Lost - The Final Season

Someone has basically written what I just did, but in a much better way.

http://gotwit.tumblr.com/post/627850119/found

Usually far from being in the business of making long-winded self-indulgent blog posts, I make an exception today citing a connection between a television show and a recent existential crisis as the perpetrators of an increase in perceived self-worth.

I recently hit the age of 22, which basically makes you too old to be truly adolescent, and too young to be considered fully grown. I have been working full time in various ‘adult’ jobs for three years now, and upon hitting this less-than-fair age, I have been anxiously trying to find a point to things, having concluded that my current situation has little purpose other than servicing a blossoming drink habit as equally as fantasies of things I may never turn out be.

This morning, I awoke to an alarm at half past four, eager to watch the two hour conclusion of what has been my favourite television show for a long time - Lost. Until around half an hour after I finished watching it, I was a little disappointed. I had previously thought that the show was about the Island, and the characters weaving through the episodes were just there to facilitate ‘the answers’ to questions naturally asked of the origin, purpose and nature of the island itself - none of these mysteries ever had the fundamental answer that had been seemingly built towards over six seasons of tense and gripping television.

After a reflective and slightly dissatisfied shower, I ended up looking at the real point of the show from another perspective that showed the ending to be both calibrated with the writers’ claim that they knew what they were doing all along, and a fitting conclusion to what will be remembered as a brilliant yet frustrating television experience.

The main criticisms levelled at the ending of Lost from what I’ve seen this morning is that there was neither true final plot twist or explanation of many of the mysteries associated with the show. The thing is that, though perhaps verging on cringe-worthy, the ending was needed to deliver the real final twist and meaning, which was that the show was never even really about the island at all.

The writers made it very clear in Jack’s conversation with his father than the events on the island did happen, and implicitly that only the parts originally discussed as ‘flash-sideways’ from Season 6 were the purgatorial allegory, not the island parts itself. The ending was never meant to feel like a perfect cadence, you’re supposed to feel a little cheated out of answers to the big questions because that is the nature of life - you just can’t know everything. Jack begins as a man of science, seeking answers, retribution, to lead men and to better his father’s footsteps, and ends up letting go and embracing his fate.

The Dharma Initiative, time travel, Walt’s psychic powers, the ‘light cave’ at the center of the island, the smoke monster, the frozen donkey wheel, the numbers, Miles, Richard, Jacob and Hurley’s strange powers, and every other mystery that gave the show it’s character have been left purposefully unexplained because that’s the point - ‘why?’ is not important in the end. We don’t know whether there’s a true meaning for existence and it’s very likely that we’ll either never know or that there is no meaning at all, but as a person you can either accept that ‘whatever happens, happens’, or you can struggle against it and go crazy, but regardless of theisms and whether a next life exists or not, your present life will end at some point and you’ll have to let go - whether it’s today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, when you’re a hundred, or less likely with some freaky science in 3010.

Conclusively, and if you’ll allow me to once more labour the Lost/Life simile - meaning and enjoyment are never to be found in the beginning or the end, rather your interpretation of how the events takes place. You can either obsess with finding the answers, or you can recognise the futility of the questions. It up to you.
Click to expand...
 
More questions that I've read. Before Jacob and MiB was born, the "mother" was protecting the island. From what or who? Once MiB died, what happened to the smoke itself? Couldn't it just evaporate away? Why was Hurley protecting the island?
 
FlawlessCowboy said:
Someone has basically written what I just did, but in a much better way.

http://gotwit.tumblr.com/post/627850119/found
Click to expand...

He puts it well and I like how he's taken that from the show.

But for me, I watched the show for the crazy storylines that had my curiosity going and the theories that had everyone talking.

But really, it is just about the characters and their development. The island and the mysteries have been a means to an end. It's just been to show how the characters have grown and worked together. The storylines have been brushed away.

I feel like I've watched six seasons of Neighbours based on an island.
 
DagsJT said:
He puts it well and I like how he's taken that from the show.

