Initial Thoughts: The End (pt2)
I think I may still be crying from last night! I know that I am biased to this show but I challenge any show out there to come up with a better and more satisfying ending than what we just saw on Lost. After six years of building and building you would have to wonder just how brilliant and involved the writers would have to be to come up with just the “right” ending, and they managed to do it.
Do we still have questions, YES! But I’m OK with that. I really started getting it in my head that I didn’t want them to answer everything. I like my ideas and my theories and sure, they could have addressed a few of the bigger issues but I really am OK going out like we have.
NOTE: I don’t have a copy of the epi last night so I don’t have screen caps yet.
1. Yes, I watched Jimmy Kimmel live and he addressed two items that I thought about as well. One, why weren’t Michael and Walt in the church? The first thought is that Walt isn’t dead yet so he can’t be there. As for Michael, is he not headed to the same white light they are? Harold Perrineau said it is because Michael is “trapped” on the island, like he told Hurley earlier this season. I like that better than what I thought. The other idea he presented is that the show was Jack’s redemption song, if you will and I like that too.
2. However, I was laying there last night and still crying… and thinking that there were many of them that found redemption on the island. Yes, Jack was our main character and the show really focused on his redemption especially this season but I like to think that the reason they can all meet in the church is that they all found their redemption.
3. I also like the idea that in many religions that there is the theory that you are reincarnated, if you will, until you get “it right” and at that point you can go on to heaven. I don’t think that everyone in that church died at the same time but that they were all kind of wandering around waiting on each other to come before they could all go. I think the message there is of hope.
3. So I guess Jack and Jacob had a little more talking off camera. Sounded like Jack knew that he was only the temporary carrier of the torch.
4. I was thrilled that Richard didn’t die so easily at the hands of Smokey. I loved that by releasing the light Richard was set free and started showing a gray hair. I just wonder after being on an island for hundreds of years what on earth could he possibly do back on land? Imagine the culture shock!
5. And I also never would have guessed Claire and Kate BOTH raising Aaron. Nice touch.
6. When Jack was down in the cave I kept expecting him to come roaring out as a plume of WHITE smoke. Especially when he woke up in a very similar position as MIB after he was thrown in the cave. His death, if I may, was beautiful and poetic. And when Vincent came over and laid down beside him it was all over for me. I couldn’t actually fully see the ending because I had a good “ugly” cry going on.
7. So Des got a look at “the other side” when Widmore had him in the cabin with the electromagnetic energy and that is why he did whatever they needed him to do. He knew that on “the other side” he would end up with Penny and his friends and he knew that everything that happened on the island didn’t matter. I like when he is about to go into the cave how he tries telling Jack but Jack seems to still be holding on to one little bit of his science minded side.
8. I love that this episode opens basically telling us the end. The coffin is not for Christian at all.
9. So David was what? Just a wish of Jack’s? That in an of itself is totally heartbreaking.
10. I can’t believe that the big Jesus statue with it’s arms open didn’t clue me in to what was really going on. Then there was Kate asking why she was “here” and Des telling her that no one could tell her why she was there. And him telling her that he just wanted to leave.
11. I was totally expecting Eko to show up and preside over Jack’s funeral. That was disappointing actually.
12. Them all being dead in the side time line explains why they could see the flashes of the island (life flashing before their eyes) but the island folks couldn’t see to the side.
13. Miles and Sawyer both got off the island. I guess those two really could become cops back home.
14. I love that Hurley is the real care taker of the island and that Ben agrees to help him. I bet Hurley could come up with some crazy rules for that island. Did the writers know this way back when? I remember Hurley coming out of the forest in a robe looking very angelic back in one of Charlie’s weird dreams. I worry about Ben though because we have seen that he’s got a very, very bad side. I would hope by Hurley telling him he was a “good number 2″ that means that Ben was good to him on the island.
15. I guess Desmond’s flash of seeing Claire get off of the island in a helicopter was wrong.
16. The smile on Hurley’s face when he first sees Charlie is priceless. Sweet. I loved when Sayid asks him “what was that” he says “that was Charlie.” LOL’d
17. And Vincent! Hooray! I’m so glad, even though it’s silly, that we got to see the fate of that dog. I guess we can assume that Rose and Bernard do live happily ever after too now the Hurley is running the show on the island. They are the new Others, only they don’t get involved.
