Comments courtesy of Sean's blog, image courtesy of TJ's.1-From just a standpoint of emotional impact, it was an impressive and well-done finale for my money. Scenes are still repeating in my head now and haunting me a bit, so that tells me they accomplished something. Those final two scenes, both the gathering of the extended cast and the inevitable Jack eye-closing close-up, those will stick with me.
2-I resigned myself a few episodes ago that we simply weren't going to get that many answers tonight (as I think you and many others did as well, Sean), so that wasn't crushing for me...but I do feel for the people who held out until the end and are pissed. I don't think they're necessarily wrong, we're just coming at it from different angles.
3-Shannon was the great love of Sayid's life? The thing that snapped him out of the haze? Really? They couldn't figure out any other way to work Maggie Grace into the finale?
4-For some reason Jimmy Kimmel's "The show was Jack's journey" theory that he threw at Matthew Fox during the post-show really both made sense for me and helped me appreciate the episode a lot more.
5-Do we really buy that when all that stuff with the castaways vs the others and the kids being stolen and women not having children and so on and so on was going down, the writers/producers *never* had any notion that the show would end any other way than how it did? It doesn't really matter, I'm just curious.
6-The big unanswered question for me that I don't actually think needed to be answered but I'm looking forward to seeing people's theories on is how Desmond accessed the sideways dimension if it really was purgatory or whatever when Widmore zapped him there. I mean, he did access it, right? Also, did Juliet get a glimpse of it too when she died and that's why she said her line? Did everybody peep the sideways when they died? And what event in the real world triggered it being time for folks in the sideways to "wake up"? Did the last Lostie die?
7-Kimmel also nailed a good one, I thought, with pinpointing the moment in the season premiere where the turbulence on the plane stopped and Rose told Jack "You can let go" as being the moment Jack died.
8-Why did some folks who weren't on the original flight (Desmond, Penny and even Ben seemingly had the opportunity) get to "move on" while Miles, Charlotte and Faraday did not? Why wasn't Ana Lucia ready? Is there any reason Eko didn't show up aside from the actor not wanting to appear? And how exactly did sideways Eloise know what was up? Again, questions I just want to see theories from other people on.
9-How did Hurley get Boone to "wake up"? For some reason, and I can't tell you why, that's the one that stands out for me. The only person he seemed in love with was Shannon, and obviously she was meant for Sayid, so what would have gotten Boone to snap out of it?
10-I don't think Ben got enough play this episode. I thought his story deserved more closure and that was one of the legit fumbles.
11-For somebody who was consistently "eh" on Jack and Kate, I gotta say, this episode did a tremendous job of convincing me in retrospect why these two were ultimately the focus of the show for six years. Well done there, both writers and actors.
12-After writing all this out, I do realize that there is some level of frustration for me out of not getting a lot of stuff I wanted spelled out for me spelled out, but also in writing this I realize that I'm kinda grateful for the open-ended nature of things as a springboard for theorizing and discussion that's going to outlive the show itself for years to come.
Great post, Ben. If you still have a lot to say, write another one. I like your positive take on the finale and one that haters should at least consider.
ReplyDeleteHere is what I think happened. Clearly the entire epic that happened on the island was what we would consider being real life. I don't think anyone died before and were walking around as ghosts or whatever. I think they died and the parallel world/heaven was a waiting place. Hurley confirmed this for me by saying to Ben that "you were a good #2". It meant that everyone was now dead and could meet up.
ReplyDeleteThe idea that Heaven is of your own making is not a new one. I fully think it makes sense that Juliette saw heaven as she died and thought what they did had worked.
In regard to Sayid, I understand what you mean about Shannon but if the collective of castaways were really the most important part of each others lives, I can see why she got included. Boone's awakening didn't really jive with me but I just accepted that it happened off camera.
I loved the finale and agree some of those scenes will hold with me.
Oh, and if you look at the people that didn't go into the church, I think it is because while our main Losties were ready to move on, the fringe characters weren't ready yet.
ReplyDeleteThe fringe characters were ones that weren't "brought" to the island by Jakob. Whitmore's science team, Ben, and some of the back half of the plane from season 3 or so could have been considered as being Lost in their lives but they didn't contribute to the saving of the Island and they ultimately didn't really find redemption. Maybe that is why they can't move on.
As for Eloise, I think that if you were dead and knew it you might still live in a world that seemed slightly perfect. Think about this. If you were dead but happy, and no one else knew they were dead, would you tell them or let them live their lives? I think she was just afraid Desmond would do that.
Well-put all, Trinity.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, I may write more tonight, PRG, thanks for the props. I've got a hankering to give a go at filling in the blanks on some of the unanswered questions.
I will say I'm veering away from some of the more spiritual stuff because of my own relationship with spirituality, which is often confusing to me, but they definitely hit some buttons there with me.
By the way, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention I'm quite active with a bunch of other smarter folks in Sean's discussion thread: http://www.alltooflat.com/about/personal/sean/2010/05/lost_thoughts_27.html
ReplyDeleteGreat Post.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the Sayid point. In terms of Boone, maybe he woke up when he saw Shannon? I really liked the open ended ending, but I was confused by the empty crash site at the end. I was initially interpreting the end as being Jack's death after a life on the island, but my girlfriend thought that was Jack dying in the intial plane crash and the whole show was like his purgatory...
So needless to say, the scenes of an empty crash site confused me.
But all in all I really enjoyed the Finale.
I didn't read much into the final wreckage shots, though there certainly might be something to them. I didn't even think they were necessarily even still "in-story" shots, possibly just the producers giving one last look at a set.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, I don't think the whole show was purgatory. Sticking by that. It all happened.