The End of ‘Lost’

By Dan Birlew | Posted May 29, 2010 in Television | 3 Comments »

Writing a summary post for the final episode of Lost feels something like wadding up a piece of paper and casually tossing it into a dark void that stretches downward for a full mile, at the bottom of which is a pile of identical wadded up papers.

Another analogy might be that opinions are like assholes: everyone has one. So keep reading and you’ll see another opinion… or maybe another asshole.

Before I get into the recap and all my personal feelings about it, let me backtrack to last week for the purposes of continuity on this blog. I didn’t post a recap of the previous episode, “What They Died For,” for two reasons: it was my birthday, and I was partying like a madman at Wet Republic with my friends under the orchestrations of Lollieshopping; and there just isn’t much left to discuss as this series comes to a close. Typically in seasons 1-5 of Lost, the pre-finale episode sees a kind of ramping up, as the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 would start to come up with some plan to deal with whatever adversity they were facing at the time. In Season 1 the pre-finale episode showed the survivors deciding to trek to the “Black Rock” slave vessel in order to get some dynamite to blow the hatch, which later turned out to be the emergency escape chute of the Dharma Initiative’s Swan Station. They planned to hide in there from the Others, whom they were misled by Rousseau into believing were coming for them. In Season Two, the survivors used their pre-finale episode to come up with a two-pronged plan to thwart Michael’s attempt to deliver Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley to the Others. Meanwhile Locke silently determines that he’s not going to push the button in the Swan station anymore, just to see what happens. The Season Three pre-finale episode depicted the survivors putting a major three-prong plan into action to contact a freighter that had anchored off shore, as Jack led the majority of them to the radio tower to deactivate Rousseau’s SOS signal while Charlie swam down to the submerged Looking Glass to turn off Ben’s jamming signal. Meanwhile three guys plan to stay behind at the beach camp and ambush the Others that Juliet warned them were coming to kidnap Sun. The Season 4 pre-finale was actually the first part of the finale, and frankly it was all over the map… with Locke and Ben moving to engage the freighter’s mercenary team at the Orchid so that Ben could “move the Island” as the undead Christian Shephard had suggested while the survivors began leaving the Island to board the freighter only to find it rigged with enough C4 to blow the entire ship sky-high. The Season 5 pre-finale featured half the cast back in 1977 working with the Others to come up with a plan to prevent the Dharma Initiative from drilling into the electromagnetic pocket below what would one day become the Swan Station, while in the present day (2007) the resurrected-from-death John Locke reunited with the Others and rallied them all to go and confront Jacob.

So in general terms, pre-finales were the “calm before the storm” episodes of the series. Calm relative to Lost, anyways.

What They Died For

Leaving out a lot of little unnecessary details of “What They Died For”,  let’s just agree that the survivors, now down to just Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sawyer, came up with a non-plan to try to find the well where the Man in Black (pretending to be Locke) threw Desmond Hume in and sent Sayid to kill him. As you may recall, Sayid told Jack that Desmond was in a well and that he was supposed to kill Desmond, but didn’t. He told Jack to find Desmond because he’ll need him in order to defeat the Man in Black. Sayid heroically did all of this before he grabbed the C4 bomb the Man in Black had stowed in Jack’s backpack and ran toward the front of Widmore’s sub, sacrificing himself to prevent all of the Candidates from being killed in one fell swoop. Now Jack was determined to find Desmond and determine why Widmore brought him back to the Island and why the Man in Black wanted him dead.

Meanwhile Ben, Richard and Miles finally reached the old Dharma Barracks, which took them 2-3 episodes. Their plan was to find a hidden cache of weapons and explosives left at the Barracks and use it to destroy the Ajira plane, preventing the Man in Black from using it to leave the Island. Ben led the guys inside his old house into the secret compartment behind his closet. On one side was the door to the summoning chamber, which Miles took note of. Ben explained, “It’s where I was told I could summon the monster. That’s before I realized that it was the one summoning me.” This of course refers to the monster assuming the form of John Locke and manipulating Ben into killing Jacob, activating the monster’s centuries-old plan to leave the Island. Ben opened a safe filled with C4, and after a brief agreement from Richard he decided to take it all. That’s when they were stumbled upon by Widmore and Zoe, who’d somehow escaped from Hydra Island when the Smoke Monster killed all of Widmore’s other people. During his exchange with Ben, Widmore spent most of his time gloating about being “three steps ahead” of Ben instead of stating his business there. He managed to say that he was able to return to the Island because Jacob invited him in person after showing him the error of his ways. He claimed that Jacob told him every thing he “needed to know for this exact purpose.” But when Ben asked him what purpose he meant, they were interrupted by Zoe, who’d spotted Locke outside.

