LOST without you

SPOILER ALERT!!!  If you haven't watched the series finale, you will probably want to stop reading this post now!  Watch it,then come back.  And everyone, please comment. I want to hear your take on things.

It's the end of an era.  I remember sitting in my apartment in Queens with my roommate, Marcus and someone else (who else was there??) watching the pilot. I also remember watching the next episode and thinking it was just ok.  That's about where I left off with LOST season 1.  I was doing a show and we didn't have DVR yet, so I missed almost the entire season. A couple of years later, Marcus insisted that I rent the series up to that point on DVD.  I watched LOST for nearly a week straight.  I was hooked.  Marcus watched with me and looked for "Easter eggs,"  little extras the producers hide in the background.  From then on, I've been the big LOST fanatic in our house.

I was a bundle of nerves the entire day leading up to the finale.  Marcus and I had long discussions, we formulated theories, we guessed how it would end.  Well, we got a couple of things right, but I never would have predicted THAT ending.  Don't get me wrong,  I don't feel like they gave me a St. Elsewhere snow globe ending, but I guess I just wanted something different than what we actually got.

As we have been asked to do for every episode of this epic show, we must suspend our disbelief (a little theatre terminology for ya) and go along with the events.  And we did.  I don't know a single LOST fan who says after an episode, "That couldn't happen." In this world, it could and it did.  That said, I guess it's not too much to ask that we go along with the idea that these people have essentially been treading water in the great beyond, waiting until a time when they could all be reunited with the people from the most important time of their lives. (As told to us by Christian Shepard.)  I guess that should give me some closure, some peace that they'll all be together for all eternity.

But know what?  I STILL HAVE QUESTIONS.  Of course, I didn't expect them to answer 6 years worth of questions in 2 1/2 hours, and a lot of the answers don't really matter, but I am wondering about a few things.  Feel free to chime in with your thoughts about these.

1.  Why weren't Walt and Michael in the church?  Is it because they left the island so early? Is it because Walt's not dead yet? Is it because the actor playing Walt is like 23 now?

2. What is the deal with Jack's son in the parallel world?  In the hospital, Locke says, "Jack, you don't have a son." In this "limbo world," was the son just a vehicle to make sure they all got together?   For what it's worth, Marcus and I totally called the fact that Juliet would be his mom.  Which leads me to...

3.  Why is Juliet with them in the end?  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad she's there. It gave me great closure for Sawyer and since she went through so much with our castaways, I could buy her spending eternity with them. It just seemed odd, though, that she was there, yet Ana-Lucia, Mr. Eko, Walt and Michael weren't.  (I did read an interview from the producers saying the actor who played Mr. Eko turned down the offer to return for the finale.)

4.  So, when they killed the smoke monster, did that leave the island without a "light and dark," if you will?  In all our theories, Marcus and I knew someone would kill the smoke monster, but we assumed someone would have to take his place.  If Hurley is the new Jacob (light), who's he protecting the island from?  Others who will come? That kind of left me hanging.  I did, however, like the appointment of Ben as his second in command.  I had assumed Ben would be the one to kill the smoke monster and that he'd sacrifice himself in the process.  In his "ever after," I assume he didn't go with them because he wanted to be with Alex.

5.  This is the one that sort of makes me angry--what is so special about Aaron???????  We never got any answers about why Claire had to be the one to raise him or why he was so special.

6. Did anyone else want them to wrap up with something else about the Dharma Initiative?  I feel like that just sort of faded away.  I mean, I know a lot of them got off the island on the sub, then others blew up or got left when we flashed through time, but seriously? We just abandoned that storyline.

7.  Anyone else really concerned for how Richard Alpert will "mainstream" into the real world? I mean, he's from ancient times.  What will he think of the internet? I hope HIS eternity is with his wife.

I'm sure I'll come up with more once I've watched the finale again (which you KNOW is happening, probably tonight).  I"m looking forward to watching the alternate endings on Jimmy Kimmel. I wanted to stay up and watch it last night, but Marcus was so mad at the way it ended that he turned off the tv and went to bed.  Megan Smith wrote a nice recap on the  BlogHer site.  Read it here.  Be sure to post a link in comments if you blogged about LOST.

