Lost

[Meds]

Ok.. I have been watching lost (have been buying the seasons one by one) and I'm only half way through season 4. But I watched like.. an hour and a half of the finale tonight (like from an hour in, until the end).. and I think I understood most of it and everything, and I cried a whole lot..
but...

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Did they all die?

 

[Abstract Debauchery]

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YES, THEY FUCKING DID. Apparently, so did Hurley and Ben, despite being alive on the island. Also, the whole damn episode answered shit for questions, raised more questions, and left you with the hugest piece of religious propaganda ever.

YES, I'M MAD.

 

[Meds]

Mmm..
Well like I said I'm still really only half way through the 4th season, so I don't really have any idea

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what Jack was trying to achieve there near the end, with that light and all that, (and it's ok I'm not asking for any explanations it'll come together as I continue to watch), but personally the finale didn't make me mad. I loved seeing charlie again, for one. He was always my favourite character. And that Hurley was like the new guardian of the island or whatever, that was quite pleasant, he's a good fellow.. and as for the religious propaganda.. I thought that was kind of heartwarming. Idunno, like, I'm not bothered that they were all dead at the end, I just wasn't sure. But I do also believe in God and everything so maybe that's why there's a difference of feeling there (people in my boat see death as the beginning not the end) lol

But really overall from what I saw I quite enjoyed it. It had me very emotional and I really liked that.

 

[Valvalis]

I'm very frustrated that the

Spoiler

flash sideways ended up being an "afterlife" rather than an unaffiliated alternate dimension I think their realization that the bomb had worked would've been much more significant if they hadn't died but had still coincidentally ended up in the same place. And I HATED that Ben didn't take the water bottle and become the protector of the island He and Hurley have no backstory together whatsoever, so there was absolutely no significance to the introduction of a bonding scenario for them If Ben and Jack had both stayed, at least Jack had saved Ben's life and they'd exchanged a lot of philosophical words back and forth here and there, so it would've been amazing to see them ending up working together for the island. And Ben and Desmond had that confrontation in which Ben had been trying to kill Penny--if the two of them had stayed to protect the island, that would've been huge. And Hurley didn't really have any emotional connection to the island, unlike Jack, who felt drawn to it even after he'd left All in all I'm glad that Jack played a significant role, but I didn't like how everyone just accepted their fate and were all smiles at the end. I would've really at least liked to see the other characters' reactions to the realization that they'd all died and were about to move on to the next world or whatever And I'm pissed that Sayid ended up back with Shannon--they have less chemistry than an English textbook

One thing I did like, however, was that

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Richard and Frank were still alive When I saw Frank again, I literally threw my hands up in the air and screamed like a little girl I hated that he didn't get a proper goodbye on the sub, so this made me really happy as I tend to prefer non-lead characters most of the time and hate when they get snubbed for time's sake.

 

[Dionysos]

Spoiler

YES, THEY FUCKING DID. Apparently, so did Hurley and Ben, despite being alive on the island. Also, the whole damn episode answered shit for questions, raised more questions, and left you with the hugest piece of religious propaganda ever.

YES, I'M MAD.

It was always going to be

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religious

. The names of the

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characters and the many biblical references, and also the increasing importance of faith over science in the last season

could only end that way I think.

As for

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"did they all die?". Yes, as Christian Shepard said everyone dies eventually, and some died LONG after Jack

.

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Hurley and Ben we can imagine were alive on the island for several hundred, maybe thousands of years as the new guardians of the light, but eventually they too died just like Jacob did, and just like Mother did, and whoever was the guardian before her

. We can imagine that

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Bernard and Rose survived on the island for a bit too, along with Vincent

.

The

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flash sideways timeline was a complete fabrication, and was either heaven or a place in between. It was a place for all of the characters to live until they could all be together again and pass on. That it was Christian to say all of that was quite powerful in my opinion

.

As for unanswered questions, it is a shame and I am slightly annoyed, but if they had attempted to explain EVERYTHING in the last two and a half hours then it would have been a massive wreck. I'd have liked to have known more about the

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Egyptian civilisation there, or the Graeco-Roman civilisation

, but I guess that we just have to leave that for fan-fiction or just think about them. We can just imagine that

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many people had discovered the island over the ages, and that the real importance was not to be found in the people who had been on the island, but the light at the heart of the island, and who should protect it

.