Journeying to the well with the other Candidates, Sawyer wondered aloud why the Man in Black just didn’t kill Desmond instead of throwing him down a well. Jack guessed that maybe it was one of his “rules.” Other than that, he really had no answer, because even Jack has to admit that sometimes a plot hole is just a plot hole and there’s nothing to do but accept it and move on. (However, this is answered in the finale episode.) As they continued, Hurley noticed someone standing in the woods. It was the mysterious boy previously seen by Locke and Sawyer, and revealed on the episode “Across the Sea” to be the young form of Jacob. Hurley turned away to follow his friends, only to find young Jacob standing in his way. The kid demanded his ashes from Hurley, and when the big guy tried to play dumb Jacob called him out on taking the ashes from Ilana’s backpack after she blew herself up. This isn’t something we saw happen at the time, so you’ll just have to accept that Hurley did this. Hurley took out the ashes and Jacob the Kid snatched them and took off. Hurley chased him to a small camp, where he encountered the adult form of Jacob, who’d already thrown the ashes into the fire. Jacob bid him bring the others for a little pow-wow, because as he said, “We’re very close to the end, Hugo.”

At the Barracks, Widmore called Zoe back inside, and the two decided to hide in Ben’s secret room. But not before the bug-eyed one collected their walkie-talkies and gave one to Miles. As usual, Ben already had a plan of his own. Richard then spoke up. He assumed that the Man in Black still wanted to recruit him, and offered to go outside and join with him in order to give the others a chance to escape. Miles bid them “good luck with that,” and took off like a jack rabbit.

Richard and Ben put down their weapons and went outside. The Man in Black, in smoke monster form, slammed into Richard and threw him into the jungle surrounding the Barracks. Ben moved to a porch chair and sat, waiting for the Man in Black to emerge from behind the nearby building in Locke’s form. The Man in Black claimed he’d been looking for Ben, and said that he needed Ben to kill some more people for him. “And why would I do that?” Ben asked. The dark one replied, “Because once I leave this island, you can have it all to yourself.” Typically self-centered Ben agreed, and told the Man in Black that Widmore was hiding in his closet.

After a brief (and turns out, pointless) sojourn to the Sideways universe, the Man in Black confronted Widmore in Ben’s closet. When Widmore cautioned Zoe not to speak to the Man in Black, he whipped out his knife and slashed her throat, explaining that if she wasn’t going to talk it made her “pointless.” The Man in Black threatened to kill Penny unless Widmore told him exactly why he’d brought Desmond back to the Island. Widmore explained in vague terms that it was because of Desmond’s unique resistance to electromagnetism, and “He was a measure of last resort.” When the Man in Black wanted to know more, Widmore refused since Ben was now standing just outside. The Man in Black made him whisper it in his ear. But while Widmore did so, Ben shot him three times. When the Man in Black looked to Ben for a reason, Ben said grimly, “He doesn’t get to save his daughter.” This is because Widmore sent the mercenary team on the freighter to capture Ben and remove him from the Island, and when he didn’t go along willingly the mercenaries murdered his adoptive daughter Alex right in front of him. Thus, he’s held Widmore responsible for her death, and now he finally gets his revenge. But the Man in Black played it off, claiming that Widmore had told him all he needed to know.

Hurley led the other Candidates to Jacob’s campfire, where for the first time they could see him and talk to him without Hurley’s help. It seems that surrendering Jacob’s ashes back to him allows him to take form, but only for a short while. In spite of Kate’s anger that Jacob naming them as Candidates is what got Jin, Sun, and Sayid killed, Jacob assured her that he would explain why he chose them, adding “And then I’ll tell you everything you need to know about protecting this island, because by the time that fire burns out, one of you is gonna have to start doing it.” So apparently his ashes were in the fire, and his corporeal form would last as long as the fire did. Then Jacob proceeded to reveal to the Candidates that he’s the one who created the Smoke Monster (as seen in the episode “Across the Sea”) and that he’s been looking for his own replacement while the Smoke Monster has been figuring out a way to kill him. Sawyer then asked why they were being punished for Jacob’s mistake, and Jacob explained that he chose them because none of them were happy. “You were all flawed,” Jacob said. “I chose you because you were like me. You were all alone. You were all looking for something that you couldn’t find out there. I chose you because you needed this place as much as it needed you.” Which of course you can verify from the characters’ back stories, showcased during seasons 1-3. When Kate asked why her name was crossed off the list, Jacob replied, “Because you became a mother. It’s just a line of chalk in a cave; the job is yours if you want it, Kate.” Jack asked “What’s the job?” and Jacob explained that there was a light at the center of the Island, and it must never go out, and that they must protect it from the Smoke Monster. When Jack asked if it was possible to kill the Smoke Monster, Jacob only replied, “I hope so, because he is certainly going to try to kill you.” Then Jacob gave them the one thing he never had: a choice. He allowed Jack to step forward and claim that this was what he was here to do.

