I've watched the finale of LOST and I liked it. While it didn't answer a lot of questions, I think it ended well for the characters, if not for the island mystries. I'll probably go back and watch the entire series on DVD now that I have the whole story.
I've been prowling around the web reading various reviews and forums. It would seem various people loved it and various people hated it. I did find two reviews that were great. Here they are: (if you haven't watched it yet, DON'T read the reviews below! You've been warned!)
Are you angry? Feeling cheated? Quickly realizing that all the effort and attention you put into Lost in the past six years was for naught? I don't blame you.
But I also understand if you feel entirely satisfied with how the series wrapped things up.
"The End" will go down as both one of the greatest disappointments AND joyous series enders in television history, and which side of the line you stand on will largely depend on what Lost meant to you. Those of you who were caught up in the mysteries and stories of the show probably picked up the shattered remnants of your television this morning after destroying it last night in a fit of rage and a cloud of unanswered questions. Those of you who really focused on the characters likely called your mothers and close friends and told them how much you love them and that you'll see them in another life, brutha.
In the end, we never really learned what the island was, never found out what made Walt special, never got the whole Egyptology thing, [I could go on and on for a few hours with more questions that will remain questions, but you get the picture], and I thought that would be okay with me. But I'm not so sure it was.
Instead we got a series finale that spun things around so fast and felt a wee bit tacked on. Let's face it, the whole Limbo/Purgatory ending could have happened at any point in the series—it was that sharp of an ending.
Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate the ending. In terms of a spiritual, character-centric finale, it definitely did the trick, albeit in a fairly easy way. We're all lost souls waiting for the next step in the overall timeless and spaceless sense of things. Next stop, eternal happiness. And I'm very grateful for the nonsecular, non-preachy way the producers went about things.
Seeing Jack in the final moments speak with his father was, for me, probably the second-most emotional point in an incredibly emotional series (nothing will ever top Charlie's death). And when Jack finally "let go" it hit hard. Here was a character I've loved and hated and loved again finally getting what he deserved most, and I felt it big time. This was the ending Cuse and Lindelof crafted when they repeatedly said "Lost is all about the characters."
But the problem for Cuse and Lindelof is, despite downplaying so many of the mysteries of the island and this universe they created, they accidentally created a scenario where we cared about the mythology just as much—and in most cases even more—than the characters.
Lost has always been a two-headed monster for me. I'll always relate to Jack wanting to fix everyone he sees. I'll remember the heroic sacrifices that Charlie made to save his friends. I think Sawyer is one of the best, most wonderfully complicated characters I've ever had the joy to watch on TV. And I'm glad that all of them got what theoretically and spiritually is one of the happiest endings of all-time. Eternal bliss sure beats just defeating the bad guy or riding into the sunset.
But dammit, the other head of the Lost monster just feels like it got lopped off. And that's what makes "The End" such a bittersweet final chapter for such an engrossing show. So much of what we grew to love about the series was glossed over and simply faded out.
If Lost was, as Lindelof and Cuse state, all about the characters, then why were we always asking "what do the numbers mean?" and "what is the black smoke?" As I've said before, a disappointing finale doesn't ruin the series as a whole, but don't Cuse and Lindelof have a little responsibility to satisfy the fans that stuck with the show for the sci-fi? Just sayin'.
Finale explained OK here it is. When they detonated the bomb we were to think that they changed history and created an alternate timeline. This is not what happened, It just seemed that way. The bomb is what actually caused the need for the hatch to be built. It is a time paradox. The alternate timeline was a kind of purgatory where everyone went to after they died to find each other again (make the connection) and remember their lives before letting go/ moving on together. It was not happening at the same time we were watching the events of season 6, that's just when the creators showed it to us so that we would think it was an alternate timeline instead of what it really was. The beginning of the alt. timeline/ purgatory that we saw at the start of season 6 actually occurs (for Jack anyway) at the end of the season when he dies. This is why when the plane has turbulence and then straitens out instead of crashing, you see Rose tell Jack "You can let go now" (let go meaning letting go of his mortal life to move on) and you see him let go of the armrests and he lets out a big sigh. This represents him dieing and coming into the Purgatory that he created along with the others. They don't realize they are dead until they make the connection with the others that passed. Represented in the show buy the flash that shows them their real life and experiences. Desmond realizes this first and takes it upon himself to enlighten everyone else. This is why when Sun and Jin make the connection in the hospital they are not afraid for their safety when Sawyer comes to protect them. Because they realize that they are dead and nothing can hurt them. (Jack and his father, church scene) Jack: "Are you real?" Christian: "I sure hope so. Yeah I'm real. You're real, everything that's ever happened to you is real. All those people in the church, they're all real too" = Everything that happened on the show was real. The only thing that wasn't real was the alt. timeline/purgatory because they were dead at that point. Jack: They're all, they're all dead?" Christian: "Everyone dies sometime kiddo. Some of them before you, some long after you" = Jack dies at the end of the episode. Sayid, Jin and Sun died on the sub. Locke died off the island when Ben killed him. (before Jack) Sawyer, Kate, Claire, Miles, Richard and Lapidus left the island and returned to the mainland at the end of the episode and went on with their lives. We don't see their lives after the island, but they lived on until they died and joined the rest in the Purgatory. (after Jack) The same goes for Hurley and Ben who stayed on the island and lived for how ever long they did before dieing and going to purgatory. Hurley protected the island with Ben's help until he found a replacement and died. This is why Hurley says to Ben "you were a great #2" and Ben replies "you were a great #1". We don't know if Desmond died on the island or if Hurley found a way to get him off the island to join Penny and then he died on the mainland. Jack: "Why are they all here now?" Christian: "Well there is no now, here." = This place exist outside of the realm of time. That is why everyone is there, even though they died at different times. Jack: "Where are we dad? Christian: "Well this is a place that you, that you all made together so that you could find one another. The most important part of your life, was the time that you spent with these people. That's why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone Jack. You needed all of them and they needed you." Jack: "For what?" Christian: "To remember...and to let go." Jack: 'Kate, she said we were leaving." Christian: "Not leaving, no. Moving on." Jack: "Where we goin?" Christian: "Let's go find out." They all meet in the church and ascend to wherever it is they believe they go when they die. This is represented by the white light.
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