Ending the world of Lost
Lost was a show that has kept me watching for the last couple of seasons more because I have had invested so much in it already than any other reason. It has now finally finished, yes we know everything that we’re ever going to about Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sawyer etc… The finale also lived up to the shows underwhelming recent history - well at least I think so on reflection.
Lost started as a show about an aircrash, an aircrash on an island where there were already people that were running secret experiments - or were they. The finale left open so many of the mysteries really - or perhaps I’m not perceptive enough. For example why the time travel? Was the first flash timetravel? Why were the others so openly hostile? Why were only some people effected by the flashes? What on earth was the smoke? How did Ben get transported back to another part of the world?
When I watch Dr Who I accept time travel, when I watch Star Trek I accept teleporting, when I watch Dracula I accept monsters, and I can accept heaven and hell for the right show but in lost they need some more explanation, the polar bear was good, it was out there but perfectly explainable later but the smoke monster? They tied up a lot of things but who really cares who’s body it was in the caves? Perhaps I just need to watch it all again knowing what I know now…
I feel that they wanted out and they almost moved there too quickly from where they were mid season. Don’t get me wrong the show has dragged on and I have despite the whinging enjoyed it but it wrapped up a bit too quickly with deaths and the hope that I’d forget all those nagging issues.
Now that the show is finally over I feel that most of it was a waste of time, but then what else would I have watched? Perhaps I should get into 24 ;).
Good hunting
Agree with you Rob - the show only really answered the questions about the last series, it almost disregarded the other 5 seasons worth - it only concentrated on the characters, and not the basis of the show itself - if it was all about the characters and their redemption, set it in a supermarket, not a mystical island.
We only really found out how things linked together (the others, etc), and that Jacob brought them there, but none of the how’s and why’s were really answered.
Andi - sorry, I disagree with your interpretation… the island is a plug to all that is bad, and also some form of source of life (the light that exists in all of us, and that everyman wants - said “mother”). The smoke monster is no barrier though, the MIB fell down the hole and it cleansed him, all his bad came out and made the smoke monster (when Jack fell down the hole, he already had a clear soul, hence he just died). The souls stuck on the island are people who died on the island, who can’t move on - for whatever reason, but mostly stuck in purgatory - or whatever.
But back to the point - the writers seems to have misjudged about half of their audience, and be too wrapped in their own world, and not realising what everyone really wanted to know - i.e. about the island.
I finished the finale feeling satisfied, but as time has gone on I’ve thought of more questions that are unanswered.
I think they answered the most recent questions, and some are down to your interpretation. The truth is, there is never going to be a way that can truly explain something like the smoke monster, as such a thing is impossible in reality.
It seems a bit of a get out, but I think you have to accept that the pockets of Electromagnetism on the Island are accountable for the time travel and moving the island and it’s people (see the orientation video).
Presuming that the light is the pathway to the afterlife, then the smoke monster is almost the barrier to that afterlife. When the Man In Black fell down that hole, people could no longer move on. Hence why the souls of the dead people (whispers) are stuck on the island until Smokey is dead.
I don’t think they wanted out - but they were never going to be able to answer every question. At the end of the show all the (current) characters stories were wrapped up.
Compared to something like the X-Files finale, LOST’s finale was a triumph.