"I just got lost"

LOST finale last night was a good time. Two John Locke's a Hurley a Faraday and a Kate made for some good costumes. I think there have been three "event" finales that I was really geared up for...Seinfeld, Sopranos and LOST. Of the three, I think LOST was most satisfying.

My criticism of the last episode was the drama on the island, wasn't nearly as dramatic as any other season finale. Locke and Jack fighting wasn't too exciting and was anticlimatic. The stuff was just kind of happening and I didn't feel like I cared so much. Until Jack died at the end, which was pretty moving. Vincent coming up to lay with him was a nice touch.

My praise of the last episode was the sideways world scenes. The flashbacks were pretty moving throughout whether it was Charlie/Claire, Juliet/Sawyer or others, I had goosebumps during some of those. But most meaningful was tying those back together to the afterlife in the last couple of scenes. That the people had to let go and move on and find the ones they loved most in eternity. They did a nice job of making those flashback scenese powerful to the point where I was thinking about how impactful it would be to find Lisa in "another life" and have all of the happiest moments with her come rushing back in an instant. It would be stunning.

So all in all, I really enjoyed it. I look forward to watching the show again in the next few years, and then maybe again with my kids someday if I can get them interested in it.

I thought this person on the LOST message boards did a nice job of summarizing the ending. Here's what he or she wrote:

"The Great Divorce" by CS Lewis, I think that will play a huge part in explaining what ultimately happened. In that book people live in a purgatory-like world. One day a bus comes and takes them all to the outskirts of heaven where they were confronted by someone/something from their life. If they can let go of that person/thing and move on, they can go on to heaven and their whole life was leading them to heaven. If they cannot let go, then they return to purgatory/Hell and their whole life was leading them there.I think because of the trauma their souls went through on the island, they promised to meet up in the afterlife. And they couldn't move on to heaven, together, until they all let go and accepted/forgave themselves for what happened in their lives. If you noticed, their sideways/purgatory lives were all constructed around what they wanted/clung to on the island. Jack gave himself a son so that he could be the father that he never had. Locke gave himself a relationship with his father and Helen, but also blamed himself for the lack of relationship. Sayid could never forgive himself for what kind of person he once was, so his sideways world was set up to continue to punish himself for it. Sawyer had begun to see himself as a good person on the island, so his sideways world, he made himself a good guy, though he couldn't totally let go and thats why he was alone. Kate still saw herself in terms of her crime. They found their final redemption in one another and with the person who loved them for who they truly were. Kate loved Jack for Jack. Juliet and Sawyer truly loved each other. As much as Sayid always clung to the idea of Nadia, he could never accept that she might love him. It was only with Shannon that he found someone who loved him for who he truly was. If you noticed, except for Ben, they all had flashes of the happy moments of their lives, which is why they were so happy(even though they were dead) because they had accepted the full lives they lived and were ready to move on. Even Sayid, who could never forgive himself in life, found acceptance and could move on in death. That's why Ben couldn't move on; he didn't forgive himself.

The reason that I think that characters like Walt, Michael, Eko, Ana Lucia, and Ben weren't there because their redemption isn't tied specifically to the island, or at least not to those people. Ben's redemption would be tied to Alex and Rousseau. Michael's redemption is tied to Walt, but I don't think that Walt is tied to the island. Remember, he was only there for about two months when he was eleven years old. I think he went on to live a full life totally seperate from the island. Eko would be tied to his brother and life in Africa. Ana Lucia would be tied to her job in LA and the baby that she lost. And while Boone and Shannon weren't on the show that long, it was on the island that Boone let go of his love for Shannon (and died) and that Shannon found her true love (and died). Same thing with Miles, Lapides, and Faraday. Their most significant connections were off the island. That's what I think, anyway. I think what will throw people off is that they think everyone needed to die on the island. Obviously, they didn't. Christian even said that; there wasn't time there. Some of them when on to live long and happy lives off the island. They all just ended up there whenever they died in life, but returned to the people who had been most significant to them. The island stuff was all real.

Hmmmm, what else? The numbers were just the candidates. Polar bears were Dharma experiments. Women couldn't have babies if they were conceived on the island because Jacob made a rule about it. He had mother issues because of his relationship with his own mother. Am I missing anything?