the end of LOST

Well, LOST is really over.



That's it. There will never be another show like this. Ever.



I should just throw away my TV right now because nothing will ever live up to the legacy of LOST.


Okay, let's cut the crap and talk about the finale.


*

It begins with a beautiful montage of the characters in both Timeline B and on the island, accompanied by some emblematic LOST music. This serves as an extended 'Previously on LOST' segement, reminding the viewers where we been and where we're going.



Christian Shepherd's coffin is being transported while Jack studies some x-rays (of John Locke, probably). Ben Linus is making tea with a broken arm; Detective James Ford looks meaningfully into a broken mirror; Kate sits in Desmond's car, confused.



Jack washes his hands in the river, and stares deeply into his hands, reflecting on the thought that this will be his last morning alive. Ben nervously loads bullets into a gun while UnLocke watches him (those bullets could be important later), and Hurley, Sawyer and Kate sit sadly at their makeshift camp and anticipate the treacherous events to come.

The first dialogue is between Desmond and the guy driving Christian's body around; Des tells him to take it around back, and then gets in the car with Kate. She asks "Who died?" and Desmond smiles to himself. (Knowing that they are all, technically, "dead.") Desmonds tells her it was a guy named Christian, and later she asks Desmond, "What do you want?" He says he wants "to leave."


At this point, the audience has no idea what Desmond is talking about. Leave and go where? We assume he means "go back to the original timeline." Very clever writing throughout the finale. I can't wait to go back and re-watch season 6 and see if the entire flash-sideways is full of these little hints.


On the island, Jack is standing knee-deep in the river, again reflecting on his imminent death, when Sawyer approaches and asks him how it feels to be the new Jacob. Jack explains to the crew about "the heart of the island," and Sawyer goes off to find Desmond.


Hurley (also aware of what Timeline B really is) drives Sayid to the same hotel where Sayid and Hurley went in season 5, after Sayid busted Hurley out of the mental hospital. Sayid still doesn't get it. Hurley says "Stay here" and Sayid says "What if I don't?" Hurley says "That's your choice, but if you stick with me ... you'll be happy you did." (Heaven hint #2)


Hurley goes upstairs and knocks on Charlie's door. Hurley is super happy to see him, even though they don't know each other in this "timeline," but when Charlie doesn't respond as positively Hurley shoots him with a tranquillizer gun. Hurley says going to the concert will be the best thing you've ever done. That's hint #3.


Hurley brings them both to the concert, where Sayid is spotted by Miles, who calls Sawyer, who heads off to the hospital to make sure Sun is okay.


Sun wakes up at the hospital, and a doctor comes in to check on the baby. And ... it's Juliet! Yay! She performs the ultrasound, and Sun and Jin "wake up" and remember their past lives, and their deaths, and everything. Suddenly, they both speak English. This is a beautiful, beautiful scene. I got some pretty heavy goose bumps. And the best part is, now they won't have to deal with Sun's horrible dad.



(Oh, another hint about the Flash-Sideways being Purgatory - before the wake-up, Jin says to Sun "If everything's okay, we can leave soon." And Sun gets all wide-eyed and says "Leave?")


Random note: Juliet's last name is Carlson, which was her maiden name in the original timeline before she married that Burke guy who got hit by a bus. So presumably, in Timeline P (for Purgatory), she married Jack, they got divorced, and she took her old name back.



*
Back on the island, Sawyer finds the bad guys, elbows Ben in the face, takes the gun, and leaves. Locke tells Ben about his plan to sink the island and sneak away on a boat. Ben isn't very excited. The Locke says one of the best lines of the night: "I think there was a dog here."

Desmond wakes up in Rose and Bernard's camp (!) and they exchange pleasantries until Flocke arrives and threatens to kill both of them if Desmond doesn't do what he wants. That Smoke Monster is an effective negotiator. So Desmond leaves with Locke, and we're left to assume that Rose and Bernard live out the remainder of their happy lives together, on the island.

