The End of Lost

I didn't even try to write about Lost this season. It was not only overwhelming, but kind of exhausting and I didn't always get my head wrapped around it in a timely manner.  However, I do think that the series finale, appropriately entitled "The End" deserves a post of its own. 



OK press play for a song-accompaniment to my post. 


I know many people who gave up on Lost long ago. I know others who have stuck it out but aren't crazy about where it's gone.  Then there are people like me who think this is the best show that has ever graced the small screen. I literally feel an empty hole in myself knowing that Lost will never again appear on my TV.  It's a bittersweet moment, that's for sure.

ON-ISLAND GOINGS ON
I was enjoying the final brutal and fast-paced face-off between Jack and MIB-in-Locke's-body.  I was taken by surprise that it was Kate that killed MIB and not Jack, but as my sister Julie (shout out!) pointed out, this allowed for Jack to have NEVER murdered anyone (a la Harry Potter) which I think was fitting. He wasn't a killer.

I was happy that Hurley ended up serving a greater purpose for the island, and while Jack had to step into Jacob's shoes, he only had to do it long enough to kill Locke, and Hurley was the one with the purest heart and it made sense he would take the role. And, of course, Ben points out that Hurley doesn't have to run things the way Jacob did.  I always felt there was something important for Hugo Reyes in the end.

It was a touching moment when Hugo asked Ben Linus to help him out.  Obviously, Ben didn't see that one coming, but it was so moving for him (as had the Rousseau/Alex off-island goings on) that you couldn't help but have an "aww" moment for him.

OK, I was a little miffed that Jack went down there to fix that plug that Desmond pulled out.  Des was right: he could do it without dying.  But Jack says no and does it anyway. I know, I know, it came full circle and it was appropriate that he died, but it's one of those moments when you are yelling at your TV "What are you DOING?"  It was, as is fitting, heroic of Jack, though.

OFF ISLAND HAPPENINGS
I didn't see this one coming. I was glad they pulled one more over on me and that there was a bit of a surprise at the end.  The timeline where the gang all landed at LAX was an afterlife of sorts. An in-between. A purgatory.  And once they all "remembered," realized and accepted, they all moved on together.  And it was a very sweet reunion.

Fess up.  You cried a lot.  Please. Seeing Kate help deliver Aaron, and Charlie finding Claire and Aaron? Or when Juliet and Sawyer touched and both freaked out and then he hugged her and proteced her? I loved the moment where Locke rolled up in his wheelchair and turned to Ben, "Benjamin."  And then Ben proceeded to tell him to get out of the chair. And he does. It's a miracle! :)

But of course, Jack, ever the skeptic (in this timeline anyway), sees the flashes and continues to refuse to accept them.  Until he sees his father. The interaction between Jack and Christian was not only very touching, but also very enlightening. I had to pause it and think it through after that conversation.  I thought it was very hard to watch Jack say "I died, too." and then they hugged and all was forgiven.

I am enjoying thinking through the episode this morning. It certainly calls for a re-watch.  But in the meantime, I am contemplating the "lives" these people have created for themselves in their death; their off-island realities.  It isn't just "these lives are better than the ones they had in the other universe." It is they are literally what they would have made for themselves. For example, Sawyer isn't a con-man, but a good guy, a cop, and someone with the resources to locate the man responsible for what happened to him in his childhood, and, hopefully, handle the situation a bit better.  Jack has a son so he can prove that he could break the cycle and be a good father.

One last YEA! for Richard Alpert, who finally began aging and then presumably escaped the island to live out a normal life, along with Frank, Miles, Kate, Claire and Sawyer.

I would like to say that Matthew Fox should have been nominated for an Emmy prior to this season but, as this was his swan song, and he managed to KILL it every week, usually by crying (and breaking my heart), he deserves the nom (Will he win with the competition in the category? Probably not. But let's give him some credit here.) What is it about a grown man crying that gets me every time?

Alright, these are NOT my complete thoughts, but my LOST thoughts are never complete, so this time will probably not be any different.  Also, I am going to need to give this finale an additional viewing to wrap my brain around it (at least a little bit).  In the meantime, I am aware that these sound like crazy ramblings, but it is fair to say that I am literally going to be lost with out LOST on my TV every week. RIP, my friend.