Crash and Burn: A Look at the Lost Finale
I know I’m late in writing a LOST reaction post, but I have good reasons. If you think the LOST finale was the best thing since sliced bread, I suggest you don't read this lengthy diatribe. If you're a more impartial soul (or are just brave enough)
I’ve been an emotional wreck since Sunday. The Lost Finale started off as any other episode of the series, meaning I was enjoying it immensely, when, like Oceanic Flight 815, the show abruptly did a nosedive into the realm of cliché and unnecessary tragedy. And I watched as the show I loved so much crashed and burned.
The recovery process has not been easy, let me tell you. On Sunday night, I tossed and turned for hours, trying to digest what I saw. On Monday I periodically broke into tears, whilst at work no less, culminating with me blubbering to my sister at the end of the day about the injustice of it all. Tuesday, I was angry. I felt betrayed that a show I had invested so much time into-frequently defending it to my friends and family-had transmogrified from a sharp, smart sci-fi show on par with the likes of Doctor Who into a cheesy, prosaic story that belonged on such shows like Joan of Arcadia or Ghost Whisperer.
I’ll be the first to admit that I am religious, and though I have my own view on the afterlife, I’m not opposed to watching or reading works with a different outlook. However, those works I reference never pretended to be anything other than religious/supernatural stories. For example, the videogame Final Fantasy X was all about this made up religion and god named Yu Yevon. Religious leaders called Summoners were selected by this god to make sure the dead got to the afterlife and didn’t stay on and become monsters. I accepted the story for what it was, and I happen to love that game. But FFX didn’t start out by trying to explain monsters and other supernatural phenomena as scientific anomalies. And it didn’t spend two seasons setting up and delivering a story about time travel.
I mean, what were the point of Daniel Faraday and his theories on time travel? If you can’t change the past or create alternative realities where the people are alive (see Doctor Who and Fringe for good examples) then why introduce the concept in the first place? To have some fun? To mess with the viewers’ heads? And what was up with Miles hearing dead Juliet’s comment that “it worked”? Are we to believe that Miles wasn’t hearing the last thoughts of the dead, but her thoughts in limbo land when she handed James his candy bar? Are we to accept that the bomb did absolutely no good? So Daniel, the nuclear physicist was really an idiot, after all? Jeez, what’s the point of knowing quantum physics when you can’t do anything with it? And I guess Jack and Juliet were idiots too for believing him.
But this doesn’t make sense, because we know electromagnetism has to do with time travel. We were introduced to this in season 3 when Desmond, newly exposed to electromagnetism, flashed to a parallel world and saw his past play out in a nearly identical manner. (Remember, in the real past he broke up with Penny on his own volition, not on the urging of Eloise. And the football team won in one version and lost in the other). We got more confirmation on this theory in “The Constant” and when Ben turned the Donkey Wheel, harnessing the energy and moving the island through space and time.
So why did the electromagnetism, which was previously a vehicle for travel through time and space, turn into a means to flash to an eternal limbo and back? Des was a time traveler. We know magical limbo was timeless, so how did a time traveller suddenly become an emissary for purgatory? It doesn’t follow logic, and you can say all you want about sci-fi and fiction and how the writers can makes things up as they go, but it’s not true. Even if your story exists outside the realm of the real world, you still have to follow the rules you established for that imaginary world.
Let’s make a syllogism to further illustrate the point: Electromagnetism creates time and space travel. Desmond can harness electromagnetism. Ergo, Desmond can travel to a place where time and reality don’t exist? “XXXXXXXXXXXX” goes the buzzer. Logical fallacy.
The thing that frustrates me is that they didn’t have to make it purgatory. They had it set up so perfectly to be a parallel universe like the one Rose Tyler got stuck in. They could have easily had the last scene been Desmond telling those gathered at the church that they’re in an alternate dimension that was created when the hydrogen bomb and the electromagnetism collided, and those who were still alive in the island world could either keep their consciousnesses over in the alternate world with their dead loved ones, or they could stay in the island world. And Kate, Sawyer and Claire would have chosen to stay with their soul mates, possibly Miles because his life sucked in the island world, and Ben and Hurley would have passed because they still had work to do on the island.
