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Lost: The End

Jack: "I'm fine. Just find me some thread, and I can count to five."

I was deeply moved; I cried and cried. Emotionally, it was an incredibly satisfying finale. But intellectually, I feel cheated, and mildly disappointed.

The Island

The Island story ended where it began, with Jack dying in the same spot. I was so moved that Vincent was with Jack at the end. I can't even type that without crying.

There were so many callbacks and so many great resolutions, and I won't list them all. I'll just note that I especially liked Jack, Locke, and Desmond and the big hole with the light below. That Richard found a gray hair. That the Man in Black's death echoed Locke's fall from the eight-story building. The Jack/Smokey fight at the Cliffs of Insanity was beautifully filmed. Loved Jack kissing Kate goodbye – a long, sexy kiss, too, instead of something pure.

Hurley sort of won the Island lottery, even though he didn't want it. It was so like him to refuse to leave Jack, and to take on the guardianship when he was asked. He got Ben as his new Richard in the bargain, too, which was just marvelous. I loved that Ben was indeed undercover in an attempt to defeat Smokey, and wow, did he redeem himself; this may have been my favorite plotline in the finale.



We don't know for sure if 316 made it to Fiji or whatever, but we can believe that it did because we were carefully told that the flash sideways afterlife wasn't limited by when you died. Kate told Jack near the end, "I've missed you so much." I think that suggests she lived a long time after the plane left the Island. Kate and Sawyer could have indeed wound up together; they did jump off a cliff in tandem, and you can't waste symbolism like that. Claire might have returned to Aaron, and raised him. And Hurley may have found a way to get Desmond back to Penny. We'll never know, but it's pretty to think so.

The Flash Sideways

It's funny how I'm okay with Jack dying, but not with him going to Heaven. Go figure.

I remember back in season one when the writers promised that the Island wasn't the afterlife. Guess they couldn't resist, after all. I'm getting tired of science fiction shows that I love ending on deeply religious notes, and I'm disappointed that Lost chose to go out that way.

It's not that I don't believe in an afterlife. Sometimes I do. I did a lot of religious seeking when I was in my teens, trying different religions, reading and taking classes. I eventually came to my own conclusions about what I believed. And I think they took the Christian symbolism too far. Jack became a man of faith and was saved; he died to save the world from evil, and went to Heaven, and he even had a wound in his side. I don't care that the flash sideways (or purgatory, or anteroom to Heaven, or whatever) was carefully nondenominational; Christian Shephard of the metaphorically loaded name was the one who explained it all. Deeply moving, as I said. I cried through it. And then I resented it. I wish they hadn't gone there. Alternate universe, yes. Heaven, no. I wanted the sideways to be all of them alive somewhere, and they weren't.



Other than that, it was wonderful. It was like a party celebrating the end. "Unbelievably Heartfelt Reunions R Us." And yes, it was the very definition that most people have of Heaven, that the people we love best are waiting for us there. We got it all: Sun and Jin and their baby, Sayid rescuing Shannon, Daniel meeting Charlotte as he was living out his dream of performing with Drive Shaft. We even got the much desired Sawyer and Juliet coffee moment, in front of Jack's candy machine (symbolism alert there), followed by a great big smooch.

The one that tipped me over the edge into outright sobbing was Kate delivering Claire's baby again, culminating in that intense Charlie/Claire moment. And I kept crying right through to the end. Again, Ben's story may have been the best: I was especially touched that he didn't think he deserved to join the rest of them in Heaven. We always knew there was a very good man hiding inside of Ben. Okay, we didn't know. We suspected.

Were all the trapped souls released from the Island when Desmond popped the cork, or when Jack killed the Man in Black? Christian's presence in the church intimated that that was what happened, and that was why the Sideways Losties could finally go into the Light.



What have we learned?

I don't have the heart to list more stuff. There were lots of details we never did learn, like why Walt was special, why Claire had to raise Aaron, and so on. But pretty much every character-related string was tied up. Hey, Heaven is pretty much it.

Jack's eye closing at the end made me think that maybe the Island was a metaphor for life's journey. We're born – eye open – we struggle through our lives and hopefully learn and grow, and... in the end, we're right back where we started? No, that doesn't work in a karmic sense.

You know what? I'm going to just leave this. I've written enough about metaphor and meaning in Lost. I'm done.

Character bits:

Hurley told Jack, "I believe in you." Jack said it back to him.

I loved Jin's face when Sawyer said he was LAPD. "Hello... detective." One of my favorite moments.

Juliet's last name was Carlson and of course, she was an obstetrician. We all knew she'd be Jack's ex.



Sideways Kate had Island hair and no makeup on top of that gorgeous dress and heels. It was an odd look but it made sense.

Rose and Bernard got Desmond out of the well. I like to think of the two of them and Vincent living out their retirement on the Island, possibly getting together with Hurley and Ben occasionally for tea.

Did Boone already know the score in the season opener? He was so serene. He was the first to die, so maybe he had the most time to work through his issues.

I'm glad Christian (John Terry) got to be in the finale. Alan Dale wasn't. I guess Widmore is still working out his issues, like Eloise and Ben. And Nadia. And possibly Keamy. What was Jack's son, David, though? David never existed. And will Aaron be a permanent baby in Heaven?

Sawyer got in several instances of "Son of a bitch" and some great nicknames: Bigfoot, Blondie, Doc, Chesty, and so on. He even called the Man in Black "Smokey," which made me think last week's "Flocke" was deliberate.

Six people left the Island in a plane: Sawyer, Kate, Claire, Frank, Miles and Richard. The Ajira Six.

Bits and pieces:

— The episode began with the Oceanic plane's eye opening, sort of, as Christian's body was unloaded. And ended with Jack's right eye closing.

— The opening cast list was simply beautiful. I loved that they listed everyone, not just the official stars of the show.

— Several Lost episode titles were worked into the dialogue, like "The Long Con" and "What Happened, Happened." I'm sure I missed a lot of them.

— The concert was at the Golden State Museum of History, or whatever. "Golden State." What a pun.

— Charlie's tatt, "Living is easy with eyes closed" had the second line on it: "Misunderstanding all you see."



— A dirty plastic Oceanic bottle got to be the holy grail this time. Very appropriate.

— In my opinion, the last Lost special, "The Final Journey," was the best Lost special. The actors talking about their memories of the show and their favorite scenes made it a thousand times better than the usual straight exposition. And it was narrated by Titus Welliver (Man in Black). The "Final Transmissions" were also fun. My favorite was "Roses are red, violets are blue, 4 8 15 16 23 42."

— The Losties sat at Table 23 at the benefit. This finale aired on the 23rd, and was 108 minutes long. With 108 minutes of commercials.

Quotes:

Jack: "Jacob didn't say anything to me about Desmond."
Sawyer: "Doesn't sound like he said anything about anything."
Hurley: "That's kinda true, dude. He's worse than Yoda."
Sawyer: "All right. Y'all head to your heart of the Island, and I'll go get the magic leprechaun out of that well."

Sawyer: "I'd ask you along, but that'd take all the fun out of me telling you you can't come."
Kate: "Guess I'll just have to resist the urge to follow you, anyway."

Hurley: "I got a bad feeling about this." This is the line that was in every Star Wars movie.

Hurley: "This would be so sweet if we all weren't about to die."

Jack: "I'm going to kill you."
Smokey: "How do you plan to do that?"
Jack: "It's a surprise."

Jack: "You're not John Locke. You disrespect his memory by wearing his face, but you're nothing like him."

Kate: "I saved you a bullet." Yippee ki-yay...

Miles: "I don't believe in a lot of things, but I do believe in duct tape."
I was tempted to make this my lead quote, but I felt it would be dissing Lost.

Desmond: "You were right, Jack."
Jack: "There's a first time for everything."

Jack: "I'll see you in another life, brother."

As we've all acknowledged several times, it was impossible for the producers and writers to satisfy every fan with the conclusion of this show. But even though I was unhappy with where they went, I believe this finale was a masterpiece. (Hey, at least it didn't turn out to be someone's dream.) I'm not sorry I spent six years writing about this show. It's been a helluva ride, and I got more than my money's worth.

Four out of four polar bears,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it. I mean, check it out, she spent six years writing about Lost.

111 comments:

  1. I remember back in season one when the writers promised that the Island wasn't the afterlife. Guess they couldn't resist, after all.

    But the island wasn't the afterlife. In fact, none of the afterlife scenes in the sideways world were set on the island.

    I'm irked that there is so much left unanswered, but I loved this series finale.

    The final moments were so awesome and the main story was wrapped up perfectly for me.

    Kate told Jack near the end, "I've missed you so much." I think that suggests she lived a long time after the plane left the Island.

    I didn't think of that, but it makes sense and that's what I'm going to go with. :)


    I'm 100% positive that there will be a movie (maybe even a TV mini-series) in two or three years that will get into the mythology and answer the unanswered.

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  2. I'm going to miss your LOST reviews. They were the best on the 'net and added a lot to my viewing of the series.

    (Thank you for posting them!!! I'l be following you through TRUE BLOOD.)

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  3. Billie, I want to thank you for the six years you spent writing about this fantastic series. Every time I watched an episode of Lost (or Alias .. or Buffy ... of Dexter ... or Supernatural ... or everything, actually) the first thing I did was reading your reviews. Of course I did not always agree with them but I think they are the most enjoyable and thoughtful essays to be found on the net. Mainly because it´s so evident how much you love these fictional worlds you are writing about and how deeply you care about the characters.

    I will miss your reviews about Lost almost as much as the series itself. Terrific ending, by the way. Maybe in a few days I will rant about how they didn´t resolve anything at all and how much of it does not fit together. But I don´t care at the moment, these last episode delivered the most beautiful two hours of television I´ve seen in a long time. Jack and Vincent made me cry. For the first time in many years.

    Thank you, Lost, you will be missed.

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  4. I agree! LOST wouldn't have been the same without your reviews. I'll miss them as much as the show itself. Thanks so much!

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  5. Hey Billie,

    At first I thought what you did, but then...I thought Ben didn't go in because he wasn't ready to move on - because of the hope and promise of having Danielle and Alex in his life. In that way maybe his "redemption" wasn't complete. Didn't Christian say later that they were there because they were ready to move on?

