Lost (series, show, happened, characters)

[fitzy24]

The finale was good but I didn't like the ending because they all moved on. Of course it had to end somehow but to me it leaves no room for a movie. I am also disappointed Walt wasn't in the finale. That sucked.

[Foreverking]

Originally Posted by Herbrocks

I am finding everyone's opinions interesting, but not satifying.

For those who say the story is just about the characters and the details don't matter, I would say that's fine, except that the series was somewhat presented as science fiction, which demands some explaination. To throw in a religious/spiritual/magic component and leave things "up to the imagination" is just lazy storytelling.

Looking back, LOST seems very similar to BSG, fantastic acting, premise and short term story lines/arcs, but a wandering middle and unsatifying end when viewed as a whole. Also, both had countless people/things/places that were presented as an important "answer" or "key", but then downplayed or discarded later in the story.
I'm starting to feel like I'm the only one who sees the emperor is nekkid, while everyone else is praising his fine clothes

I was also in the same boat with you on BSG...I was discussing this with my wife this morning how Just like in BSG, we got a BS ending, with huge amounts of untied plot. I was soooo worried that this series would BSG on me...and effing A it did.

[Chanteuse d' Opéra]

I felt that there were a lot of religious undertones in the story. Especially in the finale & w/ Desmond talking to Kate in the beginning (kind of like a God figure) & then how he went to the "bottomless pit" to go remove that "thing" (in the Bible, Christ went down to retrieve the keys of Hell to lock it away) As a Christian, it seemed like a lot of it dealt with purgatory & the concepts of heaven/hell. Other than that, I thought it was a great ending & yeah I can agree that it was a little "easy way out", but if the show dragged on, it wouldn't have been as special. Of course, these are just my speculations, so don't bash me for it. Thanks!!

[harhar]

I find it funny that I met my wife in college six years ago. That's a LOST type coincidence if I've ever heard one.

To me LOST had a whole bunch of MacGuffins (a term I've never heard before but its pretty familiar to us all). Where all that stuff doesn't need to be explained because really it drives the plot but isn't essential to it. Like the glowing suitcase in Pulp Fiction.

Yeah it would be nice to know those things about the statues and what the light actually is, or what the smoke monster actually is, but they aren't really necessary to the plot as a whole.

Now I did think the last 5 minutes was kind of cheesy how it was all wrapped up and to the point. To add to that I do think that the producers wrote things as they went along.

However I've read and tend to believe that, season 6's "flash-sideways" was "limbo" and was Jack's coming to terms with being dead. So when Jack dies at the end of season 6, that's the start of season 6's "flash-sideways." Which was pretty cool. And gives insight to his "son" (which was Jack trying to compensate for his lack of a childhood). So I think the most interesting character development happened in this last season.

Even so I think LOST achieved what it set out to achieve. It was an entertaining show, that was surprisingly deep, albeit a bit pretentious at times. I didn't get caught up in theorizing because I don't see how you can theorize without the ending, but now that it's over I can look back and see some of the connections that were made. But is it "art"? Does it actually deserve my critique? I don't know.

Still I agree with most of your conclusion. It was a very different show, that will probably never be done again, but I never really took it too seriously, so I wasn't let down by the ending. In fact I think it was very emotional and if some things made sense they did, and if not, oh well.

I'd love to write more about this when I have time.

[tamiznluv]

Originally Posted by Amy S in PBC

I've searched around and found the best explanation about the ending and found this. I think I can live with it. Let me know what you think. The Ending Explained in Simple Terms by Brett | LOST Theories

Perfect, Amy.

Originally Posted by Miaiam

I like Amy's post. It is simple and very credible.


I did not watch Lost for explanations only. I never did. I watched it bc it was entertaining. Of course I would have very much liked to learn about the monster origins (I mean, before MIB), the numbers, hell, yeah, I would have even loved to know MIB's name!

But I watched it, essentially, to be entertained. And I loved it.

Every time they had a life on the island realization it was a bucketful of tears here.
Gradually, they all "let go" and could "not die, but move on", - as Christian said - in peace. I loved the glass window with many religions represented in the background.

Personally I thought Sawyer or Hurley should have been the candidate, and it ended up being Hurley. And Ben as the new Richard, having a chance to achieve redemption, - as he said himself he was not ready to move on - both were fantastic.

When Richard got that white hair I was crying my eyes out. He did so much for the island, he was granted a "normal lifetime" back again and would one day meet Isabella without being killed by Smokey.

When Jack died beside Vincent, I was seriously crying. The dog being beside him at that very moment just killed me.

