Whatever happened, happened. Live together, die together.
So it turns out the detonation of the Jughead didn’t create another timeline. It was the “Incident” and it just moved all the characters back into place. What we’ve been calling the flash-sideways timeline all season turned out to be purgatory, or some middle-verse designed by the Losties so that when they all died, they would find each other again, achieve atonement and move on.
I know it sounds cheesy. I know many of you out there love this ending, and I know many of you out there hate this ending. Honestly, I was satisfied. It was elegant. It worked.
Ultimately, I guess the way you see this ending depends on why you watch Lost. One of my favorite TV critics, Alan Sepinwall theorized that if you watched Lost for answers to its mysteries, the finale was most likely a disappointment. But if you watched it for the characters, you were probably pleased. And I agree.
I guess I fell more in the latter category. As intriguing as the mysteries were, I watched it for the characters, for the relationships, for the way each of them found themselves and each other through their journey on and off the Island. For me, “The End” delivered more than enough moments to make me feel fulfilled and to make me go cry my eyes out when the ending title card appeared one last time.
So what did I like about the finale?
In the flash-sideways/afterlife/whatever you want to call it, I liked every one of the “awakenings”: Jin and Sun after the ultrasound, Charlie and Claire after the birth of Aaron, Kate waking up then helping Jack remember, Sawyer and Juliet at the vending machine, Locke after a successful surgery and yes, even Sayid and Shannon, with the help of Hurley and Boone. I liked how some characters entered the church and moved on while others, like Ben, Ana Lucia and Daniel didn’t. They were simply “not ready” or still had work to do.
I liked the final conversation between Ben and Locke. I liked hearing “You All Everybody” a final time at the concert. I liked Kate’s “I’ve missed you so much” line to Jack (I’ve always been a Jack and Kate supporter. Sue me.) I liked Christian Shephard, for once. Finally, I liked Ben and Hurley’s little exchange, because from it, we can infer that they stayed on the Island for a long time, protecting the light, the Source.
And speaking of the Island, I was happy everything came full circle. Richard is finally aging, Rose and Bernard are alive, Flocke is dead, Frank Lapidus is alive, Jack passed his job on to Hurley, Hurley chose Ben as his number two, and what I like to call “The Ajira Six” (Claire, Kate, Frank, Miles, Richard, and Sawyer) made it off the Island. In the end, Jack walked through the bamboo forest to die where he first woke up on the Island and closed his eyes as the Ajira plane passed overhead. It was a great scene that bookended the series beautifully.
But if you’re frustrated with this finale and absolutely hated it, I understand. Lost asked so many questions, and too many were left unanswered. Why can’t women have babies on the Island? Why is Walt special? What is the Source? What do the Numbers mean? Who was shooting at them from the outrigger when they were flashing through time? How did the wheel become frozen and why does it move the Island places and how did it get built and why does it make people turn up in Tunisia and why did the Dharma Initiative build a station over it and…etc. etc. etc.
Sure, I’m a little frustrated by the lack of answers, but in the end, does it really matter to us or to the characters what the Island really was? It would have been nice to know, but from the beginning, the show has been about the survivors. Everything else just brought them where they needed to be. Like Locke once told Jack in the Hatch, it’s called a leap of faith.
Sometimes it’s better not to have everything explained. Remember when they explained Jack’s tattoos? Yeah, me neither. Remember when Michael showed up this season and explained the Whispers? I felt a little let down by the reveal, actually. Poor Michael, stuck on the Island for eternity for his sins.
My interpretation of the ending is this: it’s there to reassure us that it was their destiny to find each other. Whatever else happened in that afterlife universe was there to help each of them find peace, if they weren’t able to when they were alive. Jack’s son helped him deal with his daddy issues. Sayid let go of Nadia and realized he was a good man by saving Shannon. So when they do find atonement, they can move on. If they don’t, they’ll just have to wait. Ana Lucia is still a corrupt cop. Charlotte and Daniel need to help each other remember. Ben needs forgiveness from Alex.
Lost has been a journey, a crazy and entertaining one, at that. And even if the ending is not universally loved, or completely perfect, it’s the six seasons of intrigue and cast of characters that kept us addicted. So celebrate the journey the show was, because that, in the end, matters more than the destination.
And with that, I guess it’s time to say my farewells.
Thank you, J.J. Abrams, for making Lost happen. Thank you, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, for writing such an intricate story, for creating some of the best TV characters (Locke! Desmond!), and for sticking with those characters to the end. Thank you, Matthew, Josh, Evangeline, Terry, Henry, Emilie, Jorge, Daniel, Yunjin, Naveen, Michael and many more for stepping into these characters’ shoes. Thank you, Michael Giacchino, for the unforgettable music. Thank you, Lost, for giving us six seasons of “OMG WTF.”
See you in another life, Lost.