LOST - My Overview of The End

Hello everyone, my name is Jacob and I am new to SpoilerTV; I know LOST ended two weeks ago, but I have written an overview of the finale that I would love to share with you fellow fans. The thought that anyone would even consider reading this is reason enough for me to post this here, so I hope you enjoy and would love it if you left a comment to let me know what you thought. Hopefully, you'll enjoy.
So, onto LOST - the journey may have come to a close, but I'm sure I don't just speak for myself when I say that the legacy of LOST will live on for a long time yet. If you are reading this you will soon come to know that I think LOST is the greatest. The question is: did the finale live up to my expectations? As with most television shows, it is difficult to wrap everything up, and even more difficult to keep everybody satisfied. You must have been living under a rock if you haven't noticed that the LOST finale was pretty polarizing, with some raving about the ending, whilst others were not quite so happy and are citing the previous Seasons as irrelevant. With a few weeks to have composed myself and to have re-watched and re-thought through, here are my ultimate thoughts:

(for anyone who wants to skip straight to my overview, skip to Verdict)



I would firstly like to comment on the opening of the episode. Flitting between the world known throughout the final Season as the 'Flash-Sideways' and the Island concurrently, showing us the characters we've come to know and love for six years, was a nice touch that presented opportunity for reflection. I defy anyone who loves this show not to have been a little choked at how far everybody has come since September 22nd, 2004 (including ourselves) and this set the benchmark for a very emotional finale. I'm sure most know that Darlton are big on Star Wars, so it was no surprise to see Jacob get likened to Yoda. But the perfect, most prophetic way to finish the opening was by Hurley paraphrasing Hans Solo's infamous line: 'I've got a bad feeling about this'. Funny and chilling, all at once. I'm going to run through my thoughts so as not to ramble:

They're Alive!

Glad to see Richard survived the attack from Smokey - and loved Miles pulling a grey hair from his head. That singular grey hair presented such a cool closure for his character; the Island is done with Richard and he can now live the remainder of his life just as he wants.

Two words: Frank Lapidus. I would have put money on this legend being dead after the sub sank, but the sigh of relief I let out when I realised that was who was calling after the outrigger that Miles and Richard were in. Talking of which, if you will cast your minds back to the Season Five episode The Little Prince, where the time-traveling characters travel to the future where their old beach camp is wrecked, and there are two outriggers there. The characters take one of them, and sail round the Island to The Orchid, but are shot at by some unknown assailants who were chasing them on the other outrigger. Juliet shoots and takes one of them down, and before we ever find out who they were, the Island skips through time again... I suppose the obvious answer is that it was Ilana and Bram, with a random Ajira passenger (who Juliet shot), but we'll never get a definitive answer for that one... but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't matter at all

A Watery End

I remember reading an interview with Damon and Carlton a few weeks before the finale, and they were asked to sum up the last episode in a word, to which Damon replied 'Water'. The first time we see Jack after his 'inaugaration' (as Sawyer put it), he is standing in a lake, knee-deep; there are many references to a coming storm, which soon begins when Desmond puts the light out and the Island begins sinking, amidst a terrential rainstorm. When Man In Black is killed by Kate, and kicked off the cliff by Jack, the rain clears up: it is almost as if you can say that he controlled the weather, and if you watch back over past Season's, there have been some terrential rainstorms at pivotal moments (including just before Smokey appears). This could also add another meaning to Locke's weather predictions in Season One (Boone: 'They tell you how to predict the weather at a box company?!') Just a thought. Also, when Hurley becomes Jack's successor, he drinks the water (from an Oceanic Airlines bottle - amazing touch), and when Jack saves the Island from destruction by turning the light back on, water begins running over him as he lays in the cave.

The 'plug' keeping the light on is very similar to the chamber behind Ben's secret room where Ben could summon the Smoke Monster; he put his hand in a pit and unplugged something, where the water was drained. When Desmond turned the light out, and the fire began burning underneath, it was as if we were about to witness a volcanic eruption. This wouldn't have been entirely out of the picture, for a volcano on the Island was mentioned in Season Three's The Man behind the Curtain in one of Ben's Dharma school classes. A very quick note: when Desmond and Jack first met at the Stadium before the crash, Desmond cryptically says to Jack, 'you have to lift it up'... When Jack is confused, Desmond tells him he means his foot that he had just injured. It seemed a random remark, but could have been prophetic, in allusion to the 'plug' keeping the light at bay. Probably not, but it's nice to think they had the 'plug' idea that far back

It's All About the Build-Up

Yes, Ben was stuck under a tree one minute, and then he wasn't almost as suddenly as he was.S The point of that scene was to show us Ben saving Hurley, which is a nice touch for Ben becomes Hurley's 'Number Two' - the new Richard.

