Lost

[Lzcutter]

I can't believe the end of Lost is almost here.

Am I ready to discover what the island is really all about and how Jack and remaining company will thwart the Man in Black aka Smokey? Am I ready to see how the sideways world fits into this story? Am I ready to have my heart broken by characters I love who may not be around at the end of the story? Will James be reunited with Juliet, will Des get his happy ever after with Penny?

I don't have a clue (managed to stay spoiler free) how the 2.5 hour finale will end but I'm going to be there for it (and the two hour recap prior as well).

I've been with this show from the beginning. We've had our ups and down, this show and I. For the first season, I was hooked and most of the second one as well but then somewhere towards the end of season 2 it seemed to lose its mojo. It was like you needed a score card to keep track of how these characters lives had intersected at various times. The only reason I kept watching was because of Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) and Ben (Michael Emerson).

Then, in the season finale of season 3, they pulled me back into the story with an amazing two hour show that included the death and redemption of Charlie and the reveal of "Not Penny's boat."

Since then I have followed this show from Tuesday night to Wednesday night to back to Tuesday night. From that moment on, I was invested in the show and have felt that investment was worth it. When the creators set an end date, the action picked up as the show got its mojo back and never looked back (figuratively speaking, of course).

I have followed the time traveling,the flash forwards and the side-ways worlds with no trouble. I have watched these characters grow and become people. I have watched them fall in love and I have witnessed their heartbreaks.

I early on discovered the composer for the show, Michael Giannchio and think he is one of the best working in films and television. Without him, I doubt the show would be half as moving and half as good. His music is at the heart of the show along with a group of characters (Locke, Hurley, Jack, Sawyer, Ben, Juliet, Des and Penny) that have gone through an amazing journey of faith, redemption, loss and heartbreak.

I hate to see it all come to end after six years but deciding to end it a few seasons back was the best thing that happened to the story telling of the show.

So, y'all know where I will be this evening and well into the night no doubt going through a box of kleenex and with puffy eyes.

Namaste, Lost!

And thank you for the journey!

[klondike]

I'm right there with ya, Lynn!
In fact, you've summed it all up so well, you've almost left me nothing to comment on!
Almost . . . .
Except, I can't believe that my favorite character, Frank Lapidus (played by too-seldom-seen-anymore, super-cool supporting actor Jeff Fahey) got Xed-out 2 episodes ago, along with Sayid & the Kwons, or that the king of all self-obsessed, passive-aggressive posturers, Jack Shepard is still demanding to fix everyone else, despite being more "broken" than anybody else, and still none of the 815'ers have murdered him with a rusty wrecking bar, or that there have been no surprise cameos this season from Walt, the psychic adolescent, or Vincent, the time-travelling dog.
But all shall be revealed in just a little over 3 hours, right??
Boy Howdy, it'd all better be !!

[Lzcutter]

Klon,


I adore Frank Lapidus and refuse to believe he is dead. Jeff Fahey took what could have been a throw away character and infused him with character and heart (and wonderful snarky comments) and he became as important as the other characters.

I don't know if we will get all the answers but I'm not going to worry about that. It's the journey for me and this show has provided an amazing one.

As for Jack, I have liked him more this season than any other one since the beginning. He seems to be coming to grips with the fact he can't save everyone or fix everything.
I loved it last season when James beat the snot out of him and I think the fact that "Jughead" didn't solve anything and only managed to get Juliet killed was a turning point for Jack.

Of all the characters making it to the end, I worry most about James Ford. He still has to atone for killing Anthony Cooper and I worry about that. (If anyone knows how the show ends or what happens to James PLEASE don't post it here.

I would like to watch the finale the same way I have watched the show, SPOILER FREE.

[Lzcutter]

The two hour recap rocked. Lots of mythology, lots of remembered scenes, lots of talk from the actors about what it was like to work on the show. Great stuff from Darlton about why they did what they did. Only regret, no shout out to Michael Giacchino, without whom, Lost would not be as memorable as it is.
Loved the Transmissions during the breaks from the fans.

‘That guy is worse than Yoda”
‘Guess I’ll go rescue the magic leprechaun.”

“This would be so sweet if we weren’t all about to die.” Hugo rocked. Especially in his scene with Charlie at the motel.
Loved seeing Bernard and Rose and knowing they survived “Jughead”.

Juliet!!!!! Will she and James remember their Island life when they meet? Please, please, please!
Loved the Sun and Jin remembering their Island life scene.

OMG, Frank’s alive!!!!!! Color me beyond happy. Juliet and Frank!!! Yahhhh!!!!