    I'm a christian and I was struck by how generically UN-religious it was (spiritual maybe, religious no) so maybe that is a matter of perspective. To me there was no real meaning in the whole afterlife construct other than an "of course they go to heaven" vibe.

    I cried and cried too. And I remember how in the first epi of this season I thought when Jack opened his eye, he was dead. There were just too many implausible connections. So what if maybe he closed his eye on the island...and woke up on the plane? And they just messed with us on the timeline because the explanation for alterna-verse could be the bomb? Really, the alterna-verse was what they wished for, wasn't it? Kate wished she was innocent, Claire wished she had Aaron, Desmond wished Widmore thought he was upstanding and successful...don't know. Rambling.

    I think in the end, they were all each others' constant. Which wraps it up very nicely for me.

    I don't think it was a ripoff at all. I think it was brilliant.

    Always love your reviews...
    Jen

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  6. Might have to comment agan after I rewatch The End again to digest everything...but I felt that it ended perfectly. Honestly, I have never seen such an emotionally satisfying episode of anything...and I've never cried more during a show than I did last night.

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  7. Yesterday was the Pentecost.

    I wonder how much that factored in to the reasoning for the episode airing on May 23rd?

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  8. I loved it. I absolutely loved every last second of it. I was way off on how I thought it would all end and so glad I was. This was the perfect way to bring this story to a close. We might not have got all the answers we hoped for but in the end it was the characters and their journey that mattered most. Even Jack’s death moved me and I used to hate Jack with a passion.

    Best of all, Hurley and Ben as the new Jacob and Richard was so brilliant I almost wish there was a spin-off.

    The only downside was that it came right after the phenomenal sawn song for Ashes to Ashes (I’ll avoid any spoilers for those who haven’t seen it). Much as I love Lost and this finale it doesn’t have Gene Hunt screaming “I’m arresting you for murdering my car, you dyke-digging tosspot” before shooting said tosspot.

    Thanks you for all the great Lost reviews you’ve given us these past six years, Billie. Agree completely with everyone else that they were without a doubt the best on the net.

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  9. Bille, thank you so much for your reviews. They made Lost so much more fun for me!
    about the last episode - It was so touching, beautifull - but made no sense at all. To me - it's the same as they woke up from a dream. Was the island their real life ? or the Afterlife ? I hope it was true, otherwise there is no sense to it at all. And if it was true, why was the afterlife created after the bomb ? it has no sense.

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  10. To me - it's the same as they woke up from a dream. Was the island their real life ? or the Afterlife ? I hope it was true, otherwise there is no sense to it at all. And if it was true, why was the afterlife created after the bomb ? it has no sense.

    The Sideways world was an/the "afterlife."

    That's it.

    Everything that happened on the island for the entire series and everything off the island from seasons 1 through 5, happened.

    It was not a dream.
    It was not a mass hallucination.

    They did not all die in the crash of Flight 815.

    Everything that we watched happen on the island, happened.

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  11. "Everything that we watched happen on the island, happened."

    You have a point, HellBlazerRaiser, but I think Lost is the type of show where practically everything is open to interpretation. I thought the Island was "real" and the flash sideways world was a certain place in the afterlife, but who's to say the whole thing wasn't the afterlife? Not me.

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  12. One of the reasons why the uber religious aspects of Lost's ending didn't bother (I've literally just finisehed watching the episode) was that the show's always been heavy with the overtones so I guess I could handle it.

    Plus there was so much good, some of the reunions - Charlie/Claire, Jack/Kate, Sawyer/Juliet, Sayid/Shannon did get me to a teary point and I thought the score music was beautiful.

    We didn't get to see everyone though. No Ana-Lucia, Walt or Michael but the other returns more than made up for it.

    It's been an incredible six years but it's been fun.

    Billie, have you seen Ashes To Ashes series ender? I kept being reminded of it whilst watching this episode.

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  13. Because in England the finale was aired at 5am i taped it, watched the last 10 minutes, went to work, came home and immediately watched the rest which was clearly the wrong way to do it but i couldn't resist (i frequently read the last page of books too). And the ending made me well up even without knowing what had gone before.

    I'm frustrated by the lack of (certain)answers but emotionally i felt that what we were given was perfect. I loved Hurley becoming the new Jacob, even though i didn't see it coming. And Charlie's return. And Sawyer and Juliet by the vending machine. And seeing Vincent. And i really loved Rose and Bernard living their lives and avoiding all the crazy. Richard leaving just seemed wrong, as did Kate in a dress (Evangeline Lily is gorgeous but it just seemed weird for the character) but apart from that i was happy.

    Thank you Billie for your wonderful and very very detailed reviews. I'd have missed so much without them.

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  14. Oh Billie, one of the most heartrending things in that review was you saying "I'm done" :o( It seems a very long time since the days of TVtome, but your reviews have really added to the Lost experience and I really wanted you to know how much we appreciate them.

    And the finale... I'm a bit overtired and emotional now, having got up before 5am to watch it (the novelty of having the UK show it simulcast was too much to avoid!). I lost count of the times I sat there welling up at the reunions (I was very wibbly by the time Sawyer and Juliet AND Dan and Charlotte got their moments. And Kate and Jack.. whew!) but I wasn't actually sobbing until Vincent laid down next to Jack, and... blubbering wreck time.

    Just wish I could shake the damn feeling that someone pulled a fast one on us... we got all distracted with all the shiny happy not-quite-real reunions over here, while they mugged us with the lip service mythology wrap-up when we weren't paying attention.
    It wasn't that there weren't a lot of shiny squee-worthy moments, it's just that they seemed a little.. lessened once you saw what the context was.

    And seeing the Ashes to Ashes finale first really doesn't help - without being too spoilery, there were a lot of similarities, but they pulled their concept around from a weaker final series to a much more satisfying finale conclusion, and ended on another killer note. I guess they didn't have to exceed quite so many expectations as Lost though..!

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  15. Hey Billie,

    I just wanted to say that I'm sad to read your last Lost-Review. I know, it sounds cheesy as hell but I really enjoyed your personal takes on each episode and quickly grew accustomed to your posts with each passing week.

    I think it's time to give you four out of four polar bears for your work ;)

    Thank you,
    Matt

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  16. I don't think the dialogue at the end from Christian or seeing Jack die leaves much to interpretation as far as the afterlife and when it started.

    I'm replaying it now (and I'm trying not to cry, but it's not working).

    In the church, Jack realizes he died after seeing his father.

    Christian tells Jack that he's real and everything that happened to them is real and that they all died at different times.

    Some died before Jack (Jin, Sun, Sayid, Boone, Locke, Shannon, Libby, Juliet) and some died after (Kate, Sawyer, Aaron, Claire, Rose, Bernard, Hurley).

    If the whole series (and the island itself) was meant to be the afterlife (i.e. everyone died when Flight 815 crashed) why would some people (Charlie, Libby, Shannon, Locke, Boone, Sun, Jin, Sayid, Alex, Danielle, Charlotte, Danielle) die twice on the island and have to wait twice to go to whatever it is they believe happens to them when they die?

    LOST (in spite of the massive bits of plot left unanswered) was too smartly written for me to believe that it was all afterlife. I believe that the only sections that were the afterlife were the sideways flashes.

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  17. I'd like to second, third, and seventy-fifth the one thing I know for certain: you have written over 100 Lost reviews, and I have loved every word.

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  18. There's pretty much nothing I can add to what has been said here -- and said extremely well, I might add (so I DO get to add something!).

    It was a lovely time, and unique, and broke my heart in all the right and painful places; we will not see its like again. I can't recall another show's ending affecting me this way -- well, maybe that's just the ashes from the fire blowing into my eyes and making them well up like that.

    Billie -- it was a beautiful time, wasn't it. I mean the show, but also us gathering around together to get Lost for awhile... You create a community here, however transitory it needs must be... and doing so, reflect that aspect of our Lost experience wonderfully.

    --As kids invariably say when the last page is read at night before bed, all pajama'd and warm, with shining thoughts and eyes (ashes, I swear): "Tell it aGAIN!" :-)

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  19. I'd like to second, third, and seventy-fifth the one thing I know for certain: you have written over 100 Lost reviews, and I have loved every word.

    I 76th that!

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  20. I suppose that I've got quite a lot to say about the final episode really. I've watched the show and talked about the show at length right from the very beginning. Its been pretty important to me and I'm going to miss it hugely and its going to take a while to digest that I'll never really get any more of the story.

    Whilst I had a lot of questions over the course of Lost, they could all be summed up in 2 major questions:

    What is the Island?/What is it all about?

    What happens to the characters?


    Under 'What is the Island?/What is it all about?' comes all the stuff that we only ever got half answered or not answered at all. Stuff like the Dharma Initiative, the button, the Pierre Chang videos, the importance of Walt, the Ben vs Widmore rivalry etc etc...were never really answered at all.

    Then the stuff like The Smoke Monster, the Rules, the origins and purposes of the Island, why they were the candidates, the numbers, how they were all linked in their before lives, Jacob's Cabin, the actual specific danger MiB caused, the history of the War between MiB and Jacob, what changed Jacob, what happened to Jack and Hurley when they drank from the cup, what the light even was anyway...these were only ever half-answered and generally inadequately.

    Now, this element of the show will always irk me and will grate when it comes to repeat viewings because far too much was introduced just for the sake of it. I think that a lot of the time the show was just using mysteries as filler in order to keep the audiences interested while waiting for the end date to be arranged at which point they could start moving on with their end-point. That there was never much intention of answering many of the mysteries posed.

    What will annoy me most is that (having watched the final episode), I do think that they did indeed have the entire last season planned out from a long time back, that it was a case of keep the show interesting and churning until the end date, then implement the last season and a half (particularly the last 4 or 5 episodes of season 5 and then the whole of season 6), most of that stuff, with a few major exceptions (like Locke's death, leaving the Island, returning etc) could've been triggered at any point throughout season 3, 4 or 5 and wouldnt have worked out much differently. The bit that annoys me is that with that in mind...there is no reason why they couldnt have worked out the 'filler' more intelligently, ie in a way they could actually wrap up, resolve, explain and create closure too. They didnt have to introduce stuff that could never have been answered just to make the show interesting, they could've made it just as interesting whilst also being explainable.