18. Des is the only one that crossed to the other side and came back.
19. Since this seemed to be Jack centered redemption, then the show ending on the 23rd makes even more sense.
20. Cracked me up when Flocke asked Jack how he planned to kill him and he told him it was a surprise. Sounded like something Sawyer would have said.
21. Dan and Charlotte aren’t “ready” yet and thus no flashback and they are not in the church. Plus, they weren’t really a huge part of the Losties lives so I can see why they wouldn’t be there. Plus it was nice that they left Dan behind to be with his mother. As mothers we can understand why she would want him to stay with her.
22. I loved the look on Charlie’s face when he sees Claire.
23. MIB cracks Jack a good one upside the head with a rock. Like mother like son!
24. The Jack and Locke fist fight was a long time coming and it did not disappoint. Especially the part where Jack pushes him off of the edge of the cliff.
25. Did I mention yet that it’s a good thing Des got them all dressed up since they are all going to their funeral (s)?
26. There has been a lot of speculation about the rain. I think that the rain is brought on by the light or the island. What it means is still to be discussed but after Des uncorked the light it started raining.
27. I’ve rethought (already) why Ben didn’t go inside the church. His real love is Alex. Alex is probably not ready yet to cross over. Ben logically wants to wait for her. Christian says everyone wants someone to cross with and it makes sense that Ben would want to cross with her.
28. Duct tape. I think that they have a new use they could show in their ads.
29. Did you guys have the Lost-related Target commercials? I really loved that someone on-staff is obviously a Lost fan and they would make special commercials just for us. I will do more shopping there just for that. I already do shop there but I may think of them first for other things now too. I couldn’t TiVo through them so at least they were entertaining.
30. Fitting for MIB to die the way the Locke should have. Locke was thrown from the window and landed just like MIB did on the edge. I’m also glad they let him go before the end because I didn’t want the end to be a scene of them fighting. This gave time to really build to a meaningful conclusion to the show.
31. After Hurley drank the water (which was filthy, btw) he looked like he kept waiting on something to happen. Can Hurley give Ben everlasting life like Jacob did for Richard?
32. I was holding my breathe until the plane made it up in the air. This show is so unpredictable I wasn’t sure if they would really make it or not. But I’m glad they did. And I’m glad that I can make up what happens from there for myself. And if you’ve ever seen Stephen King’s The Langoliers you were probably wondering what they would face once up in the air too.
33. So the plug in the cave is like one big button to press?
34. Jack wakes up in the same pool area that we’ve seen many times. Kate and Sawyer took a swim there and Kate, Jack and Hurley woke up there after being transported off of the Ajira flight. It must be close to The Source and would explain why it’s special.
35. I will post some screen shots of the office Jack enters at the church. Appears to be religious symbols from every religion you can think of. Bravo Producers.
36. Jack and his daddy issue = RESOLVED! And wow was it moving.
The End.
click to enlarge
May 24th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
#26. –i think it started raining to sink the island. Remember the island was under water. It might have sunk but i think the rain also could have helped with that.
#31.–Jack didn’t say the “magic” words. Did he touch Hurley??
Overall i think it was all just great. I loved that this finale answered questions, didn’t answer some and that we laughed and teared up all in matter of hours. It was like a very epic movie.
May 24th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
This is the beauty of the show. We can now debate for YEARS about the rain and every other mystery. I took the point to be that none of it really mattered in the end anyway. It was about hope and friendship. Beautiful.
May 24th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
My first viewing last night I was disappointed. Then I rewatched the last 45 minutes and cried. Just cried. I loved every minute of it and I’ve loved reading your insights every week, GG. I will miss this!
May 24th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
One thing to remember is that it didn’t matter when people died for them to come to the alternate reality and then to the church. Christian said the same to Jack – everyone dies, some just died before or long after the others. It makes Charlie’s comment to Hurley a few season’s back make sense, “I’m here, but I’m also dead.” Hurley, as the protector of the island could have died thousands of years after Jack if we consider how long Jacob had the job. Hurley and Ben, if you remember their conversation before Hugo went into the church remember all of their time together on the island as #1 and #2 which take place after the plane left and Jack died. I also don’t think the magic words that are said to the new protector of the island is as important as the new protector’s willingness and agreement to take over the duties. I think it was nice to see that Rose and Bernard were still living happily on the island with Vincent. I loved the ending and I really hate to see this show end.
