Monday, May 24, 2010

THE END.

Let's discuss the moving and perplexing ending of LOST here.

8 Comments:

Blogger Sam's Myth said...

Like I've been telling people: *given the context of where the show has gone leading up to the finale* I think it was a perfect ending. Which is to say: an emotionally satisfying conclusion to an imperfect show.

It's not just that there are still things I'd like answered -- I can use my imagination based on clues in the show to be okay with most of the unanswered questions -- I think I'm just still confused about certain things that shouldn't have been confusing. Basic stuff that resolves the entire island plot, like why did Jack go along with Locke's idea to lower Desmond into the cave? Honestly the conclusion of the island plot felt rushed, and shouldn't have. You forgive the show for this, because in the course of six seasons they truly didn't know what the endgame plan was going to be the whole time, and that's understandable. But something about the resolution of the island plot feels rushed and empty. I still have some disappointment that still -- even after the finale focused just on the main characters in the end -- that they all died basically because of that bratty kid, that shitty actor with a hipster haircut who wasn't even a god or an antigod -- he was just a kid. All this still STILL happened because of Jacob and the Man in Black. That's fine, but if that's really what this whole plot was about, then the finale is kind of glossing over that by focusing our attention on the main characters. It wasn't quite the perfectly executed balancing act.

For now, I'm fine with it because the finale delivered emotionally in such a satisfying way. All of the "awakenings" coming one right after another were just too much to handle. The Sayid and Shannon fan in me lost it during their reunion, same with Claire and Charlie and Jack and Kate (the "we could go Dutch" moment was a little much for me, but I'm not a Saywer/Juliet superfan like some people). I cannot underestimate how deeply I was moved emotionally. The ending was perfect -- and Germain can tell you I, like Matthew Fox, hoped it would end with that shot. Mallory and I were a wreck. To say it had a profound emotional impact on us watching just doesn't say enough. It did what Lost has always done -- it brought us closer in watching, and reminded us of the fragility of our lives.

1:22 PM  
Blogger Sam's Myth said...

And I still even have questions/problems with the Sideways resolution, but I'm not at a rush to make final judgment. I don't really know how I feel about them/Jack having this post-mortal-life enlightenment and then never getting to put it to use in the real world. Again -- why did they all have to die because of the Boy in Black? I've been thinking recently, as a way of being okay with the Across the Sea episode, that the story of the Man in Black and Jacob could be seen as like the ultimate mythological Macguffin; when we learned that these people weren't originally gods, it kinda made them irrelevant. Their story was at most a mythic template. Except... again... that major characters died because of them, and to cite my one big disappointment -- that Locke's body was forever tarnished by the MIB. Seeing Locke's withered pale wet body dead on the rocks = not a happy image.

The Jack / MIB faceoff on the cliffs was epic. Those shots of them there in the rain looked incredible. I'm sure I'm not the only one who thought of Anakin and Obi-Wan, as sad as that is.

Speaking of: two Hurley Star Wars references in two minutes. So good.

I'll leave it at that for now and see if anyone else continues the discussion. I'm thankful for Lost -- a show unlike any other that we've ever seen -- and I will always give it the benefit of the doubt, now and when I rewatch it in the future. I'm thankful that I was able to understand what so many fans could not: That Lost is not about you; it's about these characters. When people asked for answers, what they were asking for was really for THEM to be able to decide what the show was about, and that's not how it works. When they gave answers, the fans then complained that those weren't the answers they wanted. I often wonder what we'd all think about Lost if it had just ended after first season with them looking down the hatch -- a much more pure and innocent time we would all agree. I'm sad for people who weren't able to get around this reality, that Lost can not be for everyone exactly what they want it to be; it will only be what IT wants to be. This show was written by average dudes. People. Like Jacob and the Man in Black they are not gods, just people given extraordinary power and responsibility. With that I think they did a great job. The finale may have thrown an emotional blanket over everything and clouded our critical vision a little bit, but time will tell how well the season, and series, holds up together. For now, I'm thankful.

1:23 PM  
Blogger Sam's Myth said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

1:23 PM  
Blogger Germain said...