I think I quite liked the ending. I wasn't so keen on the idea of

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the flash sideways timeline replacing the old one

, so I'm glad that it didn't, and that it wasn't even a

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flash sideways timeline after all

. In a way I am glad that it was

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an afterlife as it was far too pretty, and too much of a coincidence that everyone was living those lives in the sideways timeline. That they all kept bumping into each other was a bit too much, even for Lost, if it was to be an alternate reality. So it makes more sense that it turned out to be an afterlife

.

I'm also glad that

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some people got away

. We can imagine that

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Sawyer and Kate perhaps rekindled their relationship, Claire was reunited with Aaron, Miles and Lapidus got to live their lives, and also that Richard Alpert has a shot at living a semi-normal life again, and now that he is mortal he can spend the rest of his days out there in the real world

.

So I'm quite happy with the finale. It could have been a lot worse. There are still many questions, but there always were going to be.




EDIT:

Spoiler

And I HATED that Ben didn't take the water bottle and become the protector of the island He and Hurley have no backstory together whatsoever, so there was absolutely no significance to the introduction of a bonding scenario for them If Ben and Jack had both stayed, at least Jack had saved Ben's life and they'd exchanged a lot of philosophical words back and forth here and there, so it would've been amazing to see them ending up working together for the island. And Ben and Desmond had that confrontation in which Ben had been trying to kill Penny--if the two of them had stayed to protect the island, that would've been huge. And Hurley didn't really have any emotional connection to the island, unlike Jack, who felt drawn to it even after he'd left

Hurley may not have had a

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huge connection with the island, but he always had more of one than he thought. For starters he could speak to the dead, and he is one of the only characters to have had a personal relationship with Jacob through this ability. He was also troubled back at home, and had gone back into the Santa Rosa institute. At least on the island he knew that he wasn't insane. There is also the 'Hurley Bird' from Season 2 (I think). A bird that said Hurley's name, or at least that Hurley believed that it did. This might have been foreshadowing Hurley's importance to the island, but I'm not sure.

As for Hurley and Ben, I guess we didn't really see a relationship between them, but I think it sort of works. Ben had to stay really as he loved the island far too much. I'm glad that he and Hurley teamed up in the end

.

 

[HighwindPilot]

I find it funny to see complaints about religious aspects of Lost when they've been in the series for so long. I mean, for goodness' sake, the season 1 finale was entitled "Exodus" and had our mains traveling on a raft together.

It shouldn't matter though, because it acts as more of an inspiration for the show's ideas--

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such as the "after life"

--rather than an authority over the show's plot or some type of newsfeed for which Lost is used as a median. The show doesn't require religious beliefs in order for you to enjoy it, because even if you take the Bible as just "a bunch of stories", then you simply interpret these particular elements of Lost as inspired by previous stories. After all, you don't have to believe that The Force actually exists to enjoy its place in Star Wars.

So to get caught up in something like that, or even whether or not every little question you have is impossibly answered, is a bit silly, because it distracts from the grand picture and the message(s) it had.

Having said that, I thought the Lost finale was excellent, and I watched it with the same expectant eyes that everyone else surely had - the type that the show warranted for itself by maintaining such consistently high quality throughout the series.

For one,

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I thought they tied together the parallel "arcs" very well, and thought they timed it just as well. Because of how they were handled together, you felt such a complex mixture of emotions. For instance, you were grieved at the sight of watching Jack's sacrifice for the island, yet you felt comforted in knowing that he would soon be reunited with everyone in the "alt life". And even as it was revealed that everyone in that place was, in fact, dead - you were alleviated of the sorrow in knowing that they all had each other.

That's part of what I think a lot of this was about:

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the idea of having loved ones around you who help shape your life for the better and provide you peace in order to successfully move on to the next place. One could point to episodes like "The Constant" as examples of this theme in play. These people, in more ways in one, validated each other. And in giving one another something or someone to hold on to and remember as an inspiration, they were relieved of particular hang ups and troubles in their lives and were made better people by it. Ultimately, this precious entity they became for one another throughout their journey on the island allowed them to properly "move on".