Miles discovers Richard, who is still alive (!) and they head towards the plane, still hell-bent on blowing something up. I have no clue how Richard didn't die; I guess the monster can't kill him according to 'the rules.' At the docks Miles notices Richard's first gray hair, implying that now that Jacob is dead, Richard can finally age, implying that in the years to come following the end of the episode, Richard eventually died, somewhere off the island. Thank goodness. But I wonder why we never saw him in the Flash-Sideways. Or as it should more correctly be called, the Flash-Upwards.


Hey I just realized, it was the producers themselves who first starting using the term "flash-sideways" back when it was first introduced. So they're the ones who led us to believe that these were some kind of parallel timelines. What a bunch of rascals.



As Doctor Jack prepares to operate on John Locke, he tells him: "There's always the chance that I could kill you." Great juxtaposition. And heaven hint #5, "See you on the other side."


Back on the island, Sawyer catches up with the gang, and tells them about Flocke's plans. Jack is all cool and collected, and says "We're all headed to the same place anyway." Giddyup.

As Miles and Richard paddle along, they encounter Frank (!!) who amazingly is still alive. At first I was annoyed, but it was necessary to keep Frank alive so that somebody could fly the plane. No answers on the whole outrigger shootout issuse, but I'm not going to bitch and moan about it, as much as I want to. Part of the beauty of this finale was that a lot of things were left unanswered, leaving the audience with the freedom to theorize and guess and discuss LOST long after it ends. Because that's the best part of LOST, and always was. Getting direct answers is great, but discussing possible theories is even better. Just because the show is over doesn't mean that can't still go on.


The next scene is just remarkable. Just fantastic.



Locke, Ben and Desmond walk out of the jungle into a clearing, and are met head-on by Jack, Sawyer, Hurley and Kate. Like the moron that she is, Kate grabs the gun from Sawyer and fires pointlessly at Locke. Doesn't she know anything?! He tells her to save her bullets, which gives her the perfect one-liner for later in the episode.


Locke walks right up to Jack and they have an awesome conversation, which culminates with Jack giving the best line of the night, and probably the best Matthew Fox performance ever.


Jack: You think you're going to destroy the island. But that's not what's gonna happen.
BSM: Then what's gonna happen Jack?
Jack: I'm going to kill you.
(BSM looks pissed, every one else looks around like 'WTF?')
BSM: How do you plan to do that?
Jack: It's a surprise.


This was without a doubt the best line of Jack's 113 episode career.


Minutes later in the Afterlife, it is revealed that Juliet is the mother of Jack's son, and then as she's leaving the hospital she walks right by Detective Sawyer without a clue that he is her freaking soulmate! AhhhH! Come on!


Sawyer pays a visit to the Kwons, who recognize him from their previous lives and are happy to see him. I like the way Jin calls him "Detective" like he's so proud of him. Sawyer says "Guess you'll be checking out soon" - heaven hint #6 - and the Kwons reply "See you there." (Hint #7) Sawyer's like, "Okay you freaks."


Uh, just one small problem ... I'm pretty sure Sun and Jin left the hospital WITHOUT their baby. Hmm ...


On the island, as Jack, Flocke and the rest of the group walk towards the Source, something beautiful happens. We see a shimmering light from above the patch of bamboo, where Jack first woke up in the opening seconds of LOST, and realize two things, neither of which are imperative, but both of which are really cool.


1) Jack woke up from the plane crash smack-dab in the middle of the source!
2) Remember when Daniel Faraday was looking up at the trees and said "The light doesn't scatter right." Now we understand why.

Locke determines that only Jack and Desmond should come along towards the Source, and right as they depart Hurley runs up to Jack and says "Jack! I believe in you dude."


I'm not sure why but that line struck me as much more deep and beautiful and poetic than was probably intended. I doubt that in seasons past anyone really believed in Jack, if they were being honest. Jack is finally the leader and the man that he always thought he was. He used to act like a leader; now he actually is a leader.


As Locke prepares to lower Desmond into the River of Shiny Light, Des starts babbling to Jack what seems like nonsense about "none of this matters" and "going some place else, where we can be with the ones we love." This is a clear and obvious hint (#7) about the Purgatory World, but we the audience mis-interpreted it as a reference to some parallel timeline. Jack says that there are no do-overs or shortcuts. He's right. But there is an afterlife.