Thanks Ouijee and Lee, as you said Richard was not killed by Smokey. And Ouijee, Lapidus was important, and not dead, as I told you.

Obviously no ending would please everybody. If your heart is set on pure explanations, I am sorry you are not satisfied with the finale.
As in Lost, there are men of science and men of faith. I think they chose to go with the faith aspect.

The message was beautiful and I am very thankful I spent 6 years of my life watching Lost as opposed to many crappy tv shows that are incomprehensibly successful.
Lost had a true message and a content. I hope you guys appreciate that.

And gotta love the Target commercials.

My thoughts and sentiments and reactions too.

Originally Posted by ShinyHappyLucy

They all survived the crash. Everything that happened on the island was real according to Christian. They were all reunited in death because the time they spent together had the biggest impact on their lives, bigger than anything that happened before or after the island. Some died on the island, and some died off the island. Some died long before the others, and some left the island and went on to live full lives. It was a beautiful ending!

It certainly was, SHL.

Originally Posted by citizen_jane

They did not all die in the original plane crash. The writing was pretty clear on that. Jack's father clearly says "some died before you some died a long time later" meaning they did not all die together. He also states there is no "now" in the place. They've been waiting for each other to show. When Ben apologizes to Locke it's clear that what happened on the island was real and he needed to account for his actions in life. When Hurley and Ben talk about their life after Jack - "you made a great number 2" they are talking about their real life. As if that wasn't enough the final scene of the airplane on the beach was clear. There were foot prints all around the wreckage and a small camp on the left hand side. They survived and were making a life.

Originally Posted by ShinyHappyLucy

I'm so glad Ben didn't die a bad guy. he was my favorite character to ever be in any TV show, and I was so happy his character ended the way it did. I'm glad he didn't die and get "stuck" like Michael, and I loved how happy he seemed when Hurley asked him to be his island helper. It's like for the first time in his life he finally felt important.

Yes, I finally softened up towards Ben last night.

Originally Posted by Miaiam

There is no purgatory in the series. Who understood it this way go it all wrong, I guess.

Christian said something like "here there is no "now"". Everybody got there on a different time. Some were not even there, as they were still alive (Lapidus, Miles, Richard).

Lucy said it very well.

Or had no redeeming qualities.

Originally Posted by Orangeish

So the fact that Hurley and Ben told each other that each other made a good #1 and #2, coupled with Christian saying some died LONG after Jack made me think that Hurley and Ben protected the island for a long time? Then Hurley was reunited with his friends when his protectorship was over? I dunno...

Why didn't Ben go into the Church at the end? I feel like thats an obvious question I am missing.

Ben wasn't ready to go into the light with the others. He still had some things he needed "to make right" about his life.

Originally Posted by Orangeish

RE: a couple pages ago about the clothes being all the same as the plane crash. No way was Kate wearing that hot little black dress when she was in cuffs on the original plane crash. So that theory is inaccurate.

Kate was NOT in the church in her "little black dress". She was dressed in a blue chami shirt with spaghetti straps and jeans. Hurley was dressed in the same clothes we last saw him when he asked Ben to be his #2.

Originally Posted by ouijeewoman

I'm not sure how I feel about the ending yet, I have to watch it again, ALONE! I don't know what possessed my dh to watch it with me last night. He just couldn't keep quiet and was bombarding me with questions about who is that, why did that happen, and best of all, why have you watched this stupidity for 6 years? He's never watched this with me before.

I did feel some redemption when they found Frank and Richard. I let out a loud shout and fist pump(scaring the poor kitty in my lap) and earning a wth look from dh. I will watch again this Thursday when I will have the house to myself. I'm sure I'll enjoy it much better this time.

Me too, Ouijee! My hubby has tried to watch LOST but couldn't wrap his head around it and last night just blah, blah, blah blah, blah, blah. TG he finally fell asleep around 10. I am going to rewatch it in peace and quiet tonight and then watch Jimmy Kimmel's show. I hear your frustration, g/f!!!

Originally Posted by ouijeewoman

My dh evidently has a very limited imagination. He won't watch shows like Lost, Fringe, V, etc. His thinking is, if it couldn't happen in real life, it isn't worth watching. There are only 2 shows we watch together, Deadliest Catch and Rescue Me. After 20 yrs. together I have stopped trying to get him to open his mind to shows like this. He thought he was doing me a favor by watching it with me. Also, he can't keep quiet when watching TV, he feels the need to give a running commentary during what ever is on!