May 24th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
i was very disappointed by the ending. i said it on you recapp last week, too little solid answers, too much emphasis on teary reunions. don’t get me wrong i appreciate the reunions, but i think they short changed the answers.
Almost ever “answer” we recv’d in the last couple weeks, and the finale all have holes in them. i don’t need answers spoon fed to me, but i think this ending proved the writters threw it togeather at the end.
May 24th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
11.- I was thinking that Eko would show up too, but I think I read somewhere a year or two ago that he left the show angry that his character was killed. Maybe that’s why there was no Eko
33.- The plug in the cave was just like Jacob said, a cork holding the evil in. Fire=Hell Water=redemption
On Jimmy Kimmell, Wigmore’s actor (forgot his name) said that he was still unsure if Wigmore was good or evil. I think he was on Jacob’s side, he was doing what Jacob wanted. He was just another player in Jacob’s game. Jacob knew that Desmond needed to be on the island because the only way MIB could be killed is if the “light” was put out. Desmond was the only one that could survive that long to uncork the “evil”. But then someone would have to kill MIB – that being Jack. And then someone would have to put the cork back to contain the “evil”. MIB played into Jacob’s game by believing that Desmond going into the light, would sink the island, he just didn’t know that it would make him mortal.
Also, I think that Richard became mortal again when Jacob passed, when the fire went out. The “spell” was gone because Jacob was gone.
Just my thoughts, and you are right–what is so great about this show is that there is room for our own personal interpurtation. I loved, loved The End. It was perfect. Now maybe in a few years, they’ll make a movie showing Hurley finding his way as the new Jacob and what the others do once they leave. I would love to see Aaron and Jin and Sun’s daughter play a part in the island, to see if they are special too.
But then again, I like having my own thoughts on what happens next!
I think your thougths were great!
May 24th, 2010 at 3:29 pm
mm, I agree with you about Richard being mortal once again. I think that was the deal with Miles plucking that gray hair from Richard’s head and saying he got his first gray hair. Richard is now aging once more. How they’ll explain him when the plane lands is beyond me… “Birthday?” “…something something 1798 or so.” LOL!!!
May 25th, 2010 at 1:16 am
I am still so sad that the greatest show just ended. Am I just obsessed beyond obsessed that all I can think about all day was the show. Different scenes keep playing over and over in my head.
By the way, I think that Richard will get along find in modern society. After all he has been traveling off the island before. Remember when he recruited Juliet with Ethan?
May 25th, 2010 at 8:13 am
Agreed Gitsie. We could debate forever what the ending meant or what holes weren’t “closed” (and there were plenty. Ultimately, though, the ending was satisfying. People were drawn to this show primarily for two reasons: the mythology and the characters. Darlton had a tough task on their hands in creating a satisfying ending to this complex story line while also giving us closure with these people we’ve come to love. I think this episode accomplished both tasks extremely well.
I also wanted to say thanks for your posts Gitsie. I jumped on the Lost bandwagon later than most, but the show has been incredibly compelling and you and the community you created really enhanced my experience. Thanks!
Now let’s all wait for the Hurley-Ben-Desmond mini-series. =:^)
May 25th, 2010 at 9:45 am
Any thoughts as to why Richard was not in the church? Or was he and I missed it?
May 25th, 2010 at 10:13 am
Chris, my thoughts about Richard is ultimately as Jack’s father told Jack, this was the group of people waiting for Jack and the place they all created for each other. Then his father left the church, I’m assuming because he wasn’t a part of that same group. I think Richard also went off with another group, probably with people from his own time in the 1800’s including his wife. If you remember the Richard episode, Richard’s world and life were over when his wife died – then he got roped onto the island. He always seemed to be a part of everyone’s life on the island, but he was also apart from them because of his position as advisor.
