Lost Season Six - The Final Season

[Dangelus]

I like what they did at the end but I wanted more answers. The thing is that they could have given us more answers and it would still have been compatible with the ending they decided on.

I get the impression we will get plenty of answers in a DVD boxset. I hate to be cynical but afterall the show is a business and it would be a great way to maximise the sales potential of the boxset. I am looking forward to documentaries, deleted and extended scenes and audio commentaries.

[Jobydrone]

[spoiler]I think Just X summed up the flash sideways from this season very well in his last post.  As far as the main story, I really don't think there could have possibly been a satisfying, credible explanation for the science or mystical properties of the island itself, beyond what they offered us in the last couple of episodes.  Honestly I had a similar reaction when we first saw the glowy cave kind of like "Okay, how pedestrian and simplistic.  This is all?"  But after it sunk in for a bit I see that they purposely left it so open for individual interpretation that I can let it go and enjoy it for what it is.

If you analyse and think about all the little story threads, red herrings, and improbable nonsense that we have been asked to accept over the six seasons of this show, the whole story would collapse from its own weight.  I'm sure someone will go back season by season and point out all the nonsense that either got dropped or went unexplained along the way.  I think that's the unavoidable nature of this kind of episodic experience, though.  We needed to be hooked and we needed to stay hooked, and the writers used all their skills to keep us that way as long as they could.  I can forgive them the little things that make no sense along the way because of the overall enjoyment we got from the experience as a whole.

I wonder if the show would hold up with a repeated viewing from seasons 1 to 6, knowing what we know now.  Can you imagine having the patience to sit through all the Boone and Shannon stuff, the Ecko stuff, and all the other myriad threads that wound up having little or nothing to do with the overall story arc?  I would not, I suspect.  I do not plan on re-watching any part of the show, and yet I'm certain I will always remember it as a positive, enjoyable ride.[/spoiler]

[Rico]

Joby you make a very interesting point in your last post....

[spoiler]There is much now that happened on the island that doesn't matter a whole lot - and for me that's a problem.

And Chris - you still are not getting what I am saying it seems.  I'm not asking why Desmond did what he did - I am asking WHY Desmond?  And I am asking WHY did he have to wake everyone up (and why at that point)?  Sorry - it just doesn't add up to me.  Perhaps this has something to do with faith vs. science.  I've always been much more a scientist.  But I enjoy a good fantasy - if it has it's own solid logic to it.  I just am finding a lot of the end of LOST seems to have been put in for convenience.  I hope I'm not sounding too harsh, I did enjoy aspects of the last episode and the show overall was awesome for me.  And I think that is another problem for me.  One of the things that made it awesome were all these weird mysteries they added over the seasons only to never have an answer for any of them.  So, I guess I do feel a bit cheated.  :( [/spoiler]

[jedijeff]

[spoiler]I think Just X summed up the flash sideways from this season very well in his last post.  As far as the main story, I really don't think there could have possibly been a satisfying, credible explanation for the science or mystical properties of the island itself, beyond what they offered us in the last couple of episodes.  Honestly I had a similar reaction when we first saw the glowy cave kind of like "Okay, how pedestrian and simplistic.  This is all?"  But after it sunk in for a bit I see that they purposely left it so open for individual interpretation that I can let it go and enjoy it for what it is.

If you analyse and think about all the little story threads, red herrings, and improbable nonsense that we have been asked to accept over the six seasons of this show, the whole story would collapse from its own weight.  I'm sure someone will go back season by season and point out all the nonsense that either got dropped or went unexplained along the way.  I think that's the unavoidable nature of this kind of episodic experience, though.  We needed to be hooked and we needed to stay hooked, and the writers used all their skills to keep us that way as long as they could.  I can forgive them the little things that make no sense along the way because of the overall enjoyment we got from the experience as a whole.

