Goat3001

I understand what you're saying but I thought the bolded was implied. They kept saying it would be bad if Flocke left/destroyed the island. I figured this is why. The Island corks hell in place... if the cork is broken hell is released which would mean there would be no "heaven".

kaze0

Well guys, be glad that you only spent 6 seasons waiting for the answers to the island that would never come. It could have been worse. You could have been waiting with Ricardo for some answers.

TheKing

I decided to sleep on it before giving my final thoughts.

In many ways, the final episode of Lost was poetic, moving, epic, and really just a fantastic piece of television that served as a fitting conclusion to the series. But some things just kind of stick out and keep this from being a grand slam.

So onto my thoughts:

OK, I just want to get this out of the way first: The whole "Alternate Endings" stuff on Jimmy Kimmel was a slap in the face. The promoted it, got people to watch, and it was all a joke? Really? They weren't even that funny, maybe the Newhart one, but the rest were lame. Good Morning America advertised alternate endings for season 4, and in that case they were actual alternates.

On the other hand, the 2-hour retrospective was by far the best recap show they ever did. I enjoyed it, and it was great to see the cast giving their insight.

My interpretation of the ending is that the alt world they created was one in which the island had no effect on their lives because it was sitting at the bottom of the ocean. So maybe Juliet's parents don't get divorced and her sister doesn't have cancer. She never marries the guy that got ran over by the bus and instead ends up in Los Angeles where she meets Jack and they have a kid. I think Jack's son in the alternate was more about Juliet than Jack. Much like in the real world, it looked like Jack and Juliet would end up together, but it didn't work out.

Of course, this is one of my biggest problems with this whole alt world. If it was designed by them to come together, then why wouldn't they be with their other loved ones as well? Wouldn't Juliet want to move on with her sister, parents, etc.? Or are we to take it that their loved ones have to find their own path to the other side?

As to who was in the church and who wasn't, Ana Lucia wasn't really connected to the main cast. In fact she was seen as an outsider because she killed Shannon. And since Shannon was there, having Ana Lucia would have seemed odd. Besides, nobody liked her character anyway.

As for Michael and Walt, again, Michael killed Libby. Plus, this world they created was 2004. It would be impossible to get a 2004 Walt in there with the rest of the group. Same reason we don't see a Ji Yeon, other than in Sun's womb. Aaron was there of course because he was part of the group on the island and logistically it's not that hard to get another baby Aaron.

The freighter folk weren't there either. They explained why Daniel wasn't, and you could infer that Charlotte was tied with him. Lapidus wasn't in the Alt world at all, was he? I still say they should have made him the pilot of 815 in the Alt, but I guess they didn't want to stray that far from the original flight. As for Miles, he probably needs to reconcile with his dad and move on with him. Maybe the freighter folk have to go together, and maybe they need to find Naomi.

Maybe that's what Ben's unfinished business is. He has to find the others. Ethan, Goodwin, Horace, etc.

On that thought, what does it mean to be killed in the Alt, like Keamy? Is that how you get to hell?

The on-island stuff was great. The Jack/MIB fight was satisfying, including Kate's action movie catch phrase. Hurley and Ben becoming the new protectors of the island was fitting, and it gave Ben his ultimate redemption. Or so we are lead to conclude.

In the end, all we really know is that everyone dies at some point. We aren't given the ultimate outcomes of those that escaped on the Ajira flight, and we don't know what becomes of those left on the island other than Jack. Everyone dies, we get that, but they should have shown us what became of the rest. Did Hurley use his new found power to turn the island into luxurious resort/casino? Guess we'll never know.

I guess the only way to look at it is that these lost souls found their way. Kate and Sawyer have eachother, Claire will have Aaron, Lapidus gets to complete his flight, Richard gets to age, and Miles, well I don't know what Miles got out of it other than a reaffirmation of his love of Duct Tape. Perhaps he found himself when he got to meet his dad.

Great episode, great series, but the ending could have been and should have been more satisfying. Give us something more than everyone dies.

