Lost: The Final Review

After multiple years, multiple storylines, multiple plot twists, and thousands upon thousands of mysteries thrown about, the cult hit Lost has come to a conclusion. This television show was easily one of the most frustrating and demanding moments in the history of television, because of the sheer amount of details and the sheer amount of material presented. What started as just a plane crash turned into an emotional sci-fi roller coaster full of twists, turns, births, deaths, revelations, redemptions, and themes about fate, destiny, love, and the good ol’ battle between science and faith. Overall, the show revolves around life against death, and evil vs. good. This wasn’t your typical drama; it was an extremely deep show that required extensive background knowledge about literature, religion, and symbolism. This ADD society was not prepared for such a show, and that was (partially) why the ratings were dropping on a yearly basis

Whatever the reason, Disney decided to cut down the show into a sixth season and none further. Whether the writers will admit this or not, the show required at least ten seasons before everything was to be explained and examined. The first two seasons created so many questions, it was virtually impossible to answer them without sacrificing the heart of the show: character development and character interaction. This is why (in my opinion) science doesn’t blend well with faith, leading to one of the big conflicts in the show. With science, in a cold, calculated manner, presents you with facts and statements about why things are the way that they are. The sky is blue because of reflected light, something about the sun, yadda yadda yadda. With faith however, not everything has to be explained, you leave it all up to a force or greater power to explain why we live, why we breathe, and why we are here. God created the skies, He created them blue. With faith, more heart and more emotion is poured into the answers (they usually generally explain that someone upstairs really loves you).

This is where the show splits into two: we have the scientific fanbase that wants to know why the island is the way that it is, and why it does the things that it does; and then we have those more into the characters, more into the decisions and life choices made by them. Those that want answers are not as obliged to spend an episode learning about Jack’s inability to recover from post-Island life. They want to know the 5 Ws of the island, even though if those were answered they would lead to more questions.

Were the writers written into a corner? In some ways yes, but for the most part they clearly knew what they were going to do with the show. Basically, they knew the beginning and end destinations—they just hadn’t figured out the journey, the way to get from Point A to Point B. If you look back to the early seasons, they match cleverly well with the later revelations (just look at the smoke monster for example). Lost is hands-down, the biggest and baddest example of using Macguffins up the ying yang to advance the story. Macguffins are plot devices that are never truly explained, but advance the story and motivate the characters within the story.

Hitchcock was the originator and master of this film element. The best Macguffin in film history for example is the briefcase in Pulp Fiction; it never quite explains the contents inside it, but with the dialogue and acting you can tell it was something special, and extremely vital. The island is basically a Macguffin, a quite colossal one. Explaining all the mannerisms of the island would require two seasons within itself. The writers instead wanted each individual viewer to interpret the reason why the island is such a peculiar work of nature. One would scream cop-out, but seeing that Lost is the most detailed show in decades, we can’t quite come to that conclusion. Not with all the literary and mythological references throughout the multiple seasons. The explanation of the island was simple: it was a device that keeps the Devil-like character from escaping into the world. Very simple explanation, and while it doesn’t explain the behaviors, it does advance the television show as a whole. And, it still matches the basic theme of good against evil.

And now we come to the final episode, which is probably why you are reading this. What did the bitter critic think of the series finale of the television show he invested years upon? The answer is simple: the ending was spectacular. We will never truly get all the answers, this is impossible. They dug a hole so deep there’s no way of getting out, and also reality gets in the way (actors not wanting to return, kids growing up). However, the writers patched up the hole so beautifully, we can (and in my opinion should) pretty much forgive them for almost all the loose ends, and I admit, there are plenty. But sometimes, its best just to leave the mysteries.

Part of the appeal of Lost was all the mysteries, all the curious circumstances and moments. Lost is about characters and us viewers being lost in a world they (we) can’t quite comprehend or explain. If you explain a mystery, it loses its aura, it basically becomes a question-and-answer statement. Lost’s aura of the unknown is what kept it from being your average character-driven-ensemble-cast show. We became just like Jack, Sayid, Sawyer, and the others. But the producers were hoping we would finish just like the characters did: not getting all the answers but learning the important lessons along the way. Lost taught us to love, taught us to forgive, to forget, to move on, and to never judge upon first glance. By the end they didn’t figure out the island, but they figured out that the key to true happiness is by sticking together, by forgiving each other, and by letting go and moving on. That’s exactly what they all did, and they all met the kingdom of “heaven” towards the end. And we the viewers can discuss all the loose ends for months on end.

Lost was not about the destination, it was never about the 5 Ws and the How. Otherwise, it would have been a lengthy mini-series. Surely, there would be more explanations and more loose ends disappearing, but we wouldn’t have the epic character-driven moments that Lost became well-known for. If Lost were an answer-driven miniseries, then we wouldn’t have the tiny touching character moments like Desmond calling Penny in The Constant, like Jin and Sun meeting their unfortunate end a few episodes ago, or Richard re-uniting (not long) with his wife who had died. We would never have seen Jin’s reaction when he finally sees pictures of his child, when Hurley says good-bye to Libby, or when Ben loses his daughter in front of his eyes. Last, but definitely not least, if the writers had gone the path of just showing the mysteries and explaining them, then the epic episode Walkabout (one of the best episodes of any show in history) would never have occurred.

Now, this is not to say I saw the ending coming. My personal theory for the sideways-timeline was that while the plane never crashed and the island supposedly went down, the events of 2004 would eventually lead to 2007. Made sense, right? My idea for the ending would be that everyone does escape the Island and moves on, except for Fake Locke and Jack, whom become the new Jacob and MIB. I also thought that MIB and Jacon = Cain and Abel. All were wrong, but coming up with theories and attempted answers was just some of the fun of Lost. Everyone had their awesome theories, and the ambiguous nature of Lost allowed for all these theories to thrive.

My only gripes: Sayid and Shannon (Eh, not that great a couple), No Michael (although technically he wasn’t that close to the core group), No Eko (although that’s the actor’s fault), and no final realization as to whether or not Charles Whittmore was good or evil. Besides that, I don’t think they could have ended the finale any better---but I was one more focused on the characters rather than the extensive little details and mysteries hounding us for years.

Bottom Line: Lost ended in an amazing manner, despite all the griping around the internet about the lack of answers. It didn’t matter how much they could answer in that final episode, we were not ever going to get the full picture, it just was not possible. This was a show that could have been ranked even higher among the greats given a little bit more time. No matter what kind of writer you are, there’s no way you can cram thousands of years of history involving a supernatural island into just six seasons. Impossible. Nonetheless, the resolution amongst all the characters that had seen and suffered so much, could not be any better. That final scene, those final moments, could bring tears to the coldest of hearts. If you had not followed the show, then you are missing out on some great writing, great acting, and all-around great television.

Lost, you will be missed, long after the finale.

The End.