I wonder if the show would hold up with a repeated viewing from seasons 1 to 6, knowing what we know now.  Can you imagine having the patience to sit through all the Boone and Shannon stuff, the Ecko stuff, and all the other myriad threads that wound up having little or nothing to do with the overall story arc?  I would not, I suspect.  I do not plan on re-watching any part of the show, and yet I'm certain I will always remember it as a positive, enjoyable ride.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I had an similar reaction to you Joby when I saw the cave. I am glad they left it and the Island up to us to interpret, as I suspect what ever explanation would have been a let down, and taken all the mystery out of the island. No matter what the explanation would have been, it basically just builds walls around the whole show, and colored everything up to that point. Just my honest opinion on that. I understand where other might have wanted an answer and felt let down, but for me, they handled it the way I wanted.

I think the way they told the story with all the hooks, made it a lot of fun, some things were never followed up on, but it was fun to speculate on them, and they led to the over all mystery of the island. Things such as Vincent, in the end he was just a dog. Many viewers felt he was more, and over the years it was fun to speculate what he really was. I never felt misled in the end, as really, never in the show did they say he was anything but, but it did allow viewers to imagine more.

Ecko was brought in to work off of Locke and his faith, Ecko had a more religious faith if I recall over Lockes more spiritual, and Locke was in a crisis at the time in he was losing his. So he served his purpose on the island, and the story at that point. I recall reading, that the actor really only wanted to be on for one season, and then came back for a few extra episodes to close out his story. My guess is the actor did not want to be involved anymore, so why his Character never came up again in the series.

Shannon and Boone coming back was nice, the whole Sayid/Shannon relationship I thought was passed over for Sayid/Nadia, since that was the focus on the last few years. It was nice in the end, that it came back to Sayid/Shannon, and maybe not big in the end, was nice to see a bit of payoff on that. They had to squeeze Boone in there as well, and maybe he did not have one big connection to a person, but more so to the overall group[/spoiler]

[Jobydrone]

One thing has me a little confused:

[spoiler]Smokey's dying words to Jack were along the lines of "You died for nothing."  I remember pretty specifically he was talking in the past tense, as if Jack was already dead.  Now he could have been referring to the mortal knife wound Jack had received at that point, but I got the feeling that there was more to that statement than just that.  Perhaps he meant that since Desmond had popped the cork down in the cave, that regardless of the fact that Smokey was shot and unable to leave, the island would still be destroyed and Hell would still be unleashed on the world.  Anyone have any other ideas about this?[/spoiler]

[jedijeff]

One thing has me a little confused:

[spoiler]Smokey's dying words to Jack were along the lines of "You died for nothing."  I remember pretty specifically he was talking in the past tense, as if Jack was already dead.  Now he could have been referring to the mortal knife wound Jack had received at that point, but I got the feeling that there was more to that statement than just that.  Perhaps he meant that since Desmond had popped the cork down in the cave, that regardless of the fact that Smokey was shot and unable to leave, the island would still be destroyed and Hell would still be unleashed on the world.  Anyone have any other ideas about this?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I pretty much view it the same way, that the island was destroying itself, after the cork was popped so to say, and the what they were protecting would be unleashed. So to that point, what had been put in montion, if Jack died, it would have been a worthless death and he would not have accomplished what he was set out to do.[/spoiler]

[Jobydrone]

One thing that could have raised the stakes and made the final episode much more dramatic:

[spoiler]If they had gone just a little bit deeper into the recesses of the cave, and perhaps shown a special effect or CGI of hundreds of thousands of raging, roiling, smoke monsters smashing themselves over and over again against the cork, trying eternally to get out and wreak havok on the world.  As it stands we never had any real notion of what would actually have happened if Jack and Jacob's team had failed in their tasks.[/spoiler]

[Bryancd]

One thing I would like to add with great conviction...[spoiler]I'm just happy all you "Lost" heads will stop rambling on about this show. :)[/spoiler]

[KingIsaacLinksr]

One thing I would like to add with great conviction...[spoiler]I'm just happy all you "Lost" heads will stop rambling on about this show. :)[/spoiler]

Oh you [spoiler] know you like it.  :P [/spoiler]

King

[jedijeff]

I guess I'll chime in.  I enjoyed the whole series all the way up to the last ten minutes.  I didn't like the ending at all.  I wanted to be wowed not sucked into the way everything is always explained. (or in this case NOT explained)  The whole- "there are many ways to heaven, or eternity" and in my opinion there were far too many loose ends.  I was expecting something like the sixth sense or a cool Star Wars or Star Trek ending.  Maybe even a scientific explanation for some of the stuff.  And I didn't get it.  Amy and I looked at each other and just said... We stayed up for this? 

