Lost Finale Review: Let There Be Light... Comments (Page 11)
343 Comments
Israel
May 24th, 2010 11:27 AM
blrssp - please be respectful and mindful of other people's thoughts. If you're mad about the ending and want to be rude, write the producers a nasty letter.
John - I like your theory on Aaron's birth/death. Just not sure I have a formed opinion on whether or not they left the island... that shot at the end of the show, where we see the wrecks of a place sort of gives away the fact that they never did it. Yes, Jack did see it before he died, but right after that it could have crashed, so Jack died in peace, and as pointed by Christian Shephard, "before some of them"....
John
May 24th, 2010 11:26 AM
Great but no Cigar,
Yes, all the events on the island did transpire while they were alive. The flash sideways is an ideal but reality they were living in.
From Merriam-Webster, definition of purgatory.
1 : an intermediate state after death for expiatory purification; specifically : a place or state of punishment wherein according to Roman Catholic doctrine the souls of those who die in God's grace may make satisfaction for past sins and so become fit for heaven
2 : a place or state of temporary suffering or misery
As you can see from this definition, the flash sideways clearly isn't purgatory.
inthemiddle
May 24th, 2010 11:25 AM
blrss,
I don't think Jack and kate were soulmates. jack's struggle was with his faith and that was what his journey was about. kate seemed to find her greatest happiness with Aaron and she redeemed herself by getting Claire off the island to reunite mother and son. Thus, her sideways life culminates in her helping Claire give birth (a parallel to what happened on the island) Remember, Kate could not be a protector of the island because she became a mother according to Jacob. i agree with you that the writers used the literal and symbolic significance of the island in a sloppy way, and it never would have made sense if this was an actual mystery or sci-fi novel.
blrssp
May 24th, 2010 11:23 AM
"Off the island, they were all separated from each other. Jack and Kate had a good relationship but when Kate started lying about Cassidy that's when Jack and Kate drifted apart. So as you can see, off the island, they were all alone again."
So Jack and Kate are only spiritual soul-mates when Hurley and Locke are in the same room? Oh dear God, such stupidity...
John
May 24th, 2010 11:21 AM
bssrp,
Off the island, they were all separated from each other. Jack and Kate had a good relationship but when Kate started lying about Cassidy that's when Jack and Kate drifted apart. So as you can see, off the island, they were all alone again.
Stephen
May 24th, 2010 11:17 AM
It was a bit strange that Jack was suddenly no longer in the cave anymore. Very similar to how the MIB's body was spit out of the cave, or rather left behind by the Smoke Monster
Great but no Cigar
May 24th, 2010 11:16 AM
John
Well purgatory is generally accepted to mean a holding place between life and the afterlife, so I accept that's what you think 'it meant' but I dont think so, they say at the end those things did actually happen.
John
May 24th, 2010 11:15 AM
Jack Deth,
I think the way to answer the question is that when the protector duty passed on to Jack, he wasn't susceptible to it. However, when the man in black went in, he wasn't the protector and wasn't protected by the effects of the light.
blrssp
May 24th, 2010 11:13 AM
"If you look back on the series, the only peace any of those characters experienced was in the arms of the person they loved the most." That would explain Jack and Kate's "wonderful" relationship that they had off-island after that left it? See, this is where things got very sloppy. If all it was *really* about was the people and the island and its mythology was incidental, why were the flash-forwards all so depressing? It was drilled at the viewer time and again that they all had to go back to the island -- that the *island* and its fate was the most important thing, not them. If Jack and Kate were spiritual soul-mates, why couldn't they have this off of the island? The problem is that the writers switched back and forth between the literal and symbolic importance of the island too often, and whenever it suited their needs.
Stephen
May 24th, 2010 11:10 AM
@ Jack Deth
I'm very interested to know what Hurley and Ben did during their time as the new Jacob and Richard and whether or not there was still a smoke monster.
But all that's a whole nother story we're never get to hear. Speculation and debate will run rampant though. The last smoke monster was born by being exposed to the light in the water, which we saw Jack soaking in like a jacuzzi before his death.
Why didn't it happen to him? Or did it?
John
May 24th, 2010 11:09 AM
Great but no Cigar,
I understand that's what the producers said and I remember when they said it. However, everyone here seems to call it purgatory, so to simplify I just called it purgatory. It really isn't purgatory because in purgatory you are supposed to be purged of your sins before you are able to enter heaven. However, as seen in the flash sideways, there is no purging of any kind. But I don't know of a better way to say what it is since that's what many people seem to believe it is.
inthemiddle
May 24th, 2010 11:07 AM
If the show was indeed all about the characters, then the title tells us all we need to know about their journey. they were lost and the resolution had to be that they were found. you can take that literally and try to follow all the eggs the writers laid to a logical conclusion - which they did not supply. However, if you look at it figuratively, they were flawed characters that were redeemed in the end. Whatever that island was it served as the vehicle by which they earned their redemption - the start of which commenced at the opening of Jack's eye and their achievement signaled by his eye closing. If you look back on the series, the only peace any of those characters experienced was in the arms of the person they loved the most - except for Jack whose journey symbolized the debate we are having here, fact versus faith. Hence Ben could not join in the church gathering - his daughter was not there for whatever reason. The dharma initiative, the others, the electromagnetic stuff s
John
May 24th, 2010 11:02 AM
Israel,
I think Desmond realized that although people were living their "ideal" life, they were still missing out on what was real, i.e. the relationships they built with each other. Remember that Jacob