I liked the ending, but this video makes some compelling points about the incompleteness of the series. <a class="postlink" href="http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1936291" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1936291</a>
Some parting words seem appropriate... I watched The Pilot live, and never missed an episode. I can't recall exactly when I began getting involved over at the TMMB (I think it was before RMMB), but it would have been under a different screen name (because Tucker once changed my signature and locked it so that I could not edit it - I eventually got sick of looking at it, and this screen name, which is apropos of nothing, was born). At first, I commented a good bit [under my old screen name - JP1570]. I soon realized that I was completely out of my depth. Back then, I think the main participants in the thread were Dmix, Sherwood, and Bonzo(I think?). Like ICZ mentioned, he came along at some point after that. Anyway, after feeling stupid about several things I posted, I mostly shut up, picked my very rare spots, and read every single LOST post every single week on the TMMB, RMMB, and now here. To say that you all have contributed to my LOST experience is the ultimate understatement - you guys made it. I'm grateful to you all for providing me endless hours of entertainment. Excuse me for being corny for a sec, but through the show, I think we were able to discuss much larger topics and themes than just what happened last week and what is going to happen next week. I can't say that watching LOST made us all smarter, but it definitely made us more knowledgeable about a wide array of topics. It was fun throwing half cocked theories around, watching them get shot down, searching for meaning in minutiae, and ultimately enjoying every minute of the ride. I'm glad we all got the chance to do it. I loved everything about The End, and frankly, it's hard to remember anything I truly did not like about the show. All that being said, I wish all you the best, and I will greatly miss your weekly contributions. Thanks
I liked the ending, but being a geek, I was hoping for some more to be revealed about the mythology of the island. I knew they weren't going to reveal everything, but I was hoping for some more answers than we got. Now on to the real question.....who else is eagerly anticipating Ricardus, a mid-season replacement sitcom starring Nestor Carbonell as a manual laborer from the 19th-century Canary Islands who was transported to a mysterious island in the Pacific Ocean, spent 150 years there without aging, and now finds himself trying to adjust to the yuppy lifestyle in 2010 LA with the help of a quirky roommate who has a sarcastic answer for everything and spends an uncomfortable amount of time hanging out in cemeteries??
Simmons did a podcast yesterday about LOST with Alan Sepinwall, a friend of his, and Chuck Klosterman. I sort of agreed with the take that Simmons and Sepinwall took, though I disagreed with some of the stuff they were negative about. I've been a huge fan of Klosterman's, and his take on Michael Jackson's death was SPOT on, but I really think he missed the mark here. It sounds like Klosterman didn't understand that it wasn't purgatory all along. Link Action: http://espn.go.com/espnradio/player?rd=1#/podcenter/?id=5213533&autoplay=1
I watched the first season and stopped halfway through the 2nd for whatever reason. I decided to pick it back up this year, watched seasons 2-5 in about 2 months and caught up for the premiere. I absolutely loved the finale, I wasn't bothered by the fact that some of the mysteries weren't completely answered because I haven't been agonizing over them for 6 years, but at the same time I feel like I had gotten to know the characters enough that the awakenings and the conclusion of their stories on the island really hit me. And the more I think about the "they were all dead" twist, the more I like it. To me its not a cop out, because like Christian said everything they experienced was real. The characters actually experienced everything in the sideways world and it served a purpose in their existence, even though it occurred outside of their original lifetime. Once they decided to go this route I don't think it couldve been wrapped up any better. Anyways I lurked here a lot during the season and enjoyed reading everyone's perspective on what was going on. Thanks.
Damn my itchy delete finger with my DVR. I am already regretting that I don't have that episode to watch again. I had huge plans to watch the finale on Sunday and unfortunately my brother in law took a nasty stumble on the Appalachian trail and we had to drive to north Georgia to pick he and his hiking buddy up. So I finally just got to watch the The Final Journey and The End. I have not been posting much, because I unfortunately got behind a season over the course of Season 5 and did not get caught up until a few weeks ago and then had to piece meal come into this thread after each Season 6 episode was consumed off of the DVR. I watched Season 2, 3, and 4 in real time though so I am sort of a combo of the instant gratification group and the with it from close to the beginning group. I absolutely loved the finale of the show. I think the Cloverfield comparison is pretty damn spot on as I initially called it out when I watched it with some friends that it was a good old fashioned love story with some monster shit going on in the background. I have always been a fan of a story that is told in a single instance and the case of Lost it was finally really about the life and death of Jack Shepard (from a full POV perspective). He was really the only character that we got pretty close to the full story on over the full 6 seasons. His life was the centerpiece for bringing together an amazing group of people and letting us glimpse into their stories. The mythology around the island is now mine to own and my theory to create and imagine. When I think of the great stories that I have enjoyed in time we really only get that single instance of story telling (I'm thinking things like Sandman for example). I am still shocked that people didn't get that they didn't die in the crash and that the Island was not purgatory. The Island was a key portion of all of their lives and made them better people, but that was not the purpose of the Island. That was Jacob's purpose and he was eventually proven right versus the MiB that people are inherently good even when they have dark pasts. Beyond that the Island still only serves a purpose of either the continuance of creation or some other unknown thing. I would like to think that maybe Ben and Hugo used their time on the Island to continue to prove Jacob right, but without the necessity for so many rules. The real joy is that I get to determine those things for myself.