Just my opinion.  It was a brilliant show, but if you ask me the writers failed on the last ten minutes.  I was expecting something cooler.

:)

Maybe it is just me, but I saw some elements of Star Wars or Star Trek in the ending :)

[spoiler]Jack and Locke(Smokey) have life and death battle on cliff. With help from Kate, they take down Locke and throw him over to his death = Throne Room Battle Star Wars Return of the Jedi

Jack sacrifices himself to save the island and the others by going back into the light cave to correct what was done, knowing that it will kill him = Spock's Sacrifice Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Khan[/spoiler]

[Rico]

Jimmy has the answer to it all....watch the end of this clip....  :)

http://www.hulu.com/watch/152005/jimmy-kimmel-live-alternate-lost-ending-with-vincent

[X]

Joby you make a very interesting point in your last post....

[spoiler]There is much now that happened on the island that doesn't matter a whole lot - and for me that's a problem.

And Chris - you still are not getting what I am saying it seems.  I'm not asking why Desmond did what he did - I am asking WHY Desmond?  And I am asking WHY did he have to wake everyone up (and why at that point)?  Sorry - it just doesn't add up to me.  Perhaps this has something to do with faith vs. science.  I've always been much more a scientist.  But I enjoy a good fantasy - if it has it's own solid logic to it.  I just am finding a lot of the end of LOST seems to have been put in for convenience.  I hope I'm not sounding too harsh, I did enjoy aspects of the last episode and the show overall was awesome for me.  And I think that is another problem for me.  One of the things that made it awesome were all these weird mysteries they added over the seasons only to never have an answer for any of them.  So, I guess I do feel a bit cheated.  :( [/spoiler]

[spoiler] I get what you're asking in why Desmond, but I think that we really don't need an answer. It's like asking why Luke and not Leah. Why John Connor? Why Ripley?

The answer is very simple, but not satisfying. Because the characters were built up to be special. It could have been anyone in any of those cases, but in the end, the writers always have to pick someone. Desmond was our guy because he was the first to fully remember. I don't see a need to look any deeper than that.

Remember that all of these people were working off of flawed assumptions from the beginning. Letting the timer run down on the hatch did not end the world.

For my personal interpretation of the light according to the limited info we got, I think it was the heart of creation. The white light that all souls travel towards when they die. If you cut off the door to heaven, then bad things happen. If when that light was off, the spark of light in all of us began to fade, that would really be unleashing evil on the world.

What was happening on the island could have also been happening throughout the world. For me, it has to be that way. You put out the light, you kill the whole world and not just the island. If only the island is affected, it really doesn't need to be protected for the greater good, but if the light is the Achilles Heel of the world then yeah, I could see it needing a protector. There are just too many people that would want that power and think of what they could do if they had the ability to destroy the world at will, who would not bow down to them? [/spoiler]

[X]

I guess I'll chime in.  I enjoyed the whole series all the way up to the last ten minutes.  I didn't like the ending at all.  I wanted to be wowed not sucked into the way everything is always explained. (or in this case NOT explained)  The whole- "there are many ways to heaven, or eternity" and in my opinion there were far too many loose ends.  I was expecting something like the sixth sense or a cool Star Wars or Star Trek ending.  Maybe even a scientific explanation for some of the stuff.  And I didn't get it.  Amy and I looked at each other and just said... We stayed up for this?  

Just my opinion.  It was a brilliant show, but if you ask me the writers failed on the last ten minutes.  I was expecting something cooler.

