Jate/Suliet stuff really came off as “gotcha” moments with all the Skate buildup on/off island all season. But that’s LOST, twists and turns ’till the end.

  • Ash says:

    Has anyone here read the Dark Tower Series by Stephen King? The fact that they all had to wait for each other, that they were the most important people in each other’s lives and that they were all destined to be together reminded me of something in those books, called a Ka-Tet. (There are quite a few other parallels between Lost and The Dark Tower, but I won’t go into that.) A Ka-Tet was a group of people who were destined to be together, no matter what life they were living. They lived previous lives together, and wait for each other in the next one. No matter where they are, they will meet, because it is their destiny and they are bound together by something even stronger than blood. That’s what it reminded me of, personally, and I liked that idea.

  • monogirl says:

    I loved it. Was it the best ending ever? Maybe not. But it was fair, and for me that’s all that counts. I also love the fact that it can be whatever you WANT it to be. I feel that Lost is structured so much more like a novel than a TV show. I think if it had been a book, people would be much more satisfied with the way it ended. But everyone wants to plane to fly off into the sunset and for everyone to live happily ever after because that’s what they expect from TV/Film. And that is what makes me love Darlton even more, the fact that it wasn’t a film ending.

    I love Juliet & Sawyer in the afterlife together. But I do think Kate & Sawyer ended up together off island. I mean, who else is going to understand their crazy lives but each other?

  • Nannorama says:

    All I can say is that out of all of this, “Burley” is probably my favourite thing ever.

    THAT IS ALL. MY HEART IS TOO FULL OF EMOTION TO SAY MUCH MORE.

  • MysticalChicken says:

    I don’t think I’ve cried so many times at a TV show in my entire life. Pretty much every time two characters were like “HOLY CRAP I REMEMBER THE ISLAND” I started Jearsing. ALSO I finally realised Ben was my favorite character ever when (this post is already marked for spoilers so I don’t think it would hurt to say this) the tree started to fall on Hurley and Ben pushed him out of the way and it fell on him instead. I was literally like “NOOOOOOO!!” *burst into tears* Not that I wanted it to fall on Hurley, either, but akdhgalhglkhgsk seriously I thought Ben was dead then and there. However I used one of the commercial breaks to microwave some dinner, and I took a little too long and missed the part where they get the tree off of him, anyone care to explain how they did that?

  • seth c says:

    so the one Question i have after the whole thing is…what was with the tennis shoe in the tree as jack was stummbling to his death???? did i miss something ?

  • Shama. says:

    Mostly, I loved the ending… but I really wish that Hurley could have found a way to jump off the cliff and join Sawyer and Kate!!

    I think it would have been so much more satisfying if it had been Ben that was with Jack at the end, and was the one who got to be the next Jacob. It seemed he had rehabilitated himself in all of our eyes, and he loved the island, and he wanted to be special, and he had invested so much!!

    When Jack took the job, Hurley was all, “I’m glad it wasn’t me!” and he really didn’t want the job at all… but he did it because he was pressured into it.

    I know Jacob was pressured into it too, but it was so disheartening to see Hugo get this job he didn’t want, and it was a wee bit unbelievable to see Ben think being the next Richard was the most awesome job, EVAH!!

    Grrr… it was a lovely last episode, but could have been better for me if Hurley got on the plane, and Ben had been left as the next Jacob. I felt so freakin’ sad for Hurley.

  • Wifi says:

    My verdict: surprisingly satisfying on a metaphysical/philosophical level, but unsatisfying on an immediate Lostie level. I liked the endings the characters came to, but not so much the route to them. The finale didn’t have nearly as many intricate twists and turns as I generally expect from the show, and I thought the whole literal cork thing was, um…a bit too literal.

    I agree on why did Jack not just make Ben island protector. I also thought it was a tad rude of them to be having that conversation RIGHT IN FRONT OF BEN WITHOUT EVER MENTIONING HIM. Poor guy. But in retrospect, it sort of makes sense to make Hurley the protector and have Ben be his second. Hurley’s the perfect moral check on Ben. Honestly I see them more as co-guardians than boss and subordinate.

