LOST Discussion: A Retrospective on the Finale and the Series

I have to admit, I’ve started and stopped writing this entry multiple times.  It’s extremely difficult to put into perspective just what this show has meant to me over the years, and it’s important to me to do justice to this type of summary.  In addition, my understanding, perceptions, and emotions have all changed numerous times since I first viewed the finale.  It’s almost as if I needed to give it more time to wash over me before I dove in.  But I feel like I have it where I want it, and am ready to share it with you now.  So here it is…the final entry of interLOST.

Writers’ unwritten contract?

As I said in the opening, I’ve actually let the thoughts and ideas flow about 3 or 4 separate times before pushing out this post.  And to be fair, most of them were negative in nature.  In fact, immediately after the finale, I felt cheated on many levels.  Obviously, if I’ve spent many, many hours writing a blog trying to unearth the mysteries of the show, and trying to analyze each of the tiniest of clues, I’m going to feel a little bit of disappointment if the show failed to answer those questions in a straightforward fashion.  I think that’s natural.  Even after waking up the day after the show, I still felt somewhat robbed.  My disappointment actually turned to resentment.  How could they do this?  How could they leave so much unanswered?  Allow me to digress for just a moment, so I can help you understand my perspective.

Some of you readers may disagree, but I think that writers have an unwritten contract with their audience.  I think that people choose to watch a show based upon the “rules” that the show operates under.  For example, if you like comedy but hate sci-fi, you’ll probably watch something like “How I Met Your Mother” or “Modern Family” as opposed to “Fringe” or “Caprica”.  But how would you feel as an audience member if “How I Met Your Mother” slowly morphed into a “CSI” or a “Law and Order” rip-off?  I imagine you’d feel betrayed.  You started watching a comedy, and it turned into a cop show or a courtroom drama.  You were hooked in by one thing, but then the show changed.  You’d probably jump ship and stop watching…but you’d have to be disappointed that you invested time in the show just to have it make a u-turn on you. 

That may be an exaggerated scenario, but I think it gets my point across.  LOST always had to balance a fine line between the mythology/mystery,  and character development.  And whether or not they succeeded, they always seemed to at least make the effort.    Character episodes like “I Do”, “Tricia Tanaka Is Dead” (which I loved, by the way), and “Some Like It Hoth” were balanced by mythology episodes like “Lockdown”, “Flashes Before Your Eyes”, and “Cabin Fever”.  Sometimes they even pulled off episodes with great mythology and great character development in the same episode, like what we got with “The Constant”.

But by dedicating half of Season 6 to the flash-sideways, they clearly made the decision to prioritize character development at the expense of the mythology, despite the fan reaction they had to know was on the horizon.  And really, the most bizarre part of that, is that any of the character development that happened in the flash-sideways is largely a throw-away.  Yes, they’re the same people, as we found out in the end.  But the only purpose of the flash-sideways is to get the characters to reach enlightment together, so that they can advance to the next realm.  Most of the experiences we saw in the flash-sideways leading up the finale are even less relevant than anything done during any character’s island time.

Dismissing the hard-core viewers?

That’s what makes the ending so puzzling.  Obviously, the show started as a character drama in Season 1.  But it clearly moved into a genre show as the years progressed.  In fact, it embraced it…even to the show’s diminishing ratings.  As the show shifted more and more to a science fiction bonanza (where time travel, possession, and teleportation were all in a day’s work), more and more viewers decided it wasn’t for them.  Viewership diminshed, but there was a hard-core fan base that stuck with the show through it all…and these were the folks that wanted some sort of payoff for the years they watched the show.  But then, when the show  reached the ending, it’s almost as if the writers made a conscious decision NOT to cater to the fans that stuck with the show as it became straight-up sci-fi, but instead, to appeal to fans on the edge, or those that checked out long ago.

When you think about the series as a whole, and try to make a critical assessment of it, it’s important to remember that the writers created these mysteries.  Major narrative thrusts and episode-to-episode cliffhangers centered around things like the numbers, the infertility issue, and Jacob’s cabin.  In some cases (like the blast door map, what the smoke monster is, and who the Others are) questions were answered well.  In others (like the first ones listed above), the attempt wasn’t even made.