In the end,

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Jacob was right. They needed the island as much as the island needed them.

And with that in mind, I liked what they did

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with the island. I would have liked to know more about the cave's light and what it means if it is or isn't there, but they explored it enough to let us understand the consequence of it all. Additionally, the smoke monster is gone, which means that it no longer has to act as a cork for the evil to spread. And lastly, I thought Ben and Hurley were appropriate caretakers of the island. If not Jack, Hurley always seemed like the obvious choice for the protector simply because he was a good person full of good intentions. He was a surprisingly sound leader, and he would have never had the confirmation he did if it weren't for the island. Ben, meanwhile, got to be the special person he always wanted to, in being assigned such a heavy task for the island as the assistant to the number one.

All in all, I was very moved by it, and it will go down in my book as a pleasing finale.

 

[FinalHeart]

Spoiler

YES, THEY FUCKING DID. Apparently, so did Hurley and Ben, despite being alive on the island. Also, the whole damn episode answered shit for questions, raised more questions, and left you with the hugest piece of religious propaganda ever.

YES, I'M MAD.

If you were expecting the show to finish with all the answers tied up in a bow and neatly handed to you, you're watching the wrong show. Also...

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Christian explained that they all died, some before, some later, and met at the church when they were ready to move on. Therefore... of course Hurley and Ben died as they aren't gods.

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Answered shit for questions? What about explaining what the WHOLE FLASH-SIDEWAYS WAS ABOUT. Also, why Desmond was needed for the light. Why both Jack and the MiB needed Desmond to kill the other and destroy the island, respectively. Who Jack's ex-wife is in the flash-sideways. Etc. While I see what you mean for "raised more questions", that's where interpretation comes in.

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I'd hardly call it religious propaganda. If it was, they would've supported a specific religion which, while they did tend to use Catholicism as a reference, they really didn't. I mean, this realm where they "move on" into exists in many religions, and "moving on" was basically the whole point of the show.

 

[Abstract Debauchery]

If you were expecting the show to finish with all the answers tied up in a bow and neatly handed to you, you're watching the wrong show. Also...

That doesn't justify leaving so many things up in the air unexplained.

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Christian explained that they all died, some before, some later, and met at the church when they were ready to move on. Therefore... of course Hurley and Ben died as they aren't gods.

Jacob was apparently immortal (unless killed), why not Hurley? Some sort of explanation on how they died would have been great.

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Answered shit for questions? What about explaining what the WHOLE FLASH-SIDEWAYS WAS ABOUT. Also, why Desmond was needed for the light. Why both Jack and the MiB needed Desmond to kill the other and destroy the island, respectively. Who Jack's ex-wife is in the flash-sideways. Etc. While I see what you mean for "raised more questions", that's where interpretation comes in.

What are the numbers? What was the cabin? What was the voice in the cabin? Why could Locke hear it when Ben couldn't? Why could Hurley see said cabin? Whose eye was looking out of the window when Hurley looked in? When you throw someone into the light, why does it create smoke monsters? Why did Jakob feel the need to protect the light, when it obviously needed to go off in order to kill smokey? (seems kind of contradictory.) Why was this particular island special?

It answers questions that were raised mostly in this season, but answers people have been waiting for for years, were never answered.

To be honest, the flash sideways being purgatory (essentially) to me, felt like a cop out.

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I'd hardly call it religious propaganda. If it was, they would've supported a specific religion which, while they did tend to use Catholicism as a reference, they really didn't. I mean, this realm where they "move on" into exists in many religions, and "moving on" was basically the whole point of the show.

I suppose I could give you that. Though, I'm still not happy about it, at all.

EDIT: Also, character development wise, it was great. Answering questions that have been up in the air for years wise... FAIL.

 

[charliepanayi]

Yeah, but I find some questions are much more fun unanswered.

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As for the episode, I enjoyed it on the whole, especially the final 20 minutes or so which were very strong (and what better way to finish). I think the decision to concentrate on character rather than try and answer questions was the right one. As they say, what matters is the journey.

And I also agree with whoever cheered Frank's re-appearance. I was so pleased to see Miles and Frank survive. Plus I agree with whoever said what a rubbish couple Sayid and Shannon were. Thank god for Claire and Charlie to provide a reminder of how sweet they were.

