I really want the crazy eye-patch russian guy to turn up in the real timeline again...maybe even wrestle the smoke monster to the ground and SPINNING PILEDRIVER that sucka...would be awesome.
I now face the prospect of not one but two people in the office determined to read the ending online and try and tell me before tomorrow evening. :poly127:
It all seems rushed and the pacing is off in the final episodes, I'm hoping for a decent enough finale. I mean, Widmore comes to the island, does hardly anything and then dies. Thats about as comprehensive as the people in Star Trek who wore red suits and got killed off. Theres not much substance because theres no logic in why things are happening.
Yep it feels like they need another season to actually wrap this up properly.
Wow Talk about you all time let downs. Deep down I knew they wouldn't be able to answer all the crap they laid out.
The journey was fun and I give props to the writers for creating some great characters and great character moments, but they totally dropped the ball on the big picture stuff.
one of my buddies facebook status updates during the show last night..
Jack tries to put the turd back into the toilet...no good. Jack starts to cry. Plane heads down the runway...go Jeff Fahey go! Back to Jack, the toilet is no longer angry and is glowing once again. Fat guy is very happy...until he realizes Jack is not coming back....
LOL.. Desmond had to unplug the toilet, and Jack had to put the turd back in the toilet. AWesome..
It's disappointing to see how many people still think that the island was purgatory, etc and that everyone died in the crash. Pay attention to Christian's speech: he makes it clear that the island was real and that while everyone in the church was dead, they didn't die in the crash. Some died before Jack did (Boone, Libby, Shannon, etc.) and some died much later (presumably Claire, Sawyer, Kate, Ben, Hurley etc).
They all came together in the flash-sideways to find each other - again Christian says 'this is the place you all created so you could find each other again' - because the experiences they had on the island and the relationships they formed were the most powerful and moving ones of their lives.
As Lost has always done, they swerved us by putting time out of sequence - we presumed that the sideways was an alternate reality created by the detonating of the bomb but that was a bit of misdirection. The 'sideways' was actually a point in time - or 'outside of time', if you will - in which all of the characters had eventually died, some in the dramatic events we witnessed and some presumably of old age, and were reuniting in the afterlife.
The sideways allowed them to find peace and to reconcile the issues that haunted them in life (Jack's relationship with his son helped him to overcome his relationship with his father, Ben protected Alex when he didn'tdo so in life, etc.) and as they found greater peace they also found one another again.
It all culminates with Jack 'letting go' and rejoining the others. Beautiful, poetic ending, not about fantasty or mystery, but about love and relationships. The people that mean the most to us are the people we share the most with. These are our true family, our teachers and our guides.
It's a shame that so many viewers missed or misunderstood this, but I'm assuming that this is why the writers went the way they did - so we would continue to discuss and explore the mysteries and meanings of the most creative show ever to grace television. For those of us that took the time and thought to 'get it', the finale was and will continue to be a wonderful gift.
(taken from a fan's post) - I couldn't have said it better.
I liked the ending , they could have never lived up to any of the expectations people had been building up for 6 seasons long of how the plot was going to turn out but i think they took a nice direction with this one.
So many things left open, but as I mentioned earlier, I had expected it to be that way. I enjoyed the episode, but I wish some of the previous episodes (this season) had brought more closure to other items, rather than doing some of the filler shit.
Vassago, I agree with that post. I was yelling at the radio today, hearing people call in who had completely missed some of the details, and made claims based on their missed information. I guess some people just wanted to their predetermined conclusion to fit, so they unknowingly forgot other reveals.
Personally, I think we were watching 'purgatory' when we saw the 'sideways' timeline. They were being reconnected with their past (when they were alive), so they could move on into eternity. I think Ben stayed outside, because he didn't feel he was ever accepted into that group (or maybe didn't feel he was 'good' enough to be allowed in there).
They did do a good job of keeping me still guessing theories as the show went on. For instance, I started thinking that Jack doing surgery on Locke, would cause his memory trigger, because it would remind him of doing surgery on Ben (and trying to decide whether or not to kill him). Obviously, I was wrong
It's disappointing to see how many people still think that the island was purgatory, etc and that everyone died in the crash. Pay attention to Christian's speech: he makes it clear that the island was real and that while everyone in the church was dead, they didn't die in the crash. Some died before Jack did (Boone, Libby, Shannon, etc.) and some died much later (presumably Claire, Sawyer, Kate, Ben, Hurley etc).
They all came together in the flash-sideways to find each other - again Christian says 'this is the place you all created so you could find each other again' - because the experiences they had on the island and the relationships they formed were the most powerful and moving ones of their lives.
As Lost has always done, they swerved us by putting time out of sequence - we presumed that the sideways was an alternate reality created by the detonating of the bomb but that was a bit of misdirection. The 'sideways' was actually a point in time - or 'outside of time', if you will - in which all of the characters had eventually died, some in the dramatic events we witnessed and some presumably of old age, and were reuniting in the afterlife.
The sideways allowed them to find peace and to reconcile the issues that haunted them in life (Jack's relationship with his son helped him to overcome his relationship with his father, Ben protected Alex when he didn'tdo so in life, etc.) and as they found greater peace they also found one another again.
