Couch Potato: Saying goodbye to ‘Lost’
By Casey Gillis on May. 26, 2010
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I was completely prepared to dislike the series finale of “Lost.”
After six years of twists, turns and seemingly unsolvable mysteries, I thought there was no way the producers could wrap it up in a satisfying way.
And, if you’re basing your opinion solely on the number of mysteries resolved or questions answered, they didn’t.
But I loved it anyway.
The episode was so jam-packed with emotion and completely satisfying character moments that I almost forgot about what they did and didn’t answer.
One big mystery was solved, though: the Sideways world we were introduced to this season was revealed to be a sort of passage-to-the-afterlife.
But the island, and everything that happened there, was real. Or, to repeat what’s become an iconic “Lost” phrase: “Whatever happened, happened.”
For those still unsure about that part, I refer you to Christian Shephard, who said this to Jack: “I’m real. You’re real. Everything that’s ever happened to you is real.”
From there, though, a lot is left up to interpretation.
Here’s mine: the Sideways world is where the castaways had to meet up before they could cross over into the light (this show really is all about the “light,” huh?).
This might be a cheesy comparison, but I’ve always loved the ending of “Titanic,” when Kate Winslet’s character dies and, in the afterlife, meets true love Leonardo DiCaprio at the top of the boat’s ballroom stairs.
Jack reuniting with his fellow castaways on “Lost” was the equivalent of that. They were the most important people in his life, the people he was most connected to. And vice versa.
I like the idea that that’s what Heaven, or the afterlife, is: being surrounded by those people.
A friend suggested that those final reunion scenes were a kind of super flash-forward. We saw Jack die on the island, intercut with flashes of him meeting up with the group again, likely years down the line after everyone else had died (Christian told Jack that some of his friends died before him, some long after him).
And it was Desmond’s reawakening that put everything into motion, as he made it his mission to get everyone into the light.
The fact that they all ended up together made the finale an easier pill to swallow. I didn’t want the series to end with them all separated or dead.
So many of these characters deserved to get their happy endings. For some, like Des and Penny, it happened in the real world. For others, like Jack and Kate and Juliet and Sawyer, it happened in the afterlife.
Among my favorite finale moments: Jack passing the island-protector torch to a choked-up Hurley, who then asked Ben to help him out; Hurley and Ben’s later exchange, when the big guy told Ben he was a “great number two;” Kate’s killing of Smokey and the quip, “I saved a bullet for you;” her tearful goodbye with Jack; and the final Locke/Ben scene, where Ben apologized for all he’d done and Locke forgave him.
Every single “aha” moment — when the characters in the Sideways world remembered their island pasts — had me in tears, especially those of Sun and Jin and Juliet and Sawyer.
Would I have liked to know what exactly the island was? Sure.
I think we’re supposed to infer that it’s connected to the world at large (See: Jacob’s mom saying that if the light goes out on the island, “it goes out everywhere”). So when the castaways saved the island from Smokey, they saved the world.
Other questions I have: How and why was Eloise Hawking so all-knowing? Could she travel between the Sideways afterlife and the real world? Why was Desmond special? What happened to Sawyer, Kate, Claire and Alpert after they left the island?
I’m sure that, upon further review, entire seasons of this show won’t fit into the overall picture. Heck, I wonder if all of this season’s Sideways flashes will add up or seem necessary in the long run.
But, for now, I’m content to listen to “Lost” creator/producer Damon Lindelof, who Twittered this after the finale: “Remember. Let go. Move on. I will miss it more than I can ever say.”
Ditto.
COMMENTS
I think that LOST could only be season 1 (or even 2) and season 6. I cannot understand the existance of all the other seasons. Darma experiments, the rescue of the oceanic survivors, the return to the island and so on… What was real and what wasn’t is unknown.
We cannot watch something for years and then tell us: “remember, let it go”.
I think they all died from the airplane crash and all “lost” is the passengers’ efforts to go to the “light” and not to the dark side.