Here’s a way to look at it: do you think that LOST would have continued to have the ratings it had if the writers came right out from the beginning and said, “we’re not going to answer all of these questions, so prepare yourselves now.  We’ll answer a few, but don’t get too emotionally invested in any one specific mystery, because there’s a good chance we won’t get to it.”  In a very real way, that would be a slap in the face to a viewer that was considering investing 6 years in a show.  I’m sure many viewers would check out right then and there, for fear of that the question they wanted an answer to wouldn’t be resolved.  It seems to me that the same question should be asked now that the series is over.  What hammers that point home the most is when you think about someone who’s thinking about starting from the beginning, asking you about the mysteries of the show and whether or not they were answered.  What could you say?  I think trying to sell that person on the fact that the show isn’t really about that, but more about the journey, would be selling them a bill of goods.

Nailing what they set out to accomplish in the finale

All of that being said, I must have hated the finale, right?  Well, no, not exactly.  Actually, I think that the writers did a masterful job with what they wanted to accomplish.  (I’ll get to that in just a minute.)  But the point I’m trying to get across is that I think the writers did a disservice to their most die-hard fans by not even trying to give resolution to some of the key plot points.  And what’s the most discouraging about it is that it seems to me that it could have been done with a single Jacob/MIB flashback episode.  Simply walking back through some of the critical moments of the show from the perspective of either Jacob or MIB could have brought resolution to things like the infertility issue or Jacob’s cabin, and they could have even squeezed in the outrigger shootout in the process.  It’s quite puzzling: the writers requested to shorten the series to 6 seasons because they felt as though they couldn’t keep “treading water”, but in the end, they failed to answer some of the questions they themselves posed to the audience.  It appears to the casual viewer that they ended the show too early, and/or they planned the narrative exit strategy very poorly.  Either of those thoughts is very discouraging.

On a positive note, despite not giving all of the answers they promised, the writers largely achieved what they set out to do in the finale: create a compelling sense of closure to the characters.  Three other shows I watch also had series finales this year: Heroes, 24, and FlashForward.  And each of them paled in comparison to the LOST finale in terms of scope and closure.  Heroes and FlashForward may have an excuse: the writers thought they were writing a season finale, not a series finale.  Typically, that’s the reason why series finales are so poor: half the time, the show is getting cancelled, and the writers didn’t have the opportunity to write an over-arching, compelling wrap-up to the storyline.  But this was not an excuse for 24, whose writers knew it was coming to a close.  And in reality, that show is a perfect example of a show that knew the end was coming, but still couldn’t wrap it up in a meaningful way.  The moral of that story is: even when you know the end is near, it’s still hard to wrap it up exactly the way you want.  But that’s where I think LOST hit a home run.

Yes, it was a season-long lead-up, and perhaps could have been achieved with a tighter narrative and less time devoted to it, but it was absolutely a clever and unique way to send all of these characters off with a happy ending, and not render the entire time on the island meaningless.  (It still lessened the characters’ time on the island, but I’ll get to that in a bit.)  With any show, you want those final moments to be a time where the characters have resolution, and that there’s a sense of closure.  The way the writers dovetailed our desire for closure with the characters need for enlightment to advance to the next stage of the afterlife was incredibly brilliant.  I can’t imagine a better way to engage the audience than seeing each of the character’s remembrances of their times on the island, and having the viewers “move on” along with the characters.  In and of itself, it was a conceptual masterstroke for finale writing.  But because LOST is what it is, it’s hard to judge simply within the context of the finale itself.  You have to judge it in the way it fits in with the rest of the series.  And that’s where it again fals a bit short of expectations.

If it’s about the characters, how do you explain John Locke?

I’ll get right to the point.  I was a big fan of the character of John Locke.  And while the show gave meaningful and fully satisfying character arcs to Jack and Ben, they really seemed to make Locke’s journey an ultimately bitter one, despite the finale’s last scenes.  He got to his spiritual enlightenment via Jack’s help, he got a heartfelt apology from Ben, and he got to advance to the next realm with all of his friends from the island.  But here’s what he didn’t get: redemption.