It all culminates with Jack 'letting go' and rejoining the others. Beautiful, poetic ending, not about fantasty or mystery, but about love and relationships. The people that mean the most to us are the people we share the most with. These are our true family, our teachers and our guides.
It's a shame that so many viewers missed or misunderstood this, but I'm assuming that this is why the writers went the way they did - so we would continue to discuss and explore the mysteries and meanings of the most creative show ever to grace television. For those of us that took the time and thought to 'get it', the finale was and will continue to be a wonderful gift.
(taken from a fan's post) - I couldn't have said it better.
Couldn't possibly have said it better. I enjoyed the ending. It felt very satisfying and I will be missing lost now that it's over.
The Target commercials were the best part of the finale.
This whole season started of like a giant balloon that was ready to explode..instead, it deflated and we were left with a wrinkled limp piece of rubber that they threw into the air and landed with a soggy splat on face of so many lost fans...see past the spittle filled balloon on your face..see the true meaning...
I would have been happy with aliens..or vampires....or sliders meets vampire aliens..blah..good ride though
Jesse, how are you satisfied with so many loose ends still remaining? I don't even mind trivial things like the Egyptian statue so much, but I can't believe the core element of the show, the mysterious island, was never explained.
For 5.75 seasons, we knew there's been something special about the island. In the last four episodes, we find out that the special thing is some magical golden light (no idea what) that has to be protected (no idea why) because some crazy, possibly magical woman (no idea who) told Jacob he has to do it. Man, that is weak sauce. Huge plot points from all five prior seasons, like what the smoke monster is (not who, but what) and why pregnancies can't survive the island were simply ignored.
At the very end of the finale, Christian tells Jack something to the effect of what they did on the island was the most important thing any of them had ever done. Was it really? Then maybe we should have been SHOWN that instead of TOLD that. I only know it's important because Jacob said so, not because I saw even the tiniest bit of it for myself.
I'm fine with not having everything spelled out in detail, but to walk away six years later and still not understand WHY the island was special, what it's unique properties were... I literally couldn't be more disappointed in how it was 'resolved'.
Agreed Tom. They still didn't show why anyone gave a shit about that island, other than it had special powers. Nothing about why it needed to be protected.
It almost felt like the last Indiana Jones movie. Like this island was running on some giant alien engine, and pulling that dildo out of the island, caused it to start overheating. Heat comes out of the islands hole, and weird engine shutdown noises are made. Once Jack puts it in the island, water starts flowing again and the island is happy.
I also saw a tweet last night that had a good point. If MiB was shoved down the creek unconscious, how did he make it to the pool to be converted. It does seem like there is another hole, where it shit out MiB and Jack into that pond.
OH, and how the hell did that donkey wheel get installed?
If they were dead on the other timeline, how come they could kill people?
I mean.. the guy that killed ben's daaughter.. got shot by sayid in the restaurant.. so he died twice?
Really.. crappy ending.. i wanted awnsers.. i got questions..
now you can say that the characters are what made the show.. true.. but what drove me to watch the show was the premiss that something else was on the island.. and i mean.. what was that?
i dont know.
yeh i enjoyed the ending but more explanation is definitely needed about wtf was going on in that light source area.......
what was it? how and who built the chamber? how did the source turn 'locke' into the smoke? why did the smoke leave 'locke' once the cork had been pulled out? i really would have liked a bit more explanation about the dharma initiative they kind of fizzled out after the whole time traveling episodes, also i would have liked to have known a bit more about the wheel and how it came about if the mother of the brothers destroyed the village?
anyway 6 years of lost over....duno if im sad or happy
The smoke didn't leave Locke. MiB lost his powers when the island did. So, he ended up permanently formed as Locke, and he was no longer immortal (just like Richard becoming mortal too).
Why didn't Jack turn into the smoke monster? THAT would have been an interesting ending.
If he didn't turn into the smoke monster, how'd he get up the underground rockface?
I still don't get the need for the other timeline, either. If they were in some kind of limbo, waiting to meet to leave/get over whatever it was, then why did they all have jobs?
This whole last season seemed a bit floaty/patchy/picked out of a hat, and I found the ending in particular to be a big disappointment.
They essentially told everyone in that finale that all the shit everyone wants answers to isn't important. They said it both symbolically (destroying the island), and literally (flat out said it before the finale in the 2hr recap).
I agree it'd be neat to know "who built the statue," "why are there hieroglyphics there," "what happened to Jin & Suns daughter," "did the plane make it off the island," "why did the widmores know wtf was going on," "desmond? wtf?" etc, etc, etc, etc, etc... but that shit doesn't matter for what the writer's goals for the show were. I think there'd be just as much butt-hurt if they explained it, and it wasn't up to everyone's liking. A lot of folks seem to expect and feel obligated to get answers - and they, the writers, wanted to keep it mysterious and similar to the tone of the original pilot. "Who are these people?" and "where are we?" questions were throughly answered.
