LOST Finale – Redemptive and Satisfying, Or Holy-Shit Frustrating?

I’ll admit, after the episode ended I said out loud: “What?” As in – “what just happened?” I felt violated and cheated. I felt like it had all been for nothing.

Then I received that beautiful gift of perspective, and I really began to think.

 This show ended with the reason we started watching – the characters who were on this island in the first place. Once I understood that the flash-sideways world was essentially the meeting place (or purgatory if you will) for them to all accept their deaths and move on with the most important people in their lives, something felt really redemptive about it.

That said, I do sympathise with people frustrated with the lack of answers. Here is a list of the six questions I really would have liked answered:

What was with the fertility issues on the Island?

This was one of the major plot points that we never understood. Now that we’re free to speculate until the end of time, here’s my theory. I guess we’ll never know whether it’s right or not.

As Jacob said to Kate – “you became a mother”. That’s why he crossed her name off the wall in the cave. I’m going to choose to believe that Jacob made it impossible for women to conceive and give birth on the Island as a way to prevent mothers from destroying the possibility of his candidates assuming their roles.

Why was Walt special?

This was a plot point that probably would have been answered had Malcolm David Kelley not grown “like eight feet tall” as Jimmy Kimmel put it. Which is a shame, because Walt and the Others were a major plot point for the first season – and the way it was dropped frustrated a lot of Losties.
Why did Ben not recognize Sayid as the guy who shot him when he was young?

Miles asked this question in season 5, which is why I was so sure it was going to be answered. The only explanation I can think of is when he was taken by the Others to be healed he was “changed”, and his memory was somehow wiped out as well. (But really? Yeah, I’m not convinced either).

Why wasn’t Sun flashed back in time to Dharmaville after the Ajira flight?

The only explanation I can come up with is that maybe she ultimately wasn’t a candidate – ie not the right “Kwon” – after she had her baby. Hence only the candidates were flashed back – but then there’s that damn Kate. Maybe Jacob hadn’t had time to cross her name off the wall when she got flashed back?

What was up with the Ben-Widmore feud?

Maybe if I really re-watch each episode carefully it’ll become clearer because I’m just not paying enough attention. But I never fully understood the feud between them, and Widmore just kind of . . . died in the last episode. After all the lying that we’ve seen, are we supposed to take everything he said at face value? Who knows.

The Goddamn Numbers

‘Nuff said. I’m going to go back to banging my head on the wall and seeing them everywhere I turn.

Okay, so we’re not going to ever know the answers to these questions. But surprisingly, it’s not going to kill me. I think what’s more important is the way LOST has sparked philosophical debates, and I wouldn’t be surprised if in the future it’s studied to spark discussion. LOST made us ask questions like about destiny, choice, human sacrifice, the afterlife, connections with others, fate, flaws, and more.

For me, I essentially fell in love with this show because of its characters and the journey they have taken us on – in the way that we saw their flaws and saw them overcome their fears. It ended showing us how they overcame these things and found happiness all gathered in a cathartic and beautiful way. It showed us that the simplest theme of the show – the way the Island brought together and tore apart these characters – really was the fundamental theme of the show.

There was no point being invested in the mythology of the “why?” of Locke regaining the use of his legs unless it affected the character and his journey. Ultimately, this show was about life and death, destiny and fate, and human lives and meaning. I think the finale summed it up perfectly. So we don’t know everything about the Island. We don’t know every detail about every Egyptian symbol or time-travelling experience. But isn’t it somehow better that way? I don’t think I would have been satisfied with a simple explanation for everything. Instead, we got the explanation of WHY all that had been in the first place – a way to explore and finally bring these characters together at the end of their journeys. I definitely think with a little perspective, people will embrace the finale more and learn to love the show and the journey it took us on.

We’ll miss you LOST, more than you can know.

And we’ll see you in another life, brotha.

LOST – Theories and Speculation after ‘The Last Recruit’

My current theories after seeing ‘The Last Recruit’:

It seems that everything in the Alt world – ie some of the most fundamental principals about the characters (primarily everyone who Jacob touched) – seems to be the complete opposite as on the Island. Let’s take a close look:

• Hurley is lucky
• Kate is innocent (unconfirmed, but she does keep saying that, and she never denied her guilt in the real world)
• Sun and Jin are not married (where Jacob touched them)
• Sawyer isn’t a conman – he catches conmen
• Jack has no particular opposite – but it’s worth nothing the parallels between him being so calm at operating on Locke with a split dural sac and his story of panic in the Pilot. He also has a son in the alt world – which I think is really significant.
• Sayid isn’t with Nadia – which is when Jacob touched him
• There seems to be some obsession with mirrors – reflecting the differences in Alt World/Island World

So it seems there are a lot of parallels with the way Jacob touched some of the candidates, and their lives. In the alt world, I think we can assume that he hasn’t touched them, which has resulted in their lives actually turning out better than they did in the real world. Kate wasn’t told to stop stealing, so she actually didn’t steal, Sawyer wasn’t given a pen to keep writing his letter, so he let go of his rage and did the right thing, Sun and Jin weren’t touched at their wedding so they never got married. Jack, Hurley, and Sayid still have yet to be seen how they tie in, but I’m betting that in the end, they’re going to have a choice – do they choose the life of the Island and Jacob, or do they choose their other lives.