 

[The Witch]

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Limbo...they were all in Limbo...

Weird that's it over, I must say. My mum's been watching since the beginning and I gotta say, she always knew

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they were all dead and in Limbo

 

[Dionysos]

Jacob was apparently immortal (unless killed), why not Hurley? Some sort of explanation on how they died would have been great.

I think we have to assume that

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Hurley and Ben became immortal too... Immortal for a while at least. The guardians of the light, from our knowledge, have never lived forever. Jacob had only been guardian for a few thousand years, and then he was killed. Mother was guardian before Jacob, but she too was killed, and I don't think there was anything to suggest that she was the first guardian of the light. I can imagine that Hurley and Ben guarded the light for a while, but eventually died as even the guardians die at some point as someone somewhere will eventually find a way to kill them

.

What are the numbers? What was the cabin? What was the voice in the cabin? Why could Locke hear it when Ben couldn't? Why could Hurley see said cabin? Whose eye was looking out of the window when Hurley looked in? When you throw someone into the light, why does it create smoke monsters? Why did Jakob feel the need to protect the light, when it obviously needed to go off in order to kill smokey? (seems kind of contradictory.) Why was this particular island special?

Some of those questions could be answered by the viewer, even though they were never explicitly explained to us in the show itself.

I think that the

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cabin was originally meant to be a dwelling place for Jacob so that he was nearer to the Dharma Initiative (since it was built by Horace). I'm not sure about how often he actually went there though. Jacob didn't want to be seen by people generally, so that is probably why only a few people knew he existed for real. I think we only really ever see the Smoke Monster in there, in the guise of Christian Shepard, and that is after the ash circle has been broken which allows him to enter it. At least I think so

.

It answers questions that were raised mostly in this season, but answers people have been waiting for for years, were never answered.

It answered a lot of the main ones. For the others they have left it for us to decide ourselves what we think. I like this in a way as it still engages the audience and theories can still be created even though the show is over.

Some of the questions from the first few seasons (such as

Spoiler

'Adam and Eve', the purpose of Desmond, Alpert's age etc

) were all answered. They were pretty big questions which we wanted answers for for a very long time.

To be honest, the flash sideways being purgatory (essentially) to me, felt like a cop out.

I don't know... I guess it depends on personal preferences and what people wanted out of the show. For me it worked. I wasn't as keen on the

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sideways timeline being created and people going about their lives unaware of their lives on the island

. To me, when I saw the first episode of Season 6, I felt that the

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sideways timeline idea

was a bit of a cop out. I played along though, and just wanted to see how it turned out as I trusted them. Luckily, for me at least, I wasn't disappointed by what the

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sideways timeline

actually meant.

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Limbo...they were all in Limbo...

Weird that's it over, I must say. My mum's been watching since the beginning and I gotta say, she always knew

Spoiler

they were all dead and in Limbo

Well there was a group of people that believed this since the first season, but they were all wrong really. The island itself was

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real and was not limbo

, but the

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sideways timeline

which was introduced to us in the final season,

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that was limbo

.

 

[HighwindPilot]

Jacob was apparently immortal (unless killed), why not Hurley? Some sort of explanation on how they died would have been great.

Err,

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Jacob was immortal so long as he maintained his role as the island's protector (with murder being the exception to this). That was illustrated and/or explained in Across the Sea and What They Died For, and I'm sure a few other episodes as well. Once Hurley and Ben relieved the role as island protectors, they would be capable of dying. Thus, no explanation needed - they were able to die naturally upon giving up their roles.

What are the numbers?

I'm pretty sure Orientation and a few other episodes covered this.

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The numbers were at the foundation of the Dharma Initiative, and they represented an apocalyptic equation that depicted the end of human existence. Dharma was created to alter these numbers (in other words, help prevent the extinction), and then used them for all of their codes and such, which is why they were all over the island.

[uote]What was the cabin?[/quote]
It was

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built by Horace Goodspeed of Dharma prior to the purge, later used by Jacob. This was shown in Cabin Fever when Locke "met" Horace.

What was the voice in the cabin?

This was believed to be

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Jacob screwing with Locke, as Ben suggested when he said, "That's enough. You've had your fun."