:)

Maybe it is just me, but I saw some elements of Star Wars or Star Trek in the ending :)

[spoiler]Jack and Locke(Smokey) have life and death battle on cliff. With help from Kate, they take down Locke and throw him over to his death = Throne Room Battle Star Wars Return of the Jedi

Jack sacrifices himself to save the island and the others by going back into the light cave to correct what was done, knowing that it will kill him = Spock's Sacrifice Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Khan[/spoiler]

Nexus = sideways universe

[QuadShot]

OK, I'm quite sure most of what I am about to say has already been said, but what the heck.  I'm new. I should get at least SOME leeway! :) OK, well, I'm not an expert but I will tell you how I see the show, and the ending. Yes, everything that happened on the Island, in the flashbacks and flash forwards was real. They happened. The flash sideways was different. Those were real, but in a different way. Carlton Cuse stated that they intentionally avoided calling the flash sideways the "alternate timeline" because alternate give the impression that something is not real, and they wanted everyone to understand that these new flashes were real. They happened. Now, it's best to think of time in the Lost universe as circle and not a linear line. Should be somewhat easy for us Trek fans! That being said, a lot of different things can happen at the same time, i.e. the 1970's Dharma group with Sawyer and company, and the stuff going on with Jack, Kate and company. Now, I view the ending like this: The side flashes, although a universe created by the Losties, was real, in a "waiting room" sense. If you remember Christian Shephard (think about the name) telling Jack that they ALL created this place to meet up and wait for each other, because they wanted to "move on" together ("Live together..."). He also told Jack that time doesn't exist in this place, and that everyone dies, some before you Jack, some long after you. So, throw out the generally accepted idea of how time works. The purpose of the sideways flashes was to awaken them all when the time was right, so they can remember their time on the Island and once they were ready, move on. To what? Who knows. I have my ideas but that's for another time. Someone asked me when did everyone die, and what the significance was of everyone meeting on a flight? Well, they all died when they died. That part was not stated, but suffice it to say that they died when it was their time. Remember, the sideways flashes do not obey the typical law of time. For all we know, thinking linearly, the side-verse could be 50 years after the events on the Island that we all watched. Now, as for the importance of them all meeting, Christian stated to Jack that these people were part of the most important time in Jacks life. Jacob chose them all because they were flawed in some way. They were all part of the same club: Jacobs Candidates. That's what bound them together, and destroying the Smoke Monster was what made them special. One of my coworkers asked me why Locke was able to walk, well Locke walked because..."the blind shall see and the lame shall walk". I don't think they "had to die" in order to move on, I think they all chose to wait until they were all together again to move on.
This is one very special show for many reasons, least of which is that they broke many rules of television and created something that entranced millions of viewers for 6 years! Although I agree with a lot of folks that this finale didn't answer a lot of the questions I was hoping it would, it was good. Think of it: if you watch shows like Two and a Half Men, or even V, does it inspire this much chatter? I mean, this show inspired us to come up with theories and debates like few, if any, shows before it. I for one love Lost, and really enjoyed the final episode. Michael Emerson summed up the finale quite well. He said this final episode is like a terrific novel that has to be reread to understand it fully. My 2 cents...Al

[ori-STUDFARM]

I liked the ending. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I'm glad they didn't try to answer everything. The few things that have been addressed, they were criticised for. Lets leave these for Lost fans speculation.

However. This alternate sideways storyline from series 6 is the only thing that has really bothered me. It didn't grip or excite. I went along assuming it was going to play a big part in the main story arc....some sort of influence or convergance of the two.

As it was, all it served for was to.....

[spoiler]soften the blow of the main hero characters sacrifice. They bottled out of their original idea from years before of finishing on an extreme close up of the hero's eye as life slipped away. They had to include a purgatory scenario to try and lighten the moment for those who would object. We're all adults....we could have handled it...in fact, would probably have prefered it without this sideways universe if it had meant more on island stuff!![/spoiler]

That said, it goes down as one of my favourite shows ever. It has been an amazing journey....though, I'm not sure I will ever buy the boxsets and rewatch it.