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  21. I dont mind the book references and name references and suchlike not leading anywhere, those are perfectly fine Maguffins. But I was absolutely intrigued by the Pierre Chang videos and much of the Dharma stuff and dont like the idea that much of it was absolutely irrelevant to the end-plot. Lindelof and Cuse have been a little too free with lying to the audience about the significance of certain things and I've found that to ultimately be a little unfair. We found out that Lost would end in Season 3, if some of those mysteries had been a little better thought out in the first place, there's absolutely no reason why they couldnt have wrapped them up before moving on with their 'end-game' or better yet actually integrated them into the end game.

    But even within that 1 out of 2 major factors, there were lots of things that fascinated me and filled in a lot of my time, even if ultimately I found them to not have satisfactory closure. If I were to put a score on it I'd suggest that the whole "What is the Island?/What is it all about?" gets maybe 65% from me. I wasnt entirely satisfied, I was left with lots of questions that I feel either should have been answered or simply werent answered well enough.

    The other major concern that I wanted resolving for the show was 'What happened to everyone' and that deals mostly with this season, this arc and this episode finale in particular. I was thoroughly satisfied with that, very happy indeed even.

    I think that the idea that the sideways universe was some Narnia-esque waiting place before you are ready to move 'onwards and upwards' was lovely. Its a good turn on the head and a flip-a-roonie back to the fandom guess-work that the Island was a kind of Limbo, turns out the off-Island timeline was more that way, which makes the fact that they didnt explain the Island more frustrating, but thats not so important at the moment. In a way it was the most bitter-sweet happy ending you can get. They all re-united and were happy ever after, but they had to die to get it. The resolution of the 'Sideways timeline' was probably the most satisfying question answer reveal that Lost has managed to put together.

    I like that ultimately we followed Jack because he has always been the character who interested me most. I was crushed by his final moments and sacrifice played out alongside the realisation of that the sideways timeline was his waiting-room before heaven. It was touching that all of those characters who were so lost in life found that experience to be so significant that this was what they wanted to remember in their afterlife, those were the people that they wanted to move on with, that what happened on the Island, the stuff we all shared in, was so important to them that it was what they wanted to remember when they died. I like the notion of having a heaven that you build for yourself, to help you remember anyway, its romantic, but its nice. All of the individual realisations (although they should've been played out over more episodes...there were LOADS of them in that 2 hour finale) were beautifully done and each of them were emotional. I like the ultimate narrative closure that each character got and am glad that all of the characters we invested in so heavily over the years were rewarded with happy ending payoffs and a few others were ones that were still to come (ie Ben, presumably Richard, Daniel etc).

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  22. I thought in particular that the last 20 minutes were exceptional. Hurley's accepting of his role, the realisation of the after-life, Jack's death, Vincent's appearance, the parallels to the series' opening. Jack looking up at the plane leaving the Island in his dying moments (which reminded me of an absolutely beautiful moment from the film Moon), that stuff was exquisite and for once all the stuff afterwards, the unanswered questions of what happened to the characters on the plane once they got back home, what happened with the Island under Hurley and Ben's control...those questions dont matter, you dont mind them not being answered because we know that ultimately they all found each other and never forgot each other and found happiness again, however they lived or for however long they lived after that.

    I must admit that of all the things that got me emotional from the finale, it was the FINAL confession between Jack and Kate that they were each the most important person to the other, that they loved each other after 6 seasons of skirting around the issue that moved me the most. Particularly in the alternate timeline where Kate (who presumably lived a long life after Jack had died) tells him how much she had missed him. All very emotional.

    The resolution of the characters, I was happy with. I think that for the most part we found out with great satisfaction what ultimately happened to virtually all of the major characters and even though there are some we found out about on the Island that werent all that satisfying at the time (Boone, Locke, Charlie, Sayid, Shannon etc) and some we didnt find out about, the fact that they were all reuinted in the end is good enough for me.

    So but for a few unexplained areas I'd have to say that the element of "What happens to the characters?" was resolved to maybe 95% satisfaction to me.

    Giving the overall major factors a 80% satisfaction resolution, which isnt at all bad for such a frustrating show that asks so many questions over 6 years and has given so few answers.

    I'll certainly miss the story and the characters, but I still wish that there was more.

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  23. Great review, Billie!. Let me add my thanks to everybody's for six great years of writing.

    About the finale: emotionally, it was great, and touched all the right keys. The music really helped.

    Rationally, I doubt after this I'll ever watch anything from JJ & company. They kept throwing more and more plot lines and questions out there and answering virtually nothing, and I feel like there's twice the open questions than answers. The series name should be changed to HOLE. Yeah, a lot of plotholes too.

    Just out of memory I can think of: what's the island, why didn't they die in the crash, why was Walt so important, what was up with the pregnancies, why wasn't Jacob more Gandalf and less Dungeon Master for the sake of the Island, what the hell was up with the numbers, why build some characters (Ilana, Libby, Eko...) to kill them in a whim, what exactly happened between Eko and Smokey, why did Desmond have those effects in the Island... I could go on a lot, I wrote those without stopping and without thinking hard.

    We were promised A LOT, and Lindelof & Cuse didn't deliver AT ALL. I can't for the life of me understand why they decided to cut these last seasons short with so many unanswered questions. Money, I guess. But then, why open even more and more questions?.

    All in all, at least I didn't feel as cheated as I did with BSG, but I think that Lost as a whole ended up half empty. We deserved more.

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  24. Oh yeah...

    I guess that I'll have to find something new to see you review now Billie.

    Thanks for being part of the ride.

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  25. While I'm glad that so many people here enjoyed the finale, I can't help but strongly disagree. That said, I also want to thank Billie for the excellent reviews, and this look at the end of Lost is no different.

    To me, the ending just didn't feel 'right'. Learning that the "alternate reality" was in fact a kind of purgatory just seems incompatible with the season up until that revelation. The series spent an incredible amount of time building up this reality, investing in the characters and their alternate, much-improved lives; it put a great deal of weight on the importance of them remembering who they were, as if to say "These are not merely alternate universe copies, these really are the characters you've known and watched for the last six seasons". I was absolutely convinced then that all this work was going to pay off by having the two universes merge somehow, particularly due to the way the series and the finale progressed simultaneously towards their conclusions. It seemed certain, to me, that the end of the story in one universe was going to have an impact on the end of the story in the other - quite what, I wasn't sure, but the answer in the end was "none". Nothing that happened in their afterlife impacted upon the events of the 'real world' finale, and given Christian's declaration that time has no meaning there, nothing in the real world - like who lived or died, since everyone dies eventually - mattered in Purgatory.

    In some ways, I actually like the ending of the Purgatory storyline. It was a great send-off for many of the characters and relationships, although many were relationships I'd completely forgotten about and had thought ill-considered at the time (Sayid and Shannon) or seemed to be retconned to be more important than they really were (Jack and Kate). Seeing Sun and Jin, Claire and Charlie, and Sawyer and Juliet back together was wonderful, though (I hesitate to add 'Desmond and Penny' to this list, due to Penny's appearance almost as an afterthought in the church). However, it seems a shame that so much time was spent working on this alternate world when in the end, it didn't have any actual consequences. The connections the characters made, the events that transpired - they cease to have any real meaning because the characters, having remembered their real lives, are moving on, leaving the artificial world they'd made to find each other behind. It's like a compact version of "It was all a dream": it doesn't impinge on the 'real world' of the main storyline directly, but it ends up feeling to me like wasted time.

    And that's the real damaging factor, to me. With so much investment in the purgatory storyline, in many ways I was far less interested in what occurred in the real world. Time was spent exploring a false reality and not answering many of lingering questions, or giving time to really explore the issues and arcs of the final season, especially considering the massive, game-changing characters of Jacob and Smokey only appeared in the season five finale. Many questions, like Walt's importance, I can let go. Meta-issues like actors hitting puberty or leaving the series, some things becoming less important over time - that's fine. But plenty remains unanswered, for all time now. Worst of all, the events of the 'real world' finale just seemed to lack a great deal of impact, things just seemed too rushed (did I miss how Ben got out from under that tree, or did they just not explain it at all?) It just seemed to all come too fast, too late, whilst more care was being lavished on purgatory than the storyline that should have ultimately had more weight behind it.

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  26. ....what's the island....

    It's pretty much been left to the viewer to decide exactly what the island was. Was it a cap over a well of evil? Was it an entrance to the underworld? Was it enlightenment?

    The only thing we know that it is not is purgatory.

    ....why didn't they die in the crash....

    It wasn't a crash crash. The ship broke up over the water and the people fell out onto an island teeming with electromagnetism. Didn't we see the parts pulled down? I am planning a complete series re-watch starting this evening.

    ....why was Walt so important....

    It was because of the powers he inherited from his mother.

    ....what was up with the pregnancies....

    Women, post "THE INCIDENT," couldn't carry babies full term.

    ....why wasn't Jacob more Gandalf and less Dungeon Master for the sake of the Island....

    I have no idea who "Gandalf" is, but I would guess that Jacob, like DM, didn't consider himself a god and left it to the candidates (and everyone else) to make (for the most part) their own decisions.

    ....what the hell was up with the numbers....

    MacGuffin.

    ....why build some characters (Ilana, Libby, Eko...) to kill them in a whim....

    Real world events affected the characters of Libby and Eko. I don't know the deal with Ilana.

    ....what exactly happened between Eko and Smokey....

    I think it's safe to assume that MiB thought Eko would make a good vessel, but when Eko stared him down and resigned himself to his life and his choices, MiB hit a dead end and killed him so he wouldn't impede his plans.

    .... why did Desmond have those effects in the Island....

    Huh?

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  27. They didn't go to "heaven". They went to a virtual world that they created for themselves, a place where they can all meet again, in maybe a 5th dimension. (we live in a 4 dimension world and there are many other dimensions out there)

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  28. I have no idea who "Gandalf" is

    Whoa whoa whoa. Go read Lord of the Rings. NOW!!!

    Or at least watch the movies :P

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  29. No thanks!!!

    I avoid the LORD OF THE RINGS as much as I can. It's bad enough that I saw all of those darn commercials and trailers when the films were being released.

    "What is that ring on your finger, Elijah?"
    "It's a golden ring, Charlie."
    "What does the ring do, dear Elijah, dear Elijah?What does the ring do, dear Elijah, does it do?"