I'm going to say I'm ok with the ending. I did want more, but I suppose this was as good a way to end it as any.  I did like the last shot, though I don't think there's a single person out there who didn't see that coming.  Overall, I'm thankful for 6 seasons of the best tv I've ever experienced.  This show challenged me, intruiged me, made me laugh and cry and led to millions of awesome discussions with my husband.  Plus, we got to stare at Hawaii for an hour each week, and let's not forget all the shots of Sawyer sans shirt.  I read an interview this week in which the producers said they wanted us to be glad for the emotional journey we'd taken with the show and that in the end, they wanted us to feel the journey had been worth it.  For me, it was.

So what did you think?  Any burning questions you wish had been answered?

Comments

[Heather Prejean]

I have all those same questions! And I wanted answers! I'm ok with the way it ended, just wanted more.
Heather

[Alan J. Kleipass]

First, a link to my blog on this: http://aj.rockycrater.org/2010/05/24/lost-the-finale/

Now, my answers to the questions you have:
1) Michael and Walt were not there because their lives weren't as tightly bound to those of the others there. They will end up in their own "waiting room" with Walt's mother, etc. Although Michael had an impact on Jack, Sawyer, et al., his actions had actually condemned him to "haunt" the island as one of the whispers -- possibly for all eternity.

2) Jack's son was a vehicle for Jack's coming to terms with and letting go of his issues with his own father. At the start of the flash-sideways Jack and his son were distant, just as Jack and his father had been. Their coming together paved the path for Jack to be able to, literally and physically, embrace his father at the end.

3) Juliet was there because of her connection to Sawyer and to Jack. She set into motion the events that led to Jack becoming caretaker, and one could argue that her dying words "it worked" were because she was on the cusp and could see the flash-sideways world. Since most of the people who were on the island were not in the church, we can presume that those present were the ones that mattered the most in Jack's life and death. There is nothing to suggest that they might not also be in another waiting room, waiting to welcome people from other aspects of their lives too. LOST was, when all is said and done, Jack's journey.

4) As there was only a single caretaker before Jacob and his brother were born, I don't think that there needs to be a black-n-white balance present there. The caretaker is needed to protect the heart of the island from those who would act without understanding what they are doing and the harm it could cause. That we are left without a clear understanding of that isn't so much a product of the writers not explaining, but of the caretakers themselves not entirely knowing the answers. Whatever Mother knew, she past on very little to Jacob and his brother before dying. Whatever Jacob had learned, next to none of it was passed on to Jack -- note that Jack didn't even speak an incantation over the water before giving it to Hugo to drink. And Hugo, obviously, got zero instructions before Jack died. Having been born of the light, the Smoke Monster might have understood more than the caretakers, but not everything -- after all, his scheme to leave the island made him mortal, which is something I doubt he would have intentionally decided to do.

5) Aaron is a bit of a hanging thread, although there is a structure that could explain him. Claire coming onto the island pregnant and immediately going into labor pains mirrors the birth of Jacob and his brother -- who might well be the only other children ever born on the island. It was important for Claire to raise him so that he didn't end up with a "Mother" like Jacob and his brother, and thus become another caretaker. I'm wondering if Claire's full name was in the cave, or just her last one like Sun & Jin.

6) The Dharma Initiative wasn't at the core of Jack's life, so it takes a backseat to other events. As for the remaining people and others on the island, they are the ones Hugo will be looking after.

7) Richard won't have a problem adjusting. He's seen modern technology on the island, and he's ventured off the island in the past. From the Lostpedia:

"Richard had on occasion left and returned to the Island. In the outside world, he monitored John Locke's early life, having visited him as a baby and at age five. He also presented himself as a recruiter for Mittelos Bioscience, helping to bring Juliet to the Island in 2001."

So, there you go, Jen. Seven answers to seven questions.

~Alan~

[Alan J. Kleipass]

A few video answers to questions, including Aaron:
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/on-lost-questions-lead-to-more-questions/

[Sarah]

As to the Aaron question, Aaron wasn't special. The only person who said he was was the psychic. But the psychic was a quack. He said so himself in some later episode (Season 3, I think). The only thing that mattered was that Claire had to be on Oceanic 815.

All the Dharma people died in Ben's purge. That was the end of Dharma. There should still be some Others left on the island because that group of them left the temple with UnLocke (unless they all died when Widmore bombed the beach). I assume Hurley and Ben will hook up with those folks and they'll all regroup.

[rkmama]

I'm writing my post now- to hopefully be finished before 2012, so I am formulating my thoughts but I think overall I feel exactly the same. Good questions,especially about who was included in the ending scenes in the church. I'll check back here when I'm done!

[rkmama]

Oh and if you haven't already watched it- we stayed up for the Jimmy Kimmel thing and the endings were spoofs, not the real deals- funny though.