End of the Era
Hope is a funny thing. Sometimes when you think it's all dried out and long gone, you find a little more where you believed none existed. This final season of LOST has been surreal for me. As the final season premiere neared then passed, I fully anticipated watching, even in the completely numb state that was my reality after six years of being drug through every emotion possible when it came to this show. But then the premiere came and went and each week all spring went by without my participation in the process. I had reached the point where I didn't need to watch it anymore. But as the end of May came around, I decided I would have one final marathon, to "get it over with," before the series finale. And then the week of the series finale arrived, and a giant wave of nostalgia crashed so hard it almost knocked me over.
Suddenly I was sad that I hadn't followed along, one last time. That I allowed myself to drop out of weekly chat, thorough discussion, and what had become my way of life with the show and the online experience for so many years. I've felt distant for the last few years, but now I had come to the realization that I would no longer be able to really do any of these things. So I marathoned the show in the weekend of the finale. That was about 18 hours of LOST in a final burst of obsession and the last new batch of episodes we'd ever get.
So, the series finale. In a show where I've literally experienced roller coasters of emotion, from happy and addicted to sad to angry to apathetic, I didn't think I had anything left. But long before the end of the show I was crying my eyes out, which I just didn't think I was capable of anymore when it came to LOST. But it's like one of the first Jack and Kate scenes in the series finale (that I really liked, by the way) when Jack is saying that the island is all he has left of his life that he hasn't ruined, and Kate says, "You haven't ruined anything. Nothing is irreversible." I'm not that forgiving of the show - it has ruined a lot, actually - but I was able to go into this final episode, even after everything, and appreciate it for what it was and ultimately really remember why I have loved Jack/Kate.
I have since reflected that my favorite thing about Jack and Kate is the strong redemptive element to their relationship. Once they meet, their pasts as far as the other one is concerned are completed erased, wiped clean. Like Jack tells Kate in probably my favorite Jack moment, "It doesn't matter, Kate, who we were - what we did before this, before the crash. It doesn't really-3 days ago we all died. We should all be able to start over." Kate's never heard this before. She's always been defined by her past. And in return, she allows him to lead. She doesn't question him. He has always held the world on his shoulders, not measuring up to his father's expectations, failing at marriage, not even feeling like a successful surgeon because of Christian's constant criticism. But Kate tells him, "If you weren't here, Jack...." I go back to these early moments because I saw glimpses of this Jack and Kate in the final episode. Jack, still leading. Kate, still following his direction.
And now... WE WERE RIGHT!!!!!!! I feel like shouting this, not just because it deserves to be said, not just because I've never in over a decade of fandom seen a fan base as vile and vicious as the geese Skaters, but because in the past three years, I really, honestly began to doubt that we'd ever receive the acknowledgment that it really was Jack and Kate from the beginning and it's them in the end. So this episode was a huge vindication on that front alone. I celebrated that. Because while the writers and producers decided to sway back and forth and ruin their lead female character by making her a pawn in the triangle, we always knew the truth. There was a moment during the cliff scene as Jack and Kate kissed and said "I love you," and again after the concert when Kate helps Jack remember, when I felt this gust of relief. Because I knew, we had it right all along.
And just like Jack and Kate's tabula rasa, I was able to come into this final episode with a nostalgic feeling of peace and good-bye. I felt everything for them again that I had once experienced, which I wasn't expecting but was supremely grateful for. Even better than this for me, perhaps, was that I saw the real Kate again. I found it very appropriate that her moment of remembrance in the sideways flashes was when she's delivering Claire's baby. That was such a significant moment the first time around, one that really defined Kate as well as showed her true, underlying character, and it was so nice to see that Kate again. The Kate who would not give up digging Jack out of the cave-in when everyone else had; she digs for him again in a way when she gently helps him remember his past, helps him remember her. I love that as Jack's flashing and remembering, the one constant that keeps appearing in his memories are his moments with Kate. The kiss, probably the most beautiful moment of all. The impact they have on one another really can't be held in a certain time or space. They are everywhere, inside each of them. Time also can't diminish what they feel for each other. I adore when Kate says, voice breaking, "I missed you so much." Nothing has lessened; it's all as strong as it ever was. I really loved that scene most of all because it showed how strong, how intense the connection between Jack and Kate really is. And I also really liked how Jack and Kate were the last couple to reunite in the sideways world. It's like they are the pinnacle, and I've always felt like their relationship was a small, perfect representation of the themes of the show as a whole: loss and redemption and human connection. And Jack and Kate had to wait for each other before they were ready to move on. That was essential.