    And on and on....

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  30. I don't know why, but I didn't care at all that so many things were left unanswered. And, even though I don't believe in an afterlife, I also had no problem with all of them going to heaven. I thought the ending was beautiful and perfect and I don't want to debate it. I hope that even people who hated the finale will be able to step back and remember this amazing show for what it was.

    I've read your reviews from the very beginning Billie. Thank you so much for everything. I'll miss the show so much.

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  31. Billie- thanks so much for bringing LOST to n:zone for so many seasons! I'll post your final review with pride...and with gladness you cover other shows! :) Thanks again! And I second what someone else said: four out of four polar bears to you!

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  32. I don't know why my posts are not really posting. This is the 3rd time I write this.

    I've never seen LOST as a sci-fi show, but rather a drama with sci-fi aspects. The mystic aspects were hinted much earlier in the series than the sci-fi ones. It's different from BSG, which was prominently a sci-fi series (although I really loved the BSG finale too).

    And I think everyone is inferring that they went to Heaven. It was never said or clear. Christian said they were "moving on", "letting go". Heaven (or purgatory, for that matter) may have been hinted but never definitely stated. I choose to believe it's not so simple and only enjoy not really knowing.

    I stubled upon this site looking for LOST reviews, and stayed for all the rest ass well. I started watching many shows because they're in your site, Billie. I won't say thanks for everything because you haven't done everything yet. You have much more to offer. And you have a reader for life.

    Simply thank you.

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  33. Thanks for all your thoughtful reviews these past six seasons.

    I thought the last show was perfect.

    looking forward to rewatching the whole thing someday. Hope you keep your reviews on-line!

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  34. All the comments almost convinced me otherwise, but I think this was the worst series finale I have ever seen. And people gave Battlestar crap about it's finale?

    It was emotionally satsifying for all of the characters arcs but they did not answer a single question. It was a cop-out. They made the ending simple and vague without answering any questions.

    What exactly was the flash-sideways world? Purgatory, a place where they could meet again together. A place where Sun get's shot and a lot of other things happen. And Christian Shepard saying the time on the island was the most important of their lives? The time where most of them were killed, tortured or kidnapped? It was complete bulls$it in my opinion.

    I loved the ride, but I don't think I can honestly reccomend this show on DVD to anyone because of the complete lack of answers the final season had. And no matter what no one says, the finale was what it was because the producers had no single way to answer all the questions they had raised over the last six years. I'm sorry guys but they did not know what they were doing.

    But Billie, I loved your reviews. I can't wait to see what next show you pick up next that I like (although I'm currently watching Dexter, so at least I have my Billie Doux fix for now :)

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  35. Emotionally, it was an incredibly satisfying finale. But intellectually, I feel cheated, and mildly disappointed.

    Brilliant way of putting it BD, Im split in two as to whether it was brilliant or six years of mystery for the sake of mystery, the reason i followed the show for six years and over 120 hours was the promise of answers to the questions asked in the first season. Yes i loved the ride, but im no closer to having the answers that were promised.

    It was all meant to lead to a scientific and rational ending, this is what was hinted at by the writers, but yet again we have the age old Duex ex Machina of gods and monsters, heaven and hell...... OK so if the flash sideways was purgetory, what was the deal with Desmond? Why tell Jack what he did didnt matter, when surely if the island was real life it would? His actions would still affect the futures of those that where still alive, remember Hurley wasnt even Jacob then.

    As for the other questions? man theres loads for example.... (deep breath)
    1.Why did the island have healing proporties?

    2.Unless you were pregnant?

    3.What exactley was Desmond?

    4.whats so special about Walt?

    5.What were the Dhama Inititive?

    6.Why did the others seem to have certain SuperHuman abilitys?

    7.In the flash sideways it shows the island underwater, wasnt this supposed to be purgutory?

    8. Where we the supply drops coming from?

    9.What was the sickness?

    10.The numbers!!! ok so we know they each relate to a candidate, but why those six candidates, and why do they hold so much power?

    11.And why have rossoux broadcast them over the radio for years?

    12.Charles and Eloise? What were they up to? Why did they know so much?

    13.Tarawet?

    14.Jacob's Army, Illana etc what was the point?

    15.Desmond & Penny Photo
    Why did Naomi have it in her backpack when she parachuted on to the Island?

    16.Why was libby in hurleys nuthouse?

    17.Why did the island travel through time?

    theres many more, im sure, but i guess well never know the answers.

    All in all, to some it up, Ive enjoyed LOST pehaps more than any other TV show, and yet i feel cheated by its resolution. More so than BSG, That show always had the religious overtones, this one PROMISED more but renegged when the writers couldnt find the answers i guess...... Gods and Monsters indeed.

    Dave Eco.

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  36. Just want to say that I think over the years we've been given enough information to answer, or at least infer reasonable explanations for many of the questions people still say they have. Not all, certainly, but a lot more than many viewers seem to think.

    For example, Dave asks what the Dharma Initiative is. This has pretty much been explained. They were a group of scientists conducting research and experiments on a wide variety of topics that were drawn to the island because of it's unique electromagnetic properties (and related phenomena such as ghosts, healing properties, etc.). They were a group trying to exploit the power of the Source. Just the latest in a long string of folk who have come to the Island for that very reason.

    Similarly, a lot of folks are still asking what the Island is. It is the home of The Source of All Life and it needs to be protected from those who would destroy or exploit it. That may not be the explanation many were hoping for, but it is the one they gave us in 'Across the Sea' and I'm guessing they feel that question has been addressed.

    In my opinion, most of the biggest questions were addressed in some way. And the questions that may not have been explicitly addressed leave us food for ongoing discussion and interpretation. Which has always been part of the fun of Lost.

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  37. Meh - yeah, I cried during the entire finale, but I agree. Emotionally satisfying, intellectually not. But what ticks me off is that I think it was intentionally so emotionally charged (overcharged!) to cover up that they didn't have a clue where to go with all the random doodads they've thrown out there over the course of the show. When in doubt, baffle with BS. Sure, there's going to be a movie in a few years - because they need that long to think about how to fit it all together...

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  38. LOST was a show was built on two things 1) strong, well-developed characters and, 2) mysteries. The writers delivered the goods on the characters but used (ultimatley) meaningless mysteries to keep us hanging on for six years.
    Beautiful, emotional ending, yes. But after 6 years of red herrings and cliff hangers about mysteries that ultimately meant NOTHING, I feel cheated.

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  39. I have thought throughout the show about the old testament Book of Genesis references to Jacob's Ladder,and the movie of the same name. Seems sort of an obvious allusion but I agree with Anon:

    http://mellifluent.wordpress.com/2010/05/25/the-lost-finale-or-why-im-right-and-everyone-else-is-wrong/

    See

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobs_Ladder

    and

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob%27s_Ladder_(film)

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  40. I loved this finale. I would even dare say that, it is one of the greatest finally's that I have ever witnessed. 95% of this episode was everything I wanted and more. That being said, the only thing that I didn't like was the setting of the last scene of the series. Why did they have to be in a church? Couldn't the writers have picked a better, more neutral location? Having the last scene in a church with hints that that they can now move on to heaven is, I believe, the writers making a statement.

    I really don't know how this ending makes the series as a whole re-watchable. I can get over the last few minutes because I thought the journey to this point was excellent. Others, like my wife, feel that the last 5 minutes really tarnish the series. They are having trouble coming to terms with an overly religous ending. I never thought this series would go there, but now face the same challenges that we faced with BSG.

    Thanks so much for these reviews Billy. Keep up the great work.

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  41. Just wanted to add my thanks Billie. I never posted comments before, but I loved reading your reviews. They always helped me to make more sense of the episodes, and pointed out what I missed.
    Thank you!

    Stephanie

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  42. I'm still pissed that I-only-picked-one-name suddenly became a mortal bitch and went down without a decent fight scene! We still don't know wtf the Source is, or anything that happened in Across the Sea, what was up with Walt, why Libby was in Hurley's nuthouse or how she got out etc.. Instead we got a stupid afterlife thing that had zero relevance to the actual series!

    Worst ending ever. I can't even imagine why the thought it was a good idea... so ridiculous!

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  43. For the first two hours of the finale I was enthralled, and thought it was brilliant. However for me it was ruined by the ending.

    I could handle the whole 'Moving on' idea, if they hadnt have spent half of the final season building up the characters in the FST. Jacks interactions with his kid, Jin and Keamy, Sawyer and Charlotte etc; they all made no difference to the ending.

    Also what on earth was Penny doing there? I think im right in saying that she never went to the island, and that most of the losties never even met her!

    As with many people; Emotionally it was a good ending, but from an intellectual and mythological point of view its been a real let down. I started watching the first season again this week and I found so many plot holes it was ridiculous. And so much has been left unanswered, areas introduced with no apparent intention to explain them.

    To finish - thanks Billie for your great reviews; and either way, its been a hell of a ride.

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  44. I actually enjoyed this, more than I thought I would. I was on the edge of my seat during the plane-taking-off scene and I was tearing up at Jack's death.

    It jarred a little bit with the whole "afterlife" thing, because I'm not at all religious and I don't like it when shows go all heavy with that stuff. But it had been leading towards something like that for a long while, and it didn't seem too out of place. I mean, everyone was so happy and together and everything, and it would have been unrealistic for that to be just a huge bunch of coincidences. I loved Sawyer and Juliet, and Shannon and Sayid, finding each other again. Kate meeting Jack after what had clearly been a very, very long time. Kate delivering Claire's baby, with help from Charlie. Locke finally getting his legs back. And Desmond getting most of them in the same place at the same time.

    And we got so many nice moments of closure. Jack discovering his destiny. Hurley doing what he's best at. Kate and Jack's kiss. Rose and Bernard. Vincent (I missed Vincent :P).

    I can put aside the plot problems. They were never going to give us all the answers and they gave more than I was expecting. This is what I choose to interpret:

    - I think Walt was a Candidate, which was why he was "special"; but he was crossed off the list when Locke decided he had been through enough. Maybe he was never *that* special, but what the Island seems to do best is let you realise the potential in yourself, and it just needed to take extreme measures to let Walt believe in himself enough.

