Watched the Lost season finale
Yes, I realize that I've got about 1 livejournal friend, but I needed someplace to assemble and process. So, if you're some random person wandering through....Hey, no one made you.
Lost finale: Awesome. But so much to consider!!! I love that they've finally completely tossed that realism attempt out the window and are now going with actual interesting stories. During the realism phase they had to spend about 85% of writer time just explaining how something was able to happen on a remote island. So, high points first, then speculation.
1) Bernard & Rose. The old married couple (two of my favorite characters since minute one) has actually been on the island, hiding from both the Others and the Dharma Initiative for three years. Why? Because they're retired. A great quote: "People work their whole lives to get a quiet place to settle down, somewhere near the beach, and that's what we've got right here. What we've built for ourselves, right here." And to the crisis? The revelation that Jack is going to detonate a nuclear device on top of the swan and destroy both the island and the timeline? "Then, we die." I love it. It's simultaneously relevant to the plot (more on that in section two), and a brilliant example of how people aren't, but of how they ought to be able to be.
2) Juliet's Multiple Death Scenes. Abrahms and crew promised us early on that the entire history of Lost's characters was built into their names. Juliet is pulled into the pit (of despair? metaphor.....growing.....thick....), and chooses to fall the rest of the way down rather than pull Sawyer in with her. Again, metaphor grows very thick, since that's why she's even supporting the bomb plan. And, I have to say that the first time I saw Elizabeth Mitchell in something(a long time ago, and I'll never admit in what), I was blown away by her ability. She has a kind of gravitas, and really turned it into a powerful femininity on Lost. I honestly expected her to be an avatar or something....she just blasted femininity, using it as power and simultaneously embodying traditional characteristics of woman that inhibit the use of that power.
3) The Jack-Sawyer Fight Scene. Jesus, how long has this been coming? Since episode three? I realize it's a tired and dog-eared idea, that if you put two confident men on an island they will eventually fight, but it's mostly true. The only reason that confident men can exist nearby each other in society is that we're able to pull away periodically and be around more passive people. And the fact that Sawyer was fighting for commitment instead of gain, while Jack was doing the opposite, completed the character transition that's been playing out since the gang returned to Dharmaville.
Okay, now, plot notes and speculations:
What Richard (Ricardus) says in the penultimate scene. In answer to "What lies in the shadow of the statue?", he replies *translated from Latin* "He who will save us all*. Now, I think it's pretty clear from the opening and from the events of the episode that what we're dealing with is a set of egyptian Gods. Which adds a MASSIVE new plot consideration (Gods do that). The immediate question then becomes: which Gods? I'm tempted to infer from the carving in the room of the smoke monster (see last episode) and the general shape of the statue, that one of them is Anubis. Also, it's tempting because the average mythological knowledge presented in TV rarely goes past 4th grade. But the statue on the beach (when it's still there) looks more like Tawaret. But, also to be considered is the fact that it's holding an ankh, not the traditional accessory for that figure. Curiouser and curiouser. Now, Jacob is definitely the one bringing people to the island, believing they can be good, while the mysterious other god hates and wants to destroy him. This generally implies a good/evil dichotomy, especially with modern American television's love of those. If you accept the statue as Anubis and go from there, however, consider the function of Anubis. He weighs the soul and determines the worthiness of the person who has died. And we see Jacob committed to repeating the testing of human beings, even though the outcome is always fighting and death. He also appears to have judged Ben Linus from minute one, and determined he is not worthy of contempt. What makes Ben special? Nothing, really, except the time he was saved from death as a child (by entering the forbidden temple). Possibility from that - if the Temple is dedicated to one who holds sway over death, and is in opposition to Jacob, Ben's life could have been given over to him as a child. Richard even says before they do it that Ben will never be the same again, and he will not be able to return to his family.
The egyptians believed that one had to access the land of the dead by boat. Sound familiar?
Jacob's appearances to the cast: Sawyer's dead parents, Saied's dead wife, Jack's patient on the edge of death. Hurley gets visited later on, and nobody has to die....EXCEPT, Jacob appears with a guitar that isn't his. Who owned that guitar? CHARLIE'S!!! (That part not revealed in episode, but...c'mon). Kate stands as our only exception...for now.
Sun finding Aaron's crib and Charlie's DriveShaft ring. Again, they work Charlie into the episode. Feels like there's something brewing there.
Fake Locke kicks Jacob into the fire after he's stabbed. The egyptian carvings pretty frequently use the term "fires of life had left" to describe when a god is dying. Did it seem to anyone else like Jacob caught fire really fast? Like, before he'd fully hit the pit?
And, finally: Did Myles save his Dad?