Lost Series Finale: "The End"

[Agent Richard07]

Welcome to the grading & discussion thread for Lost's final episode.
[highlight]***SPOILERS AHEAD***[/highlight]





"The End"

Lost ends its six-season run with a two-and-a-half hour finale.

Spoiler: The End

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ati0o22yae8[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkcIAw6HY6w[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syhvhwd1xbU[/yt]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAn-PXDJUQo[/yt]

Pictures | Season Six Banners | Wikipedia Article | More Links​

 

[Agent Richard07]

We're finally here. Lost is coming to an end. I remember when there was no end in sight, back when the show was so popular that some were speculating that it could go on for nine seasons. Then it was announced in 2007 that the show would continue for another three seasons, ending in 2010. Even that seemed like a long way off. But again, here we are. The far off distant future of May 2010 is here and we're about to discuss the big finale.

I also have to add that these discussions in the Lost Forum have not only been fun, they've shed light on, and helped me make sense of things I didn't think of or catch on my own. This has been a great place to come to and you folks who come here to post have made it so. I guess it's time to say goodbye to that as well.

Now on with the final show...

Here are some questions and issues I want to see addressed...

- What is the light?
- What was all that infertility stuff about?
- Why couldn't Aaron be raised by another?
- What will happen to Ji Yeon? I expect something interesting here.
- How did the island sink? I'm pretty sure they'll address this.
- Why were the pictures on the wall in the house Miles visited different when he left?
- Why can't two adversaries kill eachother?

Here are some questions I wanted answers to or addressed but don't expect will be answered or addressed...

- What exactly is the island and where did it come from?
- How did Ben accumilate his off-island wealth?
- How is Walt special?
- What's up with the numbers?
- Who built the statue?
- What happened to Sayid when he was resurrected in the water?
- Why did Cindy join the Others?
- Who's been dropping food?
- Who was Ilana and what was her secret society about?
- How does Jacob bring people to the island? And how did he become a master of coincidence?

Here are some predictions I made and saved over the course of the season...

I think we're seeing the end in the flash sideways. Thats how it ends.

That's a possibility I'm working on too. Maybe they'll stop Jocob's beach buddy and/or Jacob himself and the island will get destroyed in the process for good in the finale. And maybe what we've been seeing in the flashsideways is the end result where everything's been fixed. If that's the case, it's a pretty good move as far as story structure goes... Dole out the long and happy ending little by little throughout the season. Makes more sense than trying to figure out how the two timelines will converge. I don't think it'll end in a traditional reset either because the losties back in LA X will somehow become aware of what happened.

Does that mean that in the alternate timeline Ben and Danielle are together?

Maybe Ben and Danielle will get together in the end and Ben will be a father to Alex again. Could happen.

Maybe they said the flashsideways timeline isn't an alternate timeline because it's the main one.

Of course, I'm still thinking that we might be in for an additional surprise or two. It crossed my mind that maybe there is no alternate timeline and we're seeing ghosts still on the island.

I don't think there's going to be another Jacob. I think they're going to put an end to the island once and for all. And before everything's over, Kate will be important somehow.

Not mine, but I saved it anyway...

Maybe the opening scene is the series' final scene?

Interesting theory. You might be correct.

And here's another one that's not mine... It's from last year. I thought it was fascinating and saved it.

Anyone else think that it was weird that Alpert said that Ben would no longer be an "innocent?" Seemed like a very purposeful use of the word. Makes me wonder if the Eden theory is true and in a truly mind-fucking moment it turns out the islanders are the original seed for human life on Earth! Ok not really, but I really am curious what exactly Richard Alpert meant by no longer being an innocent. Is there a crazy cow woman on the island with a magic vagina that heals people?

Something else I hadn't thought of...

I suppose we won't find out who the mother of Jack's kid is but I'd kinda like to know.

I'm guessing you missed her show's season finale right after Lost?

That's just a wild guess on my part.

Juliet! Let's see if that comes to pass.

Final wrap-up before going in...

Not all of our questions will be answered, but I expect more answers and fleshing out than usual. I also expect that the ending will be satisfying in some way. There might even be a twist. Might even involve "time". Or at least something will involve time. Anything else is too confusing to even think about so I'll just have to wait and see what happens. This ending will be a real surprise.

 

[Hunter X]

Thanks for the discussion threads, live commentaries, graphics, and so on over the years, Agent Richard07. They've been great places for discussions, criticisms, nitpicking and gushing.

- Why couldn't Aaron be raised by another?

Cuse and Lindeloft did an interview over at IGN.com yesterday and addressed this.

..."What's the story with Aaron?" And we go, okay, the story with Aaron is that a psychic told Claire that he was special, but then subsequently, in an Eko episode, we revealed that the psychic was a fraud. So people are like, "Why is Aaron special?" and we're like, "But, that wasn't true. That guy was a liar." "Well, why did The Others abduct him?" Well, the Others revealed that they abducted him because he was a baby born on the island, and they wanted to see if there was anything they could glean scientifically to solve their fertility issues.