I enjoyed the ending. Don't quite have a good grip on it yet, but I can't wait to watch the entire 6 seasons again
I still don't get the need for the other timeline, either. If they were in some kind of limbo, waiting to meet to leave/get over whatever it was, then why did they all have jobs?
Christian explained that. Jack and his friends, created the world that world for themselves. It actually ties back to what I had said in an earlier prediction, where they basically all ended up living a life the way they wish their lives had been.
BTW, if those other answers weren't important, then why the hell did they even bother offering the information in the first place? Did they sit around stoned in a room, and just think of useless shit they could add?
I feel a bit cheated. Part of the pay-off of a good mystery is that "Aha! Now it makes sense" moment when the writer reveals how the wheels turned in the background. Making things mysterious is fun, but the real test is whether or not there is an actual reason behind it all.
Who here would want to read a murder mystery novel where at the end of book the Detective just says, "Well, a lot of the clues are confusing, and we'll never know who committed the murder, but damn it all I made some good friends along the way." That kind of thing bugs me and honestly feels indicative of lazy writing and/or writing without purpose or a plan.
Earlier in the show I felt like there were pay-offs to the mysteries. Like the episode where they revealed that Oceanic 815 crashed because Desmond didn't push the Button, which caused a burst of Electromagnetic energy. I remember thinking to myself, "Oh cool, it's all tying together" and really enjoying that. Somewhere along the line they stopped doing that. Oh well.
They essentially told everyone in that finale that all the shit everyone wants answers to isn't important. They said it both symbolically (destroying the island), and literally (flat out said it before the finale in the 2hr recap).
Who here would want to read a murder mystery novel where at the end of book the Detective just says, "Well, a lot of the clues are confusing, and we'll never know who committed the murder, but damn it all I made some good friends along the way." .
Well clearly the person was murdered because it needs to happen, and it always has to be him. Who he was, what he did, and who killed him are NOT IMPORTANT.
Like someone explained before - it's the glowing light in Jule's briefcase...
Do you really need to have everything laid out on a silver platter for you? Part of the intrigue about LOST was not knowing!
The island tapped into earth's magnetic energy. Maybe it was spiritual, maybe it was alien, who knows? Does that shit really matter when it comes to these characters? No not really. They were driven by purpose, by faith - whatever.
The main focus for this entire series has been on these characters and what they are going through. Everything else - all of this Dharma shit, time travel, glowing light - it was all mind candy to enjoy along the way.
I can understand people wanting more from the story or the scientific aspects of the show. But I'm not sure that knowing every answer to every possible thing would have left me satisfied. In fact, I'd have been disappointed. I think they closed out this amazing story in the best way possible.
But please, if you think your ending would be better, write it here for all to read. I know I'd love to read them.
Welcome to the wonderful world of MacGuffin. In a nutshell, all the shit that you felt like should have been answered (they island, mother, walt, dharma initiative, etc, etc) were all devices that in essence did nothing, but helped to create a vehicle that moved the character development forward.
The defining aspect of a MacGuffin is that the major players in the story are (at least initially) willing to do and sacrifice almost anything to obtain it, regardless of what the MacGuffin actually is. In fact, the specific nature of the MacGuffin may be ambiguous, undefined, generic, left open to interpretation or otherwise completely unimportant to the plot.
Christian explained that. Jack and his friends, created the world that world for themselves. It actually ties back to what I had said in an earlier prediction, where they basically all ended up living a life the way they wish their lives had been.
That's part of what makes it feel horribly patchy. I did catch that in the finale, but dismissed it (or tried my hardest to forget it was ever said).
They "created" this alternate world for themselves. But........how?
Did Second Life get a graphics overhaul I haven't heard about, or? :P
But please, if you think your ending would be better, write it here for all to read. I know I'd love to read them.
It's not the ending that I had issue with. Again, overall I liked the last episode. What I would like rewritten, is 60% of the previous episodes. I would have not written a show to answer one question, then open up 3 more, if I had never planned on answering for any of the added shit.
Leaving things to interpretation is fine even, but sometimes, there are things that need to be closed. If that wasn't the case, there wouldn't be so many people pissed about the still opened questions.
Agreeably, I would not have enjoyed an episode that basically went down a list of open questions, and took each item to conclusion. That should have been done throughout the series. There was room to close up a few other items though.
Edit: Oh, and seeing the return of Boone and Shannon +1... I wish somehow, Eco was brought in somehow. That was one of my favorite characters, though short lived.
Like someone explained before - it's the glowing light in Jule's briefcase...
Do you really need to have everything laid out on a silver platter for you? Part of the intrigue about LOST was not knowing!
Ack, I hate it when I see people say this. There's a whole lot of ground between wanting to have everything and what the finale actually delivered.
For me, the big hook with the series was the island. Yeah, the characters were good and all, but lots of shows have good characters. It's the big mystery that got my attention, and the entire premise of the show was built on it.
In the end, all I know is that the island is apparently like a cork that's holding in some magical light, and if the light leaks out, that's bad. That's not any kind of resolution to any of the things that got me into the show. I don't know how anyone could watch Desmond wading into the pool and moving the plug, and not care what's going on. What is the light? Who built the cave? Why is the plug necessary? How is it connected to the smoke monster, or time-travel, or electro-magnetics, or fatal pregnancies, or the failsafe switch, or any of the other island mysteries?
Honestly, I don't understand how anyone would not be curious about this stuff, or can just walk away without answers and feel satisfied.
Actually, why was Desmond even necessary for pulling the plug? Obviously, other people had tried, and Widmore was aware of the field protecting the plug, so why would no one try lassoing that rock with a rope, and pulling it out?
Welcome to the wonderful world of MacGuffin. In a nutshell, all the shit that you felt like should have been answered (they island, mother, walt, dharma initiative, etc, etc) were all devices that in essence did nothing, but helped to create a vehicle that moved the character development forward.
that being said, i liked it, but felt like there could have been more.
The problem I have the definition of Lost's island/light as a MacGuffin is that it mentions the object is unimportant to the plot. That's not the case in lost. The island and the things it manifested killed people, saved people, changed history and apparently had a profound effect on the balance of good and evil on Earth.
If you take away the mysterious briefcase in Pulp Fiction and replace it with something mundane and ordinary, maybe Marcellus Wallace's lunch, the story still works (or at least until the final scene, which needs a dialogue change.) If you replace the island in Lost with something ordinary, even just a normal tropical island, the whole series is gone. There's no mystery, no conflcit, no compelling reason for the characters to do anything but sit on a beach and wait for rescue. It's much more important than Jules's briefcase or the Maltese Falcon or any other traditional empty plot device.
Agree with the criticism. There needed to be one last major plot reveal; the island. Everything else could be left unanswered, but without one concrete answer as to the mechanics of the Island you literally don't know why anything that happened was important. It literally was just a bunch of stuff that happened.
It was an emotionally satisfying ending, and intellectually and story telling wise limp one.
I mean just knowing that the Island is the gateway between life and the afterlife, somehow relating to Egyption mythology; that'd have done it. The series would have been complete. It'd tie in why the ending was important, and why MiB and Jacob's struggle and protecting the Island, etc. etc. were all important.
sigh...
I think the writers tried too hard to let people fill in the blanks, and forgot why we should care about anything at all. Letting fans work it out is fine and all, but as the creators of the universe and mythology, you have to step up and show how the mechanics work. That's the sad obligation. Everyone else looks to the writers for canon, not their own opinions.
The main focus for this entire series has been on these characters and what they are going through. Everything else - all of this Dharma shit, time travel, glowing light - it was all mind candy to enjoy along the way.
Yes, the characters. But I for one find it hard to connect with the characters, with them running around the island and doing things without a good logic and reasoning, making decisions just coz they feel it's gonna work, taking whatever meaningless s*** Jacob throw at them as acceptable answers...etc. I just can't put any heart into these characters when half the time it just felt like they are kidding me.
I thoroughly enjoyed the finale, and thought it was almost perfect. I don't see why the flash-sideways was introduced at all however, the reveal felt a little unconvincing. Surely they could have had that church moment without a whole season of flash-sideways, after all, it was an illusion that wasn't really them at their happiest, it turns out.
Also we never really got an answer as to why Ben killed Locke. And it was weird that Walt wasn't in the church, such an important character.
I'm happy though Bye Lost. Cheers for all the great memories.
Agree with the criticism. There needed to be one last major plot reveal; the island.
why does it matter what it was? It's open to interpretation. It could have been spiritual, alien or something ancient and scientific - it doesn't really matter.
The meaning of the show changes based on your own beliefs about what the island itself is. What if the writers had made in canon that this island was the land of god? Would you have been satisfied then? It would alienate millions of people who have different beliefs. My own personal take on the island alters the meaning of every event in the show, compared to someone else who say, takes a very spiritual/religious view of it.
The constants in this show were the characters. We found out every detail about them. Their past, their futures, their faults and merits. The island, while mysterious and instrumental in keeping me hooked to the show, had absolutely no emotional tie to me. I didn't care about the island, it was simply interesting.
In the end, the island will always be there, the people will not. Their story was far more important to me than knowing the exact nature of the island.
Vassago> But it does matter, because there was no reason to care what happens at the penultimate moment if we don't know what the stakes are.
We're just told that everything will be bad if Flocke wins.
Yeah, well, without a demonstration of why then it doesn't matter.
I don't think people needed a literal explanation, they needed to be illustrated how the Island functions to the plot. An explanation through action, if not words. Instead we got a butt plug that apparently agitates the Island to death if removed.
Huh? This does not demonstrate anything, it doesn't explain why the Island, or the characters actions are important at all in the big picture.
The writers opted to stick with an emotional resolution to everything, but without a fundamental basis for which the rewards of success or failure are measured, you're left without any measure for why sacrifice is or was necessary; unless you really never gave a shit about what anyone was doing, and you're just more involved with them as people.
why does it matter what it was? It's open to interpretation. It could have been spiritual, alien or something ancient and scientific - it doesn't really matter.
The meaning of the show changes based on your own beliefs about what the island itself is. What if the writers had made in canon that this island was the land of god? Would you have been satisfied then? It would alienate millions of people who have different beliefs. My own personal take on the island alters the meaning of every event in the show, compared to someone else who say, takes a very spiritual/religious view of it.
The constants in this show were the characters. We found out every detail about them. Their past, their futures, their faults and merits. The island, while mysterious and instrumental in keeping me hooked to the show, had absolutely no emotional tie to me. I didn't care about the island, it was simply interesting.
In the end, the island will always be there, the people will not. Their story was far more important to me than knowing the exact nature of the island.
An outstanding observation, and I totally agree with it. I loved the ending, and thought it summed up so much info beautifully. I know they didn't tie down a lot of stuff, but its like, if you asked jacob, "Hey, whats up with all the aztec/egyptian shit all over the place???" Jacob, "I don/t know, I saw all of it whenever I got here...and I tried to replicate some of their artwork..." It is all about the "Pandora's box" approach.
When Kate asked Jacob why her name was crossed off the wall..."Because you became a mother...." I just felt like...well shit, that was easy, no mystery at all...
Overall I loved it, although I was confused about how Hurley became the new Jacob by jack, and was dead with them in Purgatory....Unless he is still acting as "Jacob" and came to Purgatory with them to see them off to...wherever. Really great show, great ending, and great times...
Overall, pulling out the island's buttplug was a good thing.
For one..
Smoke monster becomes vulnerable...
Sooo, he's back being human. There's no reason he can't leave the island anymore. Besides, the dude just wants to go back where he came from. It wasn't like he was set on destroying the world or killing everyone.
Two.. the island sinks, and falls away.
I'm sure one of those boulders would've plugged that sucker up and the light can be protected under the sea.. but really..
what good was the light anyways, it didn't seem like it had a purpose .. except for annoying the crap out of the people who had to stick around to make sure it was safe and.... the fact that the island would die without it. Good Riddance!
*obviously I'm not a fan of the ending.. /Bitter Rant"
Vassago> But it does matter, because there was no reason to care what happens at the penultimate moment if we don't know what the stakes are.
We're just told that everything will be bad if Flocke wins.
Yeah, well, without a demonstration of why then it doesn't matter.
I don't think people needed a literal explanation, they needed to be illustrated how the Island functions to the plot. An explanation through action, if not words. Instead we got a butt plug that apparently agitates the Island to death if removed.
Huh? This does not demonstrate anything, it doesn't explain why the Island, or the characters actions are important at all in the big picture.
The writers opted to stick with an emotional resolution to everything, but without a fundamental basis for which the rewards of success or failure are measured, you're left without any measure for why sacrifice is or was necessary; unless you really never gave a shit about what anyone was doing, and you're just more involved with them as people.
You nailed it. In the end, the characters weren't motivated by their own experiences or driven by their own conclusions. They acted because Jacob Ex Machina showed up in the final act and told them what to do. None of that was important based on what I saw, it was only important because some guy said so.
The specifics of how things worked, I don't have a strong attachment to how that is explained. I just want to know what the stakes are and why, to know what drives these characters to act. I need something more than being told it's bad if they don't.
We're just told that everything will be bad if Flocke wins. Yeah, well, without a demonstration of why then it doesn't matter.
Well, why? Why do you need a demonstration? Faith is a big part of Lost - whether that's spiritual faith, faith in humanity or anything else. These characters had faith in something and that drove them to their own actions.
If I told you something bad would happen if a giant rock slammed into earth, would you not believe me? Would you need a demonstration of the effects? While I understand that's a quite a literal example dictated by obvious cause/effect outcome, you can see my point.
The characters didn't know any better, so they had to trust what they were told. They had to have faith in these people and believe they were making the right choices as a result.
FLocke was obviously a bad entity. I mean, it was a pillar of black smoke for cryin' out loud. A cloud of smoke that routinely went on killing sprees and murdered many people over all six seasons and could take the form of dead people. Is it really be hard to understand why it would be a bad thing for this thing to get off the island?
Replies
Typo :S
[ame]
I now face the prospect of not one but two people in the office determined to read the ending online and try and tell me before tomorrow evening. :poly127:
The journey was fun and I give props to the writers for creating some great characters and great character moments, but they totally dropped the ball on the big picture stuff.
Jack tries to put the turd back into the toilet...no good. Jack starts to cry. Plane heads down the runway...go Jeff Fahey go! Back to Jack, the toilet is no longer angry and is glowing once again. Fat guy is very happy...until he realizes Jack is not coming back....
LOL.. Desmond had to unplug the toilet, and Jack had to put the turd back in the toilet. AWesome..
Can't wait till next season when they start explaining about the island and shit! Woo!
It's disappointing to see how many people still think that the island was purgatory, etc and that everyone died in the crash. Pay attention to Christian's speech: he makes it clear that the island was real and that while everyone in the church was dead, they didn't die in the crash. Some died before Jack did (Boone, Libby, Shannon, etc.) and some died much later (presumably Claire, Sawyer, Kate, Ben, Hurley etc).
They all came together in the flash-sideways to find each other - again Christian says 'this is the place you all created so you could find each other again' - because the experiences they had on the island and the relationships they formed were the most powerful and moving ones of their lives.
As Lost has always done, they swerved us by putting time out of sequence - we presumed that the sideways was an alternate reality created by the detonating of the bomb but that was a bit of misdirection. The 'sideways' was actually a point in time - or 'outside of time', if you will - in which all of the characters had eventually died, some in the dramatic events we witnessed and some presumably of old age, and were reuniting in the afterlife.
The sideways allowed them to find peace and to reconcile the issues that haunted them in life (Jack's relationship with his son helped him to overcome his relationship with his father, Ben protected Alex when he didn'tdo so in life, etc.) and as they found greater peace they also found one another again.
It all culminates with Jack 'letting go' and rejoining the others. Beautiful, poetic ending, not about fantasty or mystery, but about love and relationships. The people that mean the most to us are the people we share the most with. These are our true family, our teachers and our guides.
It's a shame that so many viewers missed or misunderstood this, but I'm assuming that this is why the writers went the way they did - so we would continue to discuss and explore the mysteries and meanings of the most creative show ever to grace television. For those of us that took the time and thought to 'get it', the finale was and will continue to be a wonderful gift.
(taken from a fan's post) - I couldn't have said it better.
umm.. maybe someone forgot to tell you.
but that was it. there is no next season. that was the end.
Vassago, I agree with that post. I was yelling at the radio today, hearing people call in who had completely missed some of the details, and made claims based on their missed information. I guess some people just wanted to their predetermined conclusion to fit, so they unknowingly forgot other reveals.
Personally, I think we were watching 'purgatory' when we saw the 'sideways' timeline. They were being reconnected with their past (when they were alive), so they could move on into eternity. I think Ben stayed outside, because he didn't feel he was ever accepted into that group (or maybe didn't feel he was 'good' enough to be allowed in there).
They did do a good job of keeping me still guessing theories as the show went on. For instance, I started thinking that Jack doing surgery on Locke, would cause his memory trigger, because it would remind him of doing surgery on Ben (and trying to decide whether or not to kill him). Obviously, I was wrong
Edit: Oh, and I liked the Target commercials
Whooosshh
Yes. A joke, pointed at the sheer amount of stuff that hasn't been explained.
^^
Couldn't possibly have said it better. I enjoyed the ending. It felt very satisfying and I will be missing lost now that it's over.
This whole season started of like a giant balloon that was ready to explode..instead, it deflated and we were left with a wrinkled limp piece of rubber that they threw into the air and landed with a soggy splat on face of so many lost fans...see past the spittle filled balloon on your face..see the true meaning...
I would have been happy with aliens..or vampires....or sliders meets vampire aliens..blah..good ride though
For 5.75 seasons, we knew there's been something special about the island. In the last four episodes, we find out that the special thing is some magical golden light (no idea what) that has to be protected (no idea why) because some crazy, possibly magical woman (no idea who) told Jacob he has to do it. Man, that is weak sauce. Huge plot points from all five prior seasons, like what the smoke monster is (not who, but what) and why pregnancies can't survive the island were simply ignored.
At the very end of the finale, Christian tells Jack something to the effect of what they did on the island was the most important thing any of them had ever done. Was it really? Then maybe we should have been SHOWN that instead of TOLD that. I only know it's important because Jacob said so, not because I saw even the tiniest bit of it for myself.
I'm fine with not having everything spelled out in detail, but to walk away six years later and still not understand WHY the island was special, what it's unique properties were... I literally couldn't be more disappointed in how it was 'resolved'.
It almost felt like the last Indiana Jones movie. Like this island was running on some giant alien engine, and pulling that dildo out of the island, caused it to start overheating. Heat comes out of the islands hole, and weird engine shutdown noises are made. Once Jack puts it in the island, water starts flowing again and the island is happy.
I also saw a tweet last night that had a good point. If MiB was shoved down the creek unconscious, how did he make it to the pool to be converted. It does seem like there is another hole, where it shit out MiB and Jack into that pond.
OH, and how the hell did that donkey wheel get installed?
I mean.. the guy that killed ben's daaughter.. got shot by sayid in the restaurant.. so he died twice?
Really.. crappy ending.. i wanted awnsers.. i got questions..
now you can say that the characters are what made the show.. true.. but what drove me to watch the show was the premiss that something else was on the island.. and i mean.. what was that?
i dont know.
well i feel like an ahole
:poly136:
what was it? how and who built the chamber? how did the source turn 'locke' into the smoke? why did the smoke leave 'locke' once the cork had been pulled out? i really would have liked a bit more explanation about the dharma initiative they kind of fizzled out after the whole time traveling episodes, also i would have liked to have known a bit more about the wheel and how it came about if the mother of the brothers destroyed the village?
anyway 6 years of lost over....duno if im sad or happy
SPOILERS:
Why didn't Jack turn into the smoke monster? THAT would have been an interesting ending.
If he didn't turn into the smoke monster, how'd he get up the underground rockface?
I still don't get the need for the other timeline, either. If they were in some kind of limbo, waiting to meet to leave/get over whatever it was, then why did they all have jobs?
This whole last season seemed a bit floaty/patchy/picked out of a hat, and I found the ending in particular to be a big disappointment.
I agree it'd be neat to know "who built the statue," "why are there hieroglyphics there," "what happened to Jin & Suns daughter," "did the plane make it off the island," "why did the widmores know wtf was going on," "desmond? wtf?" etc, etc, etc, etc, etc... but that shit doesn't matter for what the writer's goals for the show were. I think there'd be just as much butt-hurt if they explained it, and it wasn't up to everyone's liking. A lot of folks seem to expect and feel obligated to get answers - and they, the writers, wanted to keep it mysterious and similar to the tone of the original pilot. "Who are these people?" and "where are we?" questions were throughly answered.
I enjoyed the ending. Don't quite have a good grip on it yet, but I can't wait to watch the entire 6 seasons again
Christian explained that. Jack and his friends, created the world that world for themselves. It actually ties back to what I had said in an earlier prediction, where they basically all ended up living a life the way they wish their lives had been.
BTW, if those other answers weren't important, then why the hell did they even bother offering the information in the first place? Did they sit around stoned in a room, and just think of useless shit they could add?
Who here would want to read a murder mystery novel where at the end of book the Detective just says, "Well, a lot of the clues are confusing, and we'll never know who committed the murder, but damn it all I made some good friends along the way." That kind of thing bugs me and honestly feels indicative of lazy writing and/or writing without purpose or a plan.
Earlier in the show I felt like there were pay-offs to the mysteries. Like the episode where they revealed that Oceanic 815 crashed because Desmond didn't push the Button, which caused a burst of Electromagnetic energy. I remember thinking to myself, "Oh cool, it's all tying together" and really enjoying that. Somewhere along the line they stopped doing that. Oh well.
Well clearly the person was murdered because it needs to happen, and it always has to be him. Who he was, what he did, and who killed him are NOT IMPORTANT.
Do you really need to have everything laid out on a silver platter for you? Part of the intrigue about LOST was not knowing!
The island tapped into earth's magnetic energy. Maybe it was spiritual, maybe it was alien, who knows? Does that shit really matter when it comes to these characters? No not really. They were driven by purpose, by faith - whatever.
The main focus for this entire series has been on these characters and what they are going through. Everything else - all of this Dharma shit, time travel, glowing light - it was all mind candy to enjoy along the way.
I can understand people wanting more from the story or the scientific aspects of the show. But I'm not sure that knowing every answer to every possible thing would have left me satisfied. In fact, I'd have been disappointed. I think they closed out this amazing story in the best way possible.
But please, if you think your ending would be better, write it here for all to read. I know I'd love to read them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin
that being said, i liked it, but felt like there could have been more.
They "created" this alternate world for themselves. But........how?
Did Second Life get a graphics overhaul I haven't heard about, or? :P
It's not the ending that I had issue with. Again, overall I liked the last episode. What I would like rewritten, is 60% of the previous episodes. I would have not written a show to answer one question, then open up 3 more, if I had never planned on answering for any of the added shit.
Leaving things to interpretation is fine even, but sometimes, there are things that need to be closed. If that wasn't the case, there wouldn't be so many people pissed about the still opened questions.
Agreeably, I would not have enjoyed an episode that basically went down a list of open questions, and took each item to conclusion. That should have been done throughout the series. There was room to close up a few other items though.
Edit: Oh, and seeing the return of Boone and Shannon +1... I wish somehow, Eco was brought in somehow. That was one of my favorite characters, though short lived.
Ack, I hate it when I see people say this. There's a whole lot of ground between wanting to have everything and what the finale actually delivered.
For me, the big hook with the series was the island. Yeah, the characters were good and all, but lots of shows have good characters. It's the big mystery that got my attention, and the entire premise of the show was built on it.
In the end, all I know is that the island is apparently like a cork that's holding in some magical light, and if the light leaks out, that's bad. That's not any kind of resolution to any of the things that got me into the show. I don't know how anyone could watch Desmond wading into the pool and moving the plug, and not care what's going on. What is the light? Who built the cave? Why is the plug necessary? How is it connected to the smoke monster, or time-travel, or electro-magnetics, or fatal pregnancies, or the failsafe switch, or any of the other island mysteries?
Honestly, I don't understand how anyone would not be curious about this stuff, or can just walk away without answers and feel satisfied.
The problem I have the definition of Lost's island/light as a MacGuffin is that it mentions the object is unimportant to the plot. That's not the case in lost. The island and the things it manifested killed people, saved people, changed history and apparently had a profound effect on the balance of good and evil on Earth.
If you take away the mysterious briefcase in Pulp Fiction and replace it with something mundane and ordinary, maybe Marcellus Wallace's lunch, the story still works (or at least until the final scene, which needs a dialogue change.) If you replace the island in Lost with something ordinary, even just a normal tropical island, the whole series is gone. There's no mystery, no conflcit, no compelling reason for the characters to do anything but sit on a beach and wait for rescue. It's much more important than Jules's briefcase or the Maltese Falcon or any other traditional empty plot device.