As Locke and Jack lower Desmond into the Source, the scene is fabulously reminiscent of the end of Season 1 when Jack and Locke looked down into the Hatch. Flocke even makes reference to that occurence, and Jack says "You disrespect him by wearing his face." Whoa. Great line Jack. He continues to piss off the Smoke Monster, knowing that the Monster can't do a thing about it. I just LOVE Jack in this entire episode. All the things that he ever wanted to be - brave, wise, compassionate, inspirational - he finally is.

The fade-out shot of Jack and Locke at the edge of the waterfall is just epic. There's really no other word for it. I don't know anything about film or cinematography, but I know that this scene was beautiful beyond words.



Over on Hydra Island, Frank, Richard, and Miles encounter crazy Claire who threatens to shoot them, gets all sad about something, and starts pouting, blah blah blah, it's the finale we don't have time to waste on Claire's emotional fluxuations.


*
Back in Timeline P, Hurley brings Sayid to a street corner where some dude is getting beat up. Sayid watches the fight angrily and seeking justice, and for some reason this scene reminded me so much of The Incredibles when Mr. Incredible is watching the mugging from out the window and can't do anything about it. Weird. But Sayid breaks up the fight, and it turns out it was Shannon! Boone set the whole thing up with Hurley, so at some point Boone had his 'wake-up' thing. Shannon and Sayid touch, and there's a pretty cool montage of memories, although it's nothing compared to the Sun/Jin montage, or the ones to come later. They kiss, and Sayid has forgotten all about Nadia.


At the concert, Juliet leaves due to some hospital emergency, and Charlotte wakes up a groggy, pissy Charlie. I don't particularly like Charlie in this Timeline P, but he does deliver one of the best lines of the episode. "I was shot by a fat man." The way he says it is hilarious.


Charlotte turns and talks to goo-goo-eyed Daniel Widmore, who shakes her hand and talks to her. Shockingly, neither of them 'wake-up.' Could this mean that they weren't meant to be soulmates? Was his love for her never reciprocated? Although LOST had a happy ending for just about everybody, I can't help but feel bad for Daniel.


Claire and Kate see each other at the concert, and as she bursts into sudden labor, she runs into a small tent by herself. That seems like a smart thing to do when your contractions start. Don't call the hospital. Don't tell anyone. Just go run away by yourself. You idiot.


Sidenote: having just witnessed the birth of a child less than 6 months ago, I can say that this scene with Claire giving birth to Aaron may have been the most unrealistic thing that ever happened in LOST, most fabricated than time-travel, smoke monsters or shiny rivers of light. My wife started having contractions at 10:00 in the morning, had them all day long, seperated by about 5-7 minutes, then spent 5 hours at the hospital having serious, painful, massive contractions, then spent over an hour pushing and screaming and pushing and screaming and pushing. In Claire's case, it took about 3 total minutes of contractions and less than 40 seconds of pushing. Push #1 was at 48:58 and she was holding her baby at 49:45. Ridiculous.


Charlie sees her from the stage and is astounded by her beauty, so he chases after her and arrives in time to see the birth of Aaron. As dumb as Claire is and as much as I don't like Timeline P Charlie, this wake-up montage of the two of them was stunningly magnificent. I feel like I'm running out of adjectives to describe the emotions in these scenes. They actually become increasingly more awesome the more you watch them. At first I thought this finale was too much a reflection of the past and seemed like a big happy cast party. But now that I think about it, it's the perfect ending. I think the producers were smart enough to realize that the strength of the show is its characters, not its plot, and many of the strongest, most emotionally-captivating characters are dead (Sun, Jin, Charlie, Sayid, Shannon & Boone). We invested so much into them, and to bring their stories back to life in such a powerful way was great.


*
In the cave, Desmond approaches the bright light and sees skeletons along the wall. People that the Smoke Monster sent down there to try to pull the plug? Not sure. Could be a lot of people. Des enters the electro-water and pulls the drain, shocking himself like crazy but living through it. The light slowly goes out, and the island starts to sink.


So Locke was right and Jack was wrong. The island is going to sink. But then Jack pulls the old switcheroo, jumps on Locke's back and punches him in the face. And he bleeds! The Smoke Monster is scared out of his mind, smacks Jack with a rock and runs away terrified. Awesome!


