Lost - season six (final)

[nanarama]

I've been long lurking on this thread but am a Lostie from Season 1, Episode 1. I've really enjoyed reading the sleuthing and prespectives from people far smarter than I.
One thing I am sure, of is in regard to the people who are confused about the ending (and why wouldn't we be with so many things unanswered and unresolved?) it is very clear, the things on the island actually happened. If they hadn't happened, then the relationships they formed with one another wouldn't exist and they would be meeting up in the church.

While there are people who will disagree with me, I think that the Island was real life, sideways world was purgatory/limbo/giant therapy session place. The people were alive on the Island. Jacob's touch had allowed the passengers of Oceanic 815 to survive the crash. I just think that LindeCruse put in sideways world as purgatory for the last season as a wink to all the fans and speculation that the Island was purgatory the first few seasons. At least it amused me to have purgatory in sideways world and I was someone who initially speculated that the Island was purgatory. Lindecruse has always been adamant that the Island was NOT purgatory and last night Christian Shepherd specifically told Jack that the Island was real.

[SQUATMAN]

Cop-out... Disappointment... Cheated... all words out of my mouth in the past 13.5 hours. I think the writers knew from the beginning they wanted the concept to be purgatory, but when people threw it out there after the beginning of season 1, they had to reinvent the concept and figure out another way to be able to say it wasn't purgatory, but still run with their original concept. To have the sideways world be purgatory left me feeling cheated. The episode itself was great... The reunions in the sideways world left the hairs on my arm standing straight up - however, some were a little predictable. And then there's Jack's son... I don't think anything on a tv show has ever irritated me such as Jack's son. I started complaining about this last night in the chatroom I was in but I don't think my points were fully understood. All family ties carried over the alternate timeline - Jack/Claire, Sayid/his brother, Danielle/Alex, and Ben/Roger... So you would assume that everyone was still related in the sideways world that was related in the main timeline. Now you have Jack's son... WITH JULIET!!! But they didn't have a child in our real timeline. I would have made more sense to me if Sarah had been the mom and then we would have been told that the child Sarah carried when we saw her pregnant was really Jack's.

What I did like was everything from the flash sideways EXCEPT the last five minutes. I loved the fact that everyone had their happy ending without needing the island like they did in our main storyline. Claire and Jack are loving siblings, Claire and Charlie will be a family with Aaron, Juliet will be with Sawyer, Jin and Sun will live to take care of their daughter, Hurley is happy with Libby and has good luck, Locke can walk and has Helen, Desmond's with Penny, etc. It made me realize that the only reason our friends found any sort of peace or happiness was because of the island but also made me wonder what their lives would have been had Jacob never interfered. I originally thought that the sideways is what that was - but now that it's purgatory, of course it's going to be everyone's happy life because they made it.

Overall, 2 hours 20 minutes of GREAT tv... 10 minutes of total crappy copout bullcrap!

Thank you for saving me the time for saying exactly what I was going to say.

[mize77]

I found the finale very moving yet unsatisfying. I like definitive answers, and evidently Carlton-Damon didn't like them/need them/want to give them. So often the story in the finale just didn't seem to connect with the previous 5 seasons.
It was good to see that in the "afterlife" all the characters were happy and full of love.
I kind of think the whole sideways thing was totally unnecessary--but they didn't ask me to write it.
However, the kiss between Kate and Jack at the end? Totally wonderfully amazing.

[SQUATMAN]

Adding to what I quoted....

I have been watching LOST since day one. Lindelof and Cuse are to be shamed across this great, vast Losties-internet for being too lazy to redirect their original lazy idea for the ending. They had a lot of time to make a more creative, satisfying conclusion. Twerps.

I had casual viewers pass the show off saying "ahh, whatever, they're in purgatory, case closed" and I'd say "oh, no, Lindelof and Cuse said it wasn't so. It is soooo much deeper than that. They wouldn't be that lame."

extends both middle fingers Thanks guys.

They should be forced to refilm the final 10 minutes out of their own pockets.

Other than that, I loved it. The finale actually exceeded my expectations.

[Brooks]

If sideways wasn't real, what about the real emotions of the "extras" in sideways world? Like Eloise's angst that Daniel would be taken from her?

[libgirl2]

I have a friend who joked " "Lost" Possibly Still Airing In Parallel Dimension, Desperate Fans Report"

[MRD]

I didn't love or hate the finale. It was interesting. I agree that the "island" events all happened, including the Oceanic 6 (plus Desmond) escaping and then returning. This season's sideways is some type of purgatory, and some of the folks in that funky church don't die until long after Jack died, which was after getting flushed out of the giant glowing toilet of light.