Can't wait to watch it again all by myself!

See above post.

Originally Posted by lovemaine

Loved, loved, loved the finale. One piece that I hated though: Sayid and Shannon. I just never bought them as a couple. He should have been reunited with Nadia... Otherwise, a near-perfect ending for a near-perfect show, IMHO...

Originally Posted by Neditate

I agree! I really hoped that Sayid would reunite with Nadia, his one true love. There was no need for Shannon, but it was very nice to gaze upon Boone for a few moments!

To both love and Neditate, I think Sayid fell head over heels for Shannon and she mended his broken heart over Nadia's murder. Whatever, it sure was nice to Sayid happy.

Originally Posted by juniperbleu

Based on lines from the show and most other reviews/analyses I've read today:

- The island happened. What happened there was what actually happened in their lives. In the end, Jack died, Hurley's the new "guardian" with Ben as his assistant, Desmond is still on the island (whether he eventually leaves or not is unknown), Bernard & Rose are living on the island in their little homestead, Frank, Kate, Claire, Sawyer, Richard, and Miles take off in the plane and presumably land somewhere and live out their lives.

- In the end of all ends, they're all dead. They're human, and humans die. It sort of goes into the concept of time being nonlinear again, since they die at different times yet are in this alternate reality together. The alternative timeline was some sort of reality that their minds collectively dreamed up after they died where they could all reunite and be happy together. It's sort of like the final scene in "Titanic" where she ends up back on the boat with all the other dead people, because the boat and those people constituted the most significant point in her life. Be it purgatory, heaven, hell, a "death dream", or whatever, the whole point of it dealt with them moving on and being at peace. In the overall storyline it isn't that significant. Instead of explicitly going through what each person did post-island, they just left it up to the imagination and said "they're all together in the end (i.e. death)".

I agree, juniper.

I also was bawling buckets when Vincent laid down beside Jack so he wasn't alone! Just thinking about it is making me teary! Gosh, that was such a great episode. For someone who just wanted to be entertained, that Finale was fantastic. A HAPPY ENDING.

BTW, oijee, when Frank came out of the water, I could only think of how happy you must be reacting!!

[just_sayin']

Originally Posted by Lee W.

Hurley could have handed over his title to someone else before he died. That would make him just mortal again, as Jack was also when he went down into the cave.

I have a feeling he was still mortal the whole time. I think that water was "deactivated" and Jack knew this. You could kind of tell by his demeanor and how anticlimactic the scene was (and that he just used an old plastic water bottle) that there was something a little off about it. I think Jack didn't want Hurley to have to live forever and be able to live a somewhat normal life. Or at least have a normal lifespan. Same with Ben. Ben wasn't given the immortalizing water (at least not on screen), and thus he would live out a normal lifespan, so it would make sense for his "partner" to as well.

[GloryB]

Anyone think they will come out with a movie later? Kind of like Star Trek did after the show was over? There have been other movie spin offs as well.

[NYChistorygal]

Originally Posted by I'minformed2

I have a feeling he was still mortal the whole time. I think that water was "deactivated" and Jack knew this. You could kind of tell by his demeanor and how anticlimactic the scene was (and that he just used an old plastic water bottle) that there was something a little off about it. I think Jack didn't want Hurley to have to live forever and be able to live a somewhat normal life. Or at least have a normal lifespan. Same with Ben. Ben wasn't given the immortalizing water (at least not on screen), and thus he would live out a normal lifespan, so it would make sense for his "partner" to as well.

I noticed that Jack didn't say the 'prayer' over the water the way the 'mother' and Jacob did. I felt right there that it wouldn't work because of that.

[Miaiam]

I don't think they will make a movie. Unfortunately.

I noticed Jack did not say the prayer too. It seemed very ordinary to me, and the water was dirty, whereas mother gave wine to Jacob and Jacob gave clean, spring water to Jack.

[Foreverking]

Originally Posted by RjRobb2

I'm not sure what you mean by saying it is a rip-off of Titanic?

The numbers are insignificant. The numbers didnt have a meaning, they were just numbers given meaning by their usage on the hatch and other places. This show was about the characters.

At the end of Titanic, all the crew and charactors of the show were waiting for rose after she died in the grand ball room by the clock. the Spirit of Rose arrives and there is an emotional welcoming that made every one cry in the audience.

The final alt time scene showed jack showing up, or his spirit showing up to the church to see the castaways one last time.

BTW, why was Penny there, and Miles was not.

The numbers were a significant part of the show. Nearly every episode made some showing of them.