REVIEW: My Thoughts on “The End,” The Series Finale of Lost
May 24th, 2010 by thetvchick
It is very rare that I say this, but last night’s series finale of Lost was perfect. Does that mean I am left without questions? Of course not. But has Lost, in its 6 years of existence, ever left you without questions? No. When the final moment of Jack closing his eyes and dying happened, and the famous Lost text appeared across the screen, I wasn’t quite sure what this whole season meant. But if you listen closely to Christian’s (Jack’s dad) words, and ponder it a little bit, it all begins to make sense. The sideways world was a limbo of sorts — perhaps a purgatory (but not as dreary as that), where each character had to learn to let go. When they were ready, all their memories of the island would come flooding back. It makes sense that Jack was the last one to remember, because he was in a lot of ways, the protagonist or the narrator of this whole adventure (even if we didn’t hear his voice as the narrator).
Each couple that was meant to be together, wound up together. It could have been in the afterlife, or not, but they all had their happy ending. Claire and Charlie was one of the most touching moments. I loved when it all came back to them. However, Juliet and Sawyer were my favorite couple who reunited. I absolutely loved the reference to grabbing a cup of coffee sometime, that they made together when Sawyer held Juliet in his arms on the island. When I spoke to Elizabeth Mitchell a little while back, she said she was half satisfied with her ending. I think I would have liked to see more of Juliet but I understand what she also understood–is that it’s about everyone, not just one individual character. I also really loved at the end when Jack and Kate finally kissed (afterlife or limbo or not this was a great moment).
One of my favorite non re-uniting moments was between Ben and Hurley. We are led to believe that Hurley and Ben ruled the island together for quite some time. I adore this. Hurley has always been the heart of the show, the guy who points out the crazyness and tries to make sense of it all. He has been the audience voice for quite some time. It was fitting that Jack would make him the new leader if he didn’t survive. I would absolutely LOVE to see a Hurley/Ben spin-off but I digress. In my head, Ben and Hurley ruled the island with compassion, and both eventually left and passed the torch on. I don’t think my theory is far off.
The End was about Jack letting go, and being together with all of his loved ones after he did. They all died at some point, but I’d like to think Kate, Sawyer, Miles and Desmond all lived post-Island lives. I loved that Jack was able to see the plane fly off the island. There are fans/critics on both sides of the spectrum. Some people really hated the episode, or hated the last part of it. They wanted answers to every question. I knew that I wasn’t going to be told the purpose of the entire island and their whole journey. Whatever reason Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse would give us at this point would probably seem contrived. We all have our theories, and I think that’s the way it’s meant to be. As cheesy as this might sound, in my head, it was magic. Not the entire island and all the things that come with it, but the non-coincidental meeting of all these strangers, and time travel and where their lives eventually led them, is magic in my eyes. Because every week, I was given a chance to escape into this world of the unknown. And I am so thankful for that. Perhaps the purpose of the island was to give each person who was on it a real purpose in life. Jack didn’t die alone (I mean he did have Vincent), he came together in the end with all the people that cared about him.
Afterlife, limbo, purgatory, crazy Man In Black, Smokey, flash sideways, flash forward and back into the 70s, each character ended up with who they were supposed to be with, and in such a great way. (Also, any sighting of Ian Somerhalder on my TV is naturally a great one). Damon Lindelof posted on Twitter last night “Remember. Let go. Move on. I will miss it more than I can ever say.” Wise words from the show’s co-creator. I don’t know that I want to let go and move on right away, but I know I will miss it. For those upset that all their questions weren’t answered, were they ever in the entire 6 seasons? The show is at its core about faith, and that’s why it was such a fitting ending. Have faith that these 6 seasons had meaning and have faith that the creators knew what they were doing. Lost has provided some great and interesting discussion over the last 6 years, and I know it won’t end now. “The End” was a perfect tribute to characters I will sorely miss.
Critics are going to pick apart the season and the finale and overanalyze and I suppose that’s acceptable. I think they might want to listen to Damon’s words though. Was the entire series perfect? Of course not. But the finale was, and that’s all I hoped for. I am considering re-watching from start to finish to pick up on more implications and if I saw any of this coming. For right now, I just want to say thank you. Thank you, Lost, for transporting me to another world week after week and for ending things in such a great way. People may be hating the church scene but to me, it was like the goodnights of “Saturday Night Live.” Everyone appears on stage while music plays and they hug and wave goodbye. I realize that these two shows cannot be compared (but maybe it’s no coincidence that Damon is a huge SNL fan) but the end scene was a chance for everybody to let go and say goodbye. And after two and a half hours and lots of shed tears, we got our happy ending.
