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.
i don’t know what to think. the only reason a lot of the questions were brought out was to keep our interest. the creators had no intention of answering some of the big things. true the show was all about the characters, but why did the creators throw some things out there if they weren’t going to explain them? a lot of it was unnecessary. looking at the ending, there was no need for a magical island, no need for anyone to have special powers, no need for a smoke monster, no need for rules to the island, and no… Read more »
Worst episode ever.
It was clear they died I think when the bomb went off cause if you remember Richard said it ” I watched them all die.” When would he had been able to see them “all ” die?
No.
Listen to what Jack’s father said again… They didnt all die at once, but they are all dead in the sense that everyone dies.
Richard saying things like “This is hell” and “everyone of you is dead” were just red herrings.
I was disappointed in the finale. Didn’t make much sense to me. Like alot of people said, it didn’t answer alot of simple questions. The end proves the writers have no imagination afterall. Bummer!
I personally had mixed feelings about the finale, while it did provide a great ending for the charters, it didn’t help explain anything at all. But I guess on some level, that is what the series has been all about, If you do want to have some more incite about the episode, you can check out this site, http://yovia.com/blogs/zackawii/2010/05/24/lost-series-finale-spoilery/?gcid=1677
The end left me with unanswered questions and feeling a bit cheated, especially after watching the 2 hours before when everyone was raving about how beautifull, satisfying, ad nauseum it was. IT WAS NOT. It was hokem, veiled in tear invoking heart tugs, ie Kate/Jack, Sawyer/Juliet, etc. It was nice to see Charlie, they killed him way too early. But what was up with Desmond and Penny being at the church. The 2 of them were not on the island. I don’t recall Penny even getting there. Her hateful father made sure of that. Anyway, there were way too many… Read more »
“……………………everyone was raving about how beautifull, satisfying, ad nauseum it was” I totally agree. Listening to people going on like that makes me think either they work for ABC or came into LOST somewhere in season 6. The ONLY emotions the finale held for me were anger and disgust. By the time it was over and I realized that Lindelof & Cuse were really doing this I wanted to throw up. If there was any beauty or satisfaction to this episode I couldn’t see it thru the hundreds of curtains of incomplete plotlines obscuring my view. Had they delivered on… Read more »
Will people please quit bringing up Walt? They have explained a million times about him, and I am tired of people choosing that as a sticking point for them to be upset about some part of the show. The kid was 11 playing an 8 year old. Obviously, he hit puberty and there was no way for the show to show how an 8 year old would grow that much in a couple of years. Bad planning…sure…but not that big of a deal.
It is a big deal.
Walt was a major plot device and some form of finality should have been brought. There are plenty of ways (especially in a sci-fi show) to get around his appearance.
Also, had Walts total lack of impact or follow thru been the exception rather than the rule I doubt that many people would be talking about him……………..
As an episode of a tv show – ANY tv show, it was pretty good … but as the last and FINAL episode of a show that riddled us with mysteries aplenty … it was severely lacking. I am a writer myself and I loved that I never thought I could easily write better than any of the episodes … until ‘Across the Sea.’
‘What They Died For’ re-established my faith only to have it shattered by
‘The End.’
Thank you Damon and Carlton … you both suck.
Honestly, I think the writers muffed it big time. They had three years, 48+ tv ‘hours’ in which to bring the story to a conclusion. But rather than answer the real questions they had raised — where did the island come from, who were these various groups of people Jacob kept gathering, what was the Dharma Initiative really trying to do, why were pregnant women dying — they decided to basically throw out that entire framework in the last season and start a new story with a bunch of mystical mumbo jumbo. And within the -new- story they did answer… Read more »
I watched all of lost in 3 weeks time period and I agree that the last bit could have been a standalone show in and of itself.
I don’t know why they decided to ignore the whole first part, but I feel like I could have just watched the first episode and the last season and that could have been a show.
After sitting up most of the night ‘replaying’ the final episode in my mind, and then waking up to a more complete sense of the message and the characters’ experiences, I agree with mikeedee’s interpretation — and it was basically what I had worked out for myself after staring at my bedroom ceiling for 3 hours(!) but it continues to bring a clarity – and consistency – to what I saw and how to interpret it. In the end, it was really mostly about those main characters that we had grown so attached to; I agree that the details of… Read more »
Point taken about the fuzzy lines between Jacob’s ‘good’ and his brother’s ‘evil’. Jacob wasn’t particularly pleasant to Ben in the temple under the statue and the lifetime’s worth of growing frustration Ben had built up because he wasn’t entrusted by Jacob with any of the island’s secrets (“What about me?”; “What about you?”) eventually got the better of him and he snapped. Jacob and his brother’s upbringing from the woman who killed their real mother (again, unexplained) could I suppose have been influential in the inherent flaws of their respective characters. Just look at us! Discussing the possibilities, so… Read more »
@mikeedee: I think some people are looking for concrete answers to every question and are frustrated that the finale didn’t give them. Ultimately, I think they answered the important ones.
It seems to me that when the writers started working on this season that they did not know how to wrap up the story. So instead of answering the questions about what the island was, where it came from, the Dharma initiative, etc. they just came up with the “flash-sideways” and created new questions that they could answer.
I find it hard to comprehend the comments which suggest that this finale was not sophisticated enough for the Lost audience. In my opinion the finale was true art and as the actors stated before it aired it was beautiful. The show was always about the characters, none of the mysteries and questions that everyone is demanding should have been resolved would have even been shown without the characters. The main plot line on the island was resolved, Man in Black died and Hurley became the new Jacob. Desmond got home to his family and Claire back to Aaron. What… Read more »
AMEN Jenny!! I loved the art of the episode how it truly was about the characters and not of the schematics of the island or time travel. While these questions are yes important to answer, the entire show was ALWAYS based around the intricacies of the characters and their love and connection with each other.
Wonderful post, though I feel like the Dharma initiative DID impact the end… it was what brought interest in the island, showed just how significant that light was in a scientific manner, it also was how Sawyer and Juliet found each other.
After following the entire season avidly from start to finish I simply had to stay up to watch the finale. Even pre-warned that not every answer box was going to be ticked I had faith that the creators of the show would not sell us out. Looking at some of the comments a few seem to think that they did. I can’t help but wonder if they were watching the same show as me? Here’s my interpretation of the end, which may change slightly once I look at it again but the bones of it shouldn’t budge too far. The… Read more »
My take on it was a bit different. 3 different “realities” all lead to the same place, ultimately. 1st Reality) All died in the original crash in the world we currently know. 2nd Reality) Their souls are somewhere between life and death, between physical and supernatural. aka The Island, escape from the island, and the return to the island. 3rd Reality) What might have been if the plane had never crashed. aka “Sideways reality” Either way, their souls find each other because they are connected and are intended to “move on” together. Their previous lives were designed to give them… Read more »
As a prefessional writer, I can tell you that in cases where you paint yourself into a corner, you have no class if you just shluff explanations. Even fantasy has to be based on some kind of theory, existinf or invented. These producers offered up garbage,
‘As a prefessional writer, I can tell you that in cases where you paint yourself into a corner, you have no class if you just shluff explanations. Even fantasy has to be based on some kind of theory, existinf or invented. These producers offered up garbage’…………………… You say that you are a professional writer; I don’t wish to appear rude but I would have difficulty in getting past a first paragraph of one of your works if it was written like this. Please check your spelling, and explain what you mean when you use a metaphor, ‘paint yourself into a… Read more »
I think garbage was fair……
A rose by any other name……………………………………..