Instead, we get the Harry Potter syndrome. I read that the LOST writers came up with this ending sometime during the beginning of the series run when JJ Abrams was still involved. This whole limbo thing was his ridiculous concoction. So probably, since season two, they were planning to make Jack die and meet up with Kate in purgatory. Goodie. That makes me feel sooooooo much better. Just like when I heard J.K. Rowling wrote the Crapilogue waaaaaaaaay back at the beginning and refused to rewrite it after her series was complete. And it showed. The writing looked like it was taken right out of a banal sitcom. The characters showed no growth. In short, it sucked. Instead of adapting the ending to fit the evolution of the characters and story, both J.K and the Lost writers stuck firmly to their original idea, and it did not make cohesive sense with the rest of the story.
Lost was never a religious show. It had religious undertones, Christ-like figures, and certain characters like Charlie, Eko and Sayid who expressed religious beliefs, but religion wasn’t the core of the show. It was a character study with sci-fi fantasy elements like Star Wars, Doctor Who, or Fringe. But in the last 15 minutes, the show did a 180 and became the next Touched by an Angel. If the writers had wanted this show to be a metaphor for our life’s journey and final destination into the afterlife, they should have presented those ideas long before the finale and in more than just obtuse phrases like “everything happens for a reason,” “it’s destiny,” and “don’t confuse coincidence with fate.” What do those generic terms have to do with the bizzaro Roman Catholic purgatory we get in the end?
And how do mere mortals create a magical realm through their thoughts and hopes and all arrive there after they die? How can people die in this world (like Keamy and Mikhail) when they’re already dead? How can women have children when they’re dead? When did the writers establish the rule that good thoughts and desires could even create an alternate dimension? Oh that’s right. In the last 15 minutes of the program. Cheap, guys.
Speaking of cheap . . . the emotional reunion between my favorite ships lost all meaning once I realized they were dead. Before that startling and unpleasant revelation, everything was so poignant and beautiful. I cried when Charlie and Claire remembered their island life, and I thought to myself, “Finally, Charlie can raise Aaron with Claire.” Then Sawyer and Juliet kissed, and I grinned wildly from ear to ear. And even though I knew Jack was going to die when Kate and he kissed goodbye, I was still thrilled to hear her say, “I love you.” And I thought, “well, at least they can be together in the parallel world.” But what good is being together in an alternate world when you’re dead? I wanted Jack and Kate to get married and have little Jate babies! Dead people can’t reproduce, as observed by the magical disappearance of David once Jack remembered his death. Jack and Kate et al. could conceivably stay in their happy limbo existence for a while and live out the life they never got, but the way Christian talked, it seemed pretty evident that everyone was “passing on.” No second chances for any of my ships. What’s the point of having canon ships when your couples are all frickin’ dead?!?
And what kind of crap life did Kate, Sawyer and Claire live after they landed in LA? If you’ll recall in “Eggtown,” Kate was told if she ever left the state, she would be thrown in jail for a long, long time. So Jack ordered her to leave so she could pine for him in a prison? She should have stayed, been with him when he died. Yeah, yeah, Vincent finding him in the bamboo grove was full of symmetry. Screw symmetry. I want at least semi-happy endings!
And why, pray tell, did Jack have to die? If you tell me it’s for the sake of coming full circle, blah blah blah, I will hurt you. Jack, my good, kind Jack, who tried his whole life to help people and to be a better person, has his life cut tragically short and doesn’t get to be with the woman he loves. Whereas Ben, a man who committed mass genocide, who’s lied and manipulated his whole life, gets the one thing he always wanted: to stay and protect the island. WTF? Don’t get me wrong, I love Ben. BUT BEN SHOULD HAVE DIED TO REDEEM HIMSELF, like Sayid. Instead, the writers, being so enamored with Michael Emerson, give him a long happy existence on the island. Frickin A. Just thinking about it, makes me cry. Again.
Let me end this rant with a mention about the title, “The End.” Jacob said it would only end once. Yet, we didn’t get to see it end. The island still needed protecting, which was why Hurley got the job. So what the hell was Jacob talking about? Where’s this “end”? And what kind of justification is there in making Hurley the protector? He didn’t want the job. He took it because Jack ordered him to. And isn’t that exactly what Jacob didn’t want to happen? To have another person forced into the position? For a show that was pushing free will, not much was available in “The End.”
