A Farewell to Lost
Over a week later, a few thoughts on the show & the finale.
If someone would have told me before I watched the finale that it would offer very few answers and be almost entirely character story I'd have called bullshit before seeing a moment of it.
I've heard a number of people say for a while that they prefer “leaving the mystery intact” or something of that nature. They've given reasons like that it leaves us room to speculate & debate for months to come or that (and this is my “favorite”) it allows us to come up with our own answers.
Being one of the people who thought that the finale of the Sopranos was total horse shit, that “make up our own ending” line of thought has never made sense to me. Never in my life have I stopped reading a novel ¾ of the way through because I wanted make up my own ending.
When I'm following a storyteller's tale I want to know what the storyteller's vision & resolution is. I'm still free after hearing that to invent for myself an ending that I think it would have been better/more interesting/made more sense, if I so choose.
So, after having watched the 2 ½ hour finale that was pretty much all character story with relatively few “mythology” answers, no one is more surprised than me how much I loved the epilogue to the Lost saga. I'll still give Buffy my vote for the best series finale of all time but Lost is definitely in the upper echelon.
However, let me back up for a moment and talk about the series as a whole.
As you may have guessed, I really loved this show. I can go on and on as to why but I'll try to sum is up quickly.
Lost was a combination of many genres that I enjoy. It was at once adventure, mystery, sci-fi, hero's journey, crime drama, time travel story, mythic fable, spiritual tale and really intense human drama. It was even lightly peppered with some damned fine comic relief. The storyline went from where it began with the initial story of survivors of a plane crash on an amazing, twisting & surprising path like no other show I've ever seen.
However I think my favorite aspect to having watched Lost was that is was fun, like no other show I've ever watched, to discuss, debate and theorize about with others. Many an hour working around the prep table with my crew was spiced up with lively discussion of the show, sharing our crackpot theories and shooting down each other's. Not that it was all we talked about but it was one more thing to pass the time while we diced onions & cleaned chicken.
Plus discussing Lost is one of the few instances when someone can say “namaste” and I don't feel a slight impulse to punch them in the face. ;)
I know of several people that are planning to watch the complete series on DVD now that it is over. I do kind of envy them being able to leap off cliff hangers to land immediately on the next episode and not having to wait the interminable 8 months between seasons but they are going to be missing out on the debates & crack pot theories which were part of the experience for so many of us.
Of course the series had it's weak points. Even the creators admit that late in the second season and for a good chunk of the third they were treading water because, having a hit on their hands, the network was pressuring them to extend the story while they were facing the writer's strike.
Fortunately they reacted relatively quickly to the lag in the series, set an end point for the show and got back on track and brought the third season to a close with an amazing twist that no one saw coming and that took the show wild new direction.
I really loved the final season even though I was very outspoken about my disappointment with “Across the Sea”, the Jacob & Man in Black back story which I thought was an amazing opportunity to provide some major answers and I thought they let us down on that count.
When it came time for the finale, the writers seemed to have decided that the time for answers was over and it was to be about story and the characters who were, you must admit, always what Lost was truly about.
There are so many questions to which I was hoping to get answers. I could probably list dozens of them but I'm sure a Google search will provide that for you if you wish.
Thinking about all the unanswered questions that are left there is really only one big one that bothers me is about the Man in Black. A huge thrust of the final season was about his efforts to get off the island and those that were trying to stop him from doing that at all costs. We were led to believe that if he were to leave the island the results would have been disastrous, even globally catastrophic. However we never found out why that was the case, especially considering that at the end he has lost his smoke monster abilities and invulnerability and was merely an ordinary man.
I would really have liked to have found out what that was all about.
Then again, word has it that there will be some more answers coming with the complete series DVD set which will be released in August. Diabolically clever marketing. Perhaps that will be one of those answers.
Watching the last show, I was so wrapped up in the story that I was barely even looking for answers to the mysteries. I was too caught up in the adventure and tearing up at the emotional scenes. In fact I'm watching it again as I type this and I'm still getting choked up.
Of course the big answer we did get at the end of it all was the nature of the “flash sideways”.
Having seen a lot of the internet chatter about the finale I was rather surprised at how many people seemed confused by what I thought was clearly stated about the flash sideways and how it fit into the show as a whole.
Yes, the characters were alive throughout the events of the series except for the final season flash sideways scenes. The flash sideways was a “place”, outside the arc of time if you will, where they existed between death and moving on to heaven/the next step/the great reward …. call it what you will.
Much like stories of ghosts who linger in the world of the living but they have unfinished business or something, the Losties were in the sideways world so that they could resolve their issues left from life and find each other.
I really liked the way their issues were addressed in the flash sideways world. Sun & Jin were able to be a married couple until they escaped the dangerous influence of Sun's father. Sawyer (Ford) rather than being a criminal was a detective searching for the man who wronged his family while on the side of justice. Ben was a teacher who helped John Locke and earned a fatherhood role in Alex's life through caring and self sacrifice. Jack worked through is daddy issues through the role of a father who healed his relationship with his son. …etc, etc.
Anyway, it's getting late and I want to put this and myself to bed.
The reason I wrote this is because so many people seemed put off by the buzz around the finale. Well, for a lot of people watching Lost was a great television experience and the finale really was a major TV event. I'm pleased that the epilogue didn't disappoint.
I'll miss the show.