And finally, the cliff scene. I felt like, whereas the garden scene at the concert was very intimate though powerful, that the cliff scene was epic. It became instantly classic as it aired. Jack is above all else, noble and selfless, which once again shows how wrong everyone was who bashed him as selfish and controlling, and Kate still follows Jack's lead. It's tragic, but it's so epic that I couldn't help but love it completely. And as twisted as this show's theories on time are, it will really be only a blink of an eye before she absolutely will see him again. Of course, there are also the little moments at the end that were lovely and really satisfying. The way she smiles at him with all of the incredible love that he never really got from anyone else, like he's the only person in the world and with arguably an even darker history that Jack's, for Kate he really is her world. And knowing that they still feel that way about each other no matter how much time passes continues to speak to the strength of this relationship despite everything. The little things like how they're sitting in the front pew alone, so close, immediately lost in each other. It was a nice tribute and a good send-off.
The episode itself is incredibly bittersweet. I will always love the end because it finally gave us what we'd been waiting for in terms of Jack and Kate and a happily-ever-after of sorts for them. But in true LOST form, it was controversial and not entirely happy. I love that Jack and Kate found the love together that they deserved. I love that it proved them to be so epic. I really liked how the finale came back around to the fact that this is a show that originally and again in the end is about the characters above all else. They lost sight of this along the way in the middle, sacrificed for mythology, but it's what the audience fell in love with, why the show was really special to so many. I really loved how all the couples matched up. That almost hearkened back to Jane Austen's style, so I really appreciated the symmetry of pairing everyone up again in the end. Is the sideways, purgatory world my favorite idea? Not really. A tragic ending doesn't make them better. I would have liked Jack and Kate to be able to live their lives together, to finally experience true love and the unconditional qualities of love that they came to feel for each other so deeply. I wanted them to have time together in this life. And in fact, I can't think about what really happened for too long at one time because it fills me with such an overwhelming, sweeping sense of loss and sadness that I can't handle it. So I make up my own final ending. One in which Jack and Kate were the skeletons in the cave, which is just how I always saw it and felt would be very poetic. Because they never left. Jack stayed to lead, but he wasn't fatally wounded and didn't die. And Kate stayed with him. And they were unbelievably, inexpressibly happy. They lived a full life. They weren't trapped on the island, but chose to stay there. I always felt that there was never really anything off island for them to go back to. Even though they gained friends and family, it was poignant to me in the fanfic episode "Something Nice Back Home" that the real world slowly poisoned them. I don't think that would happen the second time around, obviously circumstances were different, there was no weighing secret, no unfinished business, but still. I find it poetic that the island comes full circle with Jack and Kate, the leader and his right hand, the doctor and the fugitive, the match that maybe never should have worked but magically did, the love story that has stood for everything I believed about love and that will forever eclipse other love stories I may come to find because of its powerful redemption and real connection between two imperfect souls who could only find completion in meeting by chance, crashing into each other, changing each other forever. And thus altering six years of my life that, because I became invested in Jack and Kate's relationship and became part of such a wonderful online community of Jaters, shaped me into an entirely different person than I would have otherwise been.
Suddenly I was sad that I hadn't followed along, one last time. That I allowed myself to drop out of weekly chat, thorough discussion, and what had become my way of life with the show and the online experience for so many years. I've felt distant for the last few years, but now I had come to the realization that I would no longer be able to really do any of these things. So I marathoned the show in the weekend of the finale. That was about 18 hours of LOST in a final burst of obsession and the last new batch of episodes we'd ever get.
So, the series finale. In a show where I've literally experienced roller coasters of emotion, from happy and addicted to sad to angry to apathetic, I didn't think I had anything left. But long before the end of the show I was crying my eyes out, which I just didn't think I was capable of anymore when it came to LOST. But it's like one of the first Jack and Kate scenes in the series finale (that I really liked, by the way) when Jack is saying that the island is all he has left of his life that he hasn't ruined, and Kate says, "You haven't ruined anything. Nothing is irreversible." I'm not that forgiving of the show - it has ruined a lot, actually - but I was able to go into this final episode, even after everything, and appreciate it for what it was and ultimately really remember why I have loved Jack/Kate.
I have since reflected that my favorite thing about Jack and Kate is the strong redemptive element to their relationship. Once they meet, their pasts as far as the other one is concerned are completed erased, wiped clean. Like Jack tells Kate in probably my favorite Jack moment, "It doesn't matter, Kate, who we were - what we did before this, before the crash. It doesn't really-3 days ago we all died. We should all be able to start over." Kate's never heard this before. She's always been defined by her past. And in return, she allows him to lead. She doesn't question him. He has always held the world on his shoulders, not measuring up to his father's expectations, failing at marriage, not even feeling like a successful surgeon because of Christian's constant criticism. But Kate tells him, "If you weren't here, Jack...." I go back to these early moments because I saw glimpses of this Jack and Kate in the final episode. Jack, still leading. Kate, still following his direction.