Who is ‘The Candidate’?

The Candidate – for me, I have to say I’m thinking it has to be Jack. I think he is the only one who has always shown the right principles, and has always been such an important character in the series. Jack has always been the leader of the survivors, has had the highest episode count and flashback count, and was the first person we ever saw in the series.

There is also a strong biblical connection. Jack’s last name is ‘Shephard’, just as Jesus was called a ‘shepherd’. Psalm 23 is the one which says: ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’. Jack’s candidate number is 23 – interestingly, the only prime number out of all the numbers. The date of the series finale is also the 23^rd of May. Jack’s father is Christian Sheperd – parallels to Christ? Jack performs miracles (Sarah). There is also the question of his name – is ‘Jack’ a nickname for something – like John or Jacob?

That said, I still think Jack’s son will prove to be extremely significant when the timelines meet.

Who Is Jack’s son’s mother?

The fact that we still don’t know this makes me think that it’s someone significant – and I’m willing to bet it’s Juliet. Her and Jack did have that thing for a bit, and she’s definitely resurfacing at some point this season. I’m just surprised she wasn’t Sun’s baby’s doctor, but maybe she will be in future.

Sun Speaking English

Okay, so that was like a totally cheesy moment when she suddenly gets her ‘voice’ back. But the significant thing for me was that she immediately was able to speak again as soon as she is away from the MIB. As mentioned, ‘as soon as you talk to him, you’re on his side’, or something to that effect, so maybe Sun being unable to speak to the MIB was the Island’s way of protecting her. This would reinforce an argument for her being a candidate.

Who Is The Random Boy?

Why, in the two different times we’ve seen the boy, has he changed so dramatically – from blond to brunette, and visibly older too? My explanation is that he parallels the MIB and Jacob in dark and light – in the same way that David (Jack’s son) and Aaron (Claire’s son) do. We could possibly see David and Aaron as being the next Jacob and MIB, the natural successors of the Island – although David may be solely in the other timeline, there’s no reason why Jack couldn’t have had an unknown son in the Island timeline too.

And Vincent?

We haven’t seen much of our favourite Golden Retriever this season… or Walt. But I’m sticking with my gut that somehow, even if it’s not until the last minute of the final episode, Vincent’s going to be important. No dog that survives that much crap on this Island, seeing the things he must have seen, can’t be significant. And remember this mobisode  (below)? How significant is that?

Catch LOST Tuesdays at 9 on ABC

LOST – The Last Recruit – Recap

So, what did everyone think of ‘The Last Recruit’? Definitely one of the more frustrating episodes, in that there was a lot of standing around and talking but not really doing anything, as has been frequent this season. Not that this made it bad, by any means. Right here I’m recapping the story, tomorrow I’ll post my thoughts, questions, and theories.

PLOT

On the Island:

• The two ‘bands’ of survivors merge (excluding Richard and Ben, who go off to do their own thing)
• MIB reveals to Jack that he impersonated his father (and has always tried to help him), also informing him and Claire of their relation to each other
• Zoe, Widmore’s physicist, threatens to blow up everyone up (with a handy demo) if MIB doesn’t give Desmond back. Of course, they don’t know what she’s talking about, as she never mentions him by name.
• Sawyer decides to betray MIB, and steal the boat (The ‘Elizabeth’) he was supposed to bring the MIB for the confrontation with Widmore, taking the core group of survivors. Claire tags along (despite being ‘nuts’ as Sawyer says), declaring herself once and for all with the Losties, and not MIB.  
• MIB orders Sayid to kill Desmond. We still don’t know whether he has.
• On the boat, Jack decides they aren’t supposed to leave the Island like the MIB wants, and jumps off, running straight into MIB’s arms in time to be blown up by Widmore’s associates. After saving him, MIB sinisterly declares: “You’re with me now.”
• Sun and Jin are reunited, with Sun’s ability to speak English returning (miraculously)

In the ‘Alt’ Timeline:

• Locke is rushed to the hospital after being pummelled by Des, who terrifies an injured Sun, also in the hospital for her gunshot wound (her baby is fine).
• Sawyer interrogates Kate at a police station, where it is revealed he let her go in ‘LA X’ because he didn’t want anyone to know why he had been in Australia.
• After being shown a surveillance pic by Miles of Sayid leaving the scene of Keamy’s destruction, he arrests him leaving Nadia’s house.
• Desmond (somewhat creepily) persuades Claire, who is on her way to an adoption agency, to visit his lawyer, as there are many loopholes in adoption (or something)
• There, Ilana turns out to be the lawyer, and introduces Claire to Jack, her half brother
• Jack (and his son) can only stay for a little while, as Jack has an emergency surgery at the hospital – that surgery is, of course, on Locke’s injuries from Desmond’s crash.

 

Hope this recap’s refreshed your mind – see my article tomorrow for my nuggets, questions, and theories.