LOST ended last night, and hundreds (if not thousands) of analyses will soon be written and posted. Before I go ahead and read any of those (notably: Noel Murray's from the A.V. Club, who I've been following pretty consistently but haven't read in a couple weeks) I thought I'd make some comments of my own. Majors spoilers to follow.
In quick summary, what happened last night was this: they killed Smokey after pulling out the earthquake plug, then Jack put it back in and left Hurley in charge before keeling over in the bamboo forest where the series began. Sawyer, Kate and "the rest" were last seen taking off in the Ajira plane to escape. But more importantly (at least, in the context of this post) they wrapped the alterna-timeline with Jack realizing he (and everyone else) is dead, and that they've basically constructed this reality in order to ease their passage onto the next stage of the afterlife game. In other words, alterna-LA was purgatory, but the island was real life.
The crowd I was with last night gave it an immediate (and knowingly hasty, half-joking) thumbs down. I've always been of the opinion that LOST is the type of show you either decide to like or decide to be frustrated by, and after making up your mind about this what actually happens on the show is of small consequence. Having of course chosen the former, I've always been slightly confused as to why the latter continue to watch religiously each week. In any case, the common complaints about the show (it's slow, it's cheesy, no answers, or the plot's too ridiculous) have always puzzled me as well, since it seems to me these are actually the foundations the show has been built on and has managed (somewhat impressively) to stay consistent to throughout. Also I've never found it "slow"at all (except maybe season 3) but I think that's just a difference of opinion on what the word "slow" means in this case.
He's aiming at Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan!
On to the analysis: I've digested it a bit and as predicted I've been liking this ending more and more. On the one hand, they've managed to tie up their gambit with the alterna-timeline and package it as an epilogue of sorts, albeit a psychological one. Secondly, they've stayed consistent with the show's own format of outlining characters lives past, present and future. And finally, they've reinforced one of the major themes of the show which is "letting go of old shit so you can move on".
Throughout the season I found the alterna-timeline interesting but also exhausting. Like past LOST story arcs and secret methods, I couldn't see where it was going and so it was easy to be frustrated with it. It didn't appear to be moving the plot forward at all or serving the show as a whole other than perhaps continuing to question the relative nature of time-space and fate versus free will, while also (now it's easier to see) not so subtly pushing the "let it go" philosophy. The end has Jack finally coming to terms with (basically) his own death, then embracing the most important people in his life one last time before letting go and moving on. It was a nice way for the audience to see the characters interact again (even post-death, I mean) and within a more subdued and calm reality (read: LA after a safe landing). It also helped a lot in rinsing our mouths of the potential evil-Locke aftertaste by showing the Locke we love triumphing (finally!).
would anyone care for pie?
Certainly one way the show will be remembered is by its sometimes overly direct, occasionally delicate interaction with the blogosphere. It strikes me as the first show with writing and story arcs being directly affected by nerds analyzing and discussing the show. Clearly this was a curse and a blessing, but all in all I believe Darlton handled it quite well. I think a lot of people will be saying that the whole "purgatory" idea may have originally been planned as the conceit of the entire show (like, the island isn't a real place) but that because of speculation and direct questions to that effect early on in the series, the producers had to change their plan a bit and then come back to the purgatory concept in a roundabout way. I could definitely believe that, but let's leave it aside and just say the show got to where they eventually wanted to go.
The show's always been about the details of the characters lives. At the outset, they accomplished this through a creative flashback structure. Later they used flashforwards, and now, as it's finally been revealed, we even get the characters' post-death stories. Think about that for one second. There's a completism there that is admirable, if nothing else. We got very full stories for our 6-10 major characters.
I've got a soft spot for material that suggests death as another birth, so my immediate reaction was to like this approach. I'm a scientist and an atheist, but find these ways of thinking are completely compatible with the possibility of an afterlife. In fact I dislike the idea that belief in an afterlife is seen as synonymous with belief in god (why's the universe gotta be a dictatorship?), and notice how the non-denominational church in LOST is basically saying we all end up the same, regardless of our beliefs...but anyway this is a digression. The alterna-timeline showed us how the characters all eventually came to terms with what's really the most significant thing humans have to come to terms with: their own mortality. Perhaps it also showed the characters as their own ideal manifestations of themselves (Sawyer's on the right side of the law, Jack's well-adjusted, Hurley's lucky, and Locke has his shit together, sort of). It was pretty uplifting, really, not only because of the suggestion that we can meet up with lost loved ones (so they're not "lost", are they?) but also because it helped put in sharp perspective all the "real life" events of the show, which brings me to my final point: LOST is telling us to relax.
Despite the island being a real place and the events and struggles therein being very real, the purgatory storyline about letting go makes it seem a bit allegorical to the unnecessary stress and out perceived importance of everyday life. This is accomplished two ways, I think: first, the obvious juxtaposition of a relatively calm and simple purgatory/afterlife with the breakneck pace and life or death/save the world shitstorm of (on and off) island life, and second by leaving so much to the imagination in the real timelines' conclusion. Ambiguity was a great move here. We can just assume that Kate and Sawyer made it home to their (sorta) kids and Desmond somehow made it to Penny and Hurley stayed on as protector with Ben as his number 2 (also alluded to in a line from Hurley to Ben outside the church), but also, I don't really care so much. We all end up dead sometime, and the wheres and whens seem a lot less important in retrospect, right? (The other purpose of this was to highlight that the show is really about Jack and that he's the one who get's the most complete arc, and the last shot of the show gave it nice wrap around as well, etc...).
More importantly, everything on the island was put through a prism of black and white, all or none, won or "lost". Every event was seen as having (potentially) grave consequences toward the fate of the universe and each individual's specific importance (and special status) was reinforced again and again. I keep thinking that one of the major issues in the world is so many people seeing life this way (in other words, in terms of the extreme). In truth, nothing is black and white, and realizing this has a remarkable ability to calm people down. Our lives and actions aren't the going to make or break the entire world (see: fate vs free will and the Faraday debate of "details"). We, as individuals, aren't terribly important (see: the shifting candidate list). So in the end LOST is trying to put a fine point on how even through some serious struggles the black and white conception of the world is a fantasy. It's something we dreamed up so that games like backgammon make sense, but you simply can't apply it across the board (ha ha). So seriously, everybody: relax.
post script: I could say more but this seems like plenty
post post script: I also just got back from Japan yesterday, so I'll write about that soon.
Check the Fahey!
