It’s a sad, sad night for fans everywhere as the final episode of LOST, called “The End,” has just concluded, leaving us to ponder its existence, effect, lingering questions, and importance on popular culture for the rest of our days.
No, we still haven’t even gotten over the loss of Battlestar Galactica, so it’s clear this will be difficult to overcome. BSG even gave us a spinoff series (The Sawyer & Miles Bad Guy Chasin’ Hour? Hurley & Miles: Ghost Chasers? Anyone?), which while excellent, still doesn’t give us the characters we love and miss so much, and this will be the same for Lost and our beloved island-imprisoned survivors of Oceanic Flight 815.
Nevertheless, the show must go on. There will be time for mourning later, but for now, there are things to discuss, and that’s what we’re here for. Last year, an epic discussion and bounty of wonderful theories unfolded here at Geeks of Doom (Read: “˜Lost’ Season 5 Finale Discussion: Let Your Theories Fly! ). Now that Lost has concluded forever, theories mean nothing, and all that’s left is to decide if the show lived up to its promise of being the greatest TV venture of all time, or did this last season, and ultimately, the series finale, cause the show to falter and swerve off-course?
Don’t waste anymore time — head on over to the other side to read our thoughts on the finale and the series as a whole, and be sure to hit the comments below to share your thoughts and what Lost has meant to you. And as always, don’t go there if you want to avoid spoilers, sillies. This is a discussion and a celebration of one of the greats; make sure you get a piece of cake and take part!
This final season has been interesting to say the least. By no means have we seen the best episodes of the show, but many questions have been answered. For me, the worst part of this season has been the random wave of hate and negative criticism. It’s seemed like people have been digging and searching for even the smallest of reasons to complain, and it has felt really manufactured. There’s not much better a title than Lost, which is almost universally loved, to hate on in order to get yourself some attention, and that’s been kind of depressing.
The truth is that while Lost has not been anywhere near as brilliant as we’re used to, this final season has not been wasted. Instead of try and blow our minds every single episode, they’ve taken the time to really maneuver all of their pieces (almost like the game that Jacob and the Man in Black always play) so that everything was in place for the finale. They also made sure to slowly but surely answer many, many lingering questions we’ve had over all six seasons. They didn’t make a spectacle of it, but they made sure to fill in the holes they’ve created, and that gentle care to make sure as many answers as they wanted to share were covered has been under-appreciated over the season.
As for the finale episode, there’s much to discus — I’m just not sure where to start! As promised, we were left with plenty to ponder and theorize about. The first two hours or so of tonight’s episode was everything I hoped for; everything you could want in a story delivered in-full. There was love and discovery, drama galore, good vs. evil, epic fights to the finish, and a destination coming into sight. As for the last half hour or so, this is where lines are sure to be drawn. People will love how it ended, and some will probably hate it. This is the way it goes.
As for me, I think it needs to be pondered a bit more. Overall, I was happy with the conclusion, but how it ended seemed more…expected than, well…expected, ironically. My fantasy ending had them all meeting up as they did, but connecting them back to the island, on that beach that they all spent so much time on. Only instead of fear and dangers at every turn, it would just be where they were happiest, and where they would naturally want to spend eternity with each other.
We were promised three alternate endings on Jimmy Kimmel later tonight, and as I’ve been telling people: I fear these because there always seems to be an alternate that I prefer over the one chosen. We shall see how that goes!
That would be all I have to say about it; I don’t want to bore you too much. Instead, the floor is open to you guys and I’m curious to see your thoughts in the comments below. I want to know if you were happy with “The End,” and what your thoughts are on it all. And now that Lost is done and over forever, is it all that you always hoped and dreamed that it would be as a whole, or is there some questions and emptiness remaining?
Aside from that, allow me this moment to personally thank Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, J.J. Abrams, and everyone else who had a part in bringing us this show. It’s been an amazing and emotional ride that none of us will ever forget. Nothing could ever dream of being what this was to us, and that, even with something as silly a TV show in comparison to our lives, is something truly special to cherish.
We’ll see you in another life, brotha.
What an anticlimax of a show. But what do you expect when they are scraping the barrel for a storyline each season, just making up pointless crap as they go along.
Comment by scrotumbagmonkeyflicker — May 24, 2010 @ 4:29 am
My family and I enjoyed it. Loved the mini-awakenings/reunions. Great fun to see the characters we lost reconnect.
Heavy on the religion, but I wasn’t a writer, just a viewer.
Comment by Wings — May 24, 2010 @ 6:43 am
My overall thoughts are positive on the finale. Imperfect, a few holes that you could throw Oceanic Flight 815 through, but on a meta level I think it did the job. Sentimental at the end but, let’s face it, it was a sad occasion for a lot of people and it’s nice for the audience to have a last lingering look before the fade into gold.
Still processing it all…
Comment by Mark Dykeman — May 24, 2010 @ 10:08 am
I loved it and can’t think of anything I didn’t like in it, at least not now. It’s still too fresh.
I did a blog post of my thoughts and reactions over at my blog if anyone’s interested. Great show and a remarkable conclusion.