And now... WE WERE RIGHT!!!!!!! I feel like shouting this, not just because it deserves to be said, not just because I've never in over a decade of fandom seen a fan base as vile and vicious as the geese Skaters, but because in the past three years, I really, honestly began to doubt that we'd ever receive the acknowledgment that it really was Jack and Kate from the beginning and it's them in the end. So this episode was a huge vindication on that front alone. I celebrated that. Because while the writers and producers decided to sway back and forth and ruin their lead female character by making her a pawn in the triangle, we always knew the truth. There was a moment during the cliff scene as Jack and Kate kissed and said "I love you," and again after the concert when Kate helps Jack remember, when I felt this gust of relief. Because I knew, we had it right all along.
And just like Jack and Kate's tabula rasa, I was able to come into this final episode with a nostalgic feeling of peace and good-bye. I felt everything for them again that I had once experienced, which I wasn't expecting but was supremely grateful for. Even better than this for me, perhaps, was that I saw the real Kate again. I found it very appropriate that her moment of remembrance in the sideways flashes was when she's delivering Claire's baby. That was such a significant moment the first time around, one that really defined Kate as well as showed her true, underlying character, and it was so nice to see that Kate again. The Kate who would not give up digging Jack out of the cave-in when everyone else had; she digs for him again in a way when she gently helps him remember his past, helps him remember her. I love that as Jack's flashing and remembering, the one constant that keeps appearing in his memories are his moments with Kate. The kiss, probably the most beautiful moment of all. The impact they have on one another really can't be held in a certain time or space. They are everywhere, inside each of them. Time also can't diminish what they feel for each other. I adore when Kate says, voice breaking, "I missed you so much." Nothing has lessened; it's all as strong as it ever was. I really loved that scene most of all because it showed how strong, how intense the connection between Jack and Kate really is. And I also really liked how Jack and Kate were the last couple to reunite in the sideways world. It's like they are the pinnacle, and I've always felt like their relationship was a small, perfect representation of the themes of the show as a whole: loss and redemption and human connection. And Jack and Kate had to wait for each other before they were ready to move on. That was essential.
And finally, the cliff scene. I felt like, whereas the garden scene at the concert was very intimate though powerful, that the cliff scene was epic. It became instantly classic as it aired. Jack is above all else, noble and selfless, which once again shows how wrong everyone was who bashed him as selfish and controlling, and Kate still follows Jack's lead. It's tragic, but it's so epic that I couldn't help but love it completely. And as twisted as this show's theories on time are, it will really be only a blink of an eye before she absolutely will see him again. Of course, there are also the little moments at the end that were lovely and really satisfying. The way she smiles at him with all of the incredible love that he never really got from anyone else, like he's the only person in the world and with arguably an even darker history that Jack's, for Kate he really is her world. And knowing that they still feel that way about each other no matter how much time passes continues to speak to the strength of this relationship despite everything. The little things like how they're sitting in the front pew alone, so close, immediately lost in each other. It was a nice tribute and a good send-off.
The episode itself is incredibly bittersweet. I will always love the end because it finally gave us what we'd been waiting for in terms of Jack and Kate and a happily-ever-after of sorts for them. But in true LOST form, it was controversial and not entirely happy. I love that Jack and Kate found the love together that they deserved. I love that it proved them to be so epic. I really liked how the finale came back around to the fact that this is a show that originally and again in the end is about the characters above all else. They lost sight of this along the way in the middle, sacrificed for mythology, but it's what the audience fell in love with, why the show was really special to so many. I really loved how all the couples matched up. That almost hearkened back to Jane Austen's style, so I really appreciated the symmetry of pairing everyone up again in the end. Is the sideways, purgatory world my favorite idea? Not really. A tragic ending doesn't make them better. I would have liked Jack and Kate to be able to live their lives together, to finally experience true love and the unconditional qualities of love that they came to feel for each other so deeply. I wanted them to have time together in this life. And in fact, I can't think about what really happened for too long at one time because it fills me with such an overwhelming, sweeping sense of loss and sadness that I can't handle it. So I make up my own final ending. One in which Jack and Kate were the skeletons in the cave, which is just how I always saw it and felt would be very poetic. Because they never left. Jack stayed to lead, but he wasn't fatally wounded and didn't die. And Kate stayed with him. And they were unbelievably, inexpressibly happy. They lived a full life. They weren't trapped on the island, but chose to stay there. I always felt that there was never really anything off island for them to go back to. Even though they gained friends and family, it was poignant to me in the fanfic episode "Something Nice Back Home" that the real world slowly poisoned them. I don't think that would happen the second time around, obviously circumstances were different, there was no weighing secret, no unfinished business, but still. I find it poetic that the island comes full circle with Jack and Kate, the leader and his right hand, the doctor and the fugitive, the match that maybe never should have worked but magically did, the love story that has stood for everything I believed about love and that will forever eclipse other love stories I may come to find because of its powerful redemption and real connection between two imperfect souls who could only find completion in meeting by chance, crashing into each other, changing each other forever. And thus altering six years of my life that, because I became invested in Jack and Kate's relationship and became part of such a wonderful online community of Jaters, shaped me into an entirely different person than I would have otherwise been.