Hey guys, for a variety of reasons I'm not going to be able to do a long post tonight. But I did want to give you my initial reactions. The first 2 hours and 15 minutes were some of the most rewarding moments in television history. I loved every second. The last 15 minutes or so, I'm going to have to digest for a while. I did not hate it. Overall, I think the show is genius, even up to its last frame. Do I wish the flash-sideways had been reality and not purgatory? YES. But I also thought the last shot was beautiful. (In the jungle, not in the church so much.) I think I will grow to love the ending in its entirety more as time goes on. The show was called LOST y'all, and it was fitting that it ended in a church. I just wish that it wasn't "couple's heaven" with folks makin' out in pews. That was kinda weird.
My least favorite thing about the ending, however, was the stained glass window. A history of being subtle, thrown out the window. I didn't mind so much that it had all world religions (I get it, they're just talking about faith, and aren't going to just pick one to put people off) but that it was so darn corny and painfully symbolic.
As I see it there are two interpretations of what happened at the end. Either the flash-sideways was like purgatory and the entire show besides that was REAL, or the whole ENTIRE SHOW was like purgatory. The plane flying over Jack's head at the end seemed to suggest that Frank and the crew flew home safely after Jack somehow washed out of the cave (water pressure, I guess). I think this is the case. I think the island was real, they all left and kept living, except Jack, who died, and Hurley and Ben, who stayed on the island for a while leading, sent Desmond home, then eventually died themselves. There is no "NOW" where they are in the flash-sideways world, so it's possible everyone lived a full and complete life after the island, dealt with their issues (looking at you, Claire) and then moved on, all arriving in the afterlife at the same time, because time doesn't exist there. Which is why time could get so jacked up on the island, because it was the closest place on earth to the afterlife. I still think it is the Garden of Eden.
I think that the magic island stuff we've been watching for 6 year was real is really the best version of the ending. The other way, that the WHOLE SHOW was purgatory, that doesn't really work so much for me. Because why would Jacob and MiB be there, having their own issues? They would have just been deities, and not frail humans if the island was there to be purgatory. I think everyone in the show, Jacob included, had their own stories of redemption to work out while on the island. And they eventually did, as evidenced by their appearance in the flash-sideways world. And interesting that some of them still have some work to do in the this inbetween world. Ben, for instance, I'm assuming has to help Danielle and Alex "let go" and receive forgiveness from them as well.
A couple of questions: Were Helen and Nadia in on it, helping Sayid and Locke let go? We know Helen died long before Locke, so maybe she knew and was like an angel, helping out? Were Danielle and Alex in on it, too? What about Ben's dad? Was that just Ben dealing with the fact that he killed his dad, and paying penance for gassing him in the real world by hooking him up with Oxygen tanks in the flash-sideways?
And... what's up with David? I'm assuming Jack needed to make peace with his daddy issues, and David was there to help him work it out. I'm more surprised they didn't name him Peter, as in keys to the pearly gates St. Peter.
Already, the more I think about it, the more I like this ending.
Did you notice the shots of the wreckage after the "LOST" logo? I think this was to get debate going on whether or not Jack died in the crash the first time and the whole show was all in his head, or if he truly died saving the island. To me, the plane flying overhead answers that. What plane would it have been otherwise? But these shots of the wreckage may convince other people that the first crash was the only one. I'm not sure about that. I did notice some footprints in the sand (forgive the lame reference) in one shot. But even that could mean different things. It could mean that people survived the crash, just like we saw in the pilot episode, and everything went exactly as we saw through Sesaons 1 through 6. Or it could mean that the plane crashed, Jack was the only survivor, and he got up and walked over to the water, took a drink, walked through the bamboo, then died. It's actually up to you. Was it all in Jack's mind? Or was the island real? Are you a man of faith, or a man of science?
If it was ALL in Jack's mind, then what was Horace and the Dharma Initiative all about? I think, like Christian said to Jack, everything that happened to Jack was real. The island adventure was real. The flash-sideways are more in question. They're real, but occurring on a spiritual plane. Get it? Plane?
Ouch.
I'm going to bed. More later. What did you think?