Why could Locke hear it when Ben couldn't?

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Had Jacob not always been selective about his audience? Isn't this why Ben got jealous, initially?

When you throw someone into the light, why does it create smoke monsters?

Well that

Spoiler

doesn't necessarily happen, does it? Desmond went in it, and Jack was caught in it, yet neither underwent a change.

Why did Jakob feel the need to protect the light, when it obviously needed to go off in order to kill smokey? (seems kind of contradictory.)

Spoiler

How was it "obviously" needed to kill off the smoke monster? It wasn't really obvious if both Jack and he were startled when this became possible. What Jacob knew was that the light needed protecting from man, as his "mother" explained to him in Across The Sea. She explained what it was, why it couldn't go out, and why humans were a threat to that, which meant that it needed a protector.

Why was this particular island special?

Simply because

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that light (and apparently much more, based on the potential destruction based on its absence) was at the heart of it.

Now, if any of the answers provided (by the show, as I hardly touched on any of it) just lead to more questions, then that just illustrates a fundamental problem that the writers had to deal with, and they used characters

Spoiler

(like Jacob's "mother")

to address this problem. Every question answered will just lead to more questions, and at some point, they need to just worry about the fundamentals. If they do episode upon episode answering a web of questions that some of these things have, then that's just bad writing.

I've come to find that most of the questions people ask have already been answered by the show.

I still see tons of people asking about the polar bear when that was already explained.

I can't tell if it's because people wish there were more to the answer or what, but the show has certainly provided answers to most of their questions, while other things simply weren't important enough to give explanation to in the first place.

 

[Abstract Debauchery]

I'm pretty sure Orientation and a few other episodes covered this.

Spoiler

The numbers were at the foundation of the Dharma Initiative, and they represented an apocalyptic equation that depicted the end of human existence. Dharma was created to alter these numbers (in other words, help prevent the extinction), and then used them for all of their codes and such, which is why they were all over the island.

Personally, I would have loved to see the equation that led to it. Also, why did the numbers have such a huge impact on Hurley's life?

It was

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built by Horace Goodspeed of Dharma prior to the purge, later used by Jacob. This was shown in Cabin Fever when Locke "met" Horace.

That much I knew. However, I want to know why it can move, and what the circle of ash was for.

This was believed to be

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Jacob screwing with Locke, as Ben suggested when he said, "That's enough. You've had your fun."

The second voice that said "Help me". Obviously that wasn't Ben, the facial expression and his angry reaction went to show it. The voice could have belonged to Jacob, but why would Jacob need help?

Well that

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doesn't necessarily happen, does it? Desmond went in it, and Jack was caught in it, yet neither underwent a change.

However, it happened once. Why?

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How was it "obviously" needed to kill off the smoke monster? It wasn't really obvious if both Jack and he were startled when this became possible. What Jacob knew was that the light needed protecting from man, as his "mother" explained to him in Across The Sea. She explained what it was, why it couldn't go out, and why humans were a threat to that, which meant that it needed a protector.

It was turned off, and suddenly, smokey was able to be hurt. Therefore, it's kind of obvious to the viewer at that point that it needed to be off to kill Smokey. Also, once again, why did it produce smokey?


Simply because

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that light (and apparently much more, based on the potential destruction based on its absence) was at the heart of it.

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Now, if any of the answers provided (by the show, as I hardly touched on any of it) just lead to more questions, then that just illustrates a fundamental problem that the writers had to deal with, and they used characters

Spoiler

(like Jacob's "mother")

to address this problem. Every question answered will just lead to more questions, and at some point, they need to just worry about the fundamentals. If they do episode upon episode answering a web of questions that some of these things have, then that's just bad writing.

It's also bad writing to not answer a huge abundance of questions that were brought up 5 seasons ago. We have fan made theories, but what we don't have are actual answers to quite a few questions.

I've come to find that most of the questions people ask have already been answered by the show.

Involving the characters, yes. Involving the island... Not so much.

I still see tons of people asking about the polar bear when that was already explained.

Luckily, I'm not one of them.

I can't tell if it's because people wish there were more to the answer or what, but the show has certainly provided answers to most of their questions, while other things simply weren't important enough to give explanation to in the first place.