Do me a favor. Click on this link just so I get some credit, then you can read my thoughts here. Mostly though, I agree with Sam. The finale had some HUGE plot holes but - it was satisfying.

http://www.realtvaddict.com/2010/05/24/lost-thoughts-the-end-part-2-aka-finale-explanations-and-theories/

The truly important things in life, and death, are the relationships you make. Those are the things that define and reward you. That’s what I was left with as Lost ended last night. It’s a nice message and one of many that was embedded in the subtext of the epic two and a half hour series finale. But, in “The End,” was that enough?

Spoilers to follow, of course.

The morning after, everyone is talking about and dissecting the ending. And while it was way more cut and dry than The Sopranos, it still left plenty of room for multiple readings not only of the episode, but of the entire series. Personally, here’s how I see it. Everything that we saw on the island since day one was real. Jack didn’t die until his eye finally closed. However, the “flash sideways,” as it had been called, wasn’t exactly that. It was more like a “flash everywhere.” It was a timeless area where the spirits of our castaways went after they died. People arrived there after they died , whether it happened on the island, like with Jack, or thousands of years later, like Hurley and Ben, who ended up being the island protectors in the end. And in that place, each person had to have their real lives flash before their eyes before they could come to grips with themselves. When that finally happened, this group of friends that so closely defined each other’s lives could move on to heaven, together, as a family. Live together, die alone.

However, that’s just one, more obvious, reading. You could also say that everyone died when Oceanic 815 crash landed and that the whole island mythology was these people being judged. Then there’s the thought that everyone died when Jughead, the nuclear bomb, when off. Or maybe the entire thing was really just about Jack. I believe any of these readings has a strong argument behind it.

I think it’s most satisfying as a fan to believe everything we’ve watched for six years was real. These characters came to the island all broken men/women. Everything that happened – explained or not – actually happened. The island was a mythic, almost unexplainable place. When they left, or died, they were totally different people – fulfilled and rewarded. Or maybe if that wasn’t the case, like with Michael, you ended up stranded on the island. That’s why he wasn’t in the church at the end and probably why Ben wasn’t yet ready to enter.

If you read the first part of this column, you know I’ve been a huge fan of Lost since it began. Now that it’s over, I feel oddly at peace. We got almost none of the “answers” that people had been clamoring for. The islands’ mysteries remain just that. And to have all of my characters dead, albeit it happy, is not the ending I was looking for. But for six years, no matter how it all ended, I was entertained and engaged on a week to week basis. Is there anything more one can ask from television? In the end, isn’t that what we sit down in front of the TV on a nightly basis for?

In that aim, Lost was a total and complete success and the finale was a fantastic piece of entertainment. Awesome action, fantastic acting, intense emotion. Then, at the end, we were giving a satisfying, as logical as you could get, ending. Did I want more? Always. But with Lost we always wanted more. And that need for “more” is what will make the series endure forever.

1:28 PM  
Blogger jason.jackowski said...

Farewell, LOST.

Never before had I truly been as emotionally attached to a TV series as I had with LOST. It all began one winter day 5 years ago (yes, I missed the boat when season 1 was airing) when a former co-worker of mine had lent me Season 1 of LOST. Steve said to me, "Just watch it." Needless to say, I did. That night, I wound up watching 8 episodes in one sitting. My old roommate and I competed over the next week to see who could finish it first. Being an unemployed animator, he won (for the record - Coats is now working at Pixar!).

What followed was five incredible years of frustrating, moving, exciting, beautiful television that intellectually stimulated me in ways unimaginable by any TV show. But, LOST was just not a TV show.

It was whatever we made it - a drama, a fantasy, science-fiction. More importantly, it was something that brought people together. It was a shorthand; it was a slang;it was a rollercoaster ride; it was a community; it was a friendship; it was a love affair; it was heaven. It was ours.

Sunday night's "The End" was as imperfect on the level of plot and logic as any episode of LOST. Yet, it was also as emotionally satisfying as any episode of the series (yes, even "The Constant").

The journey to and from the island was the MacGuffin here, of course. LOST was truly about the journey of these people. For all the theories that we ruminated over for hours, when it all ended it came down to the people, the characters. It wasn't about the game, but the players. Sometimes we lost track of that, but "The End" reminded us that it's not WHAT you are, but WHO you are.



In another post, I'll attempt to discuss the episode at hand.