Locke was a man that was deeply troubled in his off-island life.  He had a horrific relationship with his father, one in which he was pushed out of building 8 stories up, and was confined to a wheelchair.  Even later in life, that same father stole one of Locke’s kidneys in a terribly emotionally painful long con.  When Locke came to the island, it granted him a second lease on life.  He regained full mobility and could ditch the wheelchair.  He took advantage of the situation and attempted to be the person he never was during his off-island time.  And because this magical place granted him this 2nd chance, he invested his faith in it.  He wasn’t always 100% faithful; at times he failed in his beliefs.  But early on in the series, it was Locke’s faith and belief that the island was a special place that superceded everyone else’s, including the eventual savior of the remaining survivors.

But as it turns out, it was all a long con.  Locke put his faith in the island, but what he was really putting his faith in was the manipulations of the Smoke Monster.  The monster used Locke’s undying faith to create an opportunity to get to and kill Jacob.  In essence, Locke was simply a pawn…as MIB put it later in the series, when he was using Locke’s physical form: “Locke was a sucker.”  And that is the legacy of John Locke.  A man who provided so much inspiring, blind faith on a show that concluded with a huge leap of faith required by the audience about the afterlife, met with his demise alone (remember, each of his friends off-island rejected him before his death) and confused.  Every taunting comment that the Man in Black made about him, even as he stole his body, was left unchanged by the finale.  Even for those that believed that the journey of LOST was about the characters would have a tough time explaining how anyone who felt an association with Locke could feel content about his character arc.

In my mind, the one logical response is that in the flash-sideways, Locke got to move on to the next realm.  He got his apology from Ben, and he clearly forgave him.  But that doesn’t equate to redemption.  The only way that moment is meaningful, is if you take it at its face.  As in, “Locke found enlightenment and went to some version of heaven.”  But is that enough?  Sure, I suppose…if you concede the fact that nothing on the island was relevant.  Or at least, that the happenings on-island were less relevant than what happened afterwards.  But if you do that, doesn’t it make the first 5 seasons mostly meaningless?  Now, suddenly “the journey” doesn’t matter: only the end result.  Let me put it to you another way.  According to the nature of the afterlife we saw on the show, the only thing required for this arrangement to happen was that all of these people had to meet and become meaningful in each others’ lives.  It wouldn’t have mattered if it happened on an island, on a mountain, out at sea, or in Los Angeles.  If that’s the case…if that’s the message that LOST wants to tell us…then why should we have cared about the island in the first place?  The writers have stated on numerous occasions that the island is the character the fans forget about the most…it seems as though they took a page out of that book in the finale.

Finale in and of itself versus the series as a whole: a tale of two dichotomies

It’s those two dichotomies that make the finale such a difficult thing to digest.  First, it makes it seem as though the writers didn’t even try to answer some mysteries that they could have nailed to the satisfaction of the hard-core viewers with simply a single episode addressing them.  Why choose to end the series in a timeframe that wouldn’t allow you to answer the questions you presented to the viewers?  Second, while the finale was brilliant when taken in and of itself, it ultimately lessens the time of the survivors on the island.  This point is driven home by the character of John Locke, who ultimately found heaven, but whose life on earth was just as flawed as MIB/Smoke Monster claimed it was.

Ultimately, your perception of the finale, and the series in general, is going to be determined by how forgiving you are of these two dichotomies.  If you realy didn’t care about getting answers, or had resolved yourself to the idea that you wouldn’t get any, then you probably mostly enjoyed the finale.  And, if you didn’t put too much thought into what the trip to the afterlife meant, or didn’t care because you got to see your favorite characters together again one last time, then you probably thought that the finale was the best one created in the history of television.

Final thoughts

As for me, I’m still mixed (which is better than where I was immediately after the finale aired).  I’ve enjoyed the finale more each time I’ve watched it, and I’ve come to truly appreciate what the writers were trying to achieve, and the fact that I think they pulled it off.  However, I’m still disappointed in the long-term strategy of Team Darlton, and their propensity to insert situations or mysteries into the show without a real plan of resolving them.  In some cases they were able to go back and make it work, in others they didn’t, and in others, they inexplicably didn’t even try.  But I suppose that at the end of the day, I look back on my time with LOST, and don’t feel cheated.  I feel as though the show pushed me into writing a blog, helped me build friendships that will go beyond the show’s run, and gave me a sense of accomplishment and comaradarie that I wouldn’t have had otherwise.