    - Libby being in Hurley's hospital was kind of explained in the flash-sideways - she checked herself in (can't remember the reason though).

    - The pregnancies - well, maybe this has something to do with nobody being able to come or go from the Island without Jacob's permission. Since getting pregnant would be inviting someone else to the Island, perhaps Jacob's failsafe would be for the pregnancy never to come to term. Seems a bit brutal, but there you go.

    - The Dharma Initiative were investigating it as a way to harness a new kind of power, the electromagnetic force underground. The Others were...being Other-y. The same as they were back in the day when Jacob's brother founded the Others.

    - What is the Island? I guess we'll never know that. I think it's just some kind of anomoly, scientific or spiritual. A place where people go to sort themselves out.

    All in all, I was pretty happy with the episode. I didn't watch every episode ever made, and I'm glad, because I think I would have gone insane, but "Lost" will go down as one of the best shows of all time, full stop. For me as well.

    P.s. Can it be a coincidence that the conclusion for "Lost" was almost identical to the finale of "Ashes to Ashes" (the spin-off of "Life on Mars". The good version, not the American copy). I guess so. It's just weird that they aired less than a week apart. And I have to say I enjoyed this more. :)

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  45. Infact now I think about it, where did Jacks son in the FST come from in the first place?! Seeing as though the FST wasnt real?

    And how did MIB become smokey..? We got a good look at the light, and I see no reason why someone should fall down there and randomly come up as a pillar of smoke that has the power to kill people.

    Urgh.. promised myself I wouldnt sit here asking questions that I wont be able to answer. I could be here all night.

    I did love Hurley becoming the new protector however, those scenes with him and Ben were brilliant.

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  46. Tom:

    I might as well give it a go coming up with answers for those, since I've already got my Lost head on :)

    1. David came from Jack's imagination. Since the alt-universe was all about getting everything you ever wanted, Jack gets to do what he does - fix people. But he could never fix himself, and since this is about gaining closure, and Jack's main desire was to overcome his daddy issues, becoming a father himself helped him to understand what it's like to have a son, and explain his own father's actions a bit more. This was Jack subconsciously creating a way for him to overcome his demons and move on.

    2. Jacob's mother said that if the MiB went into the Source, something worse than death would happen, and that it contained something that is "inside all men" and could never be released. Sounds like a sort of Pandora's Box kind of deal, I'm guessing that MiB fell down there and since he was a bit of a dark horse to begin with, the Source kind of, embodied itself as this kind of dark power, drawing on MiB himself's personality. Presumably if someone inherantly good went down something different would happen, otherwise why didn't the same thing happen with Jack when the light came back on?

    That made less sense than I thought it would :/

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  47. Haha. Thanks for giving it a go though Annie, its better than anything I can come up with!

    Im desperately trying to like this ending, and the show as a whole. Unfortuanetly for me the mythology/mystery side is the part that attracts me to a show rather than the character element; im sure if it was the other way round id be happier.

    But I agree, still one of the best shows ever made. Ill be gutted this time next week when theres no new episode to look out for.

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  48. thanks for having me as a reader these 6 years, i've always looked forward to reading your reviews and insight. also, since you've kept every episode rather self-contained and easy to navigate, my friends who are behind the curve get to experience LOST discussions by reading your review after each episode as they catch up, and all of us know that a major part of the enjoyment is having someone to speculate with.

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  49. Apparently people can get killed in the afterlife or the Losties' heaven or dream time.

    There was no satisfactory explanation about how Jacob or Smokey could influence events off the island - hence Christian Shepherd's appearance to Jack when he got off the Island Part 1 or the appearance of CS on Whitmore's freighter. Or how Walt's father couldn't kill himself was he "blessed" by Jacob or Smokey?

    But overall I loved the ending and the feel-good ending. Its been six years and honestly I can't remember a lot of the detail. But I still wish they had kept the story a bit more tighter. Introducing Jacob's and MiB's strange mother was probably one of the worse plot devices.

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  50. Thanks for all the reviews Billie. It was as much fun reading them as it was watching Lost.

    I wish you (and everyone else) that you'll get to review something as engaing as Lost was in the near future. Because right now it seems that everything is ending with no new show in sight to fill the void.

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  51. The ending was emotionally satisfying, but not intellectually satisfying.

    To me the mythology of Lost was a critical element to the appeal of the show, and in the end anyone needing a sense of intellectual closure was left high and dry.

    Turns out the series was an elaborate soap opera in which the compelling mysteries were just a prop.

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  52. Liked the finale, but love this video talking about unanswered questions. Some are a bit silly, but its a funny watch.

    http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1936291

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  53. Although I will repeat what has been said over and over, I though of posting a comment, the first reason being to thank you Billie. I always thought an episode of Lost wasn't over till reading your reviews and always enjoyed them, so thank you for going that extra mile and doing this great job you do. You've got (another)reader for life.
    When the show ended my eyes were swollen with crying. It was so beautiful, so moving, so heartbreaking and redempting that I couldn't talk about it without crying afterwards.
    For me the sideways life always felt odd. It didn't seem the real deal and being a place where they wait till they move on after they die was great, for it helped them resolve things - it was amazing how better people they all were in sideways life. Ben's redemption and Hurley's journey from being that guy with the cd player after the crash to being the guardian of the island were simply fantastic.
    "You were a great number 2" and "You were a fantastic number 1" were fantastic lines, as were so many throughout the finale and the whole series.
    The reunion of characters and their awakening through love were simply marvellous. I sobbed watching Jin and Sun, Kate delivering Claire's baby, Claire and Charlie (OMG)and the much longed for going dutch of Juliet and Sawyer. It was overwhelming.
    VIncent being with Jack at the end as it was in the beginning was very beautiful, and the way the island story closed with Jack closing his eye on the same spot where everything began was poetic.
    Oh, we never learnt where the food came from or why Walt was special and then forgotten. WHO CARES? The show ending with the PEOPLE RESOLUTION was so much bigger than all the unanswered questions.
    I am going to miss this show so much. I had never been so carried away with a story before and I'll definetly rewatch it on DVD and recommend people doing it. Because despite all criticism of people complaining about unanswered questions and religious motif, it talked about people's journey through life, love, hate, good, evil, redemption and forgiveness, it was fun, dramatic, sexy, fantastic. And in the end, it was worth every single second of it and every "bad Robot" heard at the end.
    Thank you Lost.

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  54. I agree LOST was a brilliant bit of television, but i still cant help feeling cheated, we were PROMISED ANSWERS! We never got them.

    I had fully intended to rewatch on DVD from the start, but now? Nah, even the first episode has questions that were never answered, Like why was rossoux repeating the numbers in the radio broadcast? Isnt this what hooked us in the first place?

    Im glad every one got resolution emotionally, but i want to know how Sherlock cracked the case, How Marple came to the right conclusion, and not just that justice was done. I want to know why Walt was special, etc (See Dave Ecos List)

    Also, how come keamy died in the Purgatory World, was Keamy even there? Why did Eloise tell Desmond to stop doing what he was doing if they were all dead anyways?

    What happened to the Kwons kid?
    Did it die in the real world and get reborn in Purgetory? Or was it like Jacks none existent son?

    Same goes with Aaron.

    Why was the Island underwater at the start of the season?

    Does there Purgetory encapsulate a whole Planet?

    Questions, questions, questions...... Kinda sums up LOST to a tee, dont ya think?

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  55. 1.Why did the island have healing proporties?

    Because it was shelter around the Source of all things.

    2.Unless you were pregnant?

    Jacob changed the rules of the island after THE INCIDENT.

    3.What exactley was Desmond?

    A human who became displaced and splintered in time due to being at the epicenter of a massive release of electromagnetism.

    4.whats so special about Walt?

    He's a mutant with the ability to manipulate reality. The Others couldn't control him, so he had to be ejected from the island.

    5.What were the Dhama Inititive?

    A scientific research project. We were beat over the head with that at least a hundred times in the series and in every Dharma commercial that run during the series.

    6.Why did the others seem to have certain SuperHuman abilitys?

    Jacob granted them the abilities to get done what he needed them to get done.

    7.In the flash sideways it shows the island underwater, wasnt this supposed to be purgutory?

    What does one have to do with the other?

    8. Where we the supply drops coming from?

    Um, from....the Dharma Initiative.

    9.What was the sickness?

    We learned the origin and reasons for that in the episode when Jin met young Danielle.

    10.The numbers!!! ok so we know they each relate to a candidate, but why those six candidates, and why do they hold so much power?

    MacGuffin.

    11.And why have rossoux broadcast them over the radio for years?

    MacGuffin.

    12.Charles and Eloise? What were they up to? Why did they know so much?

    We know why they knew so much - they were the leaders of The Others. The better questions are how did they each get to the island in the first place and why did Eloise leave.

    13.Tarawet?

    It was a statue.

    Someone who crashed there BC was most likely Egyptian.

    14.Jacob's Army, Illana etc what was the point?

    15.Desmond & Penny Photo
    Why did Naomi have it in her backpack when she parachuted on to the Island?


    I believe that we saw the explanation for that when she was recruited.

    16.Why was libby in hurleys nuthouse?

    She was....disturbed....too.

    17.Why did the island travel through time?

    Ben turned the wheel.

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  56. "Oh, we never learnt where the food came from or why Walt was special and then forgotten. WHO CARES? The show ending with the PEOPLE RESOLUTION was so much bigger than all the unanswered questions."

    Im afraid I care. I watched the show for the mystery, not for the characters. Others agree, others disagree. Each to their own.

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  57. I watched the show for the mystery, not for the characters.

    You couldn't have the mystery without the characters.

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  58. @ HellBlazerRaiser

    OK...1 and 2. Thats not an explination, that the equivilent bad things happen because its gods will, This renegged on the promise made in season one that there will be no mystical ellements and that everything will have a logical answer.

    3. Even when he was dead? Really? your happy with that?

    4.How do you know that? That was never mentioned?

    5.Fair does, the white coats gave it away, but what exactly were they doing, how did thet discover the island, who paid for the research, why the poler bears etc.

    6. Who told you that, if that was the case why were they seen injecting themselves.

    7.My point being, if it was there puretory and they had no memory of the island why fabricate it in the tempory reality?

    8.Wasnt the dhama initiative purged in the 70's? They crashed in 2004 didnt they? and why drop in the middle of the jungle and not one of the stations?

