The LOST Series Finale thread (will include spoilers!)- Page 4

[jasonf]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 9:24am

Biff -- I thought that also -- it was a combination of waiting for the women and not feeling that he deserved to be with the rest of the group. They wouldn't have been the most important to him.

I guess it's also POSSIBLE he was waiting for Annie...but I'd like to think it was for Alex more than anything else...

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 9:46am

I felt it was more that he didn't feel he belonged yet, after all the horrors he had perpetrated on those people.

And after all, there's no "now" there; there's really nothing to wait for, is there?

[nealb1]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 12:33pm

I just watched it last night, and loved it. It was very much in keeping with the style and mystery of the show.

In the flash sideways story line, they were all dead. In the storyline of them on the island, Jack died - in the same exact spot where the show started - in the bamboo field, him looking up in the sky and a closeup of him closing his eye.

When Locke had his surgery and said to Jack, "You don't have a son," I kind of figuered out that they were in the after life, or something there of. It wasn't until the flash sideways story that it was revealed that he had a son. Then when Jack's father appeared and said, "There is no now here," it all made sense. The ending of the flash sideways story line reminded me of the ending of "Longtime Companion" - all gathering before entering the after life. I cried.....it was emotional.

Did Desmond die on the island? Hurley and Ben were left. I assume that he did.

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 1:00pm

I don't think Desmond died on the island. I think eventually Hurley and Ben figured out how to get him off the island. We just never saw it and plus we never knew when all the characters died in real life (like Hurley and Ben).

[nealb1]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 1:12pm

I'm sure you're right. I hope that Desmond didn't die. I wanted him to get back to Penny and his son.

When they all gathered in the flash sideways story line...who knows when that was........was it 40 years later, after all of them were dead. It was a different "now" and "here," like Jack's Dad said.

Juliet's scenes with Sun & Jin, as well as Sawyer at the vending machine were so moving - so heart breaking. I cried like a baby the last 30 minutes of the show.

[jasonf]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 2:49pm

Here's a question I've been going back and forth on, and a recent blogpost I read has made me reconsider -- in the end, was the church service for just Jack or for all of them? The argument in the blog was that it was Jack's time to pass on, the case being made that there would have been more people if it was for everyone (such as Hurley's Mom or Desmond and Penny's son).
I don't know - I kind of got the feeling it was for all of them - maybe we SAW IT through Jack's eyes and thus only those who would have mattered to him/he would have known were there for us to see, but the others would have been included anyway? I don't know, I'm kind of torn on this -- anyone have any thoughts?

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 2:58pm

I think it was for him, in that it occurred when he was ready. Everyone else seemed to be sort of waiting on him to "get it."

[nealb1]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 3:08pm

I think it was for Jack. All the people from the island, were the most important people in his life.

So many unanswered questions - "leave them wanting more," couldn't have been more true for this show.

[jasonf]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 4:04pm

They said there will be a 20 minute or so thing on the DVD/Blu-rays explaining some of the mysteries they didn't on the show. I know it's just a bid to get people to buy them, but I was planning on it anyway - this just adds to the urgency of getting them when they are released!

[romantico]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 4:22pm

I saw this video and thought, YES! Finally someone asks the questions I want answered!

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1936291

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 4:30pm

You wanted the finale to consist of answers to all those questions?

[romantico]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 4:51pm

Well, if they were answered gradually over the final season that would have been better.Not all of them,but some. I liked the finale but I wanted to love it.You have to admit, there were some damn good questions asked.

I've read several articles about the finale but this one I think is the best.

http://www.popeater.com/2010/05/24/lost-finale-reaction-explanation/?icid=main|netscape|dl2|link1|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.popeater.com%2F2010%2F05%2F24%2Flost-finale-reaction-explanation%2F

Updated On: 5/25/10 at 04:51 PM

[eatlasagna]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 4:56pm

there are probably a few handful of questions i wanted answered but it didn't ruin the show for me... at its core it's a tv show about these people... and their journey towards a better life... it wasn't about some island... i loved how it all played out in the end..

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 5:01pm

I'm sorry I don't buy that they were dead all along either, there's absolutely nothing to suggest that they were, in fact, as others have said countlessly on this thread, Christian Shepherd said that everything that happened on the island was real and that some people died before Jack some after Jack. It's kind of implied that the people on the Ajira flight lived and that Hurley and Ben got Desmond home safe since that's how Hurley--the new ruler of the island--started running things.
I think the people at the church were there for each other. At the end of the day, it turned out that they are each others' constants, they are what mattered the most to each of them, what they wanted to remember about their lives on earth, and who they want to be with when they move on. That's why Hurley's mom isn't there, etc, because the only people there were the people that a) were ready to move on (that's why Ben isn't there, I think because he's waiting for Alex and because he didn't think he had done enough to move on yet) and b)the people that were so important for them.
Michael was stuck on the island forever while Walt didn't spend enough time with them for it to be the most important period of his life.
I do wish they had done something more with the women and the pregnancy, but I just loved the finale, it was great and it left me with a great sense of closure while still leaving some things open-ended that I can figure out on my own or discuss endlessly with other people just like I did with many of the great episodes and mysteries of the show.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 5:15pm

I'm with eatlasagna. If I try really hard, I can come up with some questions that I wouldn't mind answers to.