If you personally believe that it's enough, great. However, I don't. The ending left me unsatisfied, and left a lot of my questions unanswered. And I know that I'm not the only one that thinks that. However, with the series being over, I can't expect anything television front.

Though, I can hope for a book to answer a lot of questions. However, I know that if I was writing something, I wouldn't write a story, introduce a bunch of different elements that gives my audience questions, and then sit back and not answer more than half, and cop out on originality for the soul purpose of it being too hard to explain.

All in all, I'm simply not satisfied.

EDIT: I do believe Lost to be a great series, even though they didn't answer questions I wanted answered, I would have been satisfied with a better ending. Then ending, personally, I just didn't like at all.

It was beautifully shot, mind you, but I find that I just don't like it.

 

[Dionysos]

That much I knew. However, I want to know why it can move, and what the circle of ash was for.

It was to

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keep the Smoke Monster out. The Smoke Monster could not pass through the circle of ash, which is something that the guys at the temple used against him as well

.

why would Jacob need help?

Because he knew that he was going to

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be killed by Smokey. That said, it doesn't sound like Jacob to be crying for help as he was content with his death

.

However, it happened once. Why?

I think it was because

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Smokey was immortal, touched by Mother, and was essentially thrown down there in such a violent fashion. Jack at the time of entering the pool of light was mortal, as he had passed on his powers to Hurley. It might also be that the light saw the darkness in Smokey, and tried to fight it and toss it all out, creating the Smoke Monster

.

It's also bad writing to not answer a huge abundance of questions that were brought up 5 seasons ago. We have fan made theories, but what we don't have are actual answers to quite a few questions.

Really, I'm glad they didn't attempt to explain everything. Thinking about our own theories gives us something to do now, and it would have been a car crash and wouldn't have flowed as nicely as it did if they had have taken the approach of explaining everything in turn, taking time out to say "and then this was this, and that was that" for every little thing. It would have just been a silly ending.

 

[Marshy]

Wow. Disappointing ending. I was really expecting something more to happen. So what i took from the final episode was...

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everyone in the alternate storyline is actually dead. they all needed eachother to move on so thats where why they all got together so that could finally happen.
Some people still wish to believe the island is purgatory or that they all died in the crash. I don't see how it could happen. It's clear through what characters said that they lived their lives on the island and when they all died, they all met in the alt. Jacks dad said that they all lived there lives and they came out to this moment.

Anyways, i didn't mind the episode, i guess what im saying was i was expecting more from it. I wanted more of a closure.

Also! I was quite upset Mr.Eko turned down appearing in the finale.. he was my favourite character but now, the actor anyways, is a jerk. He asked for 5x the price they were offering. Disappointed.

 

[HighwindPilot]

That much I knew. However, I want to know why it

Spoiler

can move, and what the circle of ash was for.

The

Spoiler

circle of ash is a protective means against the Smoke Monster - we saw that time and time again. So then that would be on you, as the viewer, not the show's writing.

As for the "how" that's sure to come: They never provided us a canonical answer. What we do know, however, is that Jacob, as the island's keep, had his own rules as to what could and couldn't happen. Thus, we can presume this was another factor.

And how could it move? Again pointing to Jacob. If he could make it so that the source of light was only seen by those he wished to see it, then there's no reason to believe he couldn't do this with the cabin.

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The second voice that said "Help me".

Obviously that wasn't Ben, the facial expression and his angry reaction went to show it. The voice could have belonged to Jacob, but why would Jacob need help?

I said that

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Ben was the one who told Jacob to stop playing around, not that it was his voice that asked for "help". But regarding that, Jacob needed help with several things. Primarily, he needed to find a replacement, and secondly, he needed The Black Smoke in check. Locke was initially his most prominant candidate.

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It was turned off, and suddenly, smokey was able to be hurt.

Therefore, it's kind of obvious to the viewer at that point that

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it needed to be off to kill Smokey. Also, once again, why did it produce smokey?

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Your attitude here is funny. Yes, it's obvious to the viewer at that point (once we saw it happening), but that does not mean that it was obvious any time prior to its actual occurence - not to the viewers, and not entirely to Jack (who actually gambled with MiB on what would happen).