Goat3001

They didn't seem to worry too much about Juliet. Logistically, because she was busy with her other show. In the Lost universe, because she wasn't as important as the original Losties. But we did see some of the other loved ones: Mainly with Locke, who had good relationships with his wife and father. Obviously the end they just wanted to focus on the main Losties because regardless of the rest of their loved ones, these people were more important.

redrum

it was about them reconnecting with the people they experienced all that with so they could remember it one last time before they "moved on"

s}{ammer

Did we watch the same show????
In the show I saw Kate had Jack, Sawyer had Juliet Claire had Charlie and of course the baby that was born there which was kind of odd unless Aaron is forever a baby since he was born and lived at least to be a toddler off-island. Anyway, Where did you get that Kate and Sawyer were together???

Timber

He has to be talking about off the island after Ajira got home.

s}{ammer

But you are missing the point in that what happened, happened. They already told us that if Flocke got off the island, destroying it in the process, all the evil would be released and everyone they ever cared about would be cease to exist. They didn't need to explain it any further because it didn't happen, which means none of the losties experienced that happening.

I stand by what I said before, this show was always good at raising questions but it really sucked when they tried to give us answers. Why change what the show was about just because it was going to end????

FatTony

Personally, I just assumed that outside of the Losties, nobody else truly existed in the Alt universe. Of course, you could be right, as Keamy was kind of a douche.

Also, in thinking about it more, I think it would have been a nice touch if the Alt universe had been a fabrication of Walt's instead of a vague collective effort of the Losties. I'm not normally big on trying to say "they should have done this," but I think that would have done very well at tying back into all the "Walt is special" stuff from the earlier seasons. They could have parallelled a conversation between him and Locke with the conversation between Jack and his father.

Anyway, just a thought. Still loved the finale, and it has definitely drawn the polarized reactions I was expecting. I'm just glad I find myself on the "loved it" end of that spectrum.

Jason

A friend who hasn't watch any more than the first disc of season one asked for my thoughts on the finale. Someone at work told him that the ending made no sense, and not to bother with watching the show at all now. Here's what I sent him:

I think it's worth watching, as long as you don't expect to get a lot of concrete answers about those infamous Lost mysteries. At it's heart, Lost is about the characters, not the Island. Lost refers to the characters lives, not being stranded on an island. The events on the Island really happened (no St. Elsewhere ending), but ultimately they don't really matter. The characters develop quite a bit, and there are a LOT of wonderful performances. I would watch Terry O'Quinn or Michael Emerson read the fucking phone book.

The big problem is that a major component of the last season was not what people thought it was, and there ended up being two endings, one of which was basically a load of quasi-religious new age mumbo jumbo. Also, there was no square-up reel that spoon fed answers about the polar bear and the outrigger and what Jughead did, which caused people a great deal of consternation. And a lot of things from the first few seasons (before they set an end date) have basically been ignored. But the main storyline is completely resolved and the characters get real closure. I think a lot of fans wanted to go back and watch the whole thing again to look for clues and subtle things they might have missed, but those things really won't add anything to the story now. One criticism I read was that Lost started out as a story, and ended up as just a bunch of stuff that happened. That's valid, but doesn't diminish the stuff that happened.

Am I glad I watched the whole series? A resounding yes. It had a great cast performing as engaging characters, layers of mystery that work well within the story (even though they ended up not being the point of the whole thing) and was beautifully shot with impressive (for TV) effects. It's a big part of modern television history (certainly for genre shows) and its influence will be seen for years to come. I'm going to miss this as much as Battlestar Galactica. I'm not as happy with this ending as I was with BSG, and I would have done a lot of things different in the last season, but I think it has merit from beginning to end*.

*Except for the season 3 episode with the diamond thieves Paolo and Nikki. That was a shit sandwich.

Pizza

It felt more like an epilogue than a finale. The last 5 years of story didn't matter as much as setting up the 6th season tear fest. Locke getting out of the chair at the end just reaffirms in my mind that the Island was originally planned to be purgatory but too many viewers figured it out and they changed their gameplan.
As for the end of the world, it just never felt like a real threat. And for a "plug" to keep evil sealed, Jack and Desmond didn't have much trouble removing it. And Jack should have had Desmond put the plug back since he could withstand the magnetic energy.
And, I don't get the dog at the end. It wasn't even Jack's dog. Still made me cry but it felt cheap.

HE Pennypacker

JackieMoonsault

Thought the show was very powerful. It doesn't really bother me about the questions left unanswered because either they will be answered down the road or they are left purposely left ambiguous. Everything doesn't need to be explained because that just leaves nothing to be talked about IMO. This is the story that the writers wanted to tell and I accept that and I bought into it. All I wanted to know is why Walt was special and apparently that'll be answered on the DVD.