May 25th, 2010 at 10:14 am
am i the only one here that didn’t like the ending? i didn’t like the show at first. it just seemed like a lot of attractive people being sexy on the beach. then my wife was put on bed rest with our first daughter, a friend lent us seasons 1 & 2 and all of the mysteries of the darhma/hatch really drew me in. it seems to me that they could have gone from season 2 straight to the finale. Why create all the new characters/time space etc…. i feel like the finale was simply a feel good ending to gloss over all the unanswered. a show like this has to end somehow, i didn’t expect EVERY detail, but i felt this show was 50% human drama 50% sci-fi, hypothetical. they delivered on the human element, and seemed to ignore the other half.
May 25th, 2010 at 10:29 am
Ssgt. MZ – you are obviously a man of science. most of us must be men/women of faith.
May 25th, 2010 at 11:23 am
There’s no way they could have ended the show in a way that everyone would be 100% satisfied with. I never did think they’d be able to come up with a satisfying scientific explaination since they seemed to suggest that the island was at the center of some sort of singularity and such an object that close to the planet would crush the earth. Then again, maybe it was one end of a worm-hole, then again, were talking about tremendous gravitational forces. The show could have actually done away with the alternate time-line/universe and many people would have been happy to see what took place on the island and if Jacob can be believed, by killing Flocke, they not only saved the island but the entire world. I would have like to know how the “light plug” came to be and how and who picked the first protector of the island and why. Did the MIB’s people build the statue along with the donkey wheel? The alternate reality, I believe, was just to show how they all needed each other to save the island/world and to get to where they ultimately belonged. It also showed that no matter how dark a person may have been in life, they can always change and make it back into the light.
May 25th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Hugo, actually i am a youth pastor! i like what was just posted about skipping all the things they added and didn’t conlude. it would have been quality either way. i guess the best perspective to take is to cheer them for the magnitude of this project not to fault them on the short comings.
May 25th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Thanks GG for being a fan and sharing with us! I don’t know if a television show is qualified to inspire us in real life, but Lost just did. Hold on to the Light friends!
May 26th, 2010 at 7:22 am
A quick retrospective on some of the teeny-tiny loose ends yet to be tied up or, if you didn’t watch the show, the rantings of a lunatic.
May 24, 2010
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1936291
May 26th, 2010 at 9:37 am
Just watched the final in Australia, and i’m totally “lost” for words. A whole six years and then be told that they are dead/waiting to die. I honestly thought they would wrap it up with some cool ending, but no, just like everyone said at the start they were dead/or waiting to die. So in the island universe if Jack hadn’t killed smokey and he got off they island, what…their waiting universe would have disappeared….wow…whoopee, that’s really something to stay and protect the island for?????……i’m sorry i totally did love lost but i just feel cheated…and that’s ok…that’s my opinion… i’m sorry to hate on lost here but after all these years…..i must admit some of the story lines from parts of all the seasons was great…i can give the writers that. Again i am sorry
May 26th, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Hey 1 of the losties – to me, that’s not quite what I got from the show. I really do think that alternate time-line/universe thing they did in the last season really confused people. To me, that was just a side story/ending story. What happened on the real island really did matter. Jacob sought out someone to take his place and I also believe that new person wasn’t confined to the rules that Jacob was… I think that’s part of the reason Jack and the rest weren’t invited in as Others and Locke/Flocke was. The candidates weren’t confined by the rules and Locke/Flocke was. Jack saved the island/saved the world by killing off Flocke/MIB/Smokey (with some help from Kate) and then passed the job off to Hurley, who again wasn’t confined by the old rules, at least by what Ben told him after Jack was gone. The alternate reality was more or less a retirement community for the Losties. But I also think that reality continued to exist even after they departed. I think Ben stayed behind to work some issues out with Alex and maybe even Danielle. I personally tried to stay open to this last show because I just knew there’d be no way they could explain everything and conclude it in a manner that would satisfy everyone. I think cutting the last few seasons to only 15 shows was a mistake because they just didn’t have the time to develope the stories or the new characters they introduced – at least not in the manner they did in Season’s 1 and 2.
May 26th, 2010 at 2:56 pm
gary, i can agree on some points, BUT to say they didn’t have time makes me want to scream. mis managed their time is more like it. if the donkey wheel/time space/dan faraday was nothing more then a device to get the a-bomb guts, why spend 2 seasons dealing with it.
here’s another one: if they were all dead, did kid Ben and Sayid double die? where they zombies?
