Like about 75% of the United States, Troubletron and I watched the LOST series finale last night.
If you haven't seen the finale, and may at some point watch the series, stop reading now.
We felt the event was important enough to merit begging my uncle's family to let us come over and use their television access to watch the much-anticipated finale real-time, so we wouldn't have to quarantine ourselves from internet usage until we could watch it on Hulu a day late (the way we watch most TV that we get to watch). We watched what ended up being about 50 minutes of show and an hour and 40 minutes of commercials, cuddling in the basement with two of my cousins and my friend Idiocorb.
As the episode reached its ending, and all the characters (well, not ALL . . . many of the characters) we have grown to love (hate) gathered in a death church to "move on," sharing hugs and nostalgic, meaningful looks, we all nearly barfed and choked on the sugary tenderness of the scene. But, when we all got up to discuss, it was quite evident that there were strikingly different interpretations of what we each thought happened.
After talking to those people, I am pretty sure that I was the ONLY PERSON PAYING ATTENTION. But, I want to hear what you all thought. Here are the two "possibilities," as put forth by our viewing group:
A) All those people died in the plane crash of Oceanic 815. They were dead the entire time on the island. All the stuff that happened on the island was either some kind of test or some form of intermediate zone between life and final resting place. And, finally, the people in the church get to move on to some form of heaven. Other people on the island who were not in the plane crash (Ben Linus, the "others," Richard, Jacob, Smokey, Miles, Lapedis, Daniel Farraday, etc) were also dead the whole time.
OR
B) All of the stuff on the island happened for real, while people were alive. They all (eventually, individually, and in their own ways) died, and collectively "created" the reality in Los Angeles (that we have thought throughout all of season 6 was a "sideways" reality) so they could find each other before "moving on" to some kind of afterlife. They did this because their time on the island, and the relationships formed because of the time on the island, was the most significant of their lives.
I will set up a poll for basic voting, but I'd also like to hear comments. Did you "like" the finale? Was one of these alternatives they way YOU understood the finale? Did you have a different understanding of what took place?
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15 Robot Reactions:
My vote is with option B. The episode was fine until the last 15 minutes and then it took a hard nose dive into sappy and WTF is going on. I liked the series but thought the last episode was a waste of my time not to mention all of the pathetic commercials I was forced to watch every 5 minutes throughout the show. LOST is finally done and I feel good about that.
Seems to me that it was obviously B. Otherwise is just doesn't make sense (not that a ton of it makes sense anyway.)
I thought the finale was good. It's such an interesting complex and convoluted series I just couldn't think how they were going to wrap it up well. I thought the wrap up was decent. There are a lot of questions left unanswered and such, but I think that's probably mostly appropriate.
There's my 2 cents. The sappy stuff all made me cry too.
Ginna and Idio: I agree. Option B makes the most sense (though, not total sense).
Troubletron and I have been discussing, though, in this fake reality they have created to find each other, why were Juliet and Jack divorced? Why did they have a son that never actually existed?
I understand a little better why some people, like Ana Lucia, Ben, and Daniel Farraday "weren't ready" to move on yet. But, why are there characters that didn't otherwise exist? Just as red herrings? That's not a good enough reason for me.
Yeah...I'm still trying to figure it out. I'll have to think about it more before I poll. It was not what I expected though....very...strange.
Option B. Especially after Jack asked his dad if it was all real (by which I assume he meant, did all that island stuff actually happen in my life) and his Christian says that it was real. I think the whole conversation Jack had with his dad confirms option B.
I thought the ending was a total copout. I thought his dad said that they'd all died in the plane crash, which basically made the entire series into something like a dream, filled with a bunch of meaningless crap.
They never explained what the deal was with the island. What was the light? Who was Jacob? Why did someone have to protect the island? What was the story with the smoke monster (which I guess was Jacob's brother?), why did it want to get off the island, and what would have happened if it did? What was up with the Dharma Initiative?