    9.Sorry, must of missed that, my bag :)

    10 and 11. Doesnt that bother you?

    12.A better way of putting it, i agree

    13. ok ill let that one be :)

    14.?
    15.Missed that aswell :(

    16. So what was the piont of Libby, why wasnt she there for Hurley at the end?

    17. LOL

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  59. "You couldn't have the mystery without the characters."

    Well I disagree with that, the mythology of the island for me had little to do with the character arcs. The whole reason I became an avid fan of the show was not down to the characters, but the smoke monster, the mysterious island, why was no one coming to rescue them etc etc. But each to their own.

    I wish they would have somewhat resolved basic myths of the island so that I may revisit past seasons to find some connections. Knowing what we know now,there is little reasons to watch past season,other than to remember beloved characters. We will NEVER know certain things,we can't go "ahh so that's what it was" like in past seasons and that's a shame. i remember some magical moments like the discovery of the hatches,black rock,when we pieced together certain sites with the blast door map and many many other. I loved watching these great characters and connecting the dots in the mystery of the island,at least in the first three seasons or so. What made the first seasons so great was that we were watching some great story telling(with supernatural elements as well) mixed with great character development.Basically in season 6 the writers said "you know what,screw connecting the dots",let's just focus on the characters and it does feel a bit like a cop-out to be honest. They basically said let's ignore the mysteries and focus on the more phylosophical aspects of lost and these characters lives. And I would have bought that if 50% of lost wouldn't have been about supernatural stuff going on this supernatural island. Their experiences were interacting with all these elements and the pain(and little joy) it brought them. You can't just put these things in the back seat and say that it was the feeling/experiences that mattered and not the background,especially with this kind of supernatural background.

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  60. Bilie:

    I agree with everyone else, an episode of lost was not complete until I read your review. Thank you for your dedication during this 6 years.

    See you on another show.

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  61. Thanks for all the reviews Billie. Your Lost reviews on tv.com was what drew me here. Initially, I only read the Lost reviews. But I've found myself reading most of your reviews, both for shows that I'm already watching and shows that I now want to watch thanks to you (the original Star Trek for one).

    Personally, I watched this show for the characters and the mysteries was the icing on the cake. I felt like all the major questions were answered. I pretty much agree with HellBlazerRaiser's answers to the questions posed earlier on. Just a few things to add though:

    - Why was Walt special? He had powers. So did Hurley, Miles and a few other characters we came across on the show. Why aren't people questioning their powers? Think of the powers and numbers as 'the force' in Star Wars. It doesn't need to be explained. It just exists. Walt was considered "special" by the Others because he was a child. People could no longer give birth on the island so the Others needed to recruit (err, steal :p) children to keep their society thriving. And what better way than to indoctrinate/brainwash kids from an early age? They also kidnapped "good people" (like Cindy) who would make perfect candidates for their society.

    - Why was the island underwater in the sideways world? Cause Jack, Kate and the others who created the sideways world wanted to deal with their issues in a place where they didn't crash on the island. Each of the characters had different lives in this world, all so that they could deal with their issues in a new way (Jack being a dad, Kate being innocent, Ben being a teacher, Sawyer being a cop, Hurley being the luckiest guy alive, etc etc).

    A few of the mysteries that haven't been clearly solved or have an answer implied will be answered in a season 6 dvd featurette. Darlton have confirmed this.

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  62. Three things irk me a lot, but real-world events had a role in preventing them from being answered.

    1) I really wanted to see where Mr Eko's story was going! Unfortunately, the actor playing him was a total dick and left the show. Darlton claim that they had a four season plan for him too. Uber cut about this :(. He even turned down an appearance in the finale (he wanted five times as much money as they were offering him). Bah!

    2) What was up with Libby?? Darlton claimed that there was definitely something about her past that was going to be revealed in a flashback of a new character in season 4. Which leads me to believe that she was somehow connected to the freighter peeps and maybe an early Widmore agent. Unfortunately, the writer's strike took place and we lost 3 episodes in season 4. I'm guessing that one of these would have been a specific freighter's episode (probably Charlotte since she didn't get one at all). Though, her story still makes sense without the extra info Darlton were planning on giving us. I just think of her as going to the mental institution cause of the death of her husband, and the fact that Hurley was at the same institution was one of many off-island connections between the Losties :)

    3) What was the significance of Annie and the volcano, both mentioned in 'The Man Behind the Curtain'?? Darlton state in one of the podcasts (probably for this episode) that Annie has a huge impact on Ben's life and the volcano on the history of the island. I'm guessing that maybe the initial idea was to have an ancient flashback story where the volcano destroyed a thriving (possibly Egyptian) society on the island... and maybe was the intended cause of the statue's destruction. And in terms of Annie, I have a feeling that she was Ben's first and only love. She probably got pregnant with Ben's kid and died as a result... explaining both Ben's determination on preventing the death of pregant women (ie, through all the effort he had in bringing Juliet into the island), his love of children and the reasoning behind his determination to raise Alex as his own daughter. I'm guessing we didn't get these two stories because they weren't exactly important in the grand scheme of things and shortly after they were introduced, Darlton were given an end date of the show in which they had to priortise the resolution of mysteries.

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  63. What exactly did the hydrogen bomb explosion do? Juliet's ghost said via Miles, "It worked." but what exactly? - in the sideways timeline - the Losties were in Limbo and the Island sunk at the bottom of the sea.

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  64. During Juliet and Sawyer's reunion scene, she said, "It worked," meaning unplugging the candy machine got the candy to drop. Nothing more mysterious than that. It was one of the little twists of the finale.

    We spent the whole season thinking her last thought "It worked" had something to do with Jughead detonating, when really it was just a psychic echo of her thoughts in the "space between" as she died. You may view this a cheat or a mean trick of the writers (as I'm sure many do), but I thought it was kind of cool. They always manage to take us in directions we didn't see coming.

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  65. Claire's ending was horrible!

    Richard: "Claire, we're leaving come with us?"
    "No thanks."

    Kate: "Clarie, we're leaving come with us."
    "Oh, ok then!"

    No mention of her awakened mother watching Aaron, no Jack heart to heart curing her with his new Island powers, no one gave her back Charlie's DS ring! Nothing. We still don't know why she just left Aaron there or why she was convinced they abanonded her or whether or not she actually died in the explosion and got res'ed like Sayid. Such a waste.

    P.S. why wasn't Helen in the church at the end!?

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  66. Thinking about it, the ending
    and the subsequent discussions simply comes down to man of science v man of faith.

    "Why do you find it so hard to believe..."

    "Who do you find it so easy.."

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  67. I want to thank you for all those great reviews (I've read all Lost and Six Feet Under reviews).

    After thinking this for 3 days, I think that answers don't matter really. The show is much about man of science vs. man of faith. In life you don't get answers to things like "Why I'm here?" or "Why I have this cancer?" and so on.

    People are bit too obsessed with answers. There will always be questions science can't explain.

    Should people really "believe" or believe in science? That's a question science can't explain. I think we should just to continue living. What happened, happened and what is going to happen, is just going to happen.

    In the end of the show Man of Science, Jack "belived". He sacrificed himself because he "believed". And it worked.

    Yeah, I love the series. I love the ending.

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  68. Does anyone know why Smokie had to choose the body of Locke to use instead of any of the dead bodies already on the island? ie the passengers killed on the first Oceanic crash. And if MiB was manipulating Ben Linus - why didn't he simply manipulate him to kill all the candidates as he did with 1stLocke.

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  69. "Does anyone know why Smokie had to choose the body of Locke to use instead of any of the dead bodies already on the island?"

    To confuse the viewers. To add a new pointless mystery.

    -------
    I keep reading comments about how emotionally satisfying the Lost finale was. Anybody else think that is a little odd to be excited by this ending of Lost in which all the characters are dead?

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  70. "Does anyone know why Smokie had to choose the body of Locke to use instead of any of the dead bodies already on the island?"

    Smokey explained this at some point in the last few episodes: that Locke had to be a believer, that he had to die and his body had to be brought back to the Island. I got the impression that it was sort of a perfect storm situation.

    Sebastian, this isn't the first show I loved that ended with everyone being dead. I can deal. (I won't be specific about which shows because I don't want to spoil anyone.)

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  71. "Does anyone know why Smokie had to choose the body of Locke to use instead of any of the dead bodies already on the island?"

    I thought it was because it was the best way to have Jacob killed. Locke was the new 'leader' of The Others so he was able to get Richard to direct him to his whereabouts. Also as Locke, he was able to convince Ben to kill Jacob in a way that would've been impossible if he were impersonating someone else.

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  72. I'm a little behind the times as ever, because here in New Zealand the final didn't screen until 29th. Always good to read the discussion here, and I'll add my name to the long list of thanks to Billie for her insightful and useful weekly analysis.

    Having said all that, I'm a bit afraid that because we were all so invested in six years of LOST, that we wanted this to be a good and fitting end, that we're giving the writers of this show an easy ride here...

    This finale SUCKED very badly indeed. I had retained the hope (against increasing odds as the season progressed) that the writers would finish this well, but as far as I can see their failure is total. The whole premise of the show has always been that something cool and interesting was going on ('the mysteries') and that it was being discovered by a set of well-drawn and well acted characters. And for me, the mysteries did need to be properly resolved, at least in some self-consistent and coherent way. It all comes down to whether there was a carefully crafted BIG IDEA behind the (often brilliant) storytelling - the final reveal. But it turns out there wasn't. And that is what really really sucks. We have all been the victims of the longest con.

    People have already listed the unresolved plot fragments, and they are many and varied. Chief among them for me are the Widmore/Eloise story, and although we know who Dharma were, we still know nothing about what they were really trying to do and how far they got. They sent a polar bear around the world and back in time, so it would have been good to know more. And Desmond's special powers were all so that he could pull a stone out of a hole? Really??! IS THAT IT? Who put the fracking thing in the hole then?! Surely the heart of the Island had to be a (super)natural phenomenon, not made by human hands? Wasn't that the MiB's transgression? (Hey! We made a wheel to use the light!) The list of non-sequiters and incomplete plot fragments is a long one, and I think is sadly says that they were just making up cool stuff as they went along (Let's have a polar bear! How about a Nigerian plane? Great yeah... Eqyption statue? Brilliant that'll confuse em!). This undermines the reason that most of us got into this show in the first place, and as someone has already said, destroys any sense that we might go back and look expectantly through the previous series for retrospective 'aha!' moments. I wasn't asking for detailed exposition, just a coherent explanation.