May 26th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
Hey gary, i agree that cutting it short was stupid, and we did get answers to some things..eg richard not getting old thing. but tell me this does it mean from the minute the plane crashed on the island they died, that would explain why jack could see his dad??? also if that was the truth why then would they have to get off the island; the 6 that did why would they have the need to come back? Also if that alt universe was their waiting place for all of them to get together, why would they still have Sayid as a killer, still killing people etc wouldn’t you think if it was a waiting place it would be peaceful? and Nadia was his true love not Shannon. Ssgt MZ…i’m a little confused too, if the plane crashed and they died does that also mean that they double died when the bomb blew up. I know that i’m not going to get all the questions i have about lost and that’s cool but there are some big ones that are left unanswered
May 27th, 2010 at 3:14 am
I don’t understand when they died. in the 815 crash? So what about Ben? When did he die? It makes no sense. All questions make no sense because the’ve changed the rules. They were telling us that losties aren’t dead and in the finale suddenly they are saying that losties in fact were dead. The were telling us that they have explanation for every question in this show. The explanation they gave us is naive. I don’t buy it.
And the whole ending… It was like some stupid movie with Olsen twins where everybody is happy. I switch channel when i see something like that. And I’m sorry that i feel so about the end of my favourite show.
May 27th, 2010 at 11:37 am
YES! REVOLT! make them give us another season! all kidding aside, i bet there is some wicked fan-fiction out there that closes things better.
May 27th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
I’m not 100% satisfied with the end myself, maybe only 60% at tops. But as I mentioned, I had a feeling they weren’t going to cover the scientific aspects in the ending, only the emotional. I think more time should have gone into explaining Jacob and the MIB – especially when they decided to side more towards the supernatural. I mean, sure, Jacob was the protector of the island and this job was passed down to him by his mother… but who died and made her God? How’d that light come to be and the island for that matter? What was the origins of it all? It’s no wonder people who’ve watched the show for all 6 seasons feel as if they’ve gotten off one of those spinning rides at the fair.
May 27th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
I really loved the show, I got into it late during the 4th season, went back to watch it on line from the beginning. It was fun to visit this blog and see what everybody thinks about the latest episode. But I have to admit that when the End finished I felt cheated and not satisfied at all with many many unexplained things. Check this video clip for an entire list of things that never got answered http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1936291
I have to admit that I was more interested in mythology and mysteries of the island than personal stories of our losties. After its all over I realized that anticipation and waiting for answers all these years was a lot more fun than actual end of story . Producers claim they knew how it was going to end from the beginning. If this is true then they purposly over complicated the plot with no intention of giving us answers. If they lied and they didn’t know how it ends than it seems like they just decided to create an easy way out when they realized their plot is too complicated. Either way honestly even though I was a big fan of the show the end wasn;t as good as I hoped.
May 27th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
I was a bit disappointed wtih the ending to the X-Files too way back when. But they ended that one because the actors began quiting and so had to come up with an ending fast. This show, though, they planned to end it when they did, so I figured everything would be more thought out. They took most care with seasons 1 and 2 and then it seemed like they got a bit sloppy with the the following seasons (even if they were still some good shows in there). But small things, like if you remember when Miles was introduced and got that money from that woman’s house when her son died… then later he could only find things out if the dead person’s remains were present. There were quite a few things like that.
May 28th, 2010 at 3:21 am
Answer to one qustion could make the situation better. What is the light? Is that a metaphore of somenthing? Does it meananything or is it just a light revealed to us in last season that should be explanation of everything in the show?
Today I’m even more dissapointed than the day after the finale. I won’t buy season 6 DVD. My child will not see it
October 4th, 2010 at 5:26 pm
I stumbled across this site today and immediately wanted to see your thoughts on The End. It seems it affected you in much the same way and I’m always glad to see other people appreciated it as much as I did. The finale was really something special, and with just four words — “how are YOU here?” — all of Season 6 changed in an instant (for the better IMO). Now I love S6 just as much as the previous five. The series really does feel like a masterpiece from start to finish. Occasional flaws to be sure, but given the scope and ambition of the series I think that’s more than understandable.