I had this dream last night — Jack and Sun somehow got together after they were tasked with setting everything on the island back to rights. I’m not kidding. There was a Jack-Sun hook-up. This is not the first LOST-related dream I’ve had in the last five months, either.
Here’s another story: In my junior year of college I took (yet another) Shakespeare course and had to read Hamlet (again). One night I was on the phone with a friend, and to extricate myself from the conversation I said that I had to finish reading the play. “Michelle,” my friend said, quite seriously, “you know they all die in the end.” This became a running joke with us.
It is largely because of this that I found the end of LOST not only satisfying, but extremely funny.
I didn’t say this here, but I was nervous going into the finale. I’ve invested a lot of time and money into LOST. While I wouldn’t say I’m a total LOSTCon-attending Lostie, this show drew me in from the beginning, provided me with a regular dose of consistently good acting, good drama, and nearly always gave me something to chew on. I was there from the beginning. And I was so nervous that the finale would ultimately disappoint me and do so on a spectacular level.
Instead, I got about 100 minutes of pure AWESOME and about 10 minutes of “wait a minute, WHAT? THIS is where they’re going with this? I don’t know if I like this. Oh, c’mon, REALLY?” It did seem as though those last 10 minutes were going to undo everything. Then the show ended, we talked amongst ourselves for a little bit, then went to our respective homes. I slept. This morning, I can state without hesitation that I unequivocally loved this final episode.
I’m not going into the whole “character vs. mythology” business and how depending on what mattered to you most, you either loved or hated the finale. It’s pretty clear, I think, where I’ve stood from the beginning of this season in terms of what answers I wanted and what I would find a satisfying conclusion. It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, that I am largely satisfied.
And I’ve been stalling here because I don’t know where to begin. But I might as well start at the end.
1. The sideways world is explained as some sort of purgatory, but the good kind of purgatory. Because in this holding pattern (see what I did there) everyone basically gets the sort of life they wanted to have, more or less. This has been mentioned before – Locke has Helen, Hurley is successful and lucky, Jack has a better grip on his Mr. Fixit issues, etc. But it’s more than that, I realize now — the sideways world/purgatory is where these characters have the chance to work through all their unresolved issues. So Locke’s relationship with his father has a different spin on it. Jack has a chance to work through his unresolved daddy issues via his son. Sawyer’s investigating the man responsible for his parents’ deaths is on the up-and-up (mostly). Desmond’s relationship with Widmore is stable and functional. And so on.
The idea that the sideways world was a place for everyone to gather before heading off to heaven together was a little too religious for me, but I have to give the show credit on two counts — one, I don’t think they actually USE the word heaven. It’s simply “moving on” to some sort of afterlife. “Where are we going?” “Let’s find out.” So I think my unease with the religiosity of the situation is in part what I am imposing on the narrative. I mean, this is all taking place in a church so of course religion is present, but in rewatching this final scene I’m less convinced that we’re dealing with specific religious principles. More like general theology. Not something out of left field for this show. (Also, rewatching this? I am BAWLING.)
Check that, three counts: the sideways world-as-purgatory brings together a couple central LOST concepts: that what happened, happened — the island stuff was all real; and more importantly, these were the people that mattered most to Jack in the most important part of his life. In other words: if we can’t live together, we’re going to die alone. It’s as if in the moment that Jack first utters that, waaaaay back at the beginning of Season 1, they all resolve that they will not die (or move on) alone. They will be together in the end. So, you know, goddammit, LOST, you got me. You got me good.
Slightly harder to wrap my head around, but I think I get it now: the idea that not all of these characters died at the same time. That some of them die much later in the future than Jack, but this pre-afterlife party doesn’t adhere to linear time constructs (which makes sense, since the entire SHOW didn’t hold to linear time constructs). There is no NOW. I liked that we get the first hint of that with Hurley and Ben, as they refer to events that happened after Jack saved the island. I also liked that some of these characters weren’t ready to go with everyone else. Desmond says that Ana Lucia isn’t ready, he tells Eloise that Daniel will not be going with them . . . hang on. Why does Desmond get to decide? Isn’t this Jack’s show, at the end?