Overall, my experience with LOST was alternatingly incredible and challenging.  And ultimately, I will look back on it fondly, with a twinge of bittersweetness for what it might have been if just a piece or two more had been put in the right place.  And with that, I officially end my time with this blog.  Thanks again to all of you that joined me on this journey.  I hope you all find that it was worth the effort.  I’ll see you all in another life (or another blog), brotha!

LOST Recap: Series Finale: “The End”

Wow, and I thought that “Across The Sea” was polarizing!  Coming in, there had to be some expectation that the finale would not be all things to all people.  We even discussed it here on this blog…it’s hard to stick the landing on a series finale.  In fact, it’s almost impossible…I can’t think of a single show I’ve watched that has pulled it off.  And even now, I think I can put LOST on that list of shows that didn’t quite pull off the ending.  But I might be getting a bit ahead of myself with that.  For this entry, I’m going to do my darnedest to separate the commentary and critique from the analysis.  What I want to do here is to share my thoughts and interpretations of what we saw on-screen.  And in a separate entry (one that I originally said I’d write in June but don’t think I can wait until then), I’ll comment on the series as a whole, and how the finale delivered in the grand scheme of the show’s overall structure.

So for now, let me get into the typical review, and see if I can share any insights with you that you haven’t potentially already seen somewhere else…

“The End”

I almost don’t need to comment on the multiple meanings here: the end of the show, the end of Jack’s journey, the end of the Smoke Monster, the end of this realm of existence…it’s all relevant.  You probably figured all of that out already, but I thought I’d mention it just in case.

“Christian Shephard?  Seriously?”

When you hear a quote like this at the start of the finale, it’s not too hard to think that the writers had something to the effect of the ending planned all along.  The Season 1 character was well-named for his role in the finale, as well as him being the catalyst for bringing Jack to the island.

“That Locke-smoke thing wants to put it out?”

There’s something that happened in the last few episodes of the show that wasn’t immediately evident to me until I did some re-watches.  Those of you that have been paying close attention to detail may have realized that Smokey’s motives seem to have changed in the show’s last few hours.  Wasn’t it that he wanted nothing more than to get off the island?  What’s up with him now wanting to put out the light in the cave?  Well, I think the answer is twofold, and they also may not be mutually exclusive.

First off, it may be that Smokey’s motives changed once he talked to Widmore and realized that he could potentially use Desmond as a way to disrupt the island’s light source.  Up until that point, it’s possible that Smokey didn’t think he could put out the light, and chose escape instead.  Alternately, it could be that he was looking to put out the light all along, thinking that was the only way to get off the island.  He could have believed that he had to kill all of the candidates first because if he didn’t, they’d potentially become Jacob’s successor and try to stop him.  It’s certainly possible that both are true, and that he was trying to kill the candidates so that they couldn’t protect the light in Jacob’s absence, and then he’d be free to put it out, sink the island, and leave.

“We built this place in ’75, and lived here a couple of years…and then the sky lit up again.”

Rose and Bernard cautiously eyeball Locke

In case you were curious, Rose gives a good explanation here as to why she and Bernard have made it to 2007 and not aged 30 years as you might expect.  It seems as though they time-shifted to island-present after Jughead went off, just like Jack, Kate, Juliet, Sawyer, Sayid, Hurley, and Jin.  If we make the assumption that Jacob is the one flashing people around through the different timelines (and you’d think he is based upon his “They’re coming” line last season), then he knew that he needed Rose and Bernard to get Desmond out of the well.  This way, they wouldn’t be headed to the cave of light until Jack was crowned the new Jacob and had a chance to intercept him along the way.

“I think I just realized I wanna live.”

Richard realizes he's no longer immortal

One of the messages we appear to get in the finale is that the mythology of the island is unimportant in a relative sense.  But despite that, we’re given insight into the fact that it seems as though Richard’s immortality dissapated along with Jacob’s ashes.  Although it appears as though the “rules” move from one island protector to the next, any specific supernatural abilities “wear off” once the protector who issued them no longer has a physical presence on the island.  Jacob’s gone; so is Richard’s ability to live forever.

“Jacob being who he is, I expected to be a little more surprised…you’re sort of the obvious choice, don’t you think?”

