LOST: Coming to Terms with “THE END”.

First off, I am not going to write this up with what I “think” happened or any theorizing that I am going to do. I am simply going to try and make it as simple as possible for anyone who doesn’t understand the ending. Mostly because I want anyone who doesn’t understand to stop embarrassing themselves.

1. THE ISLAND WAS NOT PURGATORY.
Every moment that we shared with the survivors of OCEANIC flight was real, it happened, from when Jack opened his eyes in the pilot, to the discovery of the Hatch in Season 2, the caged heat sex session with Kate and Sawyer in season 3, and so on. All of the time we spent with our heroes was real; the Island existed and was the “cork” for all that is evil. So no one should feel cheated about the ending.

2. If you think you “called it” in Season 1 you were wrong.

By “called it” did you mean the flash sideways was a purgatory and that Jake and a Locke possessed by an ancient evil were going to fight over the Island and that Hurley would be left to be it’s guardian? Along with Benjamin Linus as his second in command? (Who wasn’t even in the first season.)? Is that what you mean by calling it? Or by “calling it” do you mean that the Island was purgatory? Cause then you’re wrong.

3. STILL MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

Yes, there are still soooo many things that we all want to know. But by being the avid comic book reader that I am, I tend to just let things go and I have no problem with dangling plot threads, just plot holes. For example, we do no know why Walt was special, but after he left the Island it didn’t really matter why. We just had to focus on the remaining characters. But this past season 6 did have many slow episodes yet moved forward in a direction that not many people wanted, they wanted answer and the writers decided to focus on character, which is the better choice. Would you really rather see a show that just spent time answering every asinine question that came up? LOST isn’t special in the regard in having many questions come up and not answer them. I mean, there are plenty of logic holes in 24, Glee, Heroes, Pushing Daises, True Blood, but you just go with it. The writers did try and answer as many questions as it could without really derailing the momentum, which is the best thing one could ask for.

4. ONCE AGAIN, NOT EVERYONE DIED ON THE ISLAND.

At the end of the show you have Jack closing his eyes in the same place where he opened them before in the PILOT. Now this can be confusing to many, and I can see how you may think that it’s purgatory because of that. But Jack died in that moment as he saw Lapidis, Sawyer, Kate, Claire, Miles, and Richard fly off in the plane. Jack died knowing that his friends where going to fly back home. After that, Ben and Hurley ran the island as a team, and did it different than the insecure Jacob did. (I’m assuming, this is me making awesome presumptions.)

The finale wasn’t written with the intention of answering everyone’s question about everything, it was about learning how to let go and making peace. It was about the characters we’ve loved and hated over the past 6 years and use seeming them give each other a final good bye. It played with the idea that you do no die alone, you have loved ones waiting for you to pass, and it plays with the idea of time as an ever present anomaly and not a straight laced timeline. The show had a lot of broad ideas that they presented to us, and some went along with it and other didn’t.

5. IF YOU THINK THAT I’M WRONG, I’M NOT

At the end of the final hour of Lost, Christian Sheppard appeared to his son to help him come to terms with what was happening. But in reality, Christian was a mouthpiece for the Writers to explain to us what was happening. It really couldn’t be any more cut and dry. Here’s a transcript to elaborate with some italicized pieces of dialogue to help you see where we get clarification of what is going on.

Jack SHEPARD (JS): You Died.

CHRISTIAN SHEPARD (CS): Yeah, yes I did.

JS: Then how are you here right now?

CS: How are you here?

JS: I died too. (Sobs)

CS: It’s okay, its okay, its okay son.

JS: I love you.

CS: I love you too son.

JS: Are you real?

CS: I sure hope so, yeah I’m real; everything that’s ever happened to you is real. All those people in the church are all real too.

(Meaning that everything we saw Jake and the others do was real and did in fact happened and that there was an island that existed and Jake sacrificed himself to save it and his friends.)

JS: They are all dead?

CS: Everyone dies sometime kiddo. Some before you, and some long after you.

(This explains that while some, like Sayid, Shannon, Juliette, Charlie, all died before Jack did, others died long after like Kate, Sawyer, Hugo, and Ben. Plus on this level, it makes the moments of enlightenment seem more poignant especially for Claire and Kate. Imagine a mother giving birth to her son all over again and Kate experience the birth of this child that she loves, or maybe that two close friends got reunited all over again it hits on a much bigger level than Charlie’s who died prematurely.)

JS: Why are they all here now?

CS: Well there is no now here.

JS: Where are we dad?

CS: This is a place that you all made together so you can find one another. The most important part of your life was the time you spent with these people. That’s why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone. Jack, you needed all of them and they needed you.

JS: For what?

CS: To remember, and to let go.

JS: Kate, she said we were leaving

Cs No, moving on.

JS: Where are we going?

CS: Let’s go find out.

(So in essence the main characters of LOST created these flash sideways as a way for them to live out a life without the influence of the island and do have it be the life they think they waned. They needed this as a way for them all to get together and pass through into the next stage, whether it is heaven or something else that they believe in. They just built this as a way for their clique to pass through together.)

The finale may not of been what people wanted, which is fine, but at least people should understand it before the assume that the easiest answer is the right one. Plus, this was far more rewarding on an emotional level than the recent BSG finale.

We got to say goodbye to the people we followed for years, and saw them pass happily into the next life. I for one loved the time I spent with this show and I don’t regret a second…. Well maybe the episode “Stranger in Paradise” that didn’t need to exist.