Here's what I think happened...they had no clue where the hell to go with the series after season 1, so the seasons between, up to this one, were just filler. Finally at some point they decided they needed to wrap it up somehow, but they were lazy and hadn't planned an actual ending when they started, so they came up with this whole, you were all dead the whole time, thing.
Stupid. Just stupid! And why did they make it seem like the sideways reality was what happened after the bomb went off--that there was another reality going on where the plane had never crashed at all?
I'm annoyed with the whole thing. I think it was just a lazy, sappy ending.
Jodie: I am also feeling like more thought is needed.
Anna: I think you are right.
Melissa: I just watched the part with Jack's dad again on Hulu because I wanted to hear exactly what he said again. He did NOT say they died in the plane crash. He said they were all dead. He said some of them died before Jack and some died "LONG after." I think that makes it pretty clear that they did NOT die in the plane crash.
I still don't get how people think they were dead the whole time. I feel like the writers went to great pains to show that wasn't what happened... so far as to have Christian spell it out for everyone, as some of you have correctly pointed out. I feel like that mode of story telling is often unnecessary, but apparently here it was, as people STILL did not get it.
People want answers but ignore the obvious ones.
I feel like a LOT was explained about the island, the DI, Jughead and the "incident," Jacob and MIB (black and white), and the alt universe/flash-sideways. People just aren't taking the time to think about it, and are demanding more direct answers on life and death than a show could possibly provide.
This show was always about the characters first and foremost.
Some people just need something to hate...
I loved it. I get it.
And B is the answer.
Here's more answers from one of the writers, if it makes anyone feel better.
So after thinking about it a bunch (too much for any sane person I'm sure) I think that maybe the "sideways world" was some spiritual/mental construct where they all met, and because of that the other people (who we didn't see in the church at the end) were either constructs of the people's combined imaginations/minds (which would explain why there were so many weird coincidences with people from the island EVERYWHERE).
Otherwise I was thinking that maybe those people just didn't have as much connection to the island and the people there, and so they had different groups or whatever to meet up with in order to move on.
The only person I see as truly not existing is Jack's son, and I think that's sad!
And why were Jack and Juliet divorced? Who the heck knows. Maybe they sort of remembered bits about what they learned and became on the island and that drew them towards each other, but they just weren't right. And who knows when the sideways world even started. Did they just pop into it at some point as adults? Were they born into it and grew up there? Very mysterious.
Anyway, see? I thought about it too much. It's a little embarrassing.
It's B and if you don't see that you didn't pay attention.
As for Jack's son - I think he was made to represent the feeling Jack had for Aaron. It seems that Jack had the hardest time being able to let go of his time in the sideways. He and Juliet were divorced because she was not his "real love" ultimately he needed Kate to remind him of what had happened and where they were.
I think Ginna got it, the "other" people in the sideways were "constructs of the people's combined imaginations/minds"
I think it took Jack so long because he was the "man of science" in the man of science vs. man of faith struggle.
I liked the ending and voted for "B". I'm also okay not knowing answers to everything. I do wonder what else will be revealed when the DVD is released, though.
So.....if it's option B, how come they showed a shot of the original plane crash, with absolutely no one around it, at the very end?
I only watched it the one time, so I could go either way....but some of what his dad said, and the ending shot, makes me think they were just dead all along.
They did not all die on the plane crash - though the producers like to make you think that by showing scenes of the wreckage as the final images while the credits run. There was way too much dialogue that suggested that the island was not all just a dream or fake world as part of their death. Also, the show would have been extremely lame and a copy of like 10 movies if it did that.
No, there is definitely something more here. I'd have to rewatch all of season 6 to really put my finger on it...which I might do. I think now having seen the finale I could really think about the whole season under that framework. For example - what the freak was the stupid temple all about? Why does 90% of that show even happen without a point beyond "they're all dead?" Smash, if you rewatch, let me know if it opens up new thoughts.
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