That being said, I retract my prior statement that Jacob didn't know, as I overlooked that this is the very reason why he had Desmond brought back to the island. He could survive the electromagnetism, and thus, could remove the stone from the hole to temporarily drain the light, which enabled the MiB to be killed. If he summoned Desmond for his ability, then it must've been something that he could not do himself.

As for why or how it produced the smoke monster, who knows? Use your imagination. What we do know is that the light/place was supposed to be the physical manifestation of life, death, and rebirth, and we have that to play around with.

It's also bad writing to not answer a huge abundance of questions that were brought up 5 seasons ago. We have fan made theories, but what we don't have are actual answers to quite a few questions.

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Lol. We, as the audience, give meaning to what we see and hear unless it is firmly established (and even then, some create multiple interpretations of the same source). The writers did not intend to spoon feed us everything, and they left us to interpret particular things as we chose to. If you're really gonna be hung up on something from five seasons ago, even if it doesn't seem to hold any real bearing on the present, then that's because you're choosing to do so. Sometimes, admittedly, it's because of what the writers do with it (IE the numbers), and sometimes it's simply putting one's own meaning into an object of the show. In any case, it's hardly bad writing to make you think and interpret things on your own.

Anyway, I'm not refuting the fact that the finale was a disappointment for you, as that's obviously how YOU felt. I'm just pointing out that the show does, in fact, answer many of the questions the fans think it doesn't, and that the writers' goals in answering question could not extend so far as to distract from the larger purpose of everything, which could easily happen with the seemingly endless questions the material can provoke.

I'd recommend "The LOST Experience" and material alike by the way. I don't have any of it myself, nor am I really interested, but it addresses things like the Valenzetti equation to the numbers that you're so interested in.

 

[SaShman]

Well there was a group of people that believed this since the first season, but they were all wrong really. The island itself was

Spoiler

real and was not limbo

, but the

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sideways timeline

which was introduced to us in the final season,

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that was limbo

.

I agree on the point about the

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island being real and I think it is largely implied in the final scene when Jack is lying on the ground and he dies.

Now I had several problems with the finale. Because it was more so a finale for season six rather than a finale for the entire series. It seemed like the main focus of the episode was to explain the side flashes rather than the actual show itself.

I wasn't expecting answers to everything and I was expecting some ambiguity. For example I felt that while I was watching the season six, I no longer needed to know what the island specifically was because I already knew enough about it to understand its significance. Kind of like life, no one knows it's meaning but we still understand the significance of birth, death etc.. hmmm maybe that's what the show was on about in the first place

However what did bug me was the fact that they left important things unanswered which could have been answered without jeopardizing the overall ambiguity of the show.

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For example, what ever happened to Walt? His kidnapping was one of the more puzzling things for me and the fact that he seemed different when he reappeared a few seasons ago suggested he had some sort of significance. I was half expecting him to show up when Vincent ran up to Jack at the end, but no.

Another thing that annoyed me is

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just how easily the smoke monster was killed. I mean we found out that the main purpose of the main characters was actually to protect the island from this thing and the thing is defeated far too easily. The main conflict which rested in the background for the entire show was resolved in an incredibly anti-climactic way.

 

[Dionysos]

I wasn't expecting answers to everything and I was expecting some ambiguity. For example I felt that while I was watching the season six, I no longer needed to know what the island specifically was because I already knew enough about it to understand its significance. Kind of like life, no one knows it's meaning but we still understand the significance of birth, death etc.. hmmm maybe that's what the show was on about in the first place

I think it was. I also think that the show largely equipped us with enough clues to figure out what has happened with most of the unanswered questions. We just have to play the detective now and work it out for ourselves. That sounds as if it sucks, but really Lost was always about doing that. Part of being a fan of Lost was working out theories. Luckily we can still do that.

We just have to watch it all again with new eyes, pick up on other details and put things together.

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For example, what ever happened to Walt? His kidnapping was one of the more puzzling things for me and the fact that he seemed different when he reappeared a few seasons ago suggested he had some sort of significance. I was half expecting him to show up when Vincent ran up to Jack at the end, but no.