So what happened when Desmond pulled that plug out of the water?


-The island started to sink
-The Smoke Monster was no longer unkillable
-The Candidates were no longer unkillable


So essentially, all the rules were thrown out the window. "If the light goes out here, it goes out everywhere." Hmmm



Jack wakes up, it starts raining, and he chases after Locke. He finds him at the edge of the cliff, near Jacob's ladder, and as Alie pointed out, "It's so much like Simba and Scar on the edge of Pride Rock." This scene was so epic that it has to be shown in picture form. Words don't do this scene justice. I will say nothing. Except that you can watch the scene here.





















Now we know why Jack has the scars on his neck and his abdomen.


Just as Locke gives one of the best villian lines of all time: "I want you to know Jack - you die for nothing," Kate comes up and pops suddenly mortal Locke in the back, and retorts with the one-liner "I saved you a bullet." What is this, Die Hard 4?

Jack then kicks Flocke off the cliff, to his death, which is highly poetic for two reasons:

1. It's the same way that Flocke killed Jacob, kicking him into the fire.
2. It's similar to the way original John Locke was thrown out of a window and landed on his back. Except this time Jacob wasn't there to save him. It's likely that his broken back is what killed the Smoke Monster.


So now there's just one thing left for Jack to do - go back to the Source, turn the light back on, save the Island and all his friends, and then die. And long story short, he does it.


*
Back in the other world, Desmond has a quick conversation with Eloise Hawking, and you know what, I'm not even gonna talk about it. I hate Eloise, her character makes no sense, how she somehow knows everything about everything with no explanation, I'm not even gonna think about it. Moving on ...

Moments after Jack kills Fake-Locke, Doctor Jack checks on real John, who is miraculously healed from the surgery and has regained feeling in his legs. Jack can't believe it; John experiences a full-fledged 'wake-up' when he wiggles his toes. I love this scene.

For most of the other characters, it was love and relationships that bought them to awareness and woke them up. Desmond-Penny, Hurley-Libby, Sayid-Shannon, Sun/Jin-Baby, Claire-Baby, Charlie-Claire, Kate-Claire. But for John Locke, it wasn't Helen. It was moving his toes. That's his constant. Weird, but fitting.


One of the initial reactions I had after watching the gathering in the church and the ending of LOST was "What about Helen?" But now that I think about it, John and Helen weren't really right for each other. They were just two unhappy people making the best of it. They weren't soulmates. The Island was John Locke's soulmate.

So Locke 'wakes,' and Jack starts to feel the 'awakening' too, but he resists it. Typical stubborn Jack. Locke says "We have to go!" Yeah, if I knew heaven was just hours away I'd be in a hurry too.


*
Island - Hurley and Ben accompany Jack back to the Source. Hurley because he wouldn't be able to make it down the ladder, and Ben because he's got no reason to leave the island. Kate and Sawyer paddle over to Hydra, where they meet up with Claire, and Kate convinces her to come along on the plane, in a stupid conversation that goes something like this:


Kate: "Come with us or you're going to die you idiot!"
Claire: "No..."
Kate "Why the heck not?! What's wrong with you??!!"
Claire: "Aaron won't like me, because my hair is all messed up..."
Kate: "It's a long flight back to LA, you can fix your hair in the plane."
Claire: "Okay ..."
Sawyer: "Let's go you morons!!"

But this was the last stupid Claire moment of LOST, so I tried to enjoy it. Kind of sad that I won't be able to make fun of Claire anymore.

Before all of this happens, Kate and Jack share an emotional last kiss and an "I love you." But since I'm a tough dude who works on cars and stuff, I did not get emotional at all. I swear.

Kate's line "Tell me I'm gonna see you again!" is subtle heaven hint #8.

Frank and Miles and Richard have some troule making the plane flyable, but Miles gives his last classic line of his clever career - "I don't believe in much, but I do believe in duct tape."

I'm a little confused why Miles didn't particpate in the church gathering at the end; maybe it has something to do with what he said. He doesn't believe in much. I don't know. I have a hard time thinking that Shannon is exactly a warrior of faith. I wish Miles would have been there. And Frank too. But oh well. It was more of a season 1 reunion anyway. Anyway..