Never before have I disliked and loved a character as much as Jack Shephard. In Season's One to Two, it frustrated me at how much he undermined John Locke, and Season Three was the turnaround Season where I began to appreciate him. Season Five and Six solidified what an amazing character he was; he needed to have that rivalry with John, so that he could evolve and become who he did - and when he promised to kill Man In Black? Priceless. As for the Man In Black, I have to say Terry O'Quinn is one amazing actor. To make me, and almost everybody else, love Locke and hate him as the Man In Black is no mean feat. He was evil, and I'm glad he got his commeupance. It is important to note though that Jacob's brother was not evil... all he wanted was to leave the Island and was denied that his entire life. Jacob's brother is killed by Jacob, and the Smoke Monster becomes him - he doesn't become the Smoke Monster; that is why his skeleton is lying in the Caves, and that is why Smokey can adopt the form of dead people.

I love Kate; not a lot of LOST fans do. What a way to redeem her character for all those haters out there. The interaction between her and Jack broke my heart. They love each other, and Kate doesn't want to believe she's never going to see Jack again (in this life, anyhow), and Jack knows he won't. He just wants her safe. Sawyer's line to Jack - 'Thanks for everything, Doc' - was a fantastic closure to their rivalry/friendship. Seeing these characters interact for what would be the final time (in the lifetime) was very difficult to bear.

Realization

Each 'realization' moment in the 'FlashSideways' (I'm calling it this still for the time being, until I comment on my feelings of the twist) was exciting and brilliant. They were like mini-homage's to each Season past, and I loved how when the character's saw these flashes, they immediately became who we know and love. Hurley's reaction of seeing Charlie again was really nice, as was Sayid seeing Shannon again (even though I know Nadia was the one true love of his life; I just don't think they were destined to be together). When Juliet entered Sun and Jin's hospital room, I jumped around the room in delight, and couldn't believe it when we learnt that she was Jack's ex-wife and David's mother. I was yearning for her and Sawyer to interact, and when that scene occurred, well - you can guess. Crazy that Juliet's message on the Island, 'It worked', was not about Jughead at all, but about an Apollo Bar from a vending machine. The payoff of this scene was through the roof.

Verdict

I'm just gonna throw it out there now: I thought the ending to LOST was the most perfect ending the show could have possibly had. It was amazing. They gave us a definitive ending, with plenty of room for innocent theorizing. Kate sending Jack into the back of the church, where he found his father's empty coffin, with Christian then appearing to Jack revealing everything was just mind-blowingly emotional. As soon as Christian said to Jack, 'how are you here?', it clicked. Everything we have seen of these Flash-Sideways are in fact, their afterlife. They all subconsciously created this afterlife where they could all reunite and be together, for their time on the Island together was the most important moments of their lives. The hug Jack and Christian share has been six Season's overdue, and everything preceding this scene built up to that moment. Ben and Hurley's exchange hinted that they had ruled the Island for a long long time after Jack saved it from destruction and died... not entering the church, to me, indicated that either he was so shocked with the acts he had performed in his life that he felt he didn't deserve to 'move on' with the Islanders. But what I'd prefer to believe is that he didn't enter the church because he wanted to wait until Alex and her mother were 'ready' to let go and move on. He wanted Alex to remember what had happened so he could repent, and get over the event on the Island which caused him so much pain: Alex's death. Ben was now going to be acting as the Desmond figure, helping people remember so they can 'move on' also. When Eloise - who obviously knew all along - asked Desmond if he was going to take Daniel, Desmond replies 'Not with me'. This means that Daniel would be moving on with his mother, father, Charlotte - maybe even Miles and Pierre. In essence, this afterlife is a place where you can move on with the most important people who were in your life. Jack was the last of his people to remember, and Locke's line - also the last line spoken in LOST - 'we've been waiting for you', is indication that all this show has ever really been about is the journey of these characters and the situations they found themselves in.

The long-standing mysteries, such as; what the Island actually is; why there were fertility problems there; what is the cave of light; why Walt was so special; is not what LOST has been about. It has been about the character's that experience these things and how they affect each other. Alive or dead, these characters have always been destined to be together, and for me, showing all of the characters I love happy together, celebrating their time together on the Island, was perfection. I may have said a few year's back that I thought the series would end with Jack's eye closing (just like it had begun, with his eye opening), but it really was the most fitting way to end. With Vincent by his side, where he began in 2004, he sees the Ajira plane fly off - letting out one final laugh of relief, knowing that Kate got off the Island. His work was done; Jack Shephard dies, slotting one perfect final jigsaw piece into the greatest puzzle ever.



L O S T

Thank you for reading - I hope you enjoyed it,

Jacob