Now to finish off with a hip hop farewell to Lost.
If someone would have told me before I watched the finale that it would offer very few answers and be almost entirely character story I'd have called bullshit before seeing a moment of it.
I've heard a number of people say for a while that they prefer “leaving the mystery intact” or something of that nature. They've given reasons like that it leaves us room to speculate & debate for months to come or that (and this is my “favorite”) it allows us to come up with our own answers.
Being one of the people who thought that the finale of the Sopranos was total horse shit, that “make up our own ending” line of thought has never made sense to me. Never in my life have I stopped reading a novel ¾ of the way through because I wanted make up my own ending.
When I'm following a storyteller's tale I want to know what the storyteller's vision & resolution is. I'm still free after hearing that to invent for myself an ending that I think it would have been better/more interesting/made more sense, if I so choose.
So, after having watched the 2 ½ hour finale that was pretty much all character story with relatively few “mythology” answers, no one is more surprised than me how much I loved the epilogue to the Lost saga. I'll still give Buffy my vote for the best series finale of all time but Lost is definitely in the upper echelon.
However, let me back up for a moment and talk about the series as a whole.
As you may have guessed, I really loved this show. I can go on and on as to why but I'll try to sum is up quickly.
Lost was a combination of many genres that I enjoy. It was at once adventure, mystery, sci-fi, hero's journey, crime drama, time travel story, mythic fable, spiritual tale and really intense human drama. It was even lightly peppered with some damned fine comic relief. The storyline went from where it began with the initial story of survivors of a plane crash on an amazing, twisting & surprising path like no other show I've ever seen.
However I think my favorite aspect to having watched Lost was that is was fun, like no other show I've ever watched, to discuss, debate and theorize about with others. Many an hour working around the prep table with my crew was spiced up with lively discussion of the show, sharing our crackpot theories and shooting down each other's. Not that it was all we talked about but it was one more thing to pass the time while we diced onions & cleaned chicken.
Plus discussing Lost is one of the few instances when someone can say “namaste” and I don't feel a slight impulse to punch them in the face. ;)
I know of several people that are planning to watch the complete series on DVD now that it is over. I do kind of envy them being able to leap off cliff hangers to land immediately on the next episode and not having to wait the interminable 8 months between seasons but they are going to be missing out on the debates & crack pot theories which were part of the experience for so many of us.
Of course the series had it's weak points. Even the creators admit that late in the second season and for a good chunk of the third they were treading water because, having a hit on their hands, the network was pressuring them to extend the story while they were facing the writer's strike.
Fortunately they reacted relatively quickly to the lag in the series, set an end point for the show and got back on track and brought the third season to a close with an amazing twist that no one saw coming and that took the show wild new direction.
I really loved the final season even though I was very outspoken about my disappointment with “Across the Sea”, the Jacob & Man in Black back story which I thought was an amazing opportunity to provide some major answers and I thought they let us down on that count.
When it came time for the finale, the writers seemed to have decided that the time for answers was over and it was to be about story and the characters who were, you must admit, always what Lost was truly about.
There are so many questions to which I was hoping to get answers. I could probably list dozens of them but I'm sure a Google search will provide that for you if you wish.
Thinking about all the unanswered questions that are left there is really only one big one that bothers me is about the Man in Black. A huge thrust of the final season was about his efforts to get off the island and those that were trying to stop him from doing that at all costs. We were led to believe that if he were to leave the island the results would have been disastrous, even globally catastrophic. However we never found out why that was the case, especially considering that at the end he has lost his smoke monster abilities and invulnerability and was merely an ordinary man.
I would really have liked to have found out what that was all about.
Then again, word has it that there will be some more answers coming with the complete series DVD set which will be released in August. Diabolically clever marketing. Perhaps that will be one of those answers.
Watching the last show, I was so wrapped up in the story that I was barely even looking for answers to the mysteries. I was too caught up in the adventure and tearing up at the emotional scenes. In fact I'm watching it again as I type this and I'm still getting choked up.
Of course the big answer we did get at the end of it all was the nature of the “flash sideways”.
Having seen a lot of the internet chatter about the finale I was rather surprised at how many people seemed confused by what I thought was clearly stated about the flash sideways and how it fit into the show as a whole.
Yes, the characters were alive throughout the events of the series except for the final season flash sideways scenes. The flash sideways was a “place”, outside the arc of time if you will, where they existed between death and moving on to heaven/the next step/the great reward …. call it what you will.
Much like stories of ghosts who linger in the world of the living but they have unfinished business or something, the Losties were in the sideways world so that they could resolve their issues left from life and find each other.
I really liked the way their issues were addressed in the flash sideways world. Sun & Jin were able to be a married couple until they escaped the dangerous influence of Sun's father. Sawyer (Ford) rather than being a criminal was a detective searching for the man who wronged his family while on the side of justice. Ben was a teacher who helped John Locke and earned a fatherhood role in Alex's life through caring and self sacrifice. Jack worked through is daddy issues through the role of a father who healed his relationship with his son. …etc, etc.
Anyway, it's getting late and I want to put this and myself to bed.
The reason I wrote this is because so many people seemed put off by the buzz around the finale. Well, for a lot of people watching Lost was a great television experience and the finale really was a major TV event. I'm pleased that the epilogue didn't disappoint.
I'll miss the show.
Now to finish off with a hip hop farewell to Lost.
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