Jacob led Jack to a nearby stream and explained that the Source was near the bamboo field where Jack first awoke during the first episode, “Pilot.” As the Man in Black had expressed during “Across the Sea,” Jack had also been through the area Jacob described and there was nothing there. “Yes, there is, Jack,” Jacob replied, “And now you’ll be able to get there.” He then took a cup from Jack, filled it with water, chanted in Latin over it, and gave it to Jack to drink. Afterward he clapped Jack on the shoulder, just like his Mother had done to him centuries ago, and said “Now, you’re like me.”

So Jack was now the new Jacob, the new Protector of the Island. He could now find the Source, which was obviously invisible to all but the  Protector. Meanwhile Ben and the Man in Black returned to the well and found it empty, with a rope indicating someone had helped Desmond out. The Man in Black countered that someone had helped him out, because now all he had to do was find Desmond and he could destroy the Island.

What bugged me about “What They Died For,” other than the fact that it was only about 32 minutes of air time and all the rest commercials, is that it continued what I’ve started perceiving to be the “dumbing-down” of Lost. As you read above, Lost has featured some of the most complex plots ever showcased on television. So quite frankly, I think we could have handled something a little deeper than “It’s just a line of chalk in a cave.” We also could have done with some deeper explanation on the cup-drinking thing, the light at the center of the Island thing, the reason the Candidates were chosen (because several of them were chosen a long time before their lives became empty and searching), and so forth. And we also could have used a better answer to the question implied in the episode title, that Jin, Sun, Sayid, Charlie, and everyone else who’s died on the Island were sacrificed for something worthwhile. But no, apparently, their names were just chalk on a wall. But I continued to hope that we would get something more in the finale, even if just a shred. Too bad it wasn’t meant to be.

As you can read, the summary is pretty short without describing all the Sideways universe events. That’s because a majority of the episode took place in Sideways-land, where Desmond continued in his attempts to bring the passengers of Flight 815 together and force them to remember their lives on the Island. Desmond returned to the school where he’d run over Locke, and he was identified by Dr. Ben Linus. Ben started screaming for help, and Desmond got out of the car and started beating him up. The beating reminded Ben of the thrashing Desmond had given him after he’d tried to kill Penny on board their boat, and also many of the other beatings he’d received on the Island. When Ben told Locke about his encounter with Desmond, Locke decided that maybe he was supposed to let Jack operate on him after all, and so he revisited Dr. Shephard. And then Desmond went to James Ford at the police precinct and turned himself in for running over Locke. He was confined with Sayid Jarrah, in the cell next to Kate Austen. Ben had dinner with Rousseau and Alex, cringing in regret as these two women were so nice to him while he remembered full well what he did to the two of them in the Island universe. When Desmond, Kate, and Sayid were transfered from the precinct to county, Desmond already had a plan set up to get them out. The driver of their van was good old corruptible Ana Lucia, who released them all when Hurley showed up with $125,000. Sayid went with Hurley while Desmond invited Kate to go with him, and he had a dress in her size. So Sideways universe is where the pre-finale plan was really ramping up, whereas characters the Island universe where floundering, a bit.

The End

Lost’s finale opened with a montage showing scenes from both the Sideways universe and the Island universe. While Christian Shephard’s coffin finally arrived at LAX, characters prepared for the end in both worlds. What happens next in the Island universe is a rather short list of events; further proof of the “dumbing down” of Lost for the finale. Jack, now the Protector of the Island, strangely repeated what Jacob had already said to Sawyer and the others in the previous episode about there being a light at the heart of the Island that needed to be protected from the Man in Black, who wants to put it out. And if the light goes out, everyone dies. I took this to mean everyone in the world, but perhaps I’m wrong. These intentional vagaries were quite annoying, this being the final episode. Jack figures that Desmond is the key to protecting the Source and killing the Man in Black, so Sawyer hurried off to go get him since he’s the only one with even the vaguest notion of where the well was located. Meanwhile, Jack, Kate and Hurley started off for the Source.