And so there it is in the show, in black and white, but people still say, "So why is Aaron special?!" or, "What are you going to reveal about him?" Aaron became emotionally special, because Kate ended up having to raise him and she ended up returning to the island to bring Claire back home. So that's why he's special. But if you're looking for the answer to, "What are his superpowers?" or "When will he finally deploy his laser eyes?", the answer is… the finale. He deploys his laser eyes in the finale.

Read more: http://spoilerslost.blogspot.com/2010/05/another-interview-with-damon-and.html#ixzz0ohjfTPdb​

I'm not satisfied with the answer, but there it is. It looks like it's pretty definitive now. Of course, it doesn't address why the psychic was so set on Claire giving her child up for adoption to the parents in LA. Why, if he was a fraud, was he willing to pay her plane ticket and insist she be on Oceanic 815? Seems like a strange con to pull, with little benefit for himself.

That said, it's what the two of them intended to be the answer to Aaron's "specialness," so I don't expect to see it addressed in the finale now.
​

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ I'm actually satisfied with it. It's a nice simple logical way to explain it. I'm sure that approach can be used for a lot of things on the show.

One other thing... I want to see Frank again.

 

[Joe Washington]

Maybe Aaron was special because he was the key to Claire freeing herself from the MIB's infleunce. Maybe Jacob foreseen the birth of Aaron and suspected the day the MIB would bring Claire over to his side so he had the Others try to abduct her to put her and her unborn child under his protection. Jacob wanted to protect her because of his sympathy for maternal figures starting with his own mother. But things didn't go according to plan. Then Claire got taken by the MIB and Kate winds up taking care of Aaron. I think Jacob was able to reach out to Claire momentarily so she can project herself to the outside world and deliver a message to Kate which is not bring Aaron to the island. That way, when Kate returns to the island, she can use Aaron to give Claire second thoughts about her loyalty to the MIB. That's my theory.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I can't believe The Day is finally here!

 

[beneldon]

I can't recall who said it, probably Rick Berman, but when asked by a fan; "How do the Heisenberg Compensators work?" he replied: "Just fine, thank-you!"

The actual finale begins in less than 4 hours from now and I'm getting all things ready. I still have to get the new cat litter and a few other things plus a few more loads of laundry done. Quite frankly, the kitchen is a mess and my wife is sleeping so the vacuuming is going to have to wait. my phone is on silent already and nobody I know has ever come round to visit on a Sunday evening so the note on my door that says "Do you mind not bothering me while Lost is on?" probably will only have made me chuckle. All told, I'm ready to bid this show a fond farewell.

I have enjoyed it since Walkabout's Big Reveal and thought this ain't no "Gilligan's Island!" I've never missed an episode (admittedly not difficult even with the primitive tech of VCR) and I can honestly say this has been the best TV going since... well since!

I don't have a lot of questions that won't go unanswered thanks to these forums and our proclivity to analyze every bit of minutia available and I certainly won't be counted on to organize a boycott if Frogert's backstory isn't fleshed out, but
I will miss the endless speculation.

Like, during the rebroadcast of the Pilot as Jack and company were going to find the cockpit we saw Vincent watching them from afar... hmmm, didn't notice that before... or in the promos I've seen for the finale we see flashes of our Losties ending with Locke and it looks like he turns black and explodes for about a tenth of a second before changing scenes... Or Frank and Richard's seemingly ignominious deaths... Why, Show, why?!

I'm looking forward to it just like I'm looking forward to the Next Adventure knowing there is always a new one; seems like every finale I watch is the last time I watch anymore episodic TV but then a show like Lost comes along and there I am again.

I'm glad there are folks in the business that do the work of putting me in my chair at home giving various companies a captive audience for their advertisements (doesn't work, I'm broke) because that's the way it should work with TV. I'm glad this particular forum is populated with many different people who are intelligent and funny and a whole lot smarter than I am who can share with one another their questions, comments, considerations, criticisms, and critiques (sp?). It's been a hell of a ride and the creaters of this show deserve a big thank-you! I'll never forget my wife exclaiming to me "You're crying -- AGAIN!" after seeing Sun and Jin's hands come apart referring all the way back to Desmond and Penny's ship to shore phone call. Has everything happened the way I have wanted? Of course not! That's not the way it happens in real life let alone TV -- especially in TV I have no hand in making. Are things left out that shouldn't be? (flaming arrows? really?) most assuredly! Are things included I don't have a clue as to why? (WTF! no hairbrushes? What's that supposed to mean?) par for the course! Was it all worth it?

In the words of Captain Benjamin Sisco: "You damn right!"