Comment by logankstewart — May 24, 2010 @ 10:25 am
I thought the finale was awesome, but then again I am a sucker for the happy reuniting ending of it all. I could write a book with all the questions I still have but they don’t make me bitter for having invested time (6 years!) in the show.
Comment by Erin — May 24, 2010 @ 3:22 pm
I thought it was a great finish. I’m a bit disappointed that we didn’t get more answers about the Dharma Initiative and some of the island mythologies. But while I was watching the finale none of that mattered, I was totally engrossed in the story they were telling. Loved the final shot.
Comment by Chad — May 24, 2010 @ 6:02 pm
I thought the final episode was everything it was supposed to be, and I absolutely loved it. I’m still getting teary!! Yeah, I’m a sap, but that was one heck of a ride. Of course things were going to be left unanswered, but I feel that’s the beauty of what the show was about. You don’t KNOW the answer to everything. It would ruin the magic. Those who knock the writers for just writing whatever really need to take a closer look at the show, or just let it go. If you didn’t like it, that’s fine. For those who loved it, the writer’s did it all. No show is perfect and no writer is perfect, but they did a great job in this show. It’s amazing to me how they were able to keep it cohesive throughout the six seasons and manage to make it this incredible story that had a great message. My two cents.
I’m sad to see it go, but now it’s time to watch it all over again!
Comment by karrie — May 24, 2010 @ 6:56 pm
I hated it. I thought it was a cop out by the creative team. Going by the ending, the whole first five seasons were pointless. It was in no way the show I fell in love with this season and I have no desire to even watch any of the show again because I know it means squat…. Just my opinion and obviously I still care because I am posting but they should have done better.
Comment by Scott — May 24, 2010 @ 7:49 pm
I see a lot of you were relatively happy with how things went.
If you haven’t already, and especially if you’re one of those who hated the finale, you should make sure to read our new post — http://geeksofdoom.com/2010/05/24/did-you-hate-the-lost-finale-read-this-may-you-discover-enlightenment/
Took almost 24-hours to START to get an idea how I was going to ultimately feel about the show as a whole, but some really interesting stuff there.
And for those who hated it, that post will give you a hell of a lot more insight into the reasons behind that finale, what it all meant, and how those final few minutes that has people irate were actually planned from the very beginning.
It’s a shame for anyone to hate Lost, but I could understand the backlash. If you still hate it after all of that, then there’s not much more that could be done to sway thee, I fear.
Comment by The Movie God — May 25, 2010 @ 1:38 am
Unfortunately you have been conned, not once but twice. The first time, by the writers of LOST, by making us think that there was to be some intellectual payoff in the end of this story, and secondly, by the person who claims to be an insider, on your “enlightenment” discussion board. There are very obvious mistakes in his theory, concerning the final show itself, as others have pointed out. Another mistake is in the fact that he stated that Jacob brought DHARMA and it’s people to the island. That does not go in step with what the show/writers told us. Hanso, who was the great, great grandson of Alvar Hanso,(the owner of the Black Rock ship, and the one who wrote the diary and maps to get to the island)co-created and brought the DHARMA initiative to the island. The Dharma initiative was for psychological and scientific studies, and was trying to use the energy of the island for many purposes.
I assure you that Jacob would not consider them tapping into the islands energy and digging,(much as his MIB brother did) as a positive thing for the island. MIB’s Mother was so disturbed by her own son (albiet stolen son), digging down to the light and planning to use it, that she was violent with him, and killed an entire village of people.
I am glad that you feel better and happy with the ending. I still do not. I feel like the writers of the show pulled a great con…they played the role of Anthony Cooper/Original Sawyer, masterfully, and made me and a multitude of others believe that this LOST game that we have been playing for 6 years would have some sort of intellectual payoff in the end.
I feel like a sucker.
If you have ever seen the movie “The Christmas Story†you will remember the part when the kid keeps going to the mailbox, as he is waiting for his secret decoder ring, from the “Lil’ Orphan Annie Showâ€. It finally comes, and he is so vey excited. He gets his pencil, paper and sits right in front of the radio, waiting for those secret clues, that he now can discover the answers to, as he has his decoder….the scene goes on, he is breaking the clue code…one letter at a time…..â€E,A,T,M,O,R,E,O,V,A,L,T,I,N,Eâ€â€¦.†Thats the answer? Thats the secret code!?!?!?! Eat more Ovaltine!?!?!?â€
That is how I feel……â€We all die sometime, Jackâ€!?!?!?!?!? All of the easter eggs and clues, mean nothing!?!?! The true meaning of LOST is that everyone dies in the end, and there is an afterlife?!?!?! What a scam!
Shame on the writers, and shame on that person, posing as a crew member!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment by Wendy — May 25, 2010 @ 5:22 pm
laughing my butt off at the last comment. Because he is so right! Yes, it was a sad ending, both literally and just plain sad. BUT it is what it is. I really thought they were survivors of the plane crash but I guess not. This reminds me of the tv show sliders, wish they had an ending too.
Comment by jan — June 18, 2010 @ 10:49 am