But I think we all need to acknowledge that the series developed over the years; it changed. Some things were red herrings; some were dead ends. The polar bear was an interesting, wacky thing to throw into the mix early on. If they'd spent even one second of the finale, six years later, explaining the polar bear, I would have been disappointed.

Though I do think, as romantico says, that they could have made better use of the final season to focus our attention on the threads of the storyline that really matter, link some things, shed some light, and then get us ready for the finale--which I personally feel should then have been exactly the show we all watched on Sunday. I didn't need Sunday to be about any big reveals (beyond the scene in the church). But yeah, I didn't really need a 19th-century Spain plot suddenly thrown into the mix in the last season--especially since it didn't contribute much, IMO.

[JbaraFan1]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 6:23pm

My theory (and it's just a theory) about David Shepherd:

After seeing a photo of David in the episode preceding the finale, Locke says to Jack, "He looks just like you." I think that may have been a clue that David was Jack, not just some random kid he dreamed up as a son. I think Jack dealt with the issues he and his own father had by "fathering" a version of his younger self.

Of course Jack wasn't aware of this (until the very end maybe), and I'm not saying that David necessarily looked exactly like Jack as a kid (Locke's comment need not be taken to that extreme). It was all on a subconcious/psychological level on Jack's part, "creating" this son in order to work through things.

I'm not sure why Claire and Juliet were able to directly interact with David, which they definitely did in some scenes.
For instance, at the concert venue, Claire and David speak to each other when Jack isn't even around. My guess is that it was necessary to help Jack think David was really his son so he could deal with this stuff and move on.

Okay, so there you go. When I think up this stuff in my head, it makes sense to me, but then when I try to articulate it and write it out, I start doubting myself and think maybe it's lame as heck. Whatever. Just throwing it out there!

Anyway, I really liked the finale. Unanswered questions, sure, but I don't mind. I doubt if answers would have really satisfied all the fans anyway. Sometimes it's better to leave things open to interpretation and wonder than to have it all laid out. I do think it was spelled out pretty clearly that the island was their real life and all the things that happened there really happened, and the alt/sideways was the place they created together to work through things, to remember, accept, let go of any baggage from the past, and meet up one last time before moving on. However...

If some, on the other hand, are convinced in their minds that the island was some sort of purgatory the entire time and that everybody died in the crash in the pilot episode, fine. Life's too short, and it's "just a tv show" after all. A great tv show, granted, but still not anything to get the old bloomers in a twist over. :)

(Edit to add that I don't think anyone here is getting bloomers or anything else in a twist over the show, but I have seen some other boards on the internet where people are being far less civil than here.) Updated On: 5/25/10 at 06:23 PM

[jasonf]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 6:23pm

Watching that video, there were some questions that, now that I'm thinking of it, actually do kind of piss me off that they never answered. For example - the outrigger shooting. We all talked SO much about who that was, kept waiting for the other side of that -- and they decide never to show us??? I mean, what IS that? That's not a cop-out, I'm SURE they have an answer, but why tease us with it and never give it to us? I find it hard to believe they couldn't work that in somewhere.

Good story-telling completes the story. On one level they did that - the character arcs and emotional ending were brilliant. On another, they failed miserably. Setting up all those mysteries, some core to the series itself, and not explaining them, is almost akin to a slap in the face.

I keep going back and forth on how mad I am -- the video made me angry. When I think about what they did give us, though, I understand a bit better. Still, telling us "the characters wouldn't know this stuff and so neither does the audience" DOES seem like a cop-out and like they betrayed fan loyalty.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 7:24pm

JbaraFan, I have absolutely NO patience for goofy scenarios dreamed up by fans of the show--but I think you're onto something.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 7:29pm

I phrased that badly. I meant, of course, that I don't find it goofy.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 7:53pm

I've been reading a number of thoughts on the finale--both pro and con. I talked to a buddy of mine today who is a major Lost fan--very big on the details. I've come to the conclusion that I need to watch all 6 seasons again sometime before deciding how I ultimately feel about the series. I will say that it's been on my mind alot--much of it still soaking in.

In general, regardless of whether or not I like something, if it makes me think about it after the fact, that alone makes it a success in my opinion. How much art stays with us and makes us think about it?

[jasonf]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 8:24pm

jrb - that's a great statement on how wonderful a show Lost was. I can't think of another piece of culture - pop or otherwise - that has inspired such intense discussions, thought, and arguments. The show is over, but I have a feeling discussions will be happening for years.

I too need to watch the series again and see if it's any different/what else is revealed on a second watch.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 8:37pm

"I can't think of another piece of culture - pop or otherwise - that has inspired such intense discussions, thought, and arguments."

The Sopranos. Dallas. Twin Peaks.

Just to name three from the "pop" category.

[JbaraFan1]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 8:44pm

Reginald, thanks, and you phrased it fine. :)

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 9:13pm

"Twin Peaks" for the first half season; not after that. "Sopranos" and "Dallas" I'd say only about the final episodes themselves.

I think "Lost" is different in that people are dissecting the entire series retroactively.







Updated On: 5/25/10 at 09:13 PM

[jasonf]

Posted: 5/25/10 at 10:11pm

I watched The Sopranos and Twin Peaks. I do remember at the height of Twin Peaks it being discussed CONSTANTLY, but once the murder was solved, the show quickly faded. People watched The Sopranos and talked about an episode here or there, but with no where NEAR the fervor that "Lost" has been discussed.