In the end it really doesn't matter how it works as long as it does work and as far as I'm concerned the past six seasons have worked

Just fine, thank-you

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I can't recall who said it, probably Rick Berman, but when asked by a fan; "How do the Heisenberg Compensators work?" he replied: "Just fine, thank-you!"

I think it was Mike Okuda who said that.


Incidentally, here's how things will work out, given the pop culture, literary and mythological referencing that goes on in the show:

Spoiler: what happens

Kate's a man.
Sawyer's a ghost.
Jack's a sled.
Hurley kills Dumbledore.
Ben is Luke's father.
Soylent Green is DESMOND!

 

[Dream]

I'm looking forward to it. Like Jacob said, "It only ends once".

 

[beneldon]

I can't recall who said it, probably Rick Berman, but when asked by a fan; "How do the Heisenberg Compensators work?" he replied: "Just fine, thank-you!"

I think it was Mike Okuda who said that.


Incidentally, here's how things will work out, given the pop culture, literary and mythological referencing that goes on in the show:

[SPOILER"what happens"]Kate's a man.
Sawyer's a ghost.
Jack's a sled.
Hurley kills Dumbledore.
Ben is Luke's father.
Soylent Green is DESMOND!

Don't forget:
Sayid shot J.R.

 

[startrekwatcher]

AVERAGE. I waited 6 years for this! This just felt like going through the motions. This was just so long and drawn out. Just a mess in the end and I hate to say that since I was a huge LOST fan but this was not their best work. The only stuff that worked were isolated character moments.

I'll probably change my opinion about this episode a bunch of times over the coming days weeks and months. Rarely is a LOST episode one where your view doesn't change for good or bad with the passage of the time and you've had a chance to let it sink in with all of its flavors.

The mythology feels incomplete and like a work in progress-which was fine when the show still had more episodes coming and the hope was held out the answers would eventually come. But now that it is over and there is no story left to tell since you know like the title says it is "The End" it does feel very unfinished and I don't like that much. I expected to go back and armed with subsequent information provided later on and a lot of stuff would click but now it is just going to sit there and I'll know answers will never come in a lot of questions/mysteries and I feel like a dup expending energy on them. That kinda sucks. It is like they got tired and just stopped caring about answering the mysteries while the audience never did. Bad form, Carlton and Damon. We saw the tunnel but not clear how he became smoke--did the EM field turn him into that? And the whole DEsmond failsafe think sort of petered out. Disappointing.

Character-wise--well a lot of characters had their arcs wrapped up long before tonite's finale. Sayid's went off as well as a wetblanket, crazy Claire just didn't add up to much of anything--still don't know exactly why Smokey took her--strikes me as more of a plot contrivance that offered up a shocking moment in season 4 than part of some bigger plan and those kind of gratuitous twists I'm not crazy about. Sun and Jin's arcs when not trying to get back to the island and constructing grid searches was to be reunited. They got their nice moment followed by an abrupt death. Old scenes, old faces are present--decent not the best I've seen. Although the best scene the whole time that really hit the mark was Juliet and Sawyer--they were the one couple on this series I actually was invested in and was rooting for--this was one of the truly moving scenes in an otherwise mechanical 2.5 hours along with the Christian/Jack scene at the very end. So not alternate timeline but afterlife explains why Ana Lucia wasn't ready to let go--she was always stubborn and I could see her having a difficult time with it. Didn't care for how things were wrapped up in real life on the island.

The Jack/Kate stuff cared as much about it as I ever did which is to say not at all.

What about Ilana/Jacob?--seriously no flashback--every other time we've gotten a similar snippet like we did in the season five finale we usually have seen how it fits in with everything else. I was also willing to give writers the benefit of the doubt when they blew up Ilana but if that was all there was to her then they handle recurring characters this season as well as Heroes.

I did agree with Hurley(Hurley was stull annoying as ever and that smug grin that he greeted Charlie with..ugh) saying Jacob said a whole lot of nothing. One of the criticisms I had for this season. I expected answers. And you could argue that Jacob's non-answer answers and reveal last episode of not really know what his plan was is perfect meta-commentary on Lindelof and Cuse. I hate be so harsh on a show I enjoyed for so many years but they botched it at the last.

The Jack/"Locke" confrontation on the hilltop was exciting. The reveal of the Light was one of those memorable LOST moments and very majestic. But the spectacle and build up to what we see in the heart of the island is anti-climatic after 6 years with the whole mystery of the island and then a tease of it in "Across the Sea"--some bones of people we don't know and some strange plug Jack idiotically lets Des down there to remove and wreak havoc.
He sucks as Protector--I mean he is going to get the island destroyed on his first day on the job--oops he must have forget to establish RULES and the first one is don't be an idiot so since Jacob wasn't much brighter then Hurley is perfect for the job--he has been an idiot many times but Jack forgot to mumble the incantation.