2. Juliet finally, finally, finally shows up, and not only does she get the best reunion scene in the finale, but in explaining to Sawyer how to get his Apollo bar, she gives us the procedure for fixing the island: unplug it, and then plug it back in. And there it is. The island is a giant vending machine. No, really — I loved that. Unplug/replug it and duct tape — these are the two things that can solve ANY problem, and we got both of them in this episode. I think that’s BRILLIANT.
3. Not as crazy about the LITERAL CORK at the center of the island, but I’ll go with it anyway. I did like that once the island was unplugged, all bets were off and the rules no longer applied (I don’t think the rules really existed for real, anyway — they were made up and arbitrary — but I do appreciate the loyalty with which both Jacob and the Man in Black adhered to them), both Jack and Smokey were mortal and could be harmed/killed.
I also liked the way that after Jacob’s death, Richard began to age — Miles plucks out a gray hair. And the return of his mortality brought new stakes for Richard. Now he wants to live. It was one of the small but big moments that LOST has always done very well.
4. I loved the way the characters who hadn’t been enlightened (for lack of a better term) as to what the sideways world really was found their way to the truth. That for Jin and Sun it was seeing their baby on the ultrasound monitor. For Kate it was helping Claire give birth to Aaron — the boy that meant so much to both of them. It wasn’t always the true love angle — it was moments of extreme emotion and/or issues that were unresolved in the original timeline (thanks for that, Rose) — Jin never gets to see Ji Yeon, Hurley never gets his relationship with Libby.
5. The Rose and Bernard scene worked for me on so many levels. Obviously the first is that we got to check in with Rose and Bernard. And THEY were the ones who got Desmond out of the well, after a brilliant Lassie turn from Vincent. Good boy, Vincent! That was immensely satisfying. And I loved that they also have rules for existing on the island, but recognize when it’s necessary to break them.
6. And OK, so I was wrong about Frank being dead (and glad to be wrong about that), but I would like to point out that I called Hurley as the next Jacob way back at the beginning of this season:
The one thing I did not like about this episode ["The Lighthouse" -- episode 4] was the shoddy writing given to Hurley. He’s always been the audience stand-in, and the pop culture nerd with the Star Wars references and whatnot, but last night it seemed that all Hurley really did was string along a bunch of Hurleyisms, and that’s not fair, especially when it seems as though Hurley is poised to be the next Island Guy.
And last week, when Jack volunteered for the job, I was really OK with that — though again I would like to point out that I didn’t quite buy Hurley’s “whew” moment, either.
I also said a little something about how this season has given us a Hurley who finally comes into his own. I wouldn’t have minded if Jack had stayed in his role as Island Protector, but I have been hoping all season that it would be Hurley. I tried to explain why last night and all I could come up with was that he was always the guy who cared about people, who always wanted to see the good in people, who believed in people because they were good. He believed in Charlie, he believed in Jack, he manipulates Sawyer into doing good because he knows Sawyer has it in him. And finally, he believes in Ben. BEN! Of all people. Hurley’s the most lovable character in the show not just because he’s the underdog, but because really, truly, he represents the best part of us. And this makes him really the only candidate for Jacob’s job.
7. So that moment made me cry a little bit. As did the Juliet-Sawyer reunion. And Jin and Sun in the hospital. And Claire and Charlie reconnecting. And Ben and Locke’s final conversation in which Ben apologizes for real and Locke forgives him.
And yes, there were a few moments during the finale that I didn’t much care for but I’ll be damned if I can remember any of them now. Well, OK, there’s this: remember when Widmore said he’d loaded up the Ajira plane with enough C4 to blow the whole island to hell or whatever? But Locke only took one bar of it? It drove me crazy that Richard, Miles and Frank didn’t check the rest of the plane.
But I absolutely LOVED all the meta touches and callbacks, from Kate snarking on the name “Christian Shephard” to Jack and Smokey looking over the edge of the waterfall at the center of the island just as Jack and Locke peered into the hatch, Sawyer checking on Kate’s gunshot wound as Kate once took care of Sawyer’s — loved all of it.
Bottom line: The finale made me want to start the series all over again, and I cannot think of a better endorsement.
I realize there’s a LOT that I’ve left out here, and I would love it if you (all everybody) would start up a conversation in the comments. I have a feeling we could talk about this show for a long time.
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