Does anyone believe that there will be more? Obviously these are two completely different shows but could you see LOST like a CSI or a Law and Order and LOST could have spin-offs that tell different stories on the island like more about Jacob and MIB, or DHARMA times, Alvar Hanso, whoever built the statue, etc.? I just have a feeling that eventually there will be more to come whether is a spin-off, book, comic, or gasp movie. I just feel there is so much money to be made and the people that are craving for these answers and were pissed at the finale last night will keep blogging and begging for answers and the brass at ABC and Disney will say there is more to make off this. Just my thoughts. Real good posts by everyone.

Jason

If it was impossible to remove, why would it need a protector?

B.A.

I liked it for the most part.

Drexl

I don't know about more shows, but I hope they get to do another video game. This time, the whole island can be mapped out and there would be nothing to hide WRT time travel and "the light."

ATX

wonder how long these threads will go on...

YALL CAN LET GO NOW!!!!

s}{ammer

Well Desmond was the one who could handle the extreme electromagnetic energy and yet it still almost killed him. Jack didn't pull the plug, but if he wasn't already dying from his wounds it no doubt would have killed him or at the very least given him a black smokey headache.

Snowmaker

Finished the episode tonight and watched Kimmel and still am trying to fully understand what I saw. How did everyone die together?

My head hurts just trying to read this thread for answers. I'm going to bed.

superfro

Totally...I mean it has already been 24 whole hours since the finale of probably the most talked about television series on the internet for the past 6 years. When are you people gonna give it a rest?!

HE Pennypacker

Not everyone died together bro. Jack died on the island. Charlie and Shannon much before him. Sayid, Jin, and Sun together in the sub. Kate, Sawyer, Miles, etc. died sometime in the future after they likely led long lives back in states. Ben and Hurley most likely died on the island many decades after Jack did.

dolphinboy

So, why would Kate and Sawyer be there? Because they got back and spent the next 50 years or so of their lives NOT moving on and falling in love and having families that might possibly have meant more to them than the people on the island, so much so they hung out in purgatory until almost every last one of the reunited before moving on? The best they leave us with is that Sayid didn't end up with the love of his life, but his soul mate? Really? That seems like a cheap stunt and that's coming from someone who would have loved for Maggie to have stayed on much longer than she did and loved seeing her again. Why would they all need Jack to move on from purgatory? The only reason that I can think of that makes Jacob and the MiB really relevant is if the island was a test for Jack and that can't be right because clearly everyone else didn't die in the crash.

I've gone through most of thread, considered all the ideas from it really only being a test for Jack and everyone else died, to they all died including Jack, to everything on the island happened and everything in between and nothing I've been able to think through makes any sense at all to me.

And, yes, while I too enjoyed most of the show and the actors and characters were almost always superb, that really effects how I view the show.

The idea that we need all the answers or that it had to be THAT purposely vague are not mutually exclusive. I will forever believe that while they had the right to end the show any way they wanted or go in the direction that they wanted, that they still screwed the fans but leaving SO much open to interpretation that so far I really can't come up with anything that leaves me satisfied with the story as a whole.

Troy Stiffler

Caught the episode on Hulu this morning. Never, ever watched an espisode before. I said it before - I just kind of watch Jimmy Kimmel and hear about Lost here and there.

I figured that it was going to end with one of three 'twists'. And it didn't fail. Nothing mind-blowing. But it was enjoyable.

It all reminded me of the movie "Southland Tales". Very well built. There was something huge and mystic underlying. But any explanation was muddled. Regardless, the idea that something is there is what really drove it. And when you look back, the muddled mystery was really what it was all about. You're forced to live without a tidy resolution. Kind of like some of David Lynch's movies, too.

Just my take.

RayChuang

What I find very fascinating is the finale has caused more "watercooler talk" than I've heard in years in regards to a TV series. Even at where I worked I heard a lot of conversations asking why the series ended this way.

But being typical J.J. Abrams, I think he helped create the finale just to create all that "watercooler talk." Many of the mysteries may never be completely resolved, and you wonder if Abrams was influenced by the finale to St. Elsewhere many years ago.

siddd5

^ Um. JJ had nothing to do with it.