The problem with Walt was that he (the actor) aged. The show was running for six years, and Walt grew from being a boy to quite a way into his teenage years. It just wasn't possible to bring him in for the finale and explain what happened with him. The

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entire fascination with children wasn't explained in full, but it could just be that Jacob was protecting them as they were possible candidates, or just that he was interested in extraordinary individuals in general. Just like how Jacob and the MiB were both interested in Desmond, there might have been a similar interest in Walt as he also seemed special in some way

.

Another thing that annoyed me is

Spoiler

just how easily the smoke monster was killed. I mean we found out that the main purpose of the main characters was actually to protect the island from this thing and the thing is defeated far too easily. The main conflict which rested in the background for the entire show was resolved in an incredibly anti-climactic way.

That annoyed me slightly too, as soon as I saw him

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get kicked off the cliff. I'd hoped that he'd turn into his smoke form and chase people. Thinking about it though it was about as much that they could do with him. It's not a superhero movie (though Jack's super-punch as he ran towards him might suggest otherwise ), so fight scenes were never a big thing in Lost. They also had to work with the fact that Smokey had to be mortal (in order to die) and therefore he couldn't turn into the black smoke either. He was trapped in Locke's physical form and, though Locke was very healthy for his age, it was inevitable that he would lose, if not against Jack then against Sawyer, Kate and the others

.

I don't think they could have made the fight any longer as that would take up a lot of time, and it would have meant making the finale even longer, or leaving significant parts out.

 

[SaShman]

The problem with Walt was that he (the actor) aged.

Yeah that makes sense. But how long did the characters supposedly live on the Island again? It was at least a couple of years. Plus

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there is the whole point with the random time skipping and traveling back to the 70's which confused the time line further.

I think the writers could've explained it somehow if they did decide to bring Walt back.

I don't think they could have made the fight any longer as that would take up a lot of time, and it would have meant making the finale even longer, or leaving significant parts out.

The thing is though that the whole episode seemed rather stretched out, In my opinion some scenes seemed longer than they needed to be and they could've done a lot more with two hours.

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I would have settled for less of Jack struggling to save Desmond and replug the light pond thing if it meant seeing smokey put up a better fight.

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Thinking about it though it was about as much that they could do with him. It's not a superhero movie (though Jack's super-punch as he ran towards him might suggest otherwise ), so fight scenes were never a big thing in Lost. They also had to work with the fact that Smokey had to be mortal (in order to die) and therefore he couldn't turn into the black smoke either.

.

While I agree with the point that lost is not an action show and the point

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that smokey was mortal at that point. I still would've liked maybe an attempt from him to turn into smoke for dramatic effect or something along those lines.

I don't know, I just think the scene could've been better than it was.

 

[charliepanayi]

A few more random thoughts (in addition to what I said before)

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Pros
- Miles and Frank survive!
- Pretty much anything involving Frank. Some say he was a bit of a dick in the episode, but it was hilarious seeing him chuck away the walkie talkie etc
- Hurley is as absurdly loveable as ever
- Jack's dialogue exchanges with Fake Locke
- Fake Locke telling Jack he seemed too obvious a choice, it's always funny when the show pretty much mirrors what my sister and I have said.
- Nice level of self-awareness at times
- Shakycam and boulders rolling around!
- Once last chance to see Sun
- Having Hurley and Ben remain as a new Jacob and Richard. Ben had one of the best character arcs (or zig zags anyway) through the series. On a side note, was it implied with his first grey hair that Richard would now age normally and die normally?
- Christian and Jack at the end

Cons
- I expected a little more from a final showdown between Fake Locke and Jack (or whoever), he was bumped off a bit too easily! It was a shame Whidmore was such a red herring really, he could have been a formidable villain.
- It seemed a shame to have no Michael and Walt in the church at the end. But I guess off-show wrangles didn't help there. And I guess Michael had already moved on when he spoke to Hurley earlier in the series.
- Sayid and Shannon are such a rubbish unlikely couple. Thanks to the finale for reminding me!
- One brief shot of the survivors on the plane as it flew away might have been nice.

And on a final note, all those damn couples in the church at the end. Are they trying to make single viewers feel bad? XD

So a finale not quite in the class of Six Feet Under or Blackadder Goes Forth, but I found it satisfying all the same.