Tonight we bid adieu to Lost after six seasons on the air. The series finale had a lot to live up to and, without question, it wasn’t going to please everyone.
The producers have long said that the series was about the people. The title referred to their place in life and, through their experience, they grew and changed. In the end, all of our Losties (and many of their loved ones) are all together again, bound by the most important time in their lives — their time on the island.
In looking at the immediate reaction, it seems that many people feel cheated. I think it stems from (I believe) the misconception that the characters were dead the whole time.
We were told that the Losties were not dead and not in purgatory and they weren’t. Their experience on the island was real. They were all dead by the end of the show, in the church — a place they all created so that they could reunite once they had each passed away. As Christian told his son, some of them died before Jack did (on the island) and some died after.
What did you think of the series finale of Lost? Satisfying or upsetting? Love it or hate it? How does this one rank against other series finales?
UPDATE: If you were confused by the final images, blame ABC.
Lost had the worst ending in television show history. Regardless of when the characters actually died, many of the mysteries of the story that the viewers were waiting to be answered were not and the lame ending was used as a cop out and proves that the writers themselves didn’t ever have a clue at all. Totally sucked and ruined a good show.
Lost is the greatest TV series of all time hands down, Its a shame many people were either not sharp enough or too lazy to understand its EPIC conclusion. Those that blindly believe the unanswered questions myth are sheep, they hide behind this fallacy to protect their ego’s, as they don’t want to accept they didn’t “get it”.
I saw the whole thing differently. The sideways world was another universe/ another life and they awoke to remember the original universe. everything was real. They aren’t dead. Juliet said it worked when she stuck the bomb to prevent the plane (815) from crashing. It did work but split the universe. They needed to remember their other selves so they can let go and move on with this life. A gift you can say from the Island for helping it and saving it.
I watched the series and I did get the ending but, I felt that the series was building up to something that it did not deliver. I watched it with my best- friend. he and I both felt that instead of a great ending, it instead petered out. He seems to believe that the disk set will have an alternate series finale ending scene, I know that that is not true.
I loved the series, but not the way it ended.
Some interesting points..especially about Claire’s baby. Elaine is an easy answer, though. She missed out on the relationship with Charles and her son in the real life, so she doesn’t want it to end in sideways world.
Oh, and Richard called it hell because he couldn’t explain what it was. For all he knew, it was hell, but in the end, the island was a real island with supernatural elements.
i dont know what to think of the ending. I want to know what happend to Kate, Sawyer, Clare, Richard. Did clare get to see her son agian was kate still part of the babys life did sawyer ever get to meet his daughter. did richard ever get to be human again and why was richard not in the end of the show is he still not dead these things are what confussed me. as well as why did they make juliet jack ex and why did they have a son and would that not make the two of them… Read more »
I agree with you about Jack and Juliet, as well as your other comments. If the sideways world in season 6 is all after death, and was a place the losties had created to reunite, does that mean Juliet and Jack somehow had their son after they died and had previously created all this “after death dream world” while they were on the island? Where did he come from? How could Claire have her son after death as well as on the island? Didn’t Richard say in season 6, while still on the island, that they were in hell? And… Read more »
I’m kind of indifferent, even though I’ll never warm up to the idea of playing a weepy series of musical cues essentially set to a bunch of slo-mo shots as an acceptable way to close out a show.
this show lived up to its name (lost) when it lost me.
I didn’t feel cheated because I thought the LOSTies were dead the whole time. I felt cheated because I’ve been waiting since 2004 for a revelation with respect to the mysteries the show introduced. I’m not just talking about the sci-fi/fantasy stuff either. There were mysteries that involved the characters. E.g., there were several connections between the characters in their “pre-crash” lives (besides the obvious which also didn’t seem to be highly prioritized by the writers – Jacob picking them). I thought, back in Season 1, that the success of the show (not financially obviously but artistically) would ride on… Read more »
For those like me, really interested in the plot instead of the charaters alone, I understand how disappointed you must feel! It’s fine if character fucused viewers liked it, I enjoyed it myself at the emotional level, but there is no chance I can be satisfied. What were the writters thinking? All the beautiful & challenging mysteries of the island were deliberately managed to keep us hooked, and that would’ve been ok if by the end we got the long waited answers… unfortunately that was not the case. I had faith in the series, CC & DL until the end,… Read more »
I think you are right on in your comments. The finale was very moving emotionally, a few answers were given, the characters were well-played and all, but i still feel “tricked” and missing alot and have not been able to reconcile what i used to love about the show with how it ended. I still feel left empty and cheated by realizing there will never be an answer to a myriad of things i had waited six seasons to discover. There really needed to be several more episodes to explain things satisfactorily to bring closure to not just the characters… Read more »
If you thought this story was about answers, you didn’t get it. I am glad I was on the side of the audience that got it, and enjoyed it. Seems like such a sad waste of time for the people who missed the whole point. Sad.
You can judge a person’s intellect far more accurately by their ability to accept and admit that something is or was not all it was presented to be without having to fall back on a weak excuse like “you didn’t get it”.
I am not sure why the people who fell for the cop-out seem to think that the rest of us somehow “didn’t get it”. I get it……… I just think it was a disgusting farce that was disrespectful to me as a viewer and lacked any true creativity. I feel exactly the opposite. I feel sad for the sheep-like people who are so closed minded and incapable of thought that they just simply accept whatever is handed to them as long as it is wrapped in pretty paper…….. I am glad I am on the side of the audience that… Read more »
Unprejudiced……………..you gave the best words im exactly with you
basically this is it. they made it all up as they went along, then realised they had to find an ending ,they were well out off there depths and a bit thick so copped out with a very sad and quite frankily school kid essay ending, hope they only get sitcoms from now on, cos i for one will not watch any of there bad thought out stories again
Really? Because if you rewatch the series knowing how everything turns out, you wouldn’t say that. If you understood that the major themes are life and death, light and dark, faith and science – this would be the exact right finale.
Absolutely. The sci-fi elements of the show were cool and all, but, for me, the show was always about the things you listed, especially ‘man of science, man of faith’. They stay true to those themes throughout the show.
Maybe the show outgrew its ending, but that was always JJ’s ending. Damon and Carlton said it over and over again that they always knew the final scene, it was just a matter of when they finally got there if they deserved it or not… I personally think they did.
Ive had a day to reflect the day before an exam (perfect) and I watched it thinking it was the best show and episode of tv ive ever seen I cried at the end loved every scene (especially locke and jack fight and the last scene) im tore up a bit inside about just how great it was. What I can’t do is get closure theress a few things like what was the point in chasing Locke after he was mortal and what would have happened if it would have stayed uncorked and why Jakc had to stay. To me… Read more »
@ollie: The cork had to be replaced because the island (and perhaps the world) was being destroyed without it in place. When the cork was pulled, Jack and Man in Black were able to hurt one another and Man in Black was mortal. If Man in Black was still alive when the cork was replaced, I’m betting he wouldn’t be mortal any longer. Jack had to stay because he took Jacob’s place. He passed the job to Hurley and then sacrificed himself to recork the hole. If you recall, we didn’t see him climb out of the cave, he was… Read more »