Frank manages to make the plane fly, and Kate, Sawyer, and Claire arrive just in time.


*
Now for my favorite scene of the night. Acting, writing, music, this scene is just perfect in every way.

Sawyer is walking around the hospital after his weird Kwon visit, and looking for something to eat. Jack points him in the direction of a vending machine. Sawyer's candy bar gets stuck and who walks in to help ... Juliet!

Here's what she says:

"Can I tell you a secret –
If you unplug it and then you plug it back in again, the candy just drops right down. It’s technically legal."

Not only is this helpful information to help Sawyer get his candy bar, it's also exactly what Jack does in order to kill Flocke. He unplugs the cork of the Island, and then plugs it back in. And it's technically legal, as in it doesn't break 'the rules.' This is some of the most brilliant writing LOST has ever done. And then it goes on, when she says ...

It worked.

Those are her dying words to Sawyer, and we all assumed she was talking about the hydrogen bomb. But she wasn't! She's talking about the candy bar! That's why she followed it up with the seemingly nonsensical "We should get coffee sometime. We could go dutch." Brilliant. By Juliet saying "It worked" in the first episode of season 6, every LOST fan in the world bought into the idea of parallel timelines. Perfect deception by the writers. She was talking about a freaking candy bar! And then ... her and Sawyer touch and see the memories of their years together and their love and I've gotta say, this is probably the best 'wake-up' scene of the night.

I can't imagaine how hard it is to pull off as an actor - you just touched someone's hand, and instantly your consciousness is aware of a previous life in which you loved this person, and all of your old memories come back, and you remember everything. How, as an actor, do you pull that off? Laughing, crying, smiling, shock? All of the above.

I don't think any of the characters did a necessarily bad job of portraying their 'wake-up' scene, although some were better than others. But I do think that Sawyer and Juliet's were the best. They just have such great chemistry. Juliet's a very underrated actress. Amazing scene. Amazing.

Minutes later, Jack meets up with Kate at the concert, and she tries to wake him up, but he resists again. What a pig. When she says "I missed you so much" I think she is referring to her actual human life, after the island. Presumably she lived another 30 or 40 years on earth, without Jack. Maybe she married Sawyer, maybe not. But I think that's what she was talking about. She brings him to the church and says he'll understand.

*
Back on the quickly crumbling island, Jack arrives at the Source and appoints Hurley as the new Jacob. (I'm not sure why a new Jacob is needed, since the Monster is dead, but hey I'm not argue that point). Remember last week when Hurley said "I'm just glad it's not me." Nice foreshadowing.

Ironically, Jacob insisted that the Candidates have a choice, and Jack volunteered. But then he pretty much forced the job upon Hurley. And like the amazingly nice guy that he is, Hurley appoints Ben as the #2, the new Richard, and Ben was as genuinely happy as he's ever been. Man I love Hurley!

Jack drops into the cave, ties Dessy up so he'll be lifted up instead, and says "I'll see you in another life brother." Which turns out to be extremely true. Then he turns the light back on, smiling and dying at the same time. Talk about sacrifice. Wow.

The water rushes up and leaves Jack in the stream, in the same place where it left the original Man in Black (who will be forever nameless, by the way) when he was turned into the Smoke Monster.

I think it's cool that the Smoke Monster never has a name, now that I think about it. Years from now, when LOST is a distant memory and regarded as the greatest TV show ever created, and when it has been studied and analyzed and taught in college classrooms, it will be considered pure genious to have a nameless enemy, a bad guy who is simply called The Monster. He symbolizes evil and hatred and death; why does he even need a name? I'm actually glad they never named him.

Jack stumbles and crawls to the bamboo field, where he woke up on September 22, 2004, and lays down, content and ready to die. He's fully at peace. He knew this was going to happen. Vincent comes along and lays beside him.


Live together, and you won't die alone.


Then Jack sees Ajira plane 316 - with Frank, Miles, Richard, Claire, Kate and Sawyer on board - fly overhead and he smiles. He finally got his people rescued. And it cost him his life. And he's okay with that. He closes his eye, and dies on the Eye-Land, the only place he ever belonged, his one true home. Just like LOST began, it ends.

