I fell into L O S T like most teachers: summer boredom. It was the summer after the 2nd season that a friend loaned me the dvds for the first two seasons. And like most fans who got hooked via dvds, I watched those two seasons in about 12 days. From season 3 on, I was in. I routinely checked the theories on darkufo.blogspot.com. I planned my life around whatever night L O S T was being shown that season.
And so, naturally, I watched all 5 ½ hours of programming on Sunday. These are my thoughts.
First, how ridiculous were those text messages embedded into previous scenes during the two-hour recap. Jack reading a scrap of paper. Desmond checking the computer screen. Ben reading the newspaper. All so Tori from Hartford, CN could say “I don’t know what I’m going to do without the show. Maybe feed my children again.” But thank GOD they didn’t run them during the finale.
But onto the show. I pretty much loved it. There are some critics that weren’t fans. They said that there were too many unanswered questions. For example:
But my brother put it best when he tweeted that the finale made him not care about the answers that weren’t given.
First of all, CJ Cregg prepared us for this during “Across the Sea” when she told Claudia (pre-rock bash to the head) that every question would only lead to more questions. I hated that episode at first, because while it gave concrete answers (Jacob was a normal dude, with a twin, who loved checkers), it only led to more questions (what was Mother’s nature, how long had she been there, what’s the alcohol content of that wine). So I’m glad the finale chose to focus on the characters. Screw answers. The best stories make you think. They don’t give you an answer key. And for God’s sake, you have to suspend your disbelief when reading/watching a story. It’s fiction, people.
Alright. I’m just going to run down what I liked about the finale:
• While I was frustrated that some of the plot lines from this season seemed to just kill time and ultimately have little significance (Dogen and the magical baseball), I enjoyed that Desmond’s purpose became clear. His years of taking those shots in the Hatch allowed him to survive the destruction of the light, which in turn make Flocke mortal, which in turn allowed Jack to kill him. Which by the way, how awesome was Jack’s flying punch into the commercial break?! Freaking awesome. That’s how awesome.
• I was trying to sort out how the two worlds we’d been seeing all season would merge or replace one another or whatever. And it was when Locke told Jack that he didn’t have a son that I said “Maybe the sideways world is heaven.” I was close.
• Jacob – protector of the island for 2,000 years. Jack – protector of the island for 2,000 minutes. Hurley – protector of the island for ????? I loved that Ben stuck around to help Hurley, and that he was apparently a “great #2,” according to Hurley at the church.
• Speaking of Hurley #1 and Ben #2, Ben telling Hurley that he could make his own rules, I think, confirmed that so much of what happened actually happened. Not as much of the island stuff was magical. For example, the FDW. At first, we were told that if you turned the frozen donkey wheel you could never return to the island. Ben turned it. And returned. Locke turned it. And returned (sort of). It was a rule created by Jacob for his own purpose. It wasn’t a law of island physics. And Ben’s scene with Hurley suggests that many of the rules were manmade. They were meant to keep people in line. It’s clear that Hurley is going to/did choose a different way of running the island, most likely involving putt-putt.
• I wasn’t as emotionally moved by all of the golden memory moments of love as most seemed to be. I mean, they were nice. I am glad they didn’t bother to show us what Boone’s epiphany moment was.
• I am in the camp that believes they knew the final scene from the beginning. Jack and the coffin. That’s what it was all about early on, and that what it was all about in the end. When he realizes he has died, how great was that. And what a great idea, to think that when you die, everyone that was important to you, regardless of when they died, will be there. Who knows when/how Kate or Sawyer or Ben dies. And who cares? Not me. That’s who.
• Rose and Bernard. How great were they. I mean, sure. Everytime I saw Bernard, I thought of the principal from Head Of the Class. And sure. I was hoping he'd be the principal at Ben's school. Instead, they seemed to be enlightened both on-island and in the sideways world. When Jack talked to Bernard in the dentist office, it seemed like he knew everything. That was our first glimpse at the goofy/confident smile that the characters all got by the end of the finale, once enlightened. But then I think back to Rose on the plane when season 6 opened. One of my early theories was that we'd see that scene again, as the final scene of L O S T. But now, it seems like if you were to put things chronologically, Jack would close his eyes and die on the island, and then he'd "wake up" on the plane, and Rose would tell him that it was ok. And that he can "let go." Awesome.
In closing, please enjoy my two favorite clip videos from the last couple weeks:
“Dude”
L O S T Deaths
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