But for me, I watched the show for the crazy storylines that had my curiosity going and the theories that had everyone talking.

But really, it is just about the characters and their development. The island and the mysteries have been a means to an end. It's just been to show how the characters have grown and worked together. The storylines have been brushed away.

I feel like I've watched six seasons of Neighbours based on an island.
Click to expand...

:LOL:

So true. And..

I felt the same right after I had finished watching it. But after thinking about it and reading various things I'm happy with the ending, even knowing that the island was a 'backdrop' to how you nicely put it, six seasons of a character driven drama.
 
Again, enforcing what we all already know but the second bit about Eloise is interesting and something I didn't think of.

The main timeline is all TRUE. When they caused the H bomb to blow up and stop the flight, they went back to the proper time in the timeline, however also caused what we thought an 'alternate timeline' in which the plane and all the island business never happened. The alt timeline is different as in the main, each of the characters are flawed (Locke is alone, jack has no son, Hurley is cursed etc) causing Jacob to choose them to become the new Jacob to protect the island. However, in the alt, all of their lives are fufilled (Locke is engaged, Jack has son, Hurley isn't cursed) making it a better reality.

We then learn that it is not an 'alt timeline' but instead a 'purgatory life' that they have created for them to live in once they have died in the main timeline. Its so that they can move on from the flawed life and enjoy a true and proper life. Eloise knew this and tried to keep both of the timelines seperate as she killed her son in the flawed life and wanted her son to be safe in this unflawed life. However, the two began to merge and the people in the unflawed life have the memories of the flawed life so they can all be friends in a status that all of them have rich and fufilled lives. If you were a sinner, or did not believe, then you weren't able to go to this 'unflawed life' or something like that (Micheal killed innocent people, etc)
 
FlawlessCowboy said:
:LOL:

So true. And..

I felt the same right after I had finished watching it. But after thinking about it and reading various things I'm happy with the ending, even knowing that the island was a 'backdrop' to how you nicely put it, six seasons of a character driven drama.
Click to expand...

That's my issue. I wanted the island to be the main focus, not the backdrop :(
 
Thoroughly enjoyed the ending/finale/conclusion/explanation. The final shot/s were perfect.

I look forward to the complete box set.

Michael Giacchino is my new hero, the score for all six season was beautiful.
 
See, I was hoping that by the end of Lost that all of the mysteries (or most) would make sense. I wanted to go back to S01E01 and rewatch them all. And they'd all make sense.

It's just not worth watching again now.
 
DagsJT said:
See, I was hoping that by the end of Lost that all of the mysteries (or most) would make sense. I wanted to go back to S01E01 and rewatch them all. And they'd all make sense.

It's just not worth watching again now.
Click to expand...

It sounds cheesy as fuck, but you've just gotta try and let go. Let go of all that stuff cause its not important. I felt like you do now about an hour ago, but it finally clicked for me and now I just feel like it was a superb ending, as well as an immense feeling of sadness that its all over.
 
FlawlessCowboy said:
It sounds cheesy as fuck, but you've just gotta try and let go. Let go of all that stuff cause its not important. I felt like you do now about an hour ago, but it finally clicked for me and now I just feel like it was a superb ending, as well as an immense feeling of sadness that its all over.
Click to expand...

Hang on. Is this the point of it all? Am I supposed to let go just like Jack did?

Will I see you, PBB and Tuta in a church once I accept the end of Lost?
 
Was in tears several times throughout the finale, was really emotional for me.

Despite many answers unanswered, I enjoyed that episode and will remember LOST as one of my all time favorite shows, six years of my life I feel so attached now.
 
matt1288 said:
Was in tears several times throughout the finale, was really emotional for me.
Click to expand...

I got close :LOL: Like I said earlier, the directing was superb. The music as well. Really well put together.

Right. Widmore. What was the point of him? What about these rules?

Why was the island under the sea at the start of the season?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
DagsJT said:
I got close :LOL: Like I said earlier, the directing was superb. The music as well. Really well put together.