At the well, Ben snuck up behind a peeping Sawyer and forced him into the open. The Man in Black was all jovial smiles, pretending nothing bothered him as usual. Seeing that Desmond was gone, Sawyer forced the Man in Black to admit that he needed Desmond to destroy the Island. Then Sawyer elbowed a distracted Ben in the face and walked off. The Man in Black didn’t pursue him. Instead, he stayed behind and clarified to Ben that when he promised the goggley-eyed one he could have the Island, he failed to mention that it would be on the bottom of the ocean at the time. But he invited Ben to join him on his boat (the Elizabeth, the yacht that Desmond brought to the Island years ago). Ben, however, got the idea that he’d allowed himself to join the wrong side.

A short while later, Desmond awoke to find Vincent licking his face. Vincent was Walt’s dog, and while his appearance was sweet I couldn’t help but be reminded of how the show really dropped the ball on Walt’s entire storyline just because he grew up fast (as boys are wont to do). Walt was possessed of special powers that allowed him to make things happen, such as attracting animals and appearing to various people to relay messages (such as suddenly appearing in S3 and telling a gut-shot John Locke to climb out of the Dharma Initiative’s mass grave because he had “work to do,” and then apparently telling him that the people from the freighter were there to kill them all, though Walt didn’t seem to remember this later). Walt was basically the kid from The Shining and appeared to have vital significance. But due to poor foresight on the producers’ part, the kid grew up. The producers responded by writing him out. Walt appeared again during S4 and S5 when the Oceanic Six and John Locke returned to the United States, but the characters all refused to take Walt back to the Island. Therefore, Walt probably stands out as one of the biggest MacGuffins in all of cinematic history.

But I digress. Vincent was licking Desmond’s face because he’d been brought back to Bernard’s and Rose’s camp. Much as I anticipated, Bernard and Rose traveled back in time to 1974 just like everyone else after Ben left the frozen donkey wheel unsecured at the end of S4. When the nuclear core exploded in drilling shaft beneath the Swan Station, they were yanked back to the present day. Only because of their strict policy of non-participation in “drama,” they had no idea what year it actually was… and didn’t care. Rose stated as much to Desmond, asking him to leave as soon as he was finished with his breakfast. Bernard returned at that point, followed by Ben and the Man in Black. Rose immediately looked troubled, and it seemed obvious to me that both she and Bernard could immediately tell that this person was not the real John Locke. The Man in Black threatened to kill Bernard and Rose and “make it hurt” if Desmond refused to come with him. Showing an unprecedented knowledge of the Man in Black’s willingness to “play by the rules,” Desmond forced him to promise that he would never touch them, ever.

On their trip to the Source, the Man in Black asked Desmond if he knew where they were going. Desmond guessed that “it’s a place where there’s a very bright light.” His hunch would be based on the fact that Charles Widmore brought him to the Island and immediately subjugated Desmond to an intense dose of electromagnetic energy, which gives off a very bright light. Charles tried to give Desmond some explanation of how this would be useful against the Man in Black, but Desmond had already been to a place where he had seen that he could be with the ones he loved, and so he interrupted Charles to say that he would do whatever Widmore wanted, willingly. Meanwhile Ben, bringing up the rear, was carrying a walkie-talkie that emitted a burst of static. He played dumb when the Man in Black asked him about the noise, then carefully turned down the volume.

The burst of static was caused by Miles, calling Ben from the other walkie. He’d found Richard Alpert lying in a patch of tall grass, flattened around him by the force with which the Smoke Monster threw him. Once he was on his feet, he was determined as ever to blow up the Ajira plane on Hydra Island.

Sawyer caught up to Jack, Hurley and Kate, and revealed that he’d confirmed Smokey’s plan to destroy the Island. But it didn’t matter to Jack, who was obviously starting to feel a little more Jacob-ey than he did earlier that morning. I want to pretend that ancient knowledge and formulas for predictability concerning the Man in Black’s actions and motivations were gradually filling Jack’s head, but the show certain wasn’t about depth anymore. Jack just knew that they and Smokey were going to the same place, they just had to get there at the same time. And “then, it ends.”

