As they say friends, all good things must come to an end. Such is true for our favorite show. I know I won't have time today to do a proper write-up, but I don't y'all to have to hold your theories back, so let's hear 'em!! What did you think of the Lost finale?
Monday, May 24, 2010
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12 comments:
Two words - TIME LOOP.
I will explain more about what I mean later, but it sets as a classic time loop.
I think the writers went out of their way to leave the ending ambiguous and open to interpretation. While I am somewhat disappointed (I SO wanted to see Jack come out of the cave as a white smoke monster), I think I can be satisfied with the ending, even though I DO want to smack those writers upside the head. You set it up PERFECTLY and then blow it right at the end? Dips!
The quasi-religious ending doesn't fit at all with what LOST has been about, with time traveling, electromagnetic energy, and I still believe the "flash sideways" are an alternate reality created by the island's destruction by the bomb in the 1970s. Without Jacob molding their lives, their lives went in different directions.
However, that timeline was never meant to exist, and as Farraday's mother said long ago, "You can't change the timeline, it will correct itself," you could see the island pulling at them, trying to merge the timelines, to get them to remember the island, and draw them back to it.
Wasn't the church they were sitting in the same church where momma Farraday had the pendulum swinging finding the island? And wasn't that church built over a pocket of the same electromagnetic energy found at the island? I don't believe for a second that white light was taking them to "heaven." It was the merging of the timelines, and setting in motion the time loop. Whether or not the characters would start the new loop with the memories they had newly gained I can't say, although if they did, and went back to the correct timeline with the knowledge they needed to "do it right this time" (ala Groundhog Day) that would be an unbelievably satisfying ending for me.
As far as them all dying? Yes, in the real timeline they had all lived out their lives. Charlie drowned, Sun and Jin drowned (and remembered it in their flashes), Jack died where he did, and Hurley and Ben died much later. The Hurley and Ben conversation where "You were a good number 2...you were a good number 1" would be ludicrous if they hadn't continued their lives there together, a part of the story that we never got to see. That would make Christian's statement, "Some died before you, some long after" make perfect sense. They received all the memories of their entire lives in the alternate reality, and realized that they needed to go back to the correct timeline.
I believe this idea fits the facts, and also the feel, that the show has given us. If the ending is open for interpretation, and I don't find anything that openly disagrees with this, I think I can come to my own interpretation of the ending and be very satisfied with it.
And don't forget that Christian WAS dead in both realities. Only in the electromagnetic energy the church was built over could he have come back to life and speak to Jack. I believe very much that, as has happened very often on Lost, Christian was a manifestation of the island, the island speaking directly to Jack, and how appropriate that the "island" open the doors to the white light, to merge and thereby correct the timeline.
I think "The End" just added further proof to what we already knew, that it's easier to keep telling a story than it is to find a satisfactory end.
I don't pretend to pick up on the countless finer points of "Lost", so when I feel like I need a thorough examination of events, I always check in with hardcore fanatics like Jace and Nikki (who also wrote, but unfortunately didn't blog about "Alias") to have my eyes opened.
"Lost" was a show that I never missed, but neither did I obsess about it, so I was able to watch each week and "let go" (which seemed to be a theme last night). I feel for the fans who agonized over every detail for six seasons and who will come away from this finale without their many questions answered.
As we found out from "Alias", and really from most other beloved shows, there really isn't any way to end a series that will leave everyone feeling good about the end. It is, after all, THE END, and we'll never spend another minute with Kate or Sawyer or Hurley in 'real time' ever again. That's really the hard part, IMO, no matter how it ends, we lose our connection to those people. I guess, in some way, it's good to know that they are in their 'happy place' now, and I think the writers really wanted us to know that.
I was waiting for "Thank You for Six Incredible Years", but it wasn't to be.
Further elements to support my theory: When Desmond was forced into the machine by Widmore's people and he was hit with that blast of electromagnetism, he was able to see into the other timeline, how much better it was for everyone, and agreed to help Widmore.
He also believed that when he pulled the cork out of the island, they would all disappear and go somewhere...the alternate timeline. This makes sense with his role of being "The Constant" It would make no sense that he was looking into Purgatory.
Also, Juliette's final words as read by Miles, "It worked."
Also, the shot of the island being under water. If this was a purgatory reality, and not an alternate timeline or temporal disturbance created by the bomb going off, then this scene was useless and should not have been included.
Feels like I'm on LTA with Page 48 and Paul here.
I only watched 1st season, part of 2nd season and then the last 6 episodes of this season. Yes I was a little out of it, but I could get most things to make sense at some level watching the recent episodes. I can tell from Paul's posts that there were important things I missed, but Paul's view here makes a lot of things make sense.
Watching the end from my normal Christian context I experienced some profound and sentimental emotions, as well as some confusion in trying to make everything "fit." The reconciling of the time out of phase timelines is an idea that sounds right. It would make the neccessity of them all making it there together make sense and have meaning in the context.
I like it Paul, especially your interpretation of the final scene at the church. I (like many others I'm sure), figured a dead guy opening church doors to a bright white light meant all my beloved Lost characters had found peace in their lives...and then died and were now floating off to Heaven. I really, really, didn't like that ending. The religious aspect of that just really didn't fit with the show, IMO. But I also noticed that was the same church where Eloise introduced the pendulum, and I like your idea of it merging the timelines rather than just killing everyone off.
The unanswered questions that nag me are what happens to the arbitrary smattering of characters who successfully flew off The Island? In Paul's theory, do they merge with the flash-sideways people? What was the sacred "light" on the Island, who put the original plug in it (with all the carvings), and what does Hurley have to protect it from with Smoke Monster Locke dead on a cliff?
SRG,
I would guess that with the alternate timelines now reconciled there are no more other timelines, that the island sank or remains as a deserted island, and Hurley died like on the island as all the others who were in the church, but didn't fly off the island, or flashed sideways once eveyone else was taken care of.
"What was the sacred "light" on the Island, who put the original plug in it (with all the carvings)?" Put those in the same file as the officially unaswered Alias/Rambaldi mysteries.
This actually isn't a bad summary:
LOST explained with Post-It notes [video]
I Love Lost!
i love LOST. Maybe because my country is mentioned in it :) (TUNISIA)
http://lovers-shore.blogspot.com
I just watched The Event on NBC, that was pretty interesting! Love a show that's serial in nature for a change. If you're missing the mystery/sci-fi feel of Lost you should check it out, I'm guessing they'll have eppies on NBC's site...might be fun to start a discussion thread, lemme know what y'all think. :)
JJ finds 'Sawyer' another job.
This is one thing I like about JJ and Joss Whedon, they take actors with them from one project to another. I just wish he would find room for Jen somewhere.
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