Yeah, I know that we get the follow-up answer to this later in the episode (great prediction, DDay!), but I can’t help but to comment that the writers didn’t stop giving us little clues to what they had in store, even when it was in the same episode.  For those of you that are regulars and are looking forward to my higher level assessment of the finale and how it fits in the series overall, this is something you want to file away in your memory banks.  I’ll be coming back to that point in my next entry.

“This doesn’t matter you know.  Him destroying the island; you destroying him…it doesn’t matter.”

To me, the conversation between Desmond and Jack just prior to Desmond being lowered into the light is the most important conversation of the finale, and perhaps the series itself.  This seemingly simple conversation is the key to everything the showrunners want us to think and believe about the entire run of the show.  As we reach a conclusion to the on-island story, we’re being told by a character “in the know” (otherwise known as “Johnny The Explainer” as described by Damon and Carlton) that the outcome of the battle is irrelevant.  Jack insists that it is…that he’s been down the road of trying to find a short-cut back to a happy ending, and there is none.  He believes that every action is important, and that you’ve got to take advantage of the opportunities you have in front of you.

Folks, in a nutshell, this is what the finale is trying to tell us.  And, as much as the two opinions seem to be diametrically opposed, I also think they’re trying to tell us that both viewpoints are true.  As the episode comes to a close, Jack’s actions based upon the beliefs he conveys in this conversation are shown to be noble; that his opinions that “all of this matters” is what ends up saving the day and allowing everyone else to survive.  But at the same time, Desmond’s stance is also correct: what happened within the context of the island’s multiple face-offs is secondary to the experience that Jack has afterwards.  This is the profound duality of meaning that the writers want to impart to us, both within the episode and series, as well as within your personal life.  And make no mistake: this show, and especially the finale, is a commentary on life, and a perspective therein the writers want you to see.  I’m coming dangerously close to speaking to some of the items I’ll touch on as a retrospective of the series, but I wanted to make sure all of you understood the higher level game the writers are playing here.  They’ve thrown their cards on the table and are showing you their hand.  They are making a social commentary, and how much you like the episode, and even the series overall, likely depends on how willing you are to accept the message they’re trying to send.  That’s all I’ll get into regarding that now, but I’ll have more on this conversation and its place in LOST lore in my next entry.

“Dude, it was worth it.”

I’ve been avoiding discussing much of the flash-sideways events up to this point, mostly because the final scene of the flash-sideways is the only one that really matters.  But I also wanted to wait to comment on the individual flash-sideways as a whole until you had the right frame of reference regarding Desmond and Jack’s conversation.  The writers have a very clear dual purpose with these remembrances in the flash-sideways.  Yes, it’s a key for the characters to achieve enlightenment for what awaits them at the end of the episode.  But it’s just as much about you as it is about that.  The writers know you’re watching with the fact that it’s the finale in your head.  Each of the flash-sideways remembrances is an attempt to elicit an emotional response from you, as much as it is about the advancement of the plot.  It’s a beautifully designed literary construct, and clearly a reason why some folks think the finale was so brilliant.  I won’t give you my take on it just yet, but I wanted to point it out for anyone that may have missed the direct connection.  I imagine that how much you enjoyed the finale is greatly tied to just how much these scenes resonated with you on an emotional level.

“Looks like you were wrong too.”

The Man in Black realizes he's not invulnerable

The scene where Jack is able to give Locke a bloody lip speaks to two pieces of island mythology, for those of you still keeping score.  First, it indicates that Jacob knew all along what was going to happen.  Why he didn’t put these events in motion himself is somewhat unclear…perhaps he needed Jack to convince Desmond that he could go into the cave despite it dovetailing with what Smokey wanted…perhaps he didn’t have the heart to kill his own brother after turning him into the Smoke Monster.  But what is incredibly clear is that with the light drained, every single thing that we know about the island is “off”.  The “rules” of the game are no longer in effect (in other words, the combatants can kill each other), the mystical power that turned MIB into the Smoke Monster is nullified, and I imagine that everything else (like the healing properties of the island) are all out of play as well.  Jacob knew that Desmond’s actions would both allow the LOSTies the opportunity to kill MIB, as well as put the entire island in a vulnerable position.  After 2,000 years of battling Smokey, it was a gamble he was willing to take.

“I thought I made it clear that you were to stop this.”