I’ve been an emotional wreck since Sunday. The Lost Finale started off as any other episode of the series, meaning I was enjoying it immensely, when, like Oceanic Flight 815, the show abruptly did a nosedive into the realm of cliché and unnecessary tragedy. And I watched as the show I loved so much crashed and burned.
The recovery process has not been easy, let me tell you. On Sunday night, I tossed and turned for hours, trying to digest what I saw. On Monday I periodically broke into tears, whilst at work no less, culminating with me blubbering to my sister at the end of the day about the injustice of it all. Tuesday, I was angry. I felt betrayed that a show I had invested so much time into-frequently defending it to my friends and family-had transmogrified from a sharp, smart sci-fi show on par with the likes of Doctor Who into a cheesy, prosaic story that belonged on such shows like Joan of Arcadia or Ghost Whisperer.
I’ll be the first to admit that I am religious, and though I have my own view on the afterlife, I’m not opposed to watching or reading works with a different outlook. However, those works I reference never pretended to be anything other than religious/supernatural stories. For example, the videogame Final Fantasy X was all about this made up religion and god named Yu Yevon. Religious leaders called Summoners were selected by this god to make sure the dead got to the afterlife and didn’t stay on and become monsters. I accepted the story for what it was, and I happen to love that game. But FFX didn’t start out by trying to explain monsters and other supernatural phenomena as scientific anomalies. And it didn’t spend two seasons setting up and delivering a story about time travel.
I mean, what were the point of Daniel Faraday and his theories on time travel? If you can’t change the past or create alternative realities where the people are alive (see Doctor Who and Fringe for good examples) then why introduce the concept in the first place? To have some fun? To mess with the viewers’ heads? And what was up with Miles hearing dead Juliet’s comment that “it worked”? Are we to believe that Miles wasn’t hearing the last thoughts of the dead, but her thoughts in limbo land when she handed James his candy bar? Are we to accept that the bomb did absolutely no good? So Daniel, the nuclear physicist was really an idiot, after all? Jeez, what’s the point of knowing quantum physics when you can’t do anything with it? And I guess Jack and Juliet were idiots too for believing him.
But this doesn’t make sense, because we know electromagnetism has to do with time travel. We were introduced to this in season 3 when Desmond, newly exposed to electromagnetism, flashed to a parallel world and saw his past play out in a nearly identical manner. (Remember, in the real past he broke up with Penny on his own volition, not on the urging of Eloise. And the football team won in one version and lost in the other). We got more confirmation on this theory in “The Constant” and when Ben turned the Donkey Wheel, harnessing the energy and moving the island through space and time.
So why did the electromagnetism, which was previously a vehicle for travel through time and space, turn into a means to flash to an eternal limbo and back? Des was a time traveler. We know magical limbo was timeless, so how did a time traveller suddenly become an emissary for purgatory? It doesn’t follow logic, and you can say all you want about sci-fi and fiction and how the writers can makes things up as they go, but it’s not true. Even if your story exists outside the realm of the real world, you still have to follow the rules you established for that imaginary world.
Let’s make a syllogism to further illustrate the point: Electromagnetism creates time and space travel. Desmond can harness electromagnetism. Ergo, Desmond can travel to a place where time and reality don’t exist? “XXXXXXXXXXXX” goes the buzzer. Logical fallacy.
The thing that frustrates me is that they didn’t have to make it purgatory. They had it set up so perfectly to be a parallel universe like the one Rose Tyler got stuck in. They could have easily had the last scene been Desmond telling those gathered at the church that they’re in an alternate dimension that was created when the hydrogen bomb and the electromagnetism collided, and those who were still alive in the island world could either keep their consciousnesses over in the alternate world with their dead loved ones, or they could stay in the island world. And Kate, Sawyer and Claire would have chosen to stay with their soul mates, possibly Miles because his life sucked in the island world, and Ben and Hurley would have passed because they still had work to do on the island.