    Ben asking Locke for forgiveness outside the church melted my heart. So perfect. And I agree that he didn’t want to move on without Alex.

    I feel like this really tied in with all the messages of the show thus far. Jacob said he brought them to the island because they were “alone,” but all show long we’ve been seeing how they ran into each others’ lives long before they knew each other. Because the truth is that they were all always connected – they were never really alone – and what was important was realizing that.

    And it seemed in the end that the real message was that what is important is not how we relate to some arbitrary authority, but how we relate to other people; that what we are to each other is more important that what we are to a higher power. That reaching “nirvana” or whatever moving on they did is something we have to do together, that people don’t perfect themselves individually.

    That is not to absolve the finale entirely. It really did feel for a while there that nothing was going to happen; I don’t like the way Smokey died (I almost wanted him to get off the island and really not do anything, just go and have a normal life); and as previously mentioned, seriously, a literal cork?

    I like the idea that David is Jack wishing he had a son. I think the sideways/holding-pattern world represented the last things each person had to leave behind before they went on – their regrets and their guilt. Jack regrets not having a child. Kate wishes she were innocent. Sawyer wishes he’d done something better with his life. Miles wishes he still had his dad. Sun wishes she hadn’t gotten Jin into his hitman deal with her father. And Locke and Charlie both have huge old guilt complexes (that’s also my explanation for why we never see sideways Frank – HE HAS NO DRAMA AND NO REGRETS).

    But there was a lovely circularity to it without being repetitive. The same things came up, but they happened differently (everything up until then is just progress). Jack lies in the bamboo, but he’s dying, not waking up. A plane flies over the island, but 316 is taking off, rather than 815 crashing. Ben doesn’t forget, he’s forgiven. They can’t leave the sideways world until they remember where they came from and who they are to each other, for better or worse. We don’t erase what happened, we remember it and move on.

    Can I also say that I am so absurdly happy that Frank survived? Seriously. And he even got a little back at the rest of the Losties for not even noticing he might be dead by going THIS PLANE IS TAKING OFF WHEN I SAY IT IS AND IF YOU’RE NOT ON IT I’M DAMN WELL LEAVING YOU.

    My last complaint would probably be that I really wanted the very last shot of the series to be a pullback shot from the jungle up and up and out over the island, receding farther and farther until it’s just a little dot in a vast blue sea, and then a cloud passes in front of the camera and poof — it’s gone? Just a little confirmation that yeah, the island’s still out there, this is all just part of a larger thing, one episode in a much longer saga.

  • Simon says:

    I was totally reminded of The Dark Tower books too!

    Abrams and Lindelof are massive fans of the series (and I think they still have the movie rights?) so I always expected an ending similar to this. Especially the last shot. The Dark Tower series is based around a certain phrase: “Ka is a wheel”. And it was poetic for Lost to end how it began.

  • Simon says:

    Random thoughts:

    a) the ‘side-flashes’ were actually forward-flashes because that world was totally in the future after they had died!

    b) if Sawyer and Juliet end up together in limbo then clearly Sawyer and Kate didn’t go off and live happily ever after. Sawyer and Juliet remained each other’s true love.

    c) this is not the end of Lost – it is the beginning! Look at how much fan fiction and spin-offs were produced after Return of the Jedi. There’ll be so many Lost novels. I’d love to hear more about Hurley, Ben, Rose, Bernard and Vincent on the Island (Adventure One: get Desmond home!)

    d) MiB had a lame ending. Could have been much better.

    e) When the light went out for twenty minutes… that meant the light went out in everybody across the world ever. So… was it not a big deal after all?

    f) “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” Best. Line. Ever. Ultimate Star Wars reference.

  • Oneloveunited says:

    Totally agree with everything you wrote! I’m OK with the ending because Skate got their entire lives together!

  • Lea_Lost says:

    I LOVED it. Loved it because it was Lord of the Rings. I loved it because it was What Dreams May Come. I loved it because it was Harry Potter: told me what I wanted to hear. And because I listened, I believed it. Remember. Let go. Move on. Man, I’m gonna miss this show!

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