It was an emotionally satisfying ending, and intellectually and story telling wise limp one.
I mean just knowing that the Island is the gateway between life and the afterlife, somehow relating to Egyption mythology; that'd have done it. The series would have been complete. It'd tie in why the ending was important, and why MiB and Jacob's struggle and protecting the Island, etc. etc. were all important.
sigh...
I think the writers tried too hard to let people fill in the blanks, and forgot why we should care about anything at all. Letting fans work it out is fine and all, but as the creators of the universe and mythology, you have to step up and show how the mechanics work. That's the sad obligation. Everyone else looks to the writers for canon, not their own opinions.
Yes, the characters. But I for one find it hard to connect with the characters, with them running around the island and doing things without a good logic and reasoning, making decisions just coz they feel it's gonna work, taking whatever meaningless s*** Jacob throw at them as acceptable answers...etc. I just can't put any heart into these characters when half the time it just felt like they are kidding me.
Also we never really got an answer as to why Ben killed Locke. And it was weird that Walt wasn't in the church, such an important character.
I'm happy though
why does it matter what it was? It's open to interpretation. It could have been spiritual, alien or something ancient and scientific - it doesn't really matter.
The meaning of the show changes based on your own beliefs about what the island itself is. What if the writers had made in canon that this island was the land of god? Would you have been satisfied then? It would alienate millions of people who have different beliefs. My own personal take on the island alters the meaning of every event in the show, compared to someone else who say, takes a very spiritual/religious view of it.
The constants in this show were the characters. We found out every detail about them. Their past, their futures, their faults and merits. The island, while mysterious and instrumental in keeping me hooked to the show, had absolutely no emotional tie to me. I didn't care about the island, it was simply interesting.
In the end, the island will always be there, the people will not. Their story was far more important to me than knowing the exact nature of the island.
We're just told that everything will be bad if Flocke wins.
Yeah, well, without a demonstration of why then it doesn't matter.
I don't think people needed a literal explanation, they needed to be illustrated how the Island functions to the plot. An explanation through action, if not words. Instead we got a butt plug that apparently agitates the Island to death if removed.
Huh? This does not demonstrate anything, it doesn't explain why the Island, or the characters actions are important at all in the big picture.
The writers opted to stick with an emotional resolution to everything, but without a fundamental basis for which the rewards of success or failure are measured, you're left without any measure for why sacrifice is or was necessary; unless you really never gave a shit about what anyone was doing, and you're just more involved with them as people.
An outstanding observation, and I totally agree with it. I loved the ending, and thought it summed up so much info beautifully. I know they didn't tie down a lot of stuff, but its like, if you asked jacob, "Hey, whats up with all the aztec/egyptian shit all over the place???" Jacob, "I don/t know, I saw all of it whenever I got here...and I tried to replicate some of their artwork..." It is all about the "Pandora's box" approach.
When Kate asked Jacob why her name was crossed off the wall..."Because you became a mother...." I just felt like...well shit, that was easy, no mystery at all...
Overall I loved it, although I was confused about how Hurley became the new Jacob by jack, and was dead with them in Purgatory....Unless he is still acting as "Jacob" and came to Purgatory with them to see them off to...wherever. Really great show, great ending, and great times...
Cheers
For one..
Smoke monster becomes vulnerable...
Sooo, he's back being human. There's no reason he can't leave the island anymore. Besides, the dude just wants to go back where he came from. It wasn't like he was set on destroying the world or killing everyone.
Two.. the island sinks, and falls away.
I'm sure one of those boulders would've plugged that sucker up and the light can be protected under the sea.. but really..
what good was the light anyways, it didn't seem like it had a purpose .. except for annoying the crap out of the people who had to stick around to make sure it was safe and.... the fact that the island would die without it. Good Riddance!
*obviously I'm not a fan of the ending.. /Bitter Rant"
You nailed it. In the end, the characters weren't motivated by their own experiences or driven by their own conclusions. They acted because Jacob Ex Machina showed up in the final act and told them what to do. None of that was important based on what I saw, it was only important because some guy said so.
The specifics of how things worked, I don't have a strong attachment to how that is explained. I just want to know what the stakes are and why, to know what drives these characters to act. I need something more than being told it's bad if they don't.
Well, why? Why do you need a demonstration? Faith is a big part of Lost - whether that's spiritual faith, faith in humanity or anything else. These characters had faith in something and that drove them to their own actions.
If I told you something bad would happen if a giant rock slammed into earth, would you not believe me? Would you need a demonstration of the effects? While I understand that's a quite a literal example dictated by obvious cause/effect outcome, you can see my point.
The characters didn't know any better, so they had to trust what they were told. They had to have faith in these people and believe they were making the right choices as a result.
FLocke was obviously a bad entity. I mean, it was a pillar of black smoke for cryin' out loud. A cloud of smoke that routinely went on killing sprees and murdered many people over all six seasons and could take the form of dead people. Is it really be hard to understand why it would be a bad thing for this thing to get off the island?