Why didn’t James and Hurley angle around towards Des while Flocke and Jack were talking?

Loved the Sayid/Shannon moment as well as the Claire/Kate/Charlie.
So is Flocke in the casket and it is on Des in the sideways world to be the difference? What happened to Island Des?

And James and Juliet, we are down to an hour and ten, please bring them together!

“I don’t believe in a lot of things, but I believe in duct tape.” Miles to Richard Alpert

“Or we could just touch.”
OMG, the James and Juliet reunion was awesome. Hold on! Hold on, you two. You deserve that happy ending! I am crying tears of joy.
“I’ve got you, blondie” And with those words my investment in Lost is complete. What happens in the last 20 minutes I can live with. James and Juliet had their moment and I am a mess.

“Go home to your wife and child” Jack to Desmond before he makes his final sacrifice.

That Des and Penny and James and Juliet might get their happy after evers and the Kwons might be alive is more than this girl can hope for.
Can it be?

“It’s my job now, What the hell do I do.”
“That’s how Jacob ran things. Maybe there’s a better way.”
“Will you help me, Ben”
“I’d be honored”
“Cool”

"I don't think you need that wheelchair anymore" Ben to the real Locke in a final scene that spoke volumes about their past. Their final encounter brings Lost full circle for me. The supposed chosen one vs the real chosen one and they could finally live with their roles.

Jack’s sacrifice makes everyone’s happy ever after possible even if they are dead. They had complete lives before they died thanks to Jack's sacrifice.

Thank you, Jack.
And thank you, Lost, the cast, crew and everyone involved for an ending that made me so very happy and a journey that I will always be glad I stuck with.

I am going to miss you all. Very, very much.

[Lzcutter]

So Klon,

What did you think? Did your heart float when we saw Lapidus? Mine did! Would love to hear your thoughts on the wild ride that was last night television.

[klondike]

Overall, reckon I'd have to give it an A-, or maybe a really strong B+ . . haven't quite made up my mind . .
I was thrilled by the survival of Frank . . but also confused - I understood the lapse of time between the sub explosion, and Miles & Richard commandeering Widmore's gig to be a day, day & 1/2, day & 1/4 . . that's a long time to just go bobbin' around like Lapidus appeared to have been doing . . logic would dictate that the tidal currents would have either swept him out to sea (maybe rendezvous with one of those Dharma sharks), or nudge him up onto a neighboring beach. And I will accept with good graces that his reappearance was really little more than a tool of plot device to get the last undedicated clutch of islanders rescued. For those who think I'm being unduly jaded, note please that FL was conspicuously absent from the big church reunion at the climax . . along with Michael, Walt, Danielle, Alex, & the show's most tragic figure of all, Mr. Eko.
[Can you imagine, though, the briefing Frank must have gotten from Ajira Airline administrators, after he landed that plane?]
I’d have to say my biggest caveat was, after tantalizing us for six season with all those mysteries of The Island which cannot be Named, precious little was divulged to us in these last couple episodes . . and virtually nothing new was unveiled in this, the Big Finale . . . like, why was the Isle such a globally powerful repository of electromagnetic power in the first place? What was the origin of the towering statue of the Egyptian god Sobek, of which only one foot remained in the days of the 815? What were the locations, names & purposes of the other Dharma hatches that were often slyly mentioned? What caused the original split in the Dharma populace and/or French explorer team that allowed Richard to recruit them as Others? What aspect of the Isle cured terminal diseases, but endangered conception & full-term pregnancies? What bizarre geographic connections did the Isle have with the North Pole & the deserts of Tunisia? Where exactly did the deadly rivalry between Charles Widmore & Ben Linus actually begin?
As for wrapping up the loose ends which they did choose to address . . good marks right across the board . . . but did anybody else find the final donnybrook between Jack & Locke to feel too short, too shallow, somewhat contrived, and more than a little anticlimactic? And JL being backshot by a cranky, p*ssy-voiced Kate? Is that really the end-move resolution that long, long struggle deserved?
And how many others among us expected Richard Alpert to do a Lost Horizons/Dorian Grey number as the cobbled-up Ajira plane soared way? After all, Jacob's gone, the Isle is convulsing horribly as it shrinks in the distance, and this dude is, like, 300 years old! What's he gonna do now, landscape for Eloise Hawkins?
Hmmmm . . well, I’ve still got to ultimately give it a thumbs-up . . but with one hand only.
In closing, I’d really have preferred less hugging & tears, and twice as much more riddle-solving.