Desmond doing that was just so blatantly contrived. We never learned how Des was going to be a failsafe to stop "Locke" exactly either--given lipservice. MIB's death was lame and anti-climatic. I even prefer Sisko sending Dukat to "hell"--it was more satisfying.

Nice seeing Juliet back. Dan/Charlotte sweet scene. I was surprised alt Kate didn't try to make a run for it from Des. ?That had every one back from the series except Walt and Michael--didn't seem right but now I understand why no Michael since he was stuck in purgatory on the island as we saw this season.

The pacing is more measured which surprises since this is LOST and the series finale.

I liked the BSG finale "Daybreak" better and as a LOST finale this wasn't as good as some of the other LOST season finales.

TNG's AGT is still the gold standard followed by MASH and BSG(it spat on the mythology but at least the character moments were much better than what we got on LOST tonite). LOST did nothing to threaten that or come close to threatening it. I even enjoyed DS9's "What You Leave Behind" more. This was decent, okay--I've seen worse, much worse but I just expected so much more from LOST. And the fact that I'm not writing paragraph after paragraph about the millions of things I loved about the finale and how fantastic it was tells me it fell short in many ways. LOST just didn't put much effort into this season.

S1 was a year good for Character, S2 was a mess, S3-5 were good years for Mythology and S6 was a mess.

LOST was the one series seemingly poised to do mythology right--having learned all the mistakes from all the other series--frankly I don't really care if another show tackles it again. Just stick to pure character driven stories and enough with the mythology because the writers seem to lose interest after awhile whether XF, LOST, BSG, Heroes.

How exactly did he become Smoke? What was smoke? Who finished the wheel? How did the wheel move the island? How did MOther wipe out an entire village of strongmen? Who started this crazy Protecting shit? We really don't have any better idea of what makes Des special than we did in season two. Never learned who built all that stuff. How would have Smokey getting out destroy all life? How is a plug in a drain the source of all life? The writers just absolutely lost it at the very end with all these ill-defined metaphysical concepts.

 

[Agent Richard07]

How about that. A lot to think about.

 

[gh4chiefs]

Well,

So that's that. The ending didn't do that much for me, but I guess it's as close to a happy ending as we could get so I guess that's okay.

It's had it's moments, but overall, I'm not going to miss this show. Some of the characters, yes I'll miss them a lot, but the overall story, not so much.

 

[Cicero]

Until the end, I'd have rated the episode excellent. The last few minutes, though, ruined it for me - ruined all of the final season, at least.

In the end, they simply died - and the other world was merely religious.

What a waste.

 

[WeAreTheBorg]

Very reminiscent of BSG. And in my case, I don't mean that as a bad thing... not completely anyway.

 

[Kira's Mom]

Wasn't expecting that ending. A total cop-out if you ask me- they were all dead all along?

Above average episode, but I still feel kind of cheated. Six years to tell us that they're dead anyway?

 

[Python Trek]

I liked it, until the last five minutes---too mystical, New Age, religious, touchy-feely......

Great series, mixed ending.........................

 

[Starbreaker]

Not what I was expecting at all, but I loved it.

 

[Mr Light]

First off, the ending made me cry like a baby. The goddamn dog lies down next to him as he dies?! Jesus Christ I was bawling.

Second, I still feel that the sideways stories were a complete waste of precious screen-time in the final season. It feels like a cruel joke about the common theory back in the beginning that they were all dead. Still, the bit in the church with Christian was pretty poignant. It was just a waste of half a season.

Third, everything else I found pretty underwhelming. We didn't learn a single new thing. There wasn't a single plot twist in the real Island story. The Locke confrontation was brief and completely anti-climactic. I spent the whole season waiting to see them actually do something against the Monster... and the black smoke form doesn't even APPEAR in the finale?! I had visions of super-powered Jack laying a smackdown on the Monster. An angry black form swarms towards him but flows around him harmlessly because he's immune to it. It tries to grab him with an appendage, but then Jack rips it off and then beats him down with it! Then he uses his super breath to suck in the entire smoke cloud, freeze it, shoot it back out, and shatter it into a million pieces while Locke screams nnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooooooo!!! Well, SOMETHING like that, anyway!

So on the whole, LOST is probably my second favorite show of all time, but the final season definitely wasn't as good as S3-5. Like so many shows before it, the ending was a disappointment. Actually it reminds me strongly of the horribly disappointing DS9 finale. The great and mighty destiny of the Sisko... was to chuck a book into the fire. The great and mighty destiny of the Jack... was to stick a stone pillar in a whole. Inspiring stuff.

 

[Starbreaker]

Wasn't expecting that ending. A total cop-out if you ask me- they were all dead all along?

Above average episode, but I still feel kind of cheated. Six years to tell us that they're dead anyway?

It was just that they were all dead in this flash-sideways for some reason. Very weird.