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  73. To continue... a lot of people are arguing that the character resolution was everything. This is the most unforgivable cop-out by the writers. The Alt/LAX timeline had the capacity to be something very cool, implying destiny, choice, quantum uncertainty and the multiverse... all these things had been hinted at pretty strongly. But no. It turned out to be a drawn-out and ultimately pointless version of the 'Sixth Sense' (Not an intended spoiler - EVERYONE has seen that movie now, haven't they?) Does this really provide character resolution? Not for me. As Sebastian has said: 'But they're all dead". And WORSE than that, they are all for some reason playing out repeat versions of their lives which indicate that they have learned nothing from their actual lifetime. And then when they remember their actual life, we are supposed to believe that they are HAPPY about that? And indeed about the way their previous life panned out, now that they remember it? Take Jin's story - he is separated from his wife for years, only ever gets to see his longed-for daughter on a video snip and then dies in a submarine. Now in the 'afterlife', he thinks he is alive and about to be a father... but oh no, really he's dead and will never be a father to his little girl (again) and he's HAPPY about that? And if the Alt-timeline is about wish fulfilment, imagining the life you would have liked etc etc., then why is Alt-Desmond a loner? Wasn't the POINT that Desmond was doing everything to be with Penny? Senseless pile of crap... and don't get me started on the multi-faith stained glass window!

    So: 'Plot mysteries resolved' - fail. 'Characters emotionally resolved' - fail.

    Sorry Billie - zero out of four polar bears, or possibly a very large negative number, as most of what made the show good has been undermined and negated. They had such an opportunity to make this the classic show that others would try to emulate and they missed it.

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  74. In addition to the failure to resolve so many mysteries, I find one other thing profoundly unsatisfying about the ending of Lost -- the vast majority of the characters on the show died unhappily, under miserable circumstances. Think about it: Boone, Shannon, Charlie, Ana Lucia, Libby, Eko, Michael, Locke, Charlotte, Faraday, Sayid, Sun, Jin, Juliet, Danielle, and Alex. (And we might as well throw in Nikki and Paolo for good measure. ;) ) They all died awful deaths, and several of them had close family in the outside world they left behind. Sun and Jin, for example, had a young daughter who was orphaned by their deaths. Michael had a son. Juliet had a sister and niece whom she loved dearly and had desperately wanted to get back to. Of the original Oceanic 815 cast from seasons 1 and 2, the only ones who made it off the island were Sawyer, Claire, and Kate. A few others stayed behind to live, and everyone else -- over 90% of the 70-plus survivors (48 from the fuselage and 23 from the tail section) either died miserably or were abducted by the Others, after which they died miserably at the hands of the Smoke Monster in season 6.

    And what did all these people suffer and die for? Some dumb "light" that Jacob's murderous adoptive mother told us is really really really special.

    Think about it: have you ever seen another show where they make 90% the characters suffer gruesome deaths for some vague, undefined purpose?

    I am left with the distinct impression that the writers for six years have been resorting to that lazy technique of killing off characters just to create "drama."

    But hey, the characters all got to have a nice purgatory and beautiful reunion in the church at the end, so it's OK! Give. Me. A. Break.

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  75. Someone should make a facebook page with the well thought negative comments from this page, lol. But if you watch the Series Finale where the writers talk about their ideas and all and how they really love Sawyer taking his shirt off all the time - you suddenly realize the show was not well thought through and they made plot ideas up at 3.30am as they went along.

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  76. Ah, this finale was a heart breaker. I wanted to love it. I still want to love it. I can be satisfied with a degree of unresolved mystery, but we should have been given solid answers to a few key questions.

    I, for one, needed to believe that these characters we feel so much for suffered and/or died for some heroic purpose. But ... all we got was a vague "Really Important Light That Must Not Be Snuffed Out!" Really?

    We needed to feel that what happened MATTERED?.

    But it turned out to be more like the gold medal winner in the Olympic shark jumping competition.

    Razzle frickin' dazzle.

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  77. Billie,

    your Lost reviews are what brought me to your site. Now I watch just abut all the same shows as you. Just getting into Dr Who so I am looking forward to getting caught up in the reviews. Thanks for the Lost reviews as your take on things have enriched my way of looking at all the shows.

    Will still be here lurking around reading reviews for Supernatural, Dexter, etc.


    Thanks

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  78. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  79. Trousers, I'm sorry you removed your comment, although I understand why you might want to. I thought it was lovely.

    In fact, this review has gotten more hits than anything else I've ever done, and I've enjoyed reading everyone's comments. The thank-yous have been especially moving. Thank you all.

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  80. Hi Billie!
    I just watched the finale last night (yeah! I know it's been time) and I'm still a bit confused of what has happened.
    But your review (and the reviews of all the guest writers) really helped me cope with the finale and the "meaning of it all". I still feel in-between, half satisfied, half-dissapointed, but the effect is lessening now, after I've read all of yours fantastic insights.

    And I just wanted to thank you! Not only to all of your team for a really intriguing and personal insights about the finale, but especially you, personally - for your devotion to this show and, being happy, intrigued and full-of-hope about it all the time. Just like I was.

    I have really enjoyed every word you wrote in your reviews. Many times you've opened my eyes to the things I hadn't noticed and showed me a new perspective.
    Your reviews, full of information, joy and passion, even got me trying to write similar pieces myself, something which would help me understand this show more.

    And for all of this I just wanted to say: Thank you, thank you, thank you!
    It's been a blast having this trip with you by my side and your skillful guidance. :)

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  81. Mike, on behalf of myself and the writing team, thank so much for your wonderful comment.

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  82. Thank you very very much for all these years, Billie. Greetings from Greece. Your reviews will be missed almost as much as Lost itself.

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  83. Hey Billie, just wondering if you're going to review the 12min epilogue 'The New Man In Charge'?

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  84. Someone on the site probably will, if I don't.

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  85. Here's a fun video, courtesy of tvline.com, from Darlton's Comic-Con panel "Totally Lost: One Year Later."

    It is, allegedly, an unaired clip from the first season:

    http://www.tvline.com/2011/07/tvline-items-lost-lost-scene-revealed-ncis-nabs-lily-tomlin/

    (Warning, the link also includes an NCIS spoiler. Proceed with caution!)

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  86. The ending of this show kind of reminds me of what you would tell a child who is asking you too many annoying questions. "Why this?" "Why that?" Finally you are just like, "Hey look, an icecream truck!" That's what the writers did to the audience. They gave us this amazing last 20 minutes of the show that made us bawl our eyes out and completely forget all of our questions because we were too happy/sad/emotianlly spent at the icky sweet ending of the show....for a while anyway. Then after awhile (after we are washing all of the sticky caramel and icecream off of our faces like idiots) we think....."Hey.....what about all of our freaking questions?!" They didn't answer a damn thing.

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  87. Re-reading these comments...I have not yet been able to bring myself to re-watch the show...I can't wait to see ChrisB's take and see the view of someone who has watched over a period of weeks/months rather than 6 years. I am interested to see if that has an effect on the final analysis of "emotionally satisfying" versus "intellectually satisfying". Not to pin a lot on your Chris, but your comments may be my deciding factor of whether or not I want to take the time to re-watch. I was one of those in the camp of "bawled my eyes out, loved it" and 3 days later after the glow wore off, thought "Huh? So much turned out to be irrelevant". I am hoping a re-watch would change my mind, but I don't yet have the interest to do it.

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  88. ChrisB - Sorry - don't read the other comment I just made until you have finished watching. There are no spoilers per se, but I don't want to taint your impression...Should have said that first.

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  89. Wow, Sooze. No pressure, then! :-)

    I did not love Lost, mostly because it was, for me, so horribly uneven. The first season and the beginning of the second were wonderful. The second half of the second season through to almost the end of the third nearly did me in with boredom. The fourth was great again; the fifth was the low point; it came back in the sixth.

    As I’ve said in previous comments, I gave up on the mystery story somewhere in the middle of the third season. The whole thing became too contrived, too obscure and, frankly, too boring as I find setting up issues without resolution to be lazy story telling and I tune out. The shark jumper for me was the entire fifth season with all the time travel and different groups of people in different times. It made no sense at the time and still makes no sense. Intellectually, this show did nothing for me.

    But, emotionally? I hung in because I fell in love with these characters in the first season and I wanted to see what happened to them. Because of this, I simply loved the finale. I cried through the vast majority of it because it was exactly what I wanted -- these people that I care about happy and with others that they love.

    All of the reunions were simply lovely to watch, but my favourite was Sawyer/Juliet. At the beginning of the episode, when they pass each other in the hall of the hospital and don’t even register each other, I was crushed. I should have had more faith.

    “This is the place that you… that you all made together so that you could find one another. The most important part of your life was the time that you spent with these people.” Christian’s statement had me sobbing to the point where I couldn’t catch my breath. On a personal note, in less than a week’s time, I am leaving the country, the home and the people I love to embark on a new adventure. As I have started packing up my life and saying goodbye to the people who have been my family for twelve years, this statement rang so true it hurt. I don’t care if these characters were in heaven, purgatory or somewhere in between. Right now, it comforts me to know that they all managed to be together in the same room again.

    I owe a huge debt of gratitude to everyone here who kept me going through this marathon. Josie and Jess -- for your lovely comments and support when I all but gave up halfway through. And of course, Billie, your reviews were simply wonderful and I loved reading them. They added a dimension to the show that I simply would have missed entirely without them. So again, thanks.

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  90. ChrisB, what a lovely comment!

    I am so happy that you like Sawyer/Juliet as much as I do. Rewatching, I realized how incredibly that story had been written and acted: they're only a couple for a few episodes, but the connection was so obvious that we all jumped on board right away. Even though, if you had told me in Season Three that I'd root for that couple, I would have laughed my bitter laugh.

    I was particularly touched by your personal reaction to the finale, as well. As I rewatch, I'm starting to realize the fluidity of Lost: it has no stable meaning, but we can make it meaningful in personal ways. It has a little something for everyone. I don't think that's intentional--I think it's just luck. But I'm happy that Lost gave you a catharsis moment at a key point in your life.