[Lzcutter]

Klon,

I don't know if this will help but this is what I believe and some of what I know:

Everything that happened on the island was real. Oceanic 815 crashed and the Losties lived out this amazing story. All of it really happened, including the time jumping back in time and forward.

The Alt Universe was a way station where those who died on the island (Jin, Sun, Charlie, Shannon, Juliet, etc) and those who died after they returned home were reunited with their soulmates and their friends. While the finale plays out as if it happened over the course of a couple of days, as Christian Shepard told Jack in the rectory, there is no "now" and there is no time in that Alt Universe. So, while to us, it looked like it played out in 48 hours in the Alt Universe, it could have been years.

The dead losties created lives for themselves in the Alt U while they waited to be enlightned and/or reunited. It was there they worked out their issues (especially Jack who learned through his 'son' how to reconcile with his father).

Jack died on the island and it took a long time for his soul to catch up with the other Losties in the way station.

Hugo was made the new Island protector and Ben became his #2. They brought a new era to the Island and new rules. They ruled for many, many years. They pass the island to a new protector and return to the way station. Hugo is ready to join his Lostie friends but Ben is not ready. He still has to atone to Rousseau and Alex. He also takes over Desmond's role of Enlightner. It will fall to Ben to bring those who should be at the way station - Rousseau, Alex, Ben, Ana-Lucia, etc at a later time.

Michael explained earlier this season that he can't leave the island. He is doomed (for killing Libby and Ana Lucia) to be one of the whisperers (those who died on the island and can't leave because they betrayed those they were bound to).

How the statue came to be is not explained but how it came to be cut in half was explained in the Richard Alpert centric episode this season. The slave ship, the Black Rock, came to the island in a storm and hit the statue before it was beached inland.

Ben always thought he was talking to Jacob, when, in fact, he was duped by the MIB who lived in Jacob's cabin. It was the MIB who told Ben to gas the Dharmaites and it was on MIB's orders that Ben usurped control of the Others from Widmore and banished him from the island. The real Jacob entered into an agreement with the Dharma folks but their need to explore the scientific aspects of the electro-magnetic levels put him at odds with the hippies. He didn't do anything to stop the MIB from corrupting Ben and gassing the whole bunch.

The numbers that Hugo hated so much were the numbers Jacob had affixed to his various candidates on the roof of his cave.

The pregnancy problem was a result of the electro-magnetism levels on the island.

The island was the source of of it all and the light that shone in the heart of the island, a bit resides in all of us. Only Desmond could uncork the light and kill it due to his unique reaction to electro-magnetism from when he turned the fail safe key. By uncorking the light, that made the MIB mortal and he could be killed by a vengeful Kate.

However, the island had to be recorked so that the light would not go out forever. If that happened, humanity would be plunged into darkness. Jack went down into the cave to cork and turn the light back on. He was once immortal and thus did not lose his soul when he descended as the MIB had done when he became Smokey.

Those that Lapidus rescued lived on. They returned to the mainland (and yep, I bet that report was something else) and Kate probably helped Claire to raise Aaron and found a nice man to marry but her heart always belonged to Jack.

I like to think that James and Miles went into business together. I also like to think that Hugo and Ben figured out a way to return Desmond to Penny and little
Charlie.

When they died, they found themselves at the way station, which as Christian told Jack, was the place the Losties had created so that the could remember and celebrate the defining time in their lives when they helped save the world and became better people for the journey they took.

At the way station, they were reunited with their friends and loved ones. And finally, Jack's soul caught up with them and they were able to leave for the next level of existence together.

They turned on its ear, Jack's admonishment, "Live together, die alone."

They entered the next level together.

At least I like to think that's what happened.

Speaking of Jack, props to Matthew Fox for making Jack's transformation this season so believable. And for the first time since the first season, I really, really liked Kate in this eppy and thought Evangeline Lilly did some of her best acting in this finale.

I also think that Darlton was right when they said all along that they knew how the show ended. They had the main ingredients and then added Ben and Desmond (who were both only supposed to be on show for three episodes each but fan reaction and their acting chops kept them on the show.) to the stew.

There is an episode of "Little House on the Prairie" that James watches (his favorite series, all about a loving family) in his flashbacks and in the Alt U where Pa Ingalls talks to Laura about what happens after we die and where we go. It foreshadows this finale very well.

The show runners of "Lost" knew where they were going all along. We went along for the ride. Some went for the sci-fi and some, like me, went for the characters.

But, either way, it was a great ride.