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Films on the to-do list

  • Armageddon Time
  • Black Widow
  • Chimes at Midnight
  • The Killing of a Sacred Deer
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  • Thor: Love and Thunder
  • Spy Guys

The End of Lost… and we’re still lost

The final episode ever of Lost was shown around the world at the same time. For us in the UK, it meant it started at five in the morning on Sky1. We, sensibly, had set the DVR and opted for sleep and watched it as we came home from work instead. And now we that we’ve seen it…

Initial reactions: Much ado about nothing.

Two and a half hours to finish off six years of endless questions getting constantly mindfucked to high heaven and what do we get in return? Bloody NOTHING!

If you’re holding out to watch the ending, you might want to stop reading just about here, because this rant will include spoilers.

Okay then. Read on at your own peril.

WTH!!

The only explanation we got was what the alternate universe thing going on in the last series was. Oh, yes, and if Kate would choose Jack or Sawyer, but we knew that one already. The Egyptian statue? No. What the light was? No. Why Jacob’s brother turned into the Smoke Monster? No. Who Jacob and his brother actually were, aside from twins growing up with an adoptive mother? Where the polar bear came from and how it was connected to Walt’s comic? No. What exactly Widmore wanted with the island? No, unless you count the flimsy “to harness the electromagnetic power for his own devious purposes” explanation, which personally I don’t. Why Desmond could time travel and was immune to the electromagnetism? No. What those numbers actually meant? No. The countdown clock in the hatch, or for that matter, the quarantine thing? No. (We never found out why those symbols were there or why it had to be that exact time, only that there would be a huge electromagnetic shockwave thing if you didn’t keep it up.) What that life-bringing pool in the temple was? No. And so on and so forth. SO MANY QUESTIONS and the only answer we get is “well, they were alive on the island and the ‘they never crashed Oceanic 815’ scenario in series six, well, that’s just the afterlife.” They nicked the ending from Titanic!

When the adoptive mum passed on the buck to Jacob, she chanted some kind of incantation over the drinking vessel, and Jacob did this in turn when passing it on to Jack. Jack passing it on to Hugo? Nothing. Why didn’t he do the chanty-chanty bit? Just drinking water doesn’t seem too magical, to be fair.

There were missing characters – where were Chesty in the church? Analucia? That lush Other guy who had an affair with Juliette back in the day? (Godfrey? Something with a G.) Michael and Walt? Richard and his wife? If it’s going to be some sort of big reunion, why weren’t everyone invited? Or was that what they meant with “almost everyone” gathering in the church? The others weren’t ready to move on or something?

They were in a church, but in the room with the coffin, the stained glass window had symbols from all the major religions. Nice most-inclusive touch. I don’t say all-inclusive because then it would’ve needed to be a much bigger window, but it got the five big ‘uns and Taoism. Perhaps because if it had just been Christian symbols and with Jack being a Shepherd and all – actually, I had the same reaction as Kate when I realised Jack’s dead father was called “Christian Shepherd”. Duhh.

But aside from the cop-out of not actually answering anything about the island whatsoever, how was the episode? ‘S awight. The reunions were very touching. Just seeing everyone reunite with their loved ones and when they started remembering, it was pretty spectacular. I had totally forgotten Sayid had something brewing with what’s-her-face (Boon’s annoying sister)! It seemed like series one was a lifetime ago, and I guess that’s an apt description, because for the characters, it actually was a lifetime ago. Had I watched it on my own, I would’ve been welling up time and time again, i.e. every time a long Lost couple had a sort of “love at first sight” thing going on.

That Hugo ended up being the “New Jacob” I really liked. He just seemed like the guy who would look after the island and do a great job, so when Jack said “I’ll do it”, I was disappointed. Fake-Locke’s “that’s a bit obvious, don’t you think?” was spot on. Of course it was obvious! That Ben ended up being Hugo’s right hand man, okay, that’s a new one, but an interesting one. You never quite know where you have that Ben Linus.

Jack’s death scene – nice full circle thing, as he woke up in the jungle to begin with. Him closing his eyes on dying – actually, when your muscles relax, wouldn’t your eyelids be open? What I really did like was bringing the dog back into play. He’s been gone for a few series now, but he was still there, living with Rose and Bernard (awesome couple), and the way he laid down next to Jack I found extremely touching. He was keeping Jack company during his passing – something a lot of animals have been said to do. Incredibly spiritual people, animals, so well done there.