I got in near the end of the second season, torrented the first and most of the second season and then caught up in like a week. I lurked in the Lost thread on the RMMB constantly, probably reading every post on there, but didn't start posting till we moved and even then it was sparingly. As for the finale I absolutely loved it.
I've only ever lurked here but I used to contribute more back in the old RMMB threads. Now that it's all over (and I've sobbed, laughed and nail-bit my way through the finale), I think I owe you three guys and the other Lost experts here a big old thank-you for broadening my thought processes on this show over the last three? four? seasons. I won't say I would have given up if it weren't for the explanations, theories and analysis that I gleaned from the RMMB threads, but it would have made it a hell of a lot more difficult to stick with during some of the weird middle season episodes had it not been for all your thoughts giving it some cohesion. So thanks, you sick motherfuckers. There's no real point in posting my thoughts on the finale since most of them have already been covered. I did want to say though, and this bugged me in the show and I had to Lostpedia it afterwards to find I was right, how the fuck did Lapidus manage to start the plane up without it exploding? MiB found a shit-ton of explosives in the overhead compartment, Widmore confirmed he had rigged it to blow, and Lapidus just finds the keys in the visor and starts the fucker up without it blowing up? Bit of a blooper there, gang. Otherwise, absolutely solid ending. I sobbed like a Goddamn baby when Claire and Charlie had their moment of clarity, and cheered loudly when Lapidus came out of the water alive. Miles' "I don't believe in a lot of things, but duct tape is one of them" line was an absolute gem.
I still haven't made myself watch it again sober, cause then it will be over, but after reading all the comments, I have to say: If we three made it for you, you made it for us. I believe the greatest achievement of this show was it's rabid, communicative fandom. The experience of this show, over the years, was nearly as great, if not greater than the show itself. I've often thought about introducing this show to people, many of whom were plainly resistant. The thing is, I don't think they would get it the same way that people like us do. I think the episodic deconstruction, the searching for explanation and commiseration, the online community of this show was a GIANT part of this show's experience. As much as I think this show stands alone as a great work of art, I think anyone who gets into it from now on will NOT have the full experience of this show. They won't have the waiting, the theorizing, the camaraderie of others trying to figure out what's happening, the wild and crazy theories. This was a once in a lifetime experience, and, though I still have my final thoughts to post, I just want to let you all know, I enjoyed sharing it with you. You made it for me, just as much as the plot did. Thank you.
I did not know what to think after the finale. I've watched the whole show enjoying the ride never thinking of any specific theory or ideal. I'm not saying there is a wrong focus or right focus for viewers of the show/finale but I know that the people that hated it, were stuck on the plot. Dharma, how the statue got there, and so on. The people that loved it, loved it because of the characters. And if you watched the two hour lead-up to the finale, it was clear as day that Linderlof and Cuse were all about the characters. I'll leave you this write-up. It brought me closure on Lost and I hope it does the same for you. I usually would never read this website or even consider a theory from it, but after the first 3 sentences, I can't disagree with anything in this post. <a class="postlink" href="http://jezebel.com/5546559/lost-finale-recap-case-closed" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://jezebel.com/5546559/lost-finale- ... ase-closed</a>
My fist exposure to lost was in the 8th grade. I saw it at my friend’s house and got sucked in, watched it for a few months then forgot about it. Caught it sporadically after that, I distinctively remember watching the episodes when Mr.Echo got chokeslammed by the smoke monster and ben shooting locke. But yea, I pretty much stopped completely after season three. Never forgot about lost though. Those few episodes I saw back in the day sunk their hooks in and got me. Finally returned to it last year, after getting Netflix and viewing this thread. Watched em all, greatest three weeks of my life. I loved the finale. With all of the disappointing endings to epic series that have occurred in the past few years(The shitty epilogue in Harry Potter, The Nanomachine explanation for everything in MGS4, The X Files, The Star Wars Prequels) Lost is a fucking godsend. Sure, I would’ve liked to have known what the significance of the Hurley bird was, but I can live without it. The mysteries of the Island are like the brief case in pulp fiction. You never find out what they are, but that’s what makes them so great. Anyways, thank you guys for everything. If hadn’t viewed this thread I never would’ve gotten my interest back. I’ve spent the past six months of my life completely immersed in lost, and while that pales in comparison to the devotion that some of you have shown, it’s still special to me. I'm stoked I was a part of this, even if it was just for a short while
A lot of people are hung up on the fertility thing. I kind of assume it was Jacob's doing because of his... unusual relationship with his own mother (mother's?) coupled with his wanting to bring Juliette to the Island. Clearly Jacob had some sort of vision of the future, he had worked long in advance to bring Jack/Hurley et al to the island. I think a lot of questions we have could be chalked up to "Jacob did it to bring the right people he needed" and it would be acceptable, no? ALSO. For anyone wondering about the plane footage during the end credits, ABC did that in order to let people "decompress before the news" word is Darlton were furious that it made people think the whole show was purgatory, and ABC sent out a formal apology and correction today. To respond to the guy above me, I think the Hurley-Bird was just a joke.