*
But the majority of the last 15 minutes of LOST is all about Timeline B. Purgatory. A sort of in-between reality that seperates earthly life from the afterlife. They didn't specifically use the "P" word, but this is LOST, and you have to connect the dots sometimes.

We should have been able to guess that it was Purgatory before Christian basically spelled it out to Jack, with all the little hints scattered throughout the episode. And then as John wheels into the church, he sees Ben and forgives him for everything Ben did to him, including the act of killing him. They talk of their old lives in the past tense. Ben is a changed man, finally a true good guy, and he says that Locke's forgiveness matters more than you realize. Locke stands up, out of the wheelchair, and walks into the church. (I wonder if he even said good-bye to Helen?) Minutes later, Hurley comes out of the church and invites Ben in. Ben declines, and says he has some things to work out still. Clearly, Ben has experienced his 'wake-up' moment, probably at some point with Alex. My guess is that he wants to reflect on his life and his many shortcomings and faults and spend a little more time with Alex before he enters the next stage. It's very symbolic for him to be sitting outside the church. Hugo tells Ben he was a real good #2, and Ben says "You were a great #1." I wonder how long the two of them protected and led the Island. We'll never know. Maybe 40 years. Intentionally open-ended. I love it.

The best way to determine what Timeline B is is the convesation between Christian and Jack, at the church, when Jack finds the coffin empty and feels yet another 'wake-up' experience, then turns around to see his 'dead' father standing there...


J: I don’t understand. You died.
C: Yeah. Yes I did.
J: Then how are you here right now?
C: How are you here?
J: (Thinks about it) I died too. (Cries)
C: It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s okay son.

J: Are you real?
C: Yeah, I’m real. You’re real. Everything that’s ever happened to you is real. All those people in the church, they’re real too.
J: They’re all dead?
C: Everyone dies sometime kiddo. Some of them before you, some long after you.
J: Why are they all here now?
C: Well there is no now, here.
J: Where are we dad?
(Same line Charlie says in Season 1 pilot - Where are we?)

C: Well this is a place that you all made together so that you could find one another. The most important time in your life was the time that you spent with these people. That’s why all of you are here. You needed all of them, and they needed you.
J: For what?
C: To remember. To let go.
J: Kate, she said we were leaving?
C: No. No, moving on.
J: Where are we going?
C: Let’s go find out.


So while Christian doesn't explicitly say the H word (Heaven) it's pretty obvious. And with the stain glass window behind them depicting the symbols of the 6 major religions, it's also pretty clear that this isn't your typical Christian heaven they're talking about. If it was, how would Sayid and the Kwons fit in? Fundamental Christians will probably have a problem with this, but I think a Christian heaven wouldn't have been very well accepted by LOST viewers as a whole. Probably best to leave the religious stuff out of things. Shoot, one day when we're all dead, we may be surprised at who we see. It's not our job to determine who spends afterlife where. All I know is that God is good.


As the Shepherds enter the church, they see one big giant hug fest - Claire, Charlie and Aaron; Desmond and Penny; Rose and Bernard; James and Juliet; Sayid and Shannon; Boone; Locke; Sun and Jin; Hurley and Libby; and Kate. Everybody's got a lover except Locke and Boone, which is fitting since they were BFFs on the island.

Jack shakes a few hands, hugs a few forgotten friends, and they all take a seat. Beautiful string music plays in the background. Everyone is smiling and laughing and looking extraordinarily peaceful. Then Christian Shepherd opens the back doors of the church, and a bright, white, beautiful light fills the church.


The End.


***


Okay. A few thoughts, questions, ramblings, theories, reflections.


1. What about Miles, Frank, Faraday, Michael & Walt, Eko and Richard? Why weren't they invited?
2. What about Yi Jeon? Did they really leave her alone, again?
3. What about David Shepherd? Now he's got no parents. He must be pretty confused.
4. What about people who did actually die in Timeline P. Like Keamy and Eyepatch and those goons. Do they go to hell?


