***Once again, there be spoilers here, avert your eyes if the final episode of Lost remains unseen to them***
How you look at the finale of Lost depends greatly on the type of person you are. If you’re a literalist, then you were left profoundly unsatisfied because of all the leftover questions. However, if you’re capable of a little more imagination, then the unanswered question score sheet is not as important as the fates of our characters.
What was the island? I don’t know. The light at the centre could have meant life, or goodness, or happiness. It could have been a Pandora’s Box where the “cork” kept hope bottled up lest the world descend into darkness and despair. But what it was isn’t as a consequential as what it did. It brought desperate and lonely people together and gave them a purpose.
And no, the island was not purgatory. It was amazing to me how that detail seemed to zoom by so many people. Everything that happened on the island was real. It was the Sideways world that was purgatory. But was it? No one actually called it “purgatory.” Remember that the point of the Jughead bomb was to stop Oceanic 815 from ever crashing. Hence, this was the reality they all constructed, as Christian Shephard explained, where they could meet, remember, and make peace before heading off into the afterlife. After all, what happened happened, right?
It makes me wonder what people dissatisfied with Sideways-purgatory were expecting. That they’d all gather in the Sideways Universe and then be magically transported back to the island by Desmond or something? Anyone who thinks they’d be satisfied by that ending raise your hand.
I was onboard with Lost from Day One, and I disembark satisfied. The pure poetry of the finally scene was beautiful and moving as Jack, dying from Locke’s mortal wound, makes his way to the bamboo he first woke in after arriving on the island. He lays down and watches his friends’ plane escape overhead, smiles, and closes his eyes. The circle is closed as the camera fades out from Jack’s closed eye. Vincent the dog found Jack and sat with him as he died, echoing the pair’s first encounter in the pilot. Could this ending have been more perfect? I think not.
The island story was more or less straight forward: stop Smoke-Locke from leaving the island. The implications were interesting because basically in order to defeat the monster, the island had to be brought to the brink of destruction. Turning off the light made the monster mortal in the form of John Locke, which resulted in the epic cliff side fist fight between Jack and Locke. Meanwhile, it’s proved that it’s not so easy to kill Lapidus as the pilot’s found floating in the ocean alive as Richard and Miles look to continue Operation: Blow-Up-Plane.
So while it’s true that Jack’s tenure as island guardian was incredibly brief, I get to lie in the smugness of being right. Hurley, as it turns out, is the man who gets to take charge of the island, and none other than Ben Linus is recruited as his Richard Alpert. I previously noted how Hurley’s new leadership role portended his serious status as a player for Jacob’s job. I liked that the big job went to the one guy that was always loyal, honest and true, or as Jack put it “You’ve always taken care of everyone.” Sounds like perfect island protector material to me.
As for Ben, what better fate could there be for a man that weaseled around trying to consolidate power but to spend the rest of his days being another guy’s first mate. More than that, it’s fitting for Ben, having never been allowed to be in Jacob’s presence, to be extended a hand by Hurley and offer his expertise on all things island to the new man in charge. That was a touching moment when Hurley humbly asked Ben to help, and the surprise and excitement in Ben’s voice when he accepted Hurley’s invitation. It was even more emotional, I think, outside the church in the Sideways world when Hurley tells Ben that he was a great “Number Two” as Ben reciprocates telling Hurley that he was a great “Number One.”
Overall, the tension, the emotion and the pacing was darn near perfect. Every reunion in the Sideways world had a cumulative effect so that by the time Locke “woke up” in the hospital and told Jack that he wishes the doctor could see what he sees, you don’t know how much more emotion you can take. The island world was left satisfactorily ambiguous. It’s implied that the survivors lived a long life post-island as Kate says she’s been waiting a long time to see Jack again. Richard Alpert, meanwhile, got a grey hair, although he remained mysteriously unseen in the church or the entirety of the Sideways world.
As for Hurley and Ben, well there’s spin-off material if you ever need it. In any case, I see a new group of castaways coming to island and being greeted by Hurley and his “little buddy.” Hurley, always the least reliable guy on the island with a secret, would tell them straight up that the island is special, that their pasts don’t matter and they’re welcome to stay or go. Then, after the first couple of times Ben’s glare scared people away, Hurley might do that part alone.
That’s the great gift of Lost. These characters were so rich, so refined, so wonderfully brought to life by the actors, that they can exist in your mind independent of new island adventures from the creators. Do you need every, single, last answer or are you capable of making intuitive leaps for yourself? Who wasn’t in the church finale, why was so-and-so special, why didn’t what’s-his-name do/tell this to what’s-her-face? Whatever you like. There is no plot unless it’s being driven by character, there is no emotion unless it’s being conveyed by a living actor (and I include dogs in this), and that’s what “The End” gave us: character and emotional resolution. If you want simple, over-and-done-with-in-an-hour storytelling, I believe there are still three hours of C.S.I. on TV every week.
So aloha Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Ben, Richard, Frank, Miles, Claire, Locke, Sayid, Jin, Sun, Smoke Monster, Christian, Jacob, Juliet, Rose, Bernard, Vincent, Michael, Walt, Charlie, Boone, Shannon, Libby, Ana-Lucia, Mr Eko, Penny, Daniel, Charlotte, Dr. Chang and all other castaways great and small, even Nikki and Paolo. And Desmond, I’ll see you in another life brutha.
Written By Adam A. Donaldson