One thing that is minor but always bigged me is how Daniel, who has two British parents, and spent most of his formative years in England (I think) spoke with an American accent. Then again, Charlotte had a strong English accent and she grew up around people with American ones, so, eh...
Paint me as the cynic, but I was hoping for something much more gloomy. This happy-go-lucky-christianity-happily-ever-after-heaven bullshit just rubbed me the wrong way. I'd had hoped that the writers were a craftier bunch. I thought souls were being fucking tested here. Not everyone gets a free pass. Those that died as horrible people should have remained in torment. I would have been more pleased with a more somber ending, like the ones on the plane make it back, then get hit by a bus or get cancer (albeit this could very well have happened, we just don't/won't know). Something that makes you say "holy shit, life sucks". Sometimes bad hands are dealt, but you'd hope you lived your life to, however small, make a difference or impact on someone else, to make them better people and live better lives... redemption in it's highest form. I had always maintained that the island was a second chance for ruined human beings. To prove their souls in the sterility of the island, void of everyday distraction and tempered against monumental hurdles. Instead, in the end, they all got rewarded (with the epilogue timelines/lives) Those that died spirits should have been manifested in those that lived/survived/escaped.. contributing to their experience, dynamic, and souls. Continue living through their peers who they breathed, fought, and loved with.... Not everyone comes back and high-fives each other before, of all fucking people, christian opens the door to reveal.... a bright white light. GTFO I'm willing to be talked down from this opinion, and I will succumb, partially, to the brilliance that the flash-forward epilogue presents in being void of time, allowing for many doors to be left open to/for interpretation. In the end, I realize it's a TV show and it's got to appeal to the widest audience possible, but Lind and Cuse always sorta thumbed their noses at that. In order to have true triumph, it must be born of tragedy. (this is what makes Gladiator a better movie than Braveheart)
I'm not normally one to criticize someone else's opinion, but man, everything you wrote completely sucks. How did you watch this show for 120 hours and want bad things to happen to the characters? You're the first person I have ever heard say that. Plus, there was a bit more symbolism than you're catching, I think. People stayed behind, presumably to atone for their sins, continue letting go of the past, growing spiritually, etc... For the main characters, they chose to show the completion of that process, or at least at one stage. Do you think the ending would have been better had it ended with all the characters dead yet still thinking the sideways world was real? And how did you not see that they "...prove[d]their souls in the sterility of the island?" What the hell were you watching? How did Jack not do that by dying to save the island, Hurley by taking over as the protector, Kate by killing Smokey, etc...? I can only assume you're joking, or you paid little attention to the other 100+ episodes and just did not give a fuck, or you're just trying to sound like you work for gawker. I find it extremely hard to believe that someone who invested the course of 6 years watching this show could possibly feel this way.
I'm guessing he didn't really watch Braveheart either, since the ENTIRE war was caused by the slaughtering of William Wallace's wife, but hey that's not tragic at all.
Because it makes the successes of other characters more triumphant when others try and fail. What's a victory when everyone gets a trophy at the ceremony? A journey is more poignant when a few carry the burden of the sum of all spirit’s journeys on their back. When the sum of all experiences cultivate into a single characters salvation/redemption. Isn’t that what reflection’s about? It's brings weight and importance to those who succeeded in redeeming their pasts and saving their souls. If there is no failure, then how do you measure salvation? Without getting mired in the theoretical and the theocratical, the Christian ideal of being as bad as bad can be and as long as you repent, you’ll still receive the “gift” doesn’t transpire into a great story. I guess I’m just a sucker for a great tragedy. All in all, the writers did a wonderful job of leaving a door open (a huge hangar door) for much interpretation. Much can be squeezed into that gaping hole. And I did thoroughly enjoy the ending for this reason…. Just wish it was a bit more “dark”. Tragedy in an overall sense, in that Maximus had everything (fame, power, fortune, Emporer's favor) and then lost it... William Wallace was forced into his heroic role by circumstance... by the events you describe.
By my count every season finale in the shows history was full of failure, save The End. Season 1 - Raft fails to go anywhere. They fail to save Walt. Season 2 - Desmond fails his test of faith pressing the button, crashing Oceanic. They fail to keep Henry Gale. They fail to outsmart the Others, leading to the capture of Jack, Kate & Sawyer. Locke fails his test of fate, leading to the destruction of the Swan Season 3 - They fail by leading the freighter to the location of the island. Jack fails to be happy after leaving the island. Season 4 - They fail to save the island, leading to its temporal displacement and the Oceanic 6 getting rescue. Season 5 - They fail to protect Jacob, they fail at resetting the timeline with the detonation of Jughead. This isn't even counting all the beating, shootings, stabbing, long cons etc. that happen in the episodes leading up to the finales. It only ends once, everything leading up to it is just progress.