There were speculations from series one that they were all dead and the island was some sort of afterlife. Well, I guess it was true when they said it wasn’t, because they were all alive on the island … just the alternate universe thing that was the afterlife. Some died while on the island, some didn’t. We don’t get to know what happened to the guys who left on the plane, and what they spent the rest of their lives doing – or if they perhaps crashed somewhere and died while trying to get away.

Series one was awesome – one of the best shows ever made. Series two, started getting a bit too weird. After series three, I wondered how the hell they’d manage to drag it out yet another season. But they did, and it started picking back up. Then it’s mainly been “well, I have to watch it to find out what happens” rather than “I have to watch it because I love the show and I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” – and the final series? Had to be watched because it was the final series. They could’ve cut the whole thing short a few seasons ago and we wouldn’t have been any sorrier for it. I feel let down. They promised answers, but they didn’t deliver.

For comparison: when The X-Files went haywire and Mulder left and it all got terribly dull – they turned it around in the end. Mulder returned, order was restored, the final series was pretty nifty and the final double episode didn’t leave me frustrated and wish I hadn’t bothered investing all that time following the show. While it didn’t explain everything or give a “and they lived happily ever after” epilogue, the end of The X-Files did what it was supposed to do – wrap things up in a neat and tidy way, not trying to sweep half the show under the carpet and hope no one would notice. While it can be argued that show also went on for longer than it should have, at least they had the decency to give us a proper ending.

Come to think of it, 24 is also coming to its conclusion soon. I wonder how that’ll pan out. Or actually, not really. I followed Lost, I’ve never really followed 24, and from what I understand that show to be, it’s a lot more straightforward. 24 doesn’t seem to be in the business of asking questions or playing mindgames with the audience. Lucky for them. So was “The End” a fitting end to the saga that was Lost? Yeah, whatever. We have the first series on DVD. Might watch that at some point. As for the rest of the show – meh. Glad it’s finally over.

Traxy

An easily distracted and over-excited introvert who never learns to go to bed at a reasonable time. Enjoys traveling (when there's not a plague on), and taking photos of European architecture. Cares for cats, good coffee and Boardwalk Empire. A child of her time, she did media studies in school and still can't decide what she wants to be when she grows up.

4 thoughts on “The End of Lost… and we’re still lost

  1. I’ve never watched Lost, and even though I could go back and start with the season 1 DVDs now I seriously doubt I’ll ever bother. I have too many other shows I’m invested in, know what I mean?

  2. You’re making me glad that I didn’t watch Lost all these years. I saw all of season 1 and most of season 2 and then just the odd episode after that.

    JJ Abrams can be so frustrating! He writes the best stuff and reels you in and then he veers off in such an unsatisfying way! I found that with Alias – couldn’t wait to see how the plot would develop and was disappointed most of the time. I don’t know how someone can write such imaginative plots that fall flat 🙁

  3. NOPE. You and I will have to agree to disagree on that one. I loved it.

    As my favorite TWOP recapper said…
    “This was fan service, but I mean that in the highest sense, rather than in its lowest and common sense. One thing I’ve always wanted, and one thing I’ve understood about other fans, is that we came for the mystery, but we stayed for the characters. “The End” was perfectly, wonderfully, unapologetically sentimental, and character-driven in every way I’d ever hoped. There were elements that didn’t make sense — or at least don’t make sense while the show’s wake is still the motion in my ocean. There were things I would have changed. There were things I could have/would have skipped and yet? I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.”

  4. @Charleybrown: You’ve not missed anything. It was good in those days, then it got confused. The only bits I’ve seen of “Alias” are some bits from season… 1? Namely, the episodes where Ken Olin did a cameo as a guy in prison. o:) Rachel Nichols is in season 5 so I’m a bit curious to see that but other than that… can’t really say as I haven’t watched it.

    @Ruth: Indeed, that’s why I’m a bit careful with which shows I get into nowadays!

    @Bee: *giggle* Well, wouldn’t it be boring if we agreed ALL the time instead of just most of? 😉 From a character perspective, it was a good episode. Great, even. From a plot perspective, not so much. Read a comment somewhere about character-driven vs mystery-driven and how the writers thought they were writing a character-driven show, when in fact they weren’t, because the characters as such aren’t actually all that interesting – they’re just interesting because of the situations they end up in! I just thought it was frustrating not to get any questions answered. It was like the epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: all cutesey-wutsey and full circle and look, they’ve got kids aww but with answering questions, it failed massively. :/

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