The conversation between Desmond and Eloise at the concert is very interesting, and gives us a couple of secondary clues to some of the rules and fates of others as it applies to the flash-sideways.  First of all, it’s clear that Eloise is just as enlightened as Desmond.  However, for some reason, she is choosing to stay behind, much like Ben does later in the episode.  I would imagine it’s because she’s still wracked with guilt over her decision to set her own son up for death in order to keep the island path intact.  But even more importantly, it explains why Faraday, Charlotte, Miles, and others were not in the church for the final scene.  Desmond says that Faraday’s fate is “not with me”, but instead, with someone else.  I don’t think that we’re meant to infer that Faraday and the others that interacted with our LOSTies *won’t* be enlightened and move into the next phase, but rather that they are going to do so with another group of individuals…ones that are more meaningful and special to those within their own circle.

“I saved you a bullet!”

Kate takes out the Man in Black

Although the battle between Jack and Locke was fairly straightforward, there are a couple of things that are below the surface that I want to draw your attention to.  First off, it’s very fitting that Kate’s the one to pull the trigger.  Her character has largely been discounted by the online community, something the writers acknowledged with their tongue-in-cheek dialog between Sawyer and Kate when former goes to the well looking for Desmond.  Kate’s inability to resist following the group has caused issues in the past, but in this case, she saves the day.  One other minor thing to point out is the location of Locke’s fatal blow to Jack.  While everyone was likely focusing on the cut on his neck, I’d suggest that the main stab wound is just as significant.  Note that it’s right in the location of his appendectomy scar…something that he reminisces about in a prior flash-sideways sequence.  I’m sure that some re-watchers will see that as an “a-ha” moment at some point.

“I’ll see you in another life, brother.”

Another thing to lead you to believe that the writers had this whole thing planned from early on is Desmond’s line to Jack from way back in Season 2.  Jack returns the line to Desmond in their final conversation of the finale, just as a little reminder to all of us that we’ve been given this information quite some time ago.  I’m sure that there are some folks out there that think the “another life” thing is a bit of a throw-away line, but I think there are enough hints to suggest that some form of this finale was in the writers’ heads for years.  Irrespective of whether or not the finale worked for you, I think it’s only fair to give the writers the benefit of the doubt that they had a reasonably thought-out plan for how they wanted to end this show.

“I have some things that I still need to work out.  I think I’ll stay here for awhile.”

Ben decides not to move on just yet

One of the things I had wondered about coming into Season 6 was whether or not Ben was going to find redemption for what he had done.  While he was fairly duplicitous in nature, it always seemed as though he had the propensity to rise up and and become more than what he was.  I had envisioned that it might come in the form of him sacrificing himself for the greater good in some way, but what eventually happens is even better.  While he ends up staying back from joining the LOSTies in their journey to the next realm so as to work through some issues with Danielle and Alex Rousseau, his storyline of helping Hurley through his role as protector of the island is both highly redeeming and thoroughly in line with the motivation of the character.  Aside from Jack, Ben’s character arc feels the most well thought-out and satisfying of anyone on the show.  I don’t think you could have asked for a better ending if you’re a fan of Ben.

Jack makes one last trek through the island

After Jack restores the light in the cave, he’s spit out in the same position that the Man in Black was.  I’m not sure how he managed to survive it without being turned into a Smoke Monster, or having some other strange reaction, but perhaps it’s because he was the protector of the island at the moment the light came back on.  Perhaps it was that status that helped him to retain all aspects of his humanity, and head back to the same place where it all started for him.

“I’ll be waiting for you there…once you’re ready.”

Kate tells Jack she'll be there when he's ready

While this line from Kate to Jack becomes more clear after the final scene, I couldn’t help but to think that it’s also a line to us the fans.  Yes, the LOSTies are moving on to the next realm.  But I can’t help but to think that the most ambitious part of the finale was how the writers tried to frame this last scene for all of us.  I’m going to discuss this in much more detail in my final retrospective entry, but I feel as though I’d be doing this entry a bit of injustice if I didn’t at least scratch the surface here.