I was cracking myself up last night that they set up a perfect spin-off series for Hurley, Ben, and a recurring role for Desmond: Fantasy Island 2: Lost Island. Hurley is Mr. Rourke - let's get him some nice island vehicle with "rich Corinthian leather". He helps people resolve their deepest issues while they spend time on this mysterious island. Ben is No 2, so he gets Tatoo's role in assisting Hurley in helping Island visitors resolve their issues. The Pilot episode involves getting Desmond off the island so he can get back to his life with Penny and baby Charlie. Des and Penny have a happy life on their houseboat, shuttling people back and forth to the island - fabulous guest stars like Charo. Now that Ben is working for Hurley (and Widmore is dead), Ben stops trying to kill Penny (except during sweeps week, when he reverts to evil old Ben and tries to take out Penny and Des, but Hurley makes a rule and Des is safe - how else would we get our weekly island guests). I know it would never happen, but it cracked me up to think about it.

LG, LOVE this.

You should have written the finale.

Agree with Ellen, the ending was a lazy, sloppy, cliched copout. I am SO disappointed and have been all season. This season really didn't fit with the previous 5 at all. The sideways world was just unnecessary with the ending they chose to show us all.



And as for why Vincent wasn't in the church. Jimmy Kimmel addressed that at midnight: "Well looks like all dogs do NOT go to heaven."

[BritLit]

I hated the last ten minutes. Soooo many "mis-matches", the worst being how did three-year-old Aaron revert to a baby to die? We saw him as a toddler in the flash-forwards, not sideways, so if you accept the premise that everything that happened on the island, including the Oceanic Six escaping and returning, then he was at least three years old when living with Kate. And couldn't they at least have let poor Richard's wife, dead lo these many centuries, finally rejoin him. And who the heck is looking after the island these days?

[Miss Scarlet]

I thought of the Sideways "world" as sort of a big waiting room between life & the afterlife, only those in it don't realize that until they are awakened to it & realize it's time to pass on to the afterlife level. Many were waiting to meet up with whoever they lost on the island, eg: Charlie/Claire; Sawyer/Juliet; Kate/Jack; Sayid/Shannon.
Our Losties shared such a bond from their time on the island that they all would want to do that final passing together.
I got the impression from what Christian said that they died at different times, meaning that some died on the island, & those who made it home on that plane died after living their lives after they got back. But in the end their connection kept them all tied. The exchange between Hurley & Ben indicated that they both went on to live on & protect the island for many years before their deaths.
Many of the later characters weren't there at the church because they weren't as bound as those who were, eg: Richard probably passed with his wife; Daniel with Charlotte & maybe his mother; Lapidus with whoever was most significant in his life.
The reason the babies were still babies was that that was the way they were thought of by the Losties.
After thinking on it, I liked it a lot. It gave a good goodbye to all those we became attached to over the 6 years.
As they started to awaken to their memories there were a lot of touching moments, but Sawyer/Juliet were the ones who made me break out in tears. Seeing them together again made my night.
A few unanswered things still left me puzzled:
1) What did Charles Widmore want with the island? Did he have plans for it? If so, what?
2) What was the whole thing with Jack's son? Was he just a figment of Jack's imagination? Did he just disappear when Jack & Juliet passed on?
3) Is the island still out there being protected or is it sunk now? If sunk, why didn't all hell break loose & evil take over?

Questions, questions. I guess we'll never know now. All in all I'm satisfied.

[Florimel]

I speculated a week or so ago that some people would love the ending, some would hate it, some would just say, "huh"? It resonated perfectly for me with what I've come to expect. The multiple mythologies were there, the time travel was there, the contribution the island made to their resolutions and redemptions was there. They left room for individual interpretation, which is what I've loved about Lost from its inception. So, count me among the ayes for this finale.

I think we will see a lot more on the DVD, including more information about Walt. Since none of the characters could possibly remember an six-foot tall Walt, I can't see any way they could have included him. On the other hand, if they ever relented about doing a followup series or a movie, I could see it being about what happened to the next generation (Aaron, Walt, Ji Yeon) and what adventures and experiences they might have.

Also have to say that I must love an episode that gives me even a cameo appearance by Aussie actor John Pyper-Ferguson. Most may remember him as Joe on Brothers and Sisters, but to me he'll always be Pete Hutter from Brisco County.