People have been asking me what I thought about the Lost finale. So here it is:
I have been bothered ever since it aired. We had a finale party at our house and right away everyone kept asking me what I thought about it when really, I just wanted them to leave me alone and let me think it over. I didn’t want to talk, I didn’t want to theorize, I just wanted to sit in silence.
Days later, I’m still very reserved in my emotions about it. I don’t want to say I hated it because I’ve been committed to this show for 6 years. Being there on September 22, 2004 has some serious significance, so I can’t say I hated the resolution to something I’ve been committed to for so long.
I will say this:
Going into the finale, I was afraid that they were going to give us “character resolution” but no real mythological answers. This fluttering fear started at the beginning of this season with the flash-sideways and matured into cold-sweats after “Across the Sea”. It’s really just “a light” Allison Janney? And it’s the source of life, death, and rebirth? Call me crazy, but from the finale, it just looked like the stone was corking up evil to keep it from escaping. There was nothing about the creepy “hell” scene that made me think of life or rebirth, just death.
I would be in raptures had they answered ONE of these questions:
WHAT IS THE LIGHT? I feel like their choice not to answer this was probably smart. This gets into the sticky world of religion and they’ve done a really good job of remaining religiously ambiguous. However, then I would have been able to say with a clear conscience “Yes, Virginia, they knew what they were writing.”
WHO FOUND THE LIGHT AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE? I wouldn’t have needed to know what the significance was, I just need to know that SOMEONE did. Jacob took on the role of the protector with nothing more than a wink and a shot of wine from a grubby looking bottle. He didn’t ask what or why but was willing to lay down his life, and the lives of others, for this heretofore unexplained light. And Jack? Don’t get me started about him. I think he took the job simply because he wanted to feel important. The writers allowing Jack to take the job without asking for an explanation weakened his character and perpetuated his off-putting “god complex” as Sawyer so accurately deemed it. He didn’t grow as a character from season 1 when he wanted to fix every living thing, he just finally found a “mission” that other people found important too.
THE NUMBERS? That’s all I have to say about that one.
HOW DID JACOB GET THEM ALL ON THE SAME PLANE? Does he have time-travel abilities? How in the world did he go visit them at different times in their lives and then get them all on the same plane? That’s really been a bee in my bonnet since the end of season 5 when Jacob got all touchy-feely.
HOW IN TARNATION DOES THE ISLAND MOVE? I mean, really? Not a word about electromagnetism connected to wormholes? Not even from Farriday? Oh wait—they killed him off before he could explain anything scientific. How convenient.
WHY DOESN’T ANYONE ASK QUESTIONS? Kate was moving in the right direction by “What They Died For”, but never really went for it. I would plagued them with questions.
WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE EASTER EGGS? Over the course of the show I spent hours hypothesizing about their hidden numbers, symbols, and books. I relished the time. I guess that’s my bad for getting all obcessive.
From all this you may gather that I’m unhappy with the episode, but really, that’s not the case. At first I was REALLY angry with the “This is the place you all created so you could find each other” explanation of the flash-sideways, but the more I think about it, the more I like it.
Lost has always been a show that keeps people guessing, theorizing, and connecting with each other. It has always shocked me (like Juliet’s ex-husband being hit by a bus, or Sayid shooting young Ben) so I don’t know why I expected anything less from the finale. I guess I was expecting it to be a little less touchy-feely and religiously wishy-washy. But then again, they said we would get emotional fulfillment; they never promised answers…
Things I loved? The characters recognizing each other. Oh, man, were there water-works in my living room. To have Charlie, Claire and Aaron together again was almost moving enough to allow me to forget that Sun ended up with Charlie’s DS ring instead of Aaron. And Sawyer and Juliet’s moment was almost enough to banish the painful futility of “The Incident”.
As a side note, I must mention the acting that took place in this episode. I smell Emmys.
Over all, I feel emotionally fulfilled and mentally bullied. Which is why when people ask me if I liked the finale, I kind of just want to cry.