Over the years, LOST has tried its best to play a balancing act between those that watched the show for the characters and what would happen to them, and those that watched for the mythology and the mysterious aspects of the island.  I believe that the writers had to make a conscious decision on which aspect of the two sides would have a higher priority as the series came to a close.  I think they tried to give us a satisfying end to the mythological aspects of the island, what caused all of the crazy happenings, and bring things to a logical conclusion.  But ultimately, they chose the characters and their ultimate fate as the higher priority.  Devoting the entire final season to the flash-sideways is proof of that.  But I also think that they were very self-aware in making that decision.  And I think they knew that they would have multitudes of fans that would be upset with unanswered questions.

I believe the commentary here with Kate and Jack is a direct message to those fans.  They know that it’s tough to let go of so many unanswered questions.  They know that it’s tough to let go of this show and everything you’ve been invested in for the past 6 years.  So take your time.  Digest what you’ve seen.  Discuss the open-ended mysteries with your friends.  Re-watch episodes if you need to.  But when you’re ready to let go…when you’re ready to give up LOST and move on to that next thing…watch this last scene with us.  We’ll send you off with a proper good-bye to all of these characters that you’ve spent so much time with.  And we’ll all move on to the next thing together.

Jack discovers his fate

I’ve noticed a few odd interpretations of the final scenes today.  I don’t want to call them erroneous or wrong, but I can’t help but to try to give my interpretation of what the end meant, so as to help other get a little clarity.  First off, there needs to be a clear distinction between what happened on the island, and the flash-sideways.  They are not one in the same, and in fact, the flash-sideways clearly follows what happens on-island.  Thus, while the description Christian gives for the flash-sideways is sounds very much like Purgatory, or some waiting station before moving to the next realm, I believe that the writers went through a lot of trouble to explain that the on-island events were NOT part of that wait station.  I believe that the on-island events were intended to be “real life”, and that they only entered the flash-sideways once they died.

I also know that there was a bit of confusion surrounding how Hurley or Ben or Desmond could be there if we didn’t see them die.  But Christian tells Jack that everyone dies sometime, and that some of them died before him, and some died long after (probably referring to Ben and Hurley).  But all of them came together at this moment because they are all linked spiritually.  Irrespective of when they died, they will all make the journey into the next realm together because they all had a profound impact on each others’ lives.

Jack finds his old spot and sees the results of his efforts before closing his eyes forever

Jack closes his eyes for the last time

The beauty of the symmetry in Jack’s final island scene is simply hard to ignore.  It clarifies that this story was always about Jack and his journey, closing the series with the focus on him.  It also allows for a complete arc for his character that is thoroughly satisfying.  Prior to coming to the island, this was a man struggling for a purpose.  He would consistently destroy relationships due to his uncontrollable need to fix things.  But during the course of the series, he was able to break through his personal barriers and become the man of faith that he struggled so mightily with, and ultimately, was able to fix one final issue that theoretically saved all of humanity…but at the very least, saved all of his friends.

Sorry folks, no “post-episode questions” after the finale.  It just seems so inappropriate.  But I will be back soon with my evaluation of how the finale fits into the series overall, and how I “feel” about how things ended.  To be honest, I’ve run through a ton of emotions over the last 24 hours, and I found it difficult at times to remove those from the pure analysis of the finale.  I hope this review was better for it, but I will be sure to let it all loose in my next entry, which in all likelihood, will be the last of interLOST.  I hope you’ll come back for it!

LOST Discussion: Times Talks Live

Hey everyone, are you all as excited for the finale as I am?  If you’re reading this blog, it’s hard to imagine that you’re anything but 100% geeked for this Sunday night.  But before we get there, some of us got the chance to listen to LOST showrunners Damon & Carlton answer some questions last night.  It wasn’t anything earth-shattering, and they managed to dodge as many questions as they answered, but it was still fun.  It actually felt like one last chance to sit down and chat with one of your friends at work before they left for a different job.  It’s not like you’ll never talk to them again, but it won’t be the same as having them around all the time.  The bottom line is that I felt like the $12.50 I had to fork over for the ticket was well worth the experience that I had.