4:00 PM  
Blogger jonniechang said...

nice writeups, guys. gonna chime in a bit here as well, get some of those ideas on the page.

first and foremost, i totally agree with germain, in that this show breaks rules and, in so many ways, is not a traditional television show. to better analyze this idea, i'm going to cite what the creators of the show have fully acknowledged, something that NO other show in the history of television has ever done:

start a conversation and, more importantly, LISTEN to its fans.

anybody who calls himself a storyteller knows, this is dangerous territory few tread upon. to ask what the fan wants, then proceed to give it to them, or deny them that desire, is not a good idea. addressing fan issues is not a good idea. teasing and manipulating your audience, testing them, to a degree, is not a good idea. this is why no one has ever had the balls to make a show like LOST.

so now LOST is over, and it's boldly stayed ambiguous in places where it didn't need to, answered questions that didn't necessarily need to be answered. and it did it by straddling the line between logic and metaphysics, while staying faithful to its intent from S1, to prove to us that there's more to the physical "real world," that some things can't be explained, that we just have to have faith. we have to just trust.

but trust who? the characters? their decisions? or the showrunners? the writing staff? or really, is the message to trust ourselves, the audience, to trust in our own hearts? LOST has proven to me not to look outwards, but to look inwards, at how, had i been on this island, my moral compass would have started in a place that's just as "LOST" as everyone else's on the show. i probably wouldn't get to be the jack that we all think we are. and that says something, something perhaps a bit dark about our natures, something we may not like.

there's a larger point of morality made by showing how difficult it was for jack to accept death (also the figurative "death" of the show, and hence the analogical "death" of us watching the show, which is arguably more important). it is the ultimate reflection of US, the audience. we are essentially being told that, even if it's indirectly, that this last season was, in so many ways, strictly FOR US. aside from the big questions clarified throughout S6, we have come to learn that the "flash sideways" were all shown to US (not to any of the characters, persay) primarily to convince us that the show was coming to an end. i can say w/ little doubt that i've never seen any show address my concerns so directly, yet still w/ such commendably subtlety.

i have to disagree a bit w/ sam here -- i DO believe the show is largely about US, the audience. yes, it's firstly about these people, these characters. but at the end of the day, they are but all cyphers for us, representations of timeless archetypes that represent all aspects of our collective consciousness, a reflection of all the strife, conflict, resolution, and happiness that we derive from our very own lives. we found this modern-day garden of eden and claimed it ours, and we were happy to explore the mysteries of this place together, whether we agreed or disagreed.

and this, to me, is the most crucial aspect of LOST. that despite all the theories, agreeing and disagreeing, arguments, "no that can't be possibles" and "no, that can't be its," we're all happy to have made the journey, and it almost proves that the ending must be bittersweet, it must feel rushed, because this story doesn't end here. if the show creators did any part of their jobs, they had to make this story feel like it could continue, and i would say they fully succeeded at convincing me of that.

the story of LOST doesn't end w/ jack closing his eyes. it begins.

4:17 PM  
Blogger jason.jackowski said...

Some LOST fun...
http://www.nationalpost.com/arts/lost/index.html

4:44 PM  
Blogger sc0tt said...

Here is a good read concerning the overall concept of LOST. I don't agree entirely but he makes some good points.

A friend and I think we have "solved" the original concept of LOST. The island was, indeed, purgatory. Here is why - Christian's coffin was empty in the first season.

I believe the original ending was supposed to be their ascension to Heaven (or a higher place) - which still happened. However, I believe that the flashbacks were intended to explore their sins and show how they ended up encountering each other in their real lives. We saw some connections starting to be made between Jack and Desmond, Libby and Hurley, etc.

However, since every fan guessed the island was purgatory right off the bat and the writers didn't know how many seasons they would have to write, they came up with a secondary concept which didn't end up working out as well - they were still alive and the island became the place where they all grew to know and love each other AND then in flash sideways we see their purgatory.

Overall, I was happy how things turned out. A lot of season 6 felt rushed and forced to me, but only the first time I watched each episode. If I would watch an episode a second time, I would appreciate it more. The finale definitely made me choke up a few times and I appreciated that it was heavily character oriented and not a huge action fest.

Overall, I don't think I'll ever have another TV show that pulls me in as much as LOST did and while it had some flaws, for the most part it was a great experience.

PS. The wreckage in the credits drove me crazy for a few days concerning what it meant, but apparently ABC put that in there to help tie the sad ending over to the news.

2:14 PM  

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