My thought right now is that Timeline P, or the Purgatory stage of these characters, is actually more like The Matrix than another actual life. I think the people and events that they encounter are not actually real, but just experiences to change and mold and prepare them for afterlife. That's why they can leave the ones that they love (David, Yi Jeon, Helen, etc) because they know that those people don't really, truly exist.

The Matrix is one of my favorite movies (just the first one, the other 2 are terrible), and I do see a lot of similarities between it and this timeline. At least the way I perceive the timeline. What I like most about the Flash-Upwards is that it's incredibly open to interpretation, depending on people's individual religious beliefs. Any LOST fan out there can make of it what they want. It really is a brilliant ending to a far more than brilliant show.

With millions of people guessing what Timeline B is for the past 4 months, it's amazing that the producers came up with an excellent ending that wasn't guessed by anybody. They went through a LOT of work to trick us into believing it was a parallel, alternate reality, and they did an amazing job of it. Purgatory was one of the most popular theories for what the Island was, and instead they did a 180 and made Timeline B purgatory. My mind is still blown, 5 days later.


Let's be honest, there are two kinds of LOST fans out there. Real fans, and casual fans.


Diehards, who read message boards and watch videos and read every word of Lostpedia.


And people who say "Oh wait, it's Tuesday, isn't LOST on?"


I'm one of the people who started saying on Friday "Only 4 more days til LOST."


I'm one of the more obsessed.


So for me, the ending had to be more than just good. It had to be perfect. And sitting on my couch on Sunday at 11:35 PM, I felt disappointed. I felt angry. I felt ... betrayed.

But the truth, the painful truth that I didn't want to admit, was this:

I was confused. Baffled. Blown-away.

You see, LOST rarely confuses me anymore. I've come to expect anything and I almost always know what's going on. Not to be arrogant, but it's true. Not because I'm so super smart. But because I'm a loser who spends an obscene amount of time reading about and thinking about LOST. All of the twists and turns of LOST over the last several years have been great, but never thrown me for such a loop that I couldn't even process what was going on. I couldn't figure it out.

I literally needed to re-watch the finale in order to really soak it in. To really comprehend the ending. Maybe I'm stupid. I don't know. It seemed like a lot of people got it the first time around. I didn't. I was just mad. I thought it was lazy writing, a cop-out. I thought "If they're all dead and moving on, what was the point of the past 6 seasons?!" Maybe that's a fair question.

But it was an appropriate ending. How else could they have brought back characters from the dead without being overly cheesey? We all wanted a happy ending, but we didn't want any easy quick-fixes. Like Jack said, no shortcuts, no do-overs. What happened, happened. All the island stuff, the time-skips, the deaths, the Oceanic 6, everything - it all happened. Jack really died. It was all real, and there was ever only one timeline.

Jack dies and many of the Losties finally escape the island. Sawyer and Claire and Miles get to leave for the first time in 3 years. Richard gets to leave for the first time in 150 years. Aaron gets his mother back. Ben gets to lead the island. The Monster is gone. It's a happy ending.

But, like Christian said, "everyone dies sometime kiddo."

And in the real ending of LOST, the ending of endings, all the dead characters convene at some point where time doesn't exist, in some place that exists only in their minds, in some world that they somehow created amongst themselves to help them remember. And long lost loves are finally reconnected.

Maybe Desmond died on the island; maybe he never saw Penny again. But wasn't it great to see them together in the church, and know that they'll be together wherever they're going. I can't think of a happier ending than knowing that Sawyer and Juliet get to be together again. And Sun and Jin.

Because, once again, this show is all about the characters. The plot stuf is good, but it's the relationships that have carried the show and made it epic. And in the end, it's all about the relationships. The true loves. The soulmates.

As a LOST fan, I was worried the show would end without closure. And yeah, I didn't get closure on the future of the Island what happens with the guys who escaped on the Ajira plane, and yeah a few mysteries went unsolved, but if you want closure, how about all of the main characters entering heaven together. I don't think any show has ever ended quite like that before.

It was a happier than happy ending, and also a conceivably realistic one. And a mind-blowingly unexpcted twist.

Bravo LOST. You got me again.

I'd love to hear all your thoughts on the ending of LOST, and what I should write about now that it's over.