For the most part, the interview was structured around writing decisions the two had to make over the course of multiple seasons.  There was one particular insight they shared that really resonated with me.  They showed a clip of Locke trying to convince Jack to push the button in the Swan station (from Season 2), and Carlton noted that most sci-fi shows would be dealing with the logistics of the button: how was it constructed, how could they unplug it, how could they trick the system into thinking the button was pushed…that type of thing.  But that for LOST, they were always more concerned with how the characters might react to certain situations.  It wasn’t about how the button was constructed as much as it was what each character would feel when presented with the idea of having to push a button every 108 minutes in order to save the world.  They pulled this off so well that it didn’t even occur to me as I originally watched it.  I never even questioned how the button worked.  It was their conscious misdirection, and focus on character motivation that made that piece a non-issue.

They also mentioned that it took them 5 weeks to complete the Desmond-centric “The Constant”, mostly because they wanted to do time travel in such a way that was both more emotional than sci-fi, and also because they didn’t want any actions in the time travel to potentially disrupt any known “truths” about the story…both what the audience already knew, and what the writers knew was to come.

A little less than halfway through, Michael Emerson (Ben) joined the conversation, and not too long after that, so did Jorge Garcia (Hurley).  At that point, tons of fan questions rained down, too many for me to remember for this post.  But some of the more memorable moments included:

• The writers being on-set for the final (not final, final according to Damon) scene, and asking the actors in it if they had any questions about what it was or how they needed to play the scene.  Jorge commented that they hadn’t been cluing them in for six season, so why should they start now?  That got laughs from both the local and remote audiences.  Carlton probed a bit further, and Jorge said he didn’t need to ask because he thought he got it.  That elicited a cheer.
• The writers admitted that they used a combination of long-term planning, short-term planning, and making it up as they went along during the course of the show’s run.  They admitted that they broke the fourth wall in more ways than one in “Expose”, when Sawyer didn’t know who Nikki was, and when they buried both Nikki and Paulo alive as a way of saying, “we get that the audience doesn’t like these characters…we’re going to bury them alive instead of pushing them to the background”.  They did, however, say that the finale plays out mostly the way they enivsioned it from the beginning.
• Many cheers went up in New York, and “ooh”s and “ah”s from the audience in San Diego when the writers said that we’d get to see Walt in the finale.  At the same time, they suggested that we cover the credits at the beginning of the finale so as to not be spoiled about some of the guest characters.
• Jorge mentioned Ben as his favorite character, because he gets to say some cool stuff; Emerson mentioned Mr. Eko because he had a well-fleshed out backround story and got to carry a big stick.
• The writers said that their most difficult decision on the show was killing off Charlie.  They admitted that Dominic was doing some fabulous work, but that they had to make Desmond’s flashes real, and realized that it meant that Charlie had to die.  They even called themselves “bastards” after they watched the final cut of the season 3 finale and realized what they had done.
• One of the more interesting things they said was that they have equated LOST and their relationship with the fans to a romantic relationship.  In the beginning, if someone were to ask, “You’re not going to break my heart, are you?”, then they’d say, we’re only on the first date, I hope not!  But to ask it now, after six seasons…at some point, you just have to take that leap of faith.  At some point, you have to risk getting hurt in order to achieve that happiness that you couldn’t get otherwise.  As Damon said, you can’t hit a home run if you don’t swing the bat.

The event ended with a preview of the finale.  It actually is an extended clip of what you can find on ABC’s site: http://abc.go.com/watch/clip/lost/SH006723620000/165261/261547

The extended bit shows Sawyer physically attacking Ben and taking his weapon, and stating that he and the rest of his group aren’t candidates anymore.  As Sawyer quickly exits, Locke tells Ben that he chooses not to chase him because it doesn’t matter; he’s going to find Desmond and use him to sink the island.  Ben’s upset with that because Locke promised that he could have the island, but Locke says that he can still have it if he wants…it’s just that it’ll be at the bottom of the sea.  He also gives Ben another option: he can be on the boat that Locke’s on as he leaves.  As the two get ready to leave the area, Locke notices a paw print near the well, and states that a dog has been there…

Overall, the night was a great way to get that one last fix of LOST before the finale on Sunday.  I’m ready; there’s nothing left to do now except sit back and see what they’ve got in store for us.

With that, I’ll be gone until Sunday night, where I’ll post an open thread for any comments anyone wants to leave regarding the finale.  I’ll be back on Monday with a review of the finale, although it may only be for Part 1, depending on just how dense the writers pack everything in.  Have a great weekend everyone, and enjoy the finale on Sunday!