Miles and Richard untied an outrigger from the docks near the Dharma Barracks, during which Miles noticed that Richard had just gained his first gray hair. Richard has been on something of a suicidal mission to kill the Man in Black or die trying, and the sight of his first sign of natural aging changed his mind. “I think I just realized that I wanna live.” Richard’s eternal life was a gift given to him by Jacob, and he remained immortal until the last trace of Jacob was gone from the Island; this of course refers to Jacob’s ashes burning in the campfire, during which time he was able to address the Candidates and confer his duties to Jack. But afterward, the fire burned out and Jacob vanished. With Jacob gone, all of his gifts obviously expired too.

Miles and Richard started rowing toward Hydra Island. Along the way, they came debris floating up to the surface from the submarine, including the Captain’s dead body. Hearing a call for help, they found Frank Lapidus in the waters. Pulling him in the boat, they told him of their plan to blow up the Ajira airliner. Frank convinced them that they were crazy and should use the plane to leave the Island instead.

I’m going to admit that I was cringing at this point, because I have wayyyyy too much Lost knowledge in my head. My guess was that the show was about to answer one of Lost’s biggest unanswered questions in a very tragic way. However, we cut to commercial, and the next time we saw these guys was at the plane. No other outrigger magically appeared in front of them, Juliet didn’t return fire on them, no one was hit. Indeed, it would have been a very convenient time to tie off that big plothole from S5. However, they didn’t.

On a clear hill, the Man in Black’s party came upon Jack’s party. Kate broke out firing on the Man in Black, causing Ben and Desmond to hit the dirt. She was furious at the Man in Black for killing their friends, but her bullets were having no effect. The Man in Black told her to save her bullets, setting up a cliché action one-liner for later. While Sawyer got her under control, the Gunslinger — er, I mean Jack — stood eye to eye with the Man in Black. The ancient evil knew immediately that Jack was now the Island Protector. Perhaps he could sense it, or perhaps he could just tell by Jack’s newfound boldness. Jack called out the Man in Black on his plan to take Desmond to the Source and destroy the Island. Jack told him that wasn’t what was going to happen; instead, he was going to use the Source to kill the Man in Black. Smiling, thinking Jack a fool, the Man in Black said, “Okay, then let’s get on with it.” And together, friends and enemies all set out for the bamboo forest.

Along the way, Sawyer tried to pry from Jack how going along with the Man in Black could possibly be made to work against him. Jack shared his newfound belief that Desmond was special, a “weapon,” that Jacob brought back to the Island in order to use against the Man in Black as a “fail-safe,” in Widmore’s words. No more could be said because they’d reached the edge of the forest, and the Man in Black said that just he, Jack and Desmond should press on to the Source.

The three men reached the stream that feeds into the Source. The light in the cave was much dimmer and the water much lower than in ancient times past, when Jacob brought his Brother here and threw him into the Source, as seen in the “Across the Sea.” The Man in Black and Jack tied a rope around Desmond’s waste. While the monster was affixing the other end of the rope to a nearby tree, Desmond told Jack that nothing they were doing mattered. He then described his memories of the Sideways universe, where he sat on Oceanic Flight 815 next to Jack, and the flight landed in Los Angeles, and Jack looked happy. Desmond saw that place when Charles Widmore subjected him to an electromagnetic test that threw Desmond into the far future, and he saw what it had in store. Desmond was convinced that interacting with the Source would send him back to that happy place, and he even theorized that perhaps he could take Jack there. But Jack was immovable. He wasn’t interested in any more shortcuts or do-overs, such as trying to detonate a nuclear bomb core in an electromagnetic pocket to change the future. What they were doing now mattered.

And how right Jack was.

Meanwhile Miles contacted Ben and told them they’d just reached Hydra Island. Crazy Claire greeted them, gun drawn. They surrendered to her immediately and entreated her to leave the Island with them. But she said no, and walked off.

Back at the cave, Locke and Jack started lowering Desmond over a high waterfall that dropped to the cave bottom, where the light emanated from. Desmond had only the vaguest idea of what to do, just to go “where the light is brightest.” While they worked together to lower Desmond, the Man in Black tried to use Locke’s memories to remind Jack of the time that he and the real Locke found Desmond in the Swan Station, where he’d pushed a button on a computer to save the world for three years. Offended, Jack bit back, saying “You’re not John Locke. You disrespect his memory by wearing his face, but you’re nothing like him. Turns out he was right about most everything. I just wish I could’ve told him that while he was still alive.” The Man in Black laughed at Jack and told him that Locke was never right about anything, and that he’d realize as much when the Island dropped into the ocean.

Reaching the bottom of the waterfall, Desmond untied himself from the rope and walked down a short corridor. Skeletons lined the walls — probably the remains of other men who tried to touch the Source and use it to either protect or destroy the Island — and died trying. But Desmond was different than other men; many times he’s demonstrated an ability to resist even the strongest electromagnetic energy bursts. He reached a large open chamber with a pool of water in the center. The pool was fed by water coming from a raised sluice, and drained out into at least five other channels. Conceivably these water channels carried the Source’s water and power to all parts of the Island, including the well beneath the Orchid station, which housed the ancient donkey wheel that Ben and Locke previously used to “move” the Island. In the center of the pool, a large upright stone with ancient markings (vaguely reminiscent of Neanderthal or cave-man paintings) acted as a kind of “cork,” plugging a hole in the bottom. So it seems that Jacob’s analogy of the Island being a cork that keeps darkness contained wasn’t far off. Desmond waded into the pool, and the electromagnetism of the area reacted strongly, like some kind of natural defense mechanism. Though Desmond’s nose began to bleed from the radiation, he was still able to wade out to the center of the pool and dislodge the cork. And then… the shit hit the fan. Removing the stone cork drained the water from the pool, and the center began to glow with radioactive heat. The entire Island began shaking violently. It seemed that the electromagnetism in the cave was as strong as a nuclear reactor, and pulling the cork caused it to start overheating.

Above, the Man in Black took Desmond’s screams as a sign that Jack was wrong, and left. But Jack wouldn’t let him go. He chased the Man in Black out of the cave and tackled him to the ground, punching him repeatedly even though the gesture would normally be useless. Only… it worked. The Man in Black was bleeding from the mouth. With the Source temporarily deactivated, the Man in Black was without his powers. This left him human, vulnerable… killable. But Jack relished the moment a little too long, and the Man in Black popped him in the head.

A thunderstorm broke loose and the Island was rocked with tremors. Ben saw a tree falling toward Hurley and pushed him out of the way, though the tree fell on him. Sawyer, Kate and Hurley immediately started working to lift the tree off Ben. Then they heard Miles calling on the radio, telling them to get their butts over to Hydra Island in order to make the last plane out. Sawyer cursed and asked aloud how they were supposed to get over there in time, to which Ben, still pinned under the tree, said, “I know how we can get there! Locke has a boat!”

I feel somewhat obligated, again, to stop and point out how bad the writing had become at this point. First off, Sawyer didn’t need to be reminded that Locke had a boat because he’s the one who stole that very boat (the Elizabeth) from Locke and used it to get over to Hydra Island (“The Last Recruit”). With the sub destroyed, it would seem somewhat obvious that Locke would use their boat to come back, since as Sawyer himself pointed out (“The Package”), the Smoke Monster seemed unable to cross water in smoke form. Also, Ben’s final line in this scene appears to have been meant to bridge over two rather large plot holes and take us into the next scene: The fact that we don’t see Sawyer, Kate and Hurley continue working to get Ben out from under the tree, and the fact that Ben has somehow learned where the Man in Black is keeping the Elizabeth anchored. This single line of dialog accomplished neither, and somehow expected us to connect those dots ourselves.

Thus it was rather jarring when the next scene picked up at the seaside caves, the same place the Man in Black took Sawyer to show him the names of Jacob’s Candidates scribbled on the walls in chalk. The monster stood staring at the Elizabeth, his means of escape from the Island. But somehow Jack had caught up to him, and then Ben, Sawyer, Kate, and Hurley shortly thereafter. Jack and the Man in Black flew into a colossal Saturday matinée-movie brawl, which ended when the Man in Black drew his knife and stabbed Jack in the right side; a very Christ-like wound, if I may take a moment to point out. The Man in Black then tried to plunge his knife into Jack’s neck but Jack held his arms, allowing his blade to enter his neck only far enough to create the never-healing cut that Jack has been suffering from all season long in the Sideways universe. (AH HA!) So Jack failed to kill the Man in Black… for the moment. Kate showed up and finally got to utter her cheesy action-movie one liner (“I saved you a bullet!”) just after shooting the Man in Black through the heart. Jack rose and kicked the Man in Black over the cliff. He fell a distance equal to about eight stories and then broke his back on the outcropping below, dying in the same manner that John Locke lost his ability to walk.

The Island however, still threatened to collapse into the ocean. Jack realized that he needed to get back to the Source and try to undo whatever Desmond did. Ben handed his walkie over to Sawyer, reaffirming his need to be with the Island even if it sank. And Hurley has always stated that he’s no good with heights. There was no way he was going to climb the rickety ladders down the side of the cliff to reach the boat. So just Sawyer and Kate were leaving, but Kate couldn’t leave without a goodbye kiss. And quite a kiss it was. Kate and Sawyer later jumped off the cliff into the water and swam out to the Elizabeth.

Jack leans on Hurley as they make their way back to the Source, with Ben trailing behind. Jack made it clear to Hurley that he had to go down into the cave alone, and that he wouldn’t be coming back. And so now, in quite possibly my favorite moment of the series, Jack realized that the Protector would be Hurley.  Though the big teddy bear didn’t want it, he accepted an Oceanic Airlines bottled water that Jack filled from the almost-emptied stream, and drank. Then just as Jacob had done, Jack clapped Hurley on the shoulder and said, “Now, you’re like me.” And so proprietorship of the Island moved from Jack to Hurley, though the Doc had one last duty to perform. Hurley and Ben lowered him into the cave.

On Hydra Island, Frank was grouchily ordering Miles to fix the Ajira plane with duct tape. Meanwhile Sawyer and Kate waded ashore from the Elizabeth and found Claire, who wanted to die on the Island just because she didn’t feel sane or worthy enough to go back and be Aaron’s mother. Kate offered to help Claire raise Aaron, and they all ran to the runway, where Frank was about to take off without them. He stopped the plane and Richard and Miles pulled them all onboard. The plane took off as the runway fell into an opening chasm.

In the Source cavern, Jack found Desmond unconscious. He woke him and helped him over to the rope, still hanging from the level above. Then Jack stepped into the empty pool and moved the cork stone back over the central hole, replugging it. The Island continued collapsing for a second, but then water poured in from the sluice and the hole around the cork cooled off. Jack collapsed in the pool as it continued to fill, and then electromagnetism radiated throughout the water, becoming blinding. Is it my imagination, or was the Source a little brighter than before?

Hurley and Ben saw the Source return to full power and started pulling the rope back up to the surface. Only they found Desmond in the rope, and not Jack. Hurley was nearly inconsolable, but a few encouraging words from Ben helped him understand that he didn’t have to run the Island Jacob’s way, he could do things his way by doing what he does best: taking care of people. Hurley realized that he could use a “Number 2 with, like, experience,” and offered Ben the job. Ben gratefully accepted.

Jack awoke in the stream behind the Source. We’ve seen this creek before in “Across the Sea;” this is where Jacob found his dead brother’s body after throwing him into the Source and turning him into the Smoke Monster. Obviously whomever is in the Source pool at the time it surges is deposited here. But unlike Jacob’s Brother, Jack was still alive. He rose to his feet and started making his way back into the bamboo forest. He passed a bloody sneaker hanging from a bamboo tree, the same one he passed in the “Pilot” episode at the series start. He continued stumbling toward the spot where he first awoke on the Island, just after the crash of Flight 815. He lay down on the same spot where he first opened his eyes, and stared up at the trees above. The Ajira airliner flew overhead, carrying his friends. He’d gotten them all off the Island, just as he’d promised. Jack had fulfilled his purpose. Shortly, he was joined by Walt’s dog, Vincent, just as in the first episode of the series. And there, in the spot where his adventure started, Jack closed his eyes and died.

Apparently Carlton Cuse knew that this would be the final shot of Lost, and at some point shared this information with Matthew Fox, who then went around proudly teasing the press that he knew how the show would end. I hope he’s happy.

As for that entire business with the Sideways flashes… Well… I hate to be a spoiler but it turns out that the Sideways universe is the afterlife. It is a timeless existence where all the Losties were together again regardless of when or how far apart they died, they just didn’t know it because they couldn’t remember their old lives. It was an existence they co-created so that they could find each other again. And it’s such a dumb plot device that I really don’t want to go into too much detail about it, except to say that I feel a little cheated that the show spent so much time dwelling on the Sideways universe and making it seem like the solution to the show when in fact it was nothing more than safe-old Christian theology in motion, trotted out to save the writers from one more explanation. At least we now understand why Jack’s father was allegorically named Christian Shephard, since he’s the one who was waiting to help Jack and all the Losties “leave” or “move on.”