I want to hear your thoughts! What did you think? Did you love it? Hate it? Tell me your theories.
9 Comments
posted on May 24th, 2010 at 7:55 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tiffany Vogt, Alix Sternberg. Alix Sternberg said: I might have questions, but here's my review of what I thought was a perfect ending to Lost: http://bit.ly/cu6kbs Your thoughts? #Lostfinale [...]
posted on May 24th, 2010 at 8:04 am
Loved it! Tears abounded. I want to go back and watch this season again and pick up all the little clues that the alternate reality was actually limbo.
posted on May 24th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
I don’t even know where to start. This show filled me with so much joy and wonder over the years and the finale
left me thoroughly satisfied. There was a time where I was obsessed about things like Jacobs cabin and walt being special, but as rose tells Jack in the first scene of the season “you can let go now”. And I did. And I re-learned to appreciate it the way I did in the first season: for the characters. I just came to this realization, and it might make a good write-up: the finale as meta-commentary about the death of the show. All this talk about the journey of the characters from our beginnings with them to their death, but the show died last night too, and the end was an enormous wake and funeral for itself. The entire season has been about coming to terms with both character failures and show failures, seeing actualized versions of it all, including the show. It’s been about understanding your failures and learning to let go of the guilt and fear (count to five), appreciate life for what it is, as
imperfect as it is, and move on. Wow. I need to
explore this theme more.
posted on May 24th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
I laughed, I cringed, I bawled my eyes out and I was confused; but the more observations of other people that I read helps me to see the different sides of the stories. Regardless it was an epic ending to unbelievable series that will captured so many of us – all over the world. There will never be anything like Lost on TV again.
posted on May 24th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Wow, one of the best reviews I’ve read – and one that I agree wholeheartedly with.
The opening scene of Season Six was a great clue that the sideways life wasn’t an “alternate universe” and that it was some sort of after life with Rose telling Jack to “let go.”
The final 20-30 mins of the episode was so different than what I was expecting due to the fact that I’d heard them say over and over that the island wasn’t pergatory in any ways… that it made me not truly consider the “flash sideways” as being some sort of limbo.
It kept me guessing and thinking to the end in the same fashion that has made me fall in love with everything LOST since the very beginning. And for that I say THANK YOU to the writers, producers, staff, and actors of LOST.
posted on May 24th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
I agree. What an amazing journey. I loved every second.
posted on May 24th, 2010 at 11:18 pm
Thank you Lost for confirm us we all pass away one day, not alone: whatever we try to do in this life doesn’t matter, we are all go to die. So don’t try harder, don’t thinks at your future but live day by day, hour by hour, here and now. The message is clear, so why you left me inside completely lost? Because in a little place of my heart I’m still thinking what we do in this life, what we create, what we destroy in this life somehow must matter. Maybe I will let it go the second I will die, because in that’s second really doesn’t matter, time is over, the end. Live day by day and do your best, because when is the time for you, nothing matter, what is done is done.
I hate the finale episode of lost because it was so intense and perfect, so real and from a movie series I wont the dream.
posted on May 24th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Thank you Lost for confirm us we all pass away one day, not alone: whatever we try to do in this life doesn’t matter, we are all go to die. So don’t try harder, don’t thinks at your future but live day by day, hour by hour, here and now. The message is clear, so why you left me inside completely lost? Because in a little place of my heart I’m still thinking what we do in this life, what we create, what we destroy in this life somehow must matter. Maybe I will let it go the second I will die, because in that’s second really doesn’t matter, time is over, the end. Live day by day and do your best, because when is the time for you, nothing matter, what is done is done.
I hate the finale episode of lost because it was so intense and perfect, so real and from a movie series I wont the dream. There is not a magic island, not a such a place, a place where you can became a hero and you can chance what you are and what you have done here in this reality. You only chance is now, here and the second you died is the end, you can’t do nothing about it, you move on.
Yes, I really hate the finale episode of Lost, the kind of hate it is actually pure love.
posted on May 26th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Totally agree. Very well put! While the finale wasn’t perfect and didn’t answer every question I had, it did what was always most important to the show: focused on the characters, their relationships to one another and how we live our lives (with some great action sequences thrown in! How badass was it when Jack and Kate killed Smokey?!!), in a beautiful, imaginative, honest way. And push come to shove, I really couldn’t ask for more than that. Hats off to Damon, Carlton and the entire cast and crew for going out on top!!!
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