    I'm also dying to know what your next watching project will be! Have you seen Buffy and Angel?

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  91. Josie -- thanks!

    I'm not sure what's next. I have seen both Buffy and Angel several times, but have been meaning to re-watch them at some point.

    I am moving back to the States, so I am keen to catch up on the things that show earlier there than here. So, the rest of Awake, Revenge and Once Upon a Time are all on my late summer catch-up list.

    I also want to finish The Prisoner and BSG before I start another marathon.

    Anything I've missed? :-)

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  92. ChrisB, no pressure, I was just really interested to hear what your reaction was. Thanks for the honest post.
    Based on yours and Josie's "rewatch" post, I have put Lost on my list of things to rewatch. Still gonna wait a year or so though, as it is still very fresh in my memory...and I have plenty of other things I am watching and reading.

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  93. I just read this amazing piece by Javier Grillo-Marxuach, who was on the writing staff for Lost during the first two seasons. While he does address some nagging questions (i.e. "it was never purgatory!"), what's really fascinating is the way the mythology developed and the story unfolded in the writer's room - as well as the glimpse into the complicated relationship between showrunners, writers and network bosses.

    It's 42 pages (well worth reading), but if you just skip to the last three paragraphs, Grillo-Marxuach beautifully addresses the "were they making it all up as they went?" question. It's a really great exploration of creative process of building and sustaining this complex and groundbreaking show.

    Read it here: http://okbjgm.weebly.com/lost

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  94. Scott, I read that a couple of years ago. Or most of it, at least.

    Everyone: I second Scott's recommendation!

    (And of course it's 42 pages. So Lost.)

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  95. Thanks, Scott. That's an interesting piece. I hadn't read it before.

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  96. I just finished a Lost rewatch, and I highly recommend it if you're looking for something to rewatch.

    The first time I watched it, at some point I started trudging through and not fully paying attention because I was annoyed by the things I realized would never be addressed. *cough" Walt "cough" This time because I knew what I was getting myself into I watched it with open eyes and picked up on things I couldn't believe I had missed the first time around. (Did you know Kate was pregnant for most of the last two seasons!?)

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  97. i loved this show. cried many times at the end. an epic hero story -- every character was a hero.

    so you didn't get all your questions answered? tough. that's life. you don't get all your questions answered in life either. accept it. move on.

    it was quite beautiful that what was most important to them was their experiences on the island and what they shared together. that island was a living hell in so many ways -- people were killed, fear, terror, loss, kidnappings -- but in the end, the bad stuff wasn't what was important nor was it what was remembered. it was the good things they shared and the love they had for each other. in none of their memories of the island did they remember anything sad. that's what i'm looking forward to in my afterlife. many people fear death, but it is life that is scary. i'm glad that they showed this -- letting go of all the crap life hands you and "moving on" (it's the best way to phrase it).

    bravo.

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  98. Hey Billie,

    Just wanted to say thanks for writing these reviews. I started watching Lost for the first time at the beginning of quarantine in March, and finished it yesterday. I had a ton of fun reading these along the way, 10+ years after you wrote them, and I'm glad to see you're still doing the same thing today. Keep it up!

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  99. JG, you're so very welcome. Thanks for your comment. I almost wish I could reset myself and experience Lost from the beginning, streaming, without the angst and effort of writing six seasons of reviews as it aired. :)

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  100. Hey Billie,
    I watched Lost when it first aired and looked forward to your reviews every week. In reading your thoughts about each episode it was like having a conversation with a friend about a show I love. Thank you for that. Ten plus years later, I recently subscribed to Hulu and have started rewatching the show and remembered your fantastic episode reviews. Glad I was able to find you again. I'm currently in the middle of Season 3 and I loving the show just as much as I did back then. I just saw that you posted again here and just wanted to chime in, say Hi!
    CM

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  101. CM, thanks so much, and welcome back! Yeah, still here. We're nearing 10,000 reviews, if you can believe it.

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  102. I just thought I'd share this Vulture piece on the finale of Lost, which also delves into what a pop cultural phenomena the show was, how it was the first and last of its kind in many ways. Lots of enlightening tidbits from interviews with the cast, writers, directors and producers.

    Watching the series over again recently kick-started my fan-boyish passion that Lost helped shaped, so I've been reading and learning a lot about it that I didn't know back when I was originally watching it on TV.

    Makes me appreciate what they made all the more.

    Here is the link, for those who are interested: https://www.vulture.com/article/lost-series-finale-oral-history-the-end.html

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  103. >>Jack: "You're not John Locke. You disrespect his memory by wearing his face, but you're nothing like him."

    ..."Turns out he was right about mostly everything. I only wish I could've told him that while he was still alive." !! s6 believer Jack, basically locke-ified Jack's the best part of this disappointing final season. What a great quote and a great moment.

    I never had the same issues most people did with the mysteries, even though they were all justified. It's just that the only mysteries I cared about WERE answered, even the dumb ones (cue Jack instead of asking Christian whether he's dead, he tearfully asked if they ever explained the Hurley bird (and they did! in the epilogue) - "Let it go, son").

    We have to go back... sniff sniff.

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  104. I feel like a lot of LOST viewers don’t understand the show. When you ask ‘But what is the island?’, what answer could you have gotten that would have been satisfying? The show explained more about the island than I’d ever expected would happen. Why was Walt special? If it was revealed that he had been blessed by a mysterious shaman at birth, the next question would be ‘Where did the shaman come from?’ The shaman came from an ancient group of mystics who have lived on the earth for hundreds of years. ‘How did the mystics come to be?’ These questions could go on forever. There are people who are furious that we never discovered who was shooting at the Losties in the outrigger. Was this really important? It hardly classifies as a plot hole, yet so many people treat it as such.

    I loved reading your reviews during my rewatch of the show, but the ‘lack of answers’ argument is a giveaway that the viewer doesn’t really understand LOST.

    Oh and the flash-sideways wasn’t ‘heaven’. I’m not sure what would make anyone think it was…

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  105. I have many, many thoughts, but none of them are probably very original so I'll just say a few personal things here.

    I never expected to like this show. I'm not generally a fantasy fan, so I spent two decades not caring about it. I only watched it now because several people wanted me to do so. (Side note, one huge benefit of avoiding it is that I never saw spoilers. I literally knew zero about what was coming at any point, and that made it a lot more fun.)

    In the end, I liked the show a lot more than I expected, but I will confess I was mostly a fan of the characters and their relationships and, true to form, didn't care a lot about the mystical aspects. So for me, unanswered questions aren't a big deal. Real life is full of red herrings and unanswered questions and people randomly drifting in and out, so I don't get too uptight when it happens in fiction. In any case, yes: I loved the show overall.

    I enjoyed the finale far more than I expected, too, but a disclaimer is probably in order here: I'm a Christian, so religious symbolism is often important to me. However, I wasn't at all into the religious aspects of the series for lots of reasons, and I didn't find the afterlife implications of the finale compelling. I would have liked it a lot more if they had just shown that everyone was ok and happy, and skipped the rest. I didn't hate it; it just felt unnecessary and hollow to me.

    Having said that, I was shocked at how strongly I was moved by the finale in general, particularly when various characters found and remembered each other, and in moments when they demonstrated incredible strength or love. I shed a whole lot of tears and I did not expect that one bit. It was very cathartic, and I loved it.

    Finally, I'll join in the chorus of those who went before me (and, presumably, those who will go long after me) to say that these reviews are great. I looked at several when I started watching Lost and liked this one best so I stayed here and was never once disappointed. Thank you for making an already fun show ten times as much fun with your insight, humor, and engaging writing.

    And now I'm off to choose my next series. See you in another life, brotha. :-)

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  106. Edi, thank you so much. I'm glad you enjoyed my reviews. :) I hope your next series is something we've covered so I can have some more of your well written comments.

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  107. Special thanks to Billie and ChrisB. It was great reading your thoughts after watching each episode.

    I wish I had more to say about the finale. I'm conflicted with how I feel, but I think I generally like it. More than anything, I think it made me miss season 1. I sort of miss not knowing most of what was going on in the island, and theorizing (With my friends :p) what the island was, what it meant etc... On top of that, we had great back-to-back episodes of connections being formed, and faiths being challenged. With that said, I still think this series was incredible the whole way through. I'll miss watching it.

    To anyone who reads this, have a great life :)

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  108. I didn't mond the spiritual aspects of the finale. The series was more about personal growth and connections than anything else. I'm bummed that Walt and Michael were nor inside that church. Also, why did Kate's promise to help Claire raise Aaron? She was in no position to make such a promise. Kate had broken her probation and Claire had her mother to help. I doubt that the Littleton women would want Kate anywhere near Aaron.




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  109. I’m finally coming back to write out my thoughts from my 2023 re-watch of Lost. I watched this with my son (his first viewing) over about 3 weeks.

    So season 6 really is a drop off from every other season. There, I said it. It’s funny how with this being my all time favorite show I’ve somewhat blindly defended the quality of the show as a whole. Only when breaking it down and actually commenting season to season, and at times episode to episode, does it become more apparent that season 6 lacks the impact of prior seasons, with a few exceptions.

    One big reason are the addition of the temple arc, and the additional Ajira followers of Jacob. I’ve argued in previous comments that Lost holds up even after 20 years and still has a very current feel, but these two story lines simply don’t. In fact, the temple story line comes across as dated and silly now. And here in the final episode, the final battle between our heroes and the Man in Black lacks the impact that it should have based on what has come before it.

    Still, there are gems to be found in both the final season and the finale. The sideways was a curious story line but packs an incredible emotional wallop. The fates of several of the characters we love are difficult, but lended credence to the overall impact of what they were going through.

    The conclusion…I’m ok with it. I was raised deeply religious, had my faith challenged in a specific moment, and over time and much self education, settled into an agnostic belief system that understands that for some, faith is critical to peace and happiness. In that vein, I kind of like the idea that there is a ‘beyond’. That a shared set of experiences so powerful, so impactful to a group of individuals could allow them to find each other once more beyond space and time is quite beautiful. I’d like to hope that there are at least a couple people that would wait for me at the end of all space and time as well.

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