Instead, we get the Harry Potter syndrome. I read that the LOST writers came up with this ending sometime during the beginning of the series run when JJ Abrams was still involved. This whole limbo thing was his ridiculous concoction. So probably, since season two, they were planning to make Jack die and meet up with Kate in purgatory. Goodie. That makes me feel sooooooo much better. Just like when I heard J.K. Rowling wrote the Crapilogue waaaaaaaaay back at the beginning and refused to rewrite it after her series was complete. And it showed. The writing looked like it was taken right out of a banal sitcom. The characters showed no growth. In short, it sucked. Instead of adapting the ending to fit the evolution of the characters and story, both J.K and the Lost writers stuck firmly to their original idea, and it did not make cohesive sense with the rest of the story.
Lost was never a religious show. It had religious undertones, Christ-like figures, and certain characters like Charlie, Eko and Sayid who expressed religious beliefs, but religion wasn’t the core of the show. It was a character study with sci-fi fantasy elements like Star Wars, Doctor Who, or Fringe. But in the last 15 minutes, the show did a 180 and became the next Touched by an Angel. If the writers had wanted this show to be a metaphor for our life’s journey and final destination into the afterlife, they should have presented those ideas long before the finale and in more than just obtuse phrases like “everything happens for a reason,” “it’s destiny,” and “don’t confuse coincidence with fate.” What do those generic terms have to do with the bizzaro Roman Catholic purgatory we get in the end?
And how do mere mortals create a magical realm through their thoughts and hopes and all arrive there after they die? How can people die in this world (like Keamy and Mikhail) when they’re already dead? How can women have children when they’re dead? When did the writers establish the rule that good thoughts and desires could even create an alternate dimension? Oh that’s right. In the last 15 minutes of the program. Cheap, guys.
Speaking of cheap . . . the emotional reunion between my favorite ships lost all meaning once I realized they were dead. Before that startling and unpleasant revelation, everything was so poignant and beautiful. I cried when Charlie and Claire remembered their island life, and I thought to myself, “Finally, Charlie can raise Aaron with Claire.” Then Sawyer and Juliet kissed, and I grinned wildly from ear to ear. And even though I knew Jack was going to die when Kate and he kissed goodbye, I was still thrilled to hear her say, “I love you.” And I thought, “well, at least they can be together in the parallel world.” But what good is being together in an alternate world when you’re dead? I wanted Jack and Kate to get married and have little Jate babies! Dead people can’t reproduce, as observed by the magical disappearance of David once Jack remembered his death. Jack and Kate et al. could conceivably stay in their happy limbo existence for a while and live out the life they never got, but the way Christian talked, it seemed pretty evident that everyone was “passing on.” No second chances for any of my ships. What’s the point of having canon ships when your couples are all frickin’ dead?!?
And what kind of crap life did Kate, Sawyer and Claire live after they landed in LA? If you’ll recall in “Eggtown,” Kate was told if she ever left the state, she would be thrown in jail for a long, long time. So Jack ordered her to leave so she could pine for him in a prison? She should have stayed, been with him when he died. Yeah, yeah, Vincent finding him in the bamboo grove was full of symmetry. Screw symmetry. I want at least semi-happy endings!
And why, pray tell, did Jack have to die? If you tell me it’s for the sake of coming full circle, blah blah blah, I will hurt you. Jack, my good, kind Jack, who tried his whole life to help people and to be a better person, has his life cut tragically short and doesn’t get to be with the woman he loves. Whereas Ben, a man who committed mass genocide, who’s lied and manipulated his whole life, gets the one thing he always wanted: to stay and protect the island. WTF? Don’t get me wrong, I love Ben. BUT BEN SHOULD HAVE DIED TO REDEEM HIMSELF, like Sayid. Instead, the writers, being so enamored with Michael Emerson, give him a long happy existence on the island. Frickin A. Just thinking about it, makes me cry. Again.
Let me end this rant with a mention about the title, “The End.” Jacob said it would only end once. Yet, we didn’t get to see it end. The island still needed protecting, which was why Hurley got the job. So what the hell was Jacob talking about? Where’s this “end”? And what kind of justification is there in making Hurley the protector? He didn’t want the job. He took it because Jack ordered him to. And isn’t that exactly what Jacob didn’t want to happen? To have another person forced into the position? For a show that was pushing free will, not much was available in “The End.”