Sunday, May 23, 2010
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19 comments:
I agree! Except with the part about liking the episode. I think there was a real magic island, and then there was purgatory. But I was sad because the two have nothing to do with one another. I am assuming if the whole cast worked in a food court at the mall and really loved each other, they would have a similar purgatory. Like, I don't know, Laverne and Shirley could have ended this way too. And I remain very concerned that Aaron probably lived into his 70s or 80s, let's say, and had to enter purgatory as an infant. What a pain! The stained glass windows were not nearly as bad as the pink and blue plaster angels at the door, which signified to me that in this world, only heterosexual couples get into heaven. Also, I stand by my original idea that Jacob was the biggest jerk ever. I am sure Hurley did a much better job.
I'm definitely in the "Flash sideways was purgatory" camp.
I loved the whole episode. Once the ending made more sense to me (with help from the wife) it got better and better in my mind.
weird! is that jack pendarvis from oxford? i'm jake fussell's big sister from oxford and an old friend with molly mcgehee. odd that i would see someone from oxford on my college friend's blog. very LOST-coincidental. i hope i'm not in purgatory right now. I'm not ready to let go.
anyway, wes. i agree about the couple's love fest. totally cheesed me out. in fact, it almost ruined the entire episode for me. but, of course, the entire episode was already ruined at the appearance of smug juliet at the vending machine once again telling someone how to do something and staring at them silently blinking her big bug eyes.
the stained glass killed me. it looked like a highschool art project. i laughed out loud. it matched the horrific emotion-music the whole episode.
i cried not a single time during the finale...and i'm an emotional pregnant wreck right now! i should've been gasping for air and choking on tears the whole episode. didn't do it for me. i'm kinda bummed out about that.
but i love the series and there's always every other episode they ever made that i can like.
thanks for your blog this whole time. it was smart & funny. your blog was part of the LOST experience for me. Thank ya!
--coulter
In fact, now that I think of it, maybe Laverne and Shirley DID end this way. Remember, they moved to Los Angeles from Milwaukee? And by coincidence - OR WAS IT? - every single person they knew moved to Los Angeles too, and lived next door to them.
I am also still processing. The further away from the episode I get, the more I can accept it. I really loved the whole ep save for the last 10 min. That really felt like a bait and switch. I understand that the show is about the characters, but I felt like the Island itself was a character and too much was left to personal interpretation. They have been building too much mystery to throw it out like that. I really loved all the reunion moments and it got me several times, but I was waiting for the big moment when it would all make sense and it never came.
A couple thoughts. I really loved the Juliet/Sawyer dialogue in the hospital because it showed how instant the crossover really was for them. Like we were watching all this "stuff" in the alt timeline but for juliet, AS she was dying, she was "waking up" so it was all happening at once for her character. Makes me think it was prob the same for the others. SO like AS Jack is dying, is he seeing everyone in the church? That would be nice.
I wondered about David in the alt timeline too and I wondered if he was really a young Jack dealing with his issues with himself as his father..like he was playing both parts of his psyche and therefore didn't really exist? I was bothered by the Juliet/exwife sidestory knowing that this was pergatory because it seemed completely unnecessary.
Overall, we really enjoyed watching it and it will be interesting to see what all the other recappers thought!
Wes -
Def the island experience was real and the flash sideways was purgatory (which sucks.) Because Christian Shepherd said to Jack: Everything you experienced was real. That there is the writers telling us what was real. The island. What sucks and makes me sad about the ending is that it doesn't make sense. If here there is no NOW as Christian Shepherd said, then why did Boone say to Hurley: You took your time getting here? If Boone had to arrange for a flight from Sydney for Shannon and they had to time it for Boone and Shannon to be brawling with someone in an alley when Hurley and Sayid drove up, then time does matter in the flash sideways. Annoying. I loved it up until the last 15 minutes. I mean LOVED it. And then it was a let down. I def think that was a real plane flying over Jack at the end and that he died in peace having accomplished some serious goals. But I hated that the flash sideways was not real. That was BY FAR their better life and it was fake. Sucks. But I really enjoyed it until dead Christian Shepherd showed up at the end. Once the smoke monster has used your body in a few episodes and if you weren't even a nice character while in your own body, you shouldn't get to close the show. I'll have more later.