Right. Widmore. What was the point of him? What about these rules?

Why was the island under the sea at the start of the season?
Click to expand...

Obviously the island was a very special place and held great power, so Widmore just wanted it for that purpose.

As for it being underwater - pretty sure that was just a symbolic thing in the sense that, this is what will happen if Jack doesn't fulfill his purpose.
 
I'll tell you something. I would buy a book that explained most/all of the common questions and their backstory.

No more Lost episodes but they could easily knock up a book with it in, and that'd sell by the bucketload as well.
 
hmmm :FAIL:

I liked the ending in the sense that the characters found happiness or found closure. That was nice... and it was quite cool to see them all clicking one by one thanks to Desmond.



I hated that a lot of the mysteries and stories were completely forgotten. No amount of persuading from others with 'no no.. you see it's actually a great ending... just think about like me!' is going to change my mind. Yes I understand what the ending they gave us meant... but I watched it not for Kate and the other cocks who constantly did stupid things but for the mysteries of the show. The strange 'HOLY SHIT' moments that left you thinking 'how can this be? 'I can't wait to see how they explain this'. Why should I ignore all of the contradictions and plot holes just because the ending gave closure to a few people's lives? Makes no sense.

For me the negatives vastly outweigh the positives.

I would have liked to at least seen a few flashes forward of Hurley, Ben and Desmond living on the island... maybe growing old together or leaving the island and moving on. The same for the plane gang... and then one by one we see them all dying as old people just as Jack's dad is explaining that this place isn't reality or whatever the hell they were saying.

Maybe they could have used Walt to explain the alt reality somewhat. Maybe they could of had Jacob appear at the end and they all go to thank him and then he says 'oh no...' and out comes old man walt who explains that he created this alternative timeline so they could be happy... so they could find each other and move on.

I don;t know... maybe even Jacob just coming out with his brother and telling them all to take their virtual reality head sets off.. the experiment is now over... thank you for your participation. (didn't a show do that? I know red dwarf did it but I'm sure a show really ended like that)

Anything is better than nothing.

It was fun while it lasted, but ultimately it's left me thinking that they just made up most of the show on a week by week basis. Too many episodes added nothing to the plot and were of no use. The whole couple who had diamonds and then that spider poison paralysed them for example. It's like they had different script writers for each series and the new people who came in didn't want to be dictated to by the old writer and so would just write out stories they didn't like.

Sure I enjoyed what I saw these past years but the main part of that was the constant feeling of 'wow.. this story is amazing.. I cant wait to see where this is going and why!'

Not 'This story is amazing... I hope they never answer the mysteries of it and just bullshit me with a 'it was all a dream' ending.


It seems that JJ and his gang just read the Narnia books, liked the idea of them dying at the start but it never being told to us and then at the end they realise they're dead and move on.
 
Last edited:
Found this post and found it interesting.

I watched the Jimmy Kimmel special after the finale. Jimmy said to his TV audience, "If you were expecting it to be all wrapped up, you're probably missing the point."
Matthew Fox was his first guest and Jimmy presented him with his own theory: "In a lot of religions, Christianity being one of them, the idea is that life is a test. That you go through your life and if you're good, you go to heaven or nirvana or whatever; and if you're bad, you don't, you go to hell or you don't go anywhere. My theory is that the whole show, from beginning to end, we're watching Jack's test... and his life on the island, I think, was his real life... and obviously Jack passed the test... maybe each of the other characters has their own story and their own test, but this show, I think, was Jack's test."
Matthew replied, "But at the same time I think what's beautiful the way it ends is that there's room for interpretation depending on one's spiritual beliefs. I think there are also religions that believe that when you die, you go to a place and that place can last for a nano second or it can be an extended period of time, where you have to remember your own death and all of the people who were instrumental to you, who you loved the most and helped you the most, and were the most important to you; you have to remember all of them, and in remembering them, lead up to the moment that you died before you can move on to whatever's next."
I like that and I agree with it, too.
Click to expand...
 
DagsJT said:
Found this post and found it interesting.
Click to expand...

Makes sense... well until you remember that the show features many more peoples stories, flash backs not involving Jack, flash forwards with no Jack... other peoples history, ancient tribles being on the island, Jacob doing his shit and his mum and his brother...

I don't buy it. The show should have ended with no question, no 'well it's up to you what you want to think' because we should know what the writers were thinking. We should know why they wrote all that bullshit because that's how it works. You don't write a story and then abandon it and then try to still act like it was intentional.

I've never read a book that ends 15 pages from the back and says 'ahhh you just make up whatever end you want... it's all just irrelevant at the end of the day as we hurtle through the universe into nothing and fade into dust in the wind...
 
Cloverfield was done by JJ Abrams as well, and that had an open ending too.
 
Carlton Cuse, 3 years ago :

"Even though we get asked a lot of questions about the mythology, we're really trying to write a character show. We spend about 80-90 percent of our time talking about how the characters are lost in their own lives as people. The mythology is kind of the frosting on the cake."
 
I just watched the Q/A with the fans and Kimmel said that the blu-ray will contain
explanations about Walt and why polar bears were on the island.
We'll see...
 
tuta said:
Carlton Cuse, 3 years ago :

"Even though we get asked a lot of questions about the mythology, we're really trying to write a character show. We spend about 80-90 percent of our time talking about how the characters are lost in their own lives as people. The mythology is kind of the frosting on the cake."
Click to expand...

I guess they like cake made mostly of frosting then.
 
pboreham said:
1) Aaron
- 'special' why? Storyline was forgotten pretty much as soon as it started. How cool an ended would it have been if it had been about Aaron? They you'd be like 'aaah, that NOW makes sense' and the investment of the viewer would have been slightly more justified.
Click to expand...

Lindelof: What are the polar bears, or, "What's the story with Aaron?" And we go, okay, the story with Aaron is that a psychic told Claire that he was special, but then subsequently, in an Eko episode, we revealed that the psychic was a fraud. So people are like, "Why is Aaron special?" and we're like, "But, that wasn't true. That guy was a liar." "Well, why did The Others abduct him?" Well, the Others revealed that they abducted him because he was a baby born on the island, and they wanted to see if there was anything they could glean scientifically to solve their fertility issues.

And so there it is in the show, in black and white, but people still say, "So why is Aaron special?!" or, "What are you going to reveal about him?" Aaron became emotionally special, because Kate ended up having to raise him and she ended up returning to the island to bring Claire back home. So that's why he's special. But if you're looking for the answer to, "What are his superpowers?" or "When will he finally deploy his laser eyes?", the answer is… the finale. He deploys his laser eyes in the finale.

I don't understand why
people thought he was special. A lot of people seemed to have missed that the psychic was a scam.
 
Jesus, where do I start. Why can't Smokie change into other people any more? Whatshername seemed to know that somehow. Why didn't anybody know about the secret temple with Dougen in it? Why was he trying to kill Sayid? What was his test about? What was the infection? What were the Others' shenanigans about in the first few seasons? Why did they even bother time-travelling? Who built the "Push the button" station, and why did it save the world? Why did Jacob allow himself to be killed? What was Widmore's plan? What the fuck was up with the numbers? What was Jacob's thinking? He told them almost nothing in the end. What was Smokie's thinking? If he really needed everybody dead from the candidates list, it seems to me that he could have done it in a much more straightforward fashion. A long long time ago. What was the thinking of the various different groups of Others and their liason with Jacob. It just doesn't make sense.

This is just all off the top of my head, but I can confidently say that if I went through the series and analysed all the things that I have forgotten about because I was hoping it would all be even loosely referenced to or explained at least to some small extent somewhere down the line, I'd have a mountain of forgotten mysteries that amounted to nothing more than a mountain of red herrings.
Click to expand...

Good points, especially about Sayid. That was completely forgotten in the end.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom