LOST Season 6: hopes and predictions
OMG, new LOST tonight! I'm actually really excited. I didn't know if I would be, but yes, in fact, I am. Very excited, that is.
Everyone is posting their thoughts, speculations, and things they need from LOST as the final season gets underway. So, here are my two cents.
First, this is a show that I’ll follow to the end. Even when counting my favourite shows ever, there are very few that I can say that I’ve followed through from the beginning to the bitter end. Seriously, my list includes Buffy, West Wing, and… well, that’s it. The other shows that I’ve participated in the fandom for include Angel, Alias, Sliders, Grey’s Anatomy, and I’m sure a few others along the way, but this is one of the only that I’ve hung on for this long. That I desperately want to find some resolution and answers for. That I care about how it ends.
The final season of any show, I believe, should really be about returning to the basics. If you know it’s going to be the final season, you need to get back to your roots, and in the end give your characters some resolution - and what they truly deserve.
Also, I believe that the general story arcs and large themes of the show were decided in the beginning. Most of the things were decided as they went along, but I truly believe that JJ Abrams sketched out how the show was going to end, and they’re sticking with it. Hence, the icon. Trust JJ.
I’m going to compare this to Alias, so if you ever have plans to watch it and don’t want to be spoiled, then don’t read. Also, I’ve written in my own predictions, based heavily on the final seasons of other shows I’ve watched, but mostly Alias. Also my predictions on who will die in the final season. I’m COMPLETELY spoiler free, so these really are just guesses.
In Alias, Rambaldi began as a MacGuffin device: a plot element that catches the viewers’ attention, but its ultimate goal is to show how the characters in the story interact and react to the plot device. It serves as motivation, and its real importance should not be to the viewers, but to the people within the story. At least, that’s how it began. In the end, I as a viewer did want to know about the Rambaldi endgame and how everything fit together… but it was nowhere NEAR as important as watching how Sloane and Irina interacted and sacrificed everything and everyone around them to gain access to that knowledge and power.
And so, in LOST, the island is the MacGuffin device. It just seems like the writers have forgotten that’s what it started as. Because I do care about the island, and I do want some mysteries solved, but not at the expense of the characters. At the end of Alias, Sloane gets his fitting end in one of my favourite moments of television ever (even though I watched it about 4 years after the finale aired), and Irina ultimately fails. Sloane, after causing pain and hurt (and usually death) to everyone in his life - especially those that he cared about the most - in the name of Rambaldi, achieves his life’s dream. He puts together Rambaldi’s endgame. He achieves immortality. And when he does achieve this immortality, he gets trapped in Rambaldi’s tomb and is totally unable to use it for any more of his power plays. He is, in fact, powerless. Irina makes a deal with Sloane - practically the devil himself - to also gain access to Rambaldi’s power, but in the end she is killed (by her own daughter) in the attempt.
And this is the end that I would like to see for our villains. Charles Widmore is Irina. Ben is Sloane. Ben ultimately gets control of the island, but all its magical properties are dried up, or he’s the only one left on the island in the end but he gets time-skipped to a time when the power doesn’t mean anything. The thing that he ultimately sacrifices everything for is also the thing that becomes his prison. Charles will ultimately be undone, hopefully in an epic battle, and it will be either Penny or Desmond that does him in. At least, I hope that is what happens. I don’t know if there’s much else that would satisfy me.
As for the original survivors: reset, don’t reset, whatever. The thing that I really need is for their journeys up to this point to mean something. If you erase the past 5 years of character development, all that you are left with is the MacGuffin device, which kind of defeats the purpose of said device. I could deal without more of the love triangle. I mean, I’m one of the few people that liked Kate as a character, but I hate what the triangle has done for her. I really want to see her exist outside the love story. The writing’s on the wall - she ends up with someone, I would just really like her to have her own redemption in the end. Really, I want all of them to have their redemption. I want the hell that they went through for however many years to mean something. I want them to be better in the end because of it.
And I really, really miss Shannon. There was so much potential in that character, and they squandered it.
Of course there will be more character deaths. In the final season of Alias, they killed Jack, Irina, Renee, Sloane (kinda), Thomas, and Anna Espinosa. Now, granted, Renee and Thomas only appeared in the final season, but I liked them none-the-less. So my predictions on who they kill? Well, I guess that kind of depends on what happens in the season premiere, and if old characters come back. But Jack and Kate will be alive in the end, having pretty babies and living in a house on the beach, just like Sydney and Vaughn. In fact, they can be neighbours. And the final scene of the series will be something in the future showing some kind of option to re-enter the life that they left behind however many years ago upon leaving the island once and for all. And they’ll say no, but there’s some sort of glimmer for the next gen to enter that life. But still… I say they kill off Desmond, Sayid, Ben (in a Sloane-esque way), Charles, Ilana, Bram, and Miles. Did I leave anyone alive? I mean, I really hope that some of these people don’t die, but I can predict, none the less. And I’d like to know what happened to Cindy, and the other people from the tail section that got taken by the “Others”, like those two kids that were pretty cute. I didn’t miss that, did I? I don’t care what Dharma people live or die, although I think we might learn some more about the Hanso Foundation / what their long term goals for the island were.
At any rate, those are my predictions, and what I need for this to be a good finale. Mostly, don’t leave me in the dark. Don’t make my characters dumber than they are. Don’t take advantage of me. Show me some long term character development. Give them some closure. Let Charles and Ben get what’s coming to them. And please, let me be entertained! Is that too much to ask? Get back to basics. Give us the final season we deserve.
In other news, there's this fic that I'm working on, and while I had the small plot bunny in November, it only just hit me two days ago how to make it work. I have a lot of notes written down, and I did research for it. Serious research! I don't usually do that. It's looking to be epic too, but only if I don't get completely jossed. Seriously, how long do you think I can write until my story is completely blown out of the water? Ugh. I should have forced myself how to figure it out in November.
Everyone is posting their thoughts, speculations, and things they need from LOST as the final season gets underway. So, here are my two cents.
First, this is a show that I’ll follow to the end. Even when counting my favourite shows ever, there are very few that I can say that I’ve followed through from the beginning to the bitter end. Seriously, my list includes Buffy, West Wing, and… well, that’s it. The other shows that I’ve participated in the fandom for include Angel, Alias, Sliders, Grey’s Anatomy, and I’m sure a few others along the way, but this is one of the only that I’ve hung on for this long. That I desperately want to find some resolution and answers for. That I care about how it ends.
The final season of any show, I believe, should really be about returning to the basics. If you know it’s going to be the final season, you need to get back to your roots, and in the end give your characters some resolution - and what they truly deserve.
Also, I believe that the general story arcs and large themes of the show were decided in the beginning. Most of the things were decided as they went along, but I truly believe that JJ Abrams sketched out how the show was going to end, and they’re sticking with it. Hence, the icon. Trust JJ.
I’m going to compare this to Alias, so if you ever have plans to watch it and don’t want to be spoiled, then don’t read. Also, I’ve written in my own predictions, based heavily on the final seasons of other shows I’ve watched, but mostly Alias. Also my predictions on who will die in the final season. I’m COMPLETELY spoiler free, so these really are just guesses.
In Alias, Rambaldi began as a MacGuffin device: a plot element that catches the viewers’ attention, but its ultimate goal is to show how the characters in the story interact and react to the plot device. It serves as motivation, and its real importance should not be to the viewers, but to the people within the story. At least, that’s how it began. In the end, I as a viewer did want to know about the Rambaldi endgame and how everything fit together… but it was nowhere NEAR as important as watching how Sloane and Irina interacted and sacrificed everything and everyone around them to gain access to that knowledge and power.
And so, in LOST, the island is the MacGuffin device. It just seems like the writers have forgotten that’s what it started as. Because I do care about the island, and I do want some mysteries solved, but not at the expense of the characters. At the end of Alias, Sloane gets his fitting end in one of my favourite moments of television ever (even though I watched it about 4 years after the finale aired), and Irina ultimately fails. Sloane, after causing pain and hurt (and usually death) to everyone in his life - especially those that he cared about the most - in the name of Rambaldi, achieves his life’s dream. He puts together Rambaldi’s endgame. He achieves immortality. And when he does achieve this immortality, he gets trapped in Rambaldi’s tomb and is totally unable to use it for any more of his power plays. He is, in fact, powerless. Irina makes a deal with Sloane - practically the devil himself - to also gain access to Rambaldi’s power, but in the end she is killed (by her own daughter) in the attempt.
And this is the end that I would like to see for our villains. Charles Widmore is Irina. Ben is Sloane. Ben ultimately gets control of the island, but all its magical properties are dried up, or he’s the only one left on the island in the end but he gets time-skipped to a time when the power doesn’t mean anything. The thing that he ultimately sacrifices everything for is also the thing that becomes his prison. Charles will ultimately be undone, hopefully in an epic battle, and it will be either Penny or Desmond that does him in. At least, I hope that is what happens. I don’t know if there’s much else that would satisfy me.
As for the original survivors: reset, don’t reset, whatever. The thing that I really need is for their journeys up to this point to mean something. If you erase the past 5 years of character development, all that you are left with is the MacGuffin device, which kind of defeats the purpose of said device. I could deal without more of the love triangle. I mean, I’m one of the few people that liked Kate as a character, but I hate what the triangle has done for her. I really want to see her exist outside the love story. The writing’s on the wall - she ends up with someone, I would just really like her to have her own redemption in the end. Really, I want all of them to have their redemption. I want the hell that they went through for however many years to mean something. I want them to be better in the end because of it.
And I really, really miss Shannon. There was so much potential in that character, and they squandered it.
Of course there will be more character deaths. In the final season of Alias, they killed Jack, Irina, Renee, Sloane (kinda), Thomas, and Anna Espinosa. Now, granted, Renee and Thomas only appeared in the final season, but I liked them none-the-less. So my predictions on who they kill? Well, I guess that kind of depends on what happens in the season premiere, and if old characters come back. But Jack and Kate will be alive in the end, having pretty babies and living in a house on the beach, just like Sydney and Vaughn. In fact, they can be neighbours. And the final scene of the series will be something in the future showing some kind of option to re-enter the life that they left behind however many years ago upon leaving the island once and for all. And they’ll say no, but there’s some sort of glimmer for the next gen to enter that life. But still… I say they kill off Desmond, Sayid, Ben (in a Sloane-esque way), Charles, Ilana, Bram, and Miles. Did I leave anyone alive? I mean, I really hope that some of these people don’t die, but I can predict, none the less. And I’d like to know what happened to Cindy, and the other people from the tail section that got taken by the “Others”, like those two kids that were pretty cute. I didn’t miss that, did I? I don’t care what Dharma people live or die, although I think we might learn some more about the Hanso Foundation / what their long term goals for the island were.
At any rate, those are my predictions, and what I need for this to be a good finale. Mostly, don’t leave me in the dark. Don’t make my characters dumber than they are. Don’t take advantage of me. Show me some long term character development. Give them some closure. Let Charles and Ben get what’s coming to them. And please, let me be entertained! Is that too much to ask? Get back to basics. Give us the final season we deserve.
In other news, there's this fic that I'm working on, and while I had the small plot bunny in November, it only just hit me two days ago how to make it work. I have a lot of notes written down, and I did research for it. Serious research! I don't usually do that. It's looking to be epic too, but only if I don't get completely jossed. Seriously, how long do you think I can write until my story is completely blown out of the water? Ugh. I should have forced myself how to figure it out in November.