I agree with Andrea about Juliet the ex wife. I guess in purgatory you can high five your ex and you can both make out with other people in a church pew next to each other. I really liked that they reintroduced Juliet because she was a major character, and I think she and Jack make MUCH more sense as a couple. They probably both listen to NPR a lot and can understand the stresses of being medical professionals. I always thought Kate and Jack were a very unlikely couple and really Sawyer and Juliet, too. Whatev. I am glad they brought her back and it would have totally worked if they didn't all end up in the soft glow light making out n their way to heaven. Geesh.
And where was everybody's Mom? Come on, people! Your Moms are important too!
Plus that was the worst concert ever! Okay, I will shut up now.
Also, why was the island underwater in the alt timeline? What was the point of that?
I enjoyed the episode, and I'm coming to accept the ending, even the flash-sideways ending. That said, I'm sure there are a lot of questions to which we'll never know the answer, many of them because there is no answer. The Jack and Andrea questions above, for instance, or like, so Keamy, Omar, and Mikhail all get killed in purgatory: how does that work? I'm assuming they didn't head into a white light through the Lamppost church doors...
to everyone who didnt see the altaverse as an ideal place that couldn't be real, were you really paying attention the past 5 seasons? the was so much stress on the term "what happened, happened". How would it be that Ben, Rousseau, Alex and Dr. Chang just to name a few end up in this place? the island was real and everything up to and including the detonation of the bomb at the swan station had happened and was always meant to happen. That was how they created that place(altaverse) they would all meet. I am not too sure how to interpret the last moments of the show, whether it is a definition of fate or faith because I'm not a religious person, it sure as hell has made me think. As far as answering the questions about the island, them not answering those questions is simply the writers testing YOUR faith in them or does everything have to be concrete and definitive, just like jack believed everything should be?
also to answer andreas question, it was only underwater in the altaverse because the bomb had destroyed the island, at a different place at a different time. they were just showing you that the island still had links to their world.
I really liked it. The whole series is "Jacobs Ladder"esque to me. Open to tons of interpretation, but to me it was just passage of forgiveness and peace for one character that took place in his final moments. It kinda makes perfect sense to me.
hmmm What a finale. I am still processing it all and I am not sure yet what I think. But my initial interpretation is the one I had back in season 1. Then I thought they must all be dead and the island was the afterlife. Of course then I was hoping that wasn't try since it would be too obvious and cliche. Unfortunately, I think this is the case and all we saw was Jack's Jacob Ladder. When Jack closes his eye's for the last time and then we see the desolate plane wreckage implies that no one survived the original crash (maybe Jack crawled off to die) and all the events that happened in the series were indeed Jack's purgatory before he could accept it and move on. When Jack's father in the church tells him all of it was real I think he is actually referring to the plane crash and that he did die, not the events on fantasy island. Not quite the ending I was expecting but it is the only interpretation that "solves" it all for me.
Two things I can't figure out. What was up with the shoe hanging from the bamboo when Jack was walking off to die? Couldn't have been unintentional. And what was the significance of the dog coming to lay down by the dying Jack?
The shoe in the tree was there in the bamboo in the pilot. I will say, it looked older now, possibly a nod that this all happening in present day and not right after the crash.
The dog also approached Jack in the pilot.
aaah that's right. It had been 6 years and I had forgotten those points. So basically Jack died in the same place he originally "woke" up.
Favorite scene: Desmond enters the set of Goonies.
Least favorite scene: the fifteenth time someone touched someone else and sent them into a mini clip-rerun show that gave them chills. I mean, I'm a fan of that, but that was a lot of that.
My other comment is that was a great show.
Daaaaaaaaang.
Thanks, Amy. I'll still be posting from time to time. In the next week, I plan to do my play by play run through of the finale, as well as a list of my answers to all the questions left unanswered.
After that, Erin and I are planning a rewatch, so I'll most likely be posting observations from that.
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