It was a nice touch that the lovers had to find each other and touch in order to remember their lives and each other, and when they did, they fell into each other’s arms. I found it a bit odd that nothing happened to Jack when Kate touched him. Which I suppose means that the thing he was most seeking throughout his life was his father’s approval, which he finally remembered and received when he touched Christian’s empty casket in the back of the church. I also thought it was cute how the two universes started playing off each other, such as Jack telling Locke before his surgery something to the effect of “This could go wrong, I might just kill you,” and then the next scene on the Island is where Jack kills the Man in Black, in Locke’s form. But then the cleverness just kept coming, when in the switchback immediately after Jack killed the Man in Black, Jack in Sideways universe is shown leaving the OR and the nurse says, “Good work, Dr. Shephard.” Uhh, please get your cleverness out of my face, cause it smells a bit rank.

I also thought it a bit odd that Locke regained his memories of life when he regained the ability to walk, and not by being with Helen. And since Helen wasn’t at the church later, I guess she was never as important to him as being able to do what he wanted, without anyone telling him what he can’t do. The love of Sayid’s life was revealed to be — not Nadia — but Shannon, with whom he reunited after assistance from Hurley and Boone. And Kate’s moment of remembrance came when Claire gave birth to Aaron, again, and then Charlie jumped in and remembered everything too, and the entire scene became this kind of bizarre love triangle around the baby… or quadrangle, I’m not sure which.

Anyway, the afterlife was kind of a dumb plot device forced into the show to serve the purposes of pure schmaltziness, as if Jack’s death and Hugo getting the Island wouldn’t have been touching enough. They could have spent all that Sideways universe time fleshing out a few more answers for us, such as who the fuck was in that other outrigger that attacked the Losties while they were time-flashing at the beginning of Season 5, what happened to Walt and why wasn’t he at the church? Was he never meant to be a Lostie, and him and Michael being there was an accident the entire time? Who were the skeletons along the tunnel to the Source cave? (It’s fun to guess like I did above, but it could have heightened the tension to know something like many have tried this before, but failed and died.) What happened to Christian’s body on the Island? Was it propped up in the cabin in the rocking chair, when Hurley peeked through the window? What happened to it after that? What exactly is the Source? Couldn’t they have at least clarified whether uncorking the Source would destroy just the Island, or the entire world?

Tonight (Saturday) the pop-up “enhanced” version of the finale is airing. But even with all the little explanatory tidbits displayed at the bottom of the screen, I really doubt we’re going to get sufficient answers to all our questions.

I think that what bugs me the most about the finale, more so than the fact that there won’t be any more Lost, is that I can no longer decide what final message I’m supposed to take away from the experience of watching this show. For several seasons there, the mysteries of Lost ran so deep and so universal that I was beginning to think that the show was going to end in a kind of Aleph moment, where all sciences would be united and the mysteries of the universe would finally be solved. None of us would ever have any questions ever again. But instead the message we get from season six, as stated by Rose in the very first line of dialog this year, is “It’s okay to let go now.” Jack and Locke started echoing this sentiment in the Sideways universe, and it appears to be the producers overriding message. “Let go,” and “leave it behind,” and “move on.” To end a show that we’ve followed so religiously for the last six years on such a vague, “leave-us-alone-and-forget-about-it” sentiment seems a bit of a cop-out to me. That’s like if I asked you a question that you couldn’t answer, and then I revealed that I couldn’t answer it either. But I leave that struggle to the producers, who must surely cry themselves to sleep at night knowing that they created something so great that ended at a spot so very short of perfection.

Still, I’m not letting go.

I remain a Lost fan, and I now have a strong desire to rewatch the series from episode one. And I will, probably sometime in the near future… probably when the complete collection is released later this summer. I will most likely mention Lost in other blog posts, especially regarding books such as Greg Egan’s Distress and Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High Castle, which I’ll be reviewing and discussing at this blog in the near future. Both of those book have a serious influence on Lost. And I’m starting to think it’s high time I re-read Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series, since as we proved in the old forums, was basically copied character by character into the show.

If you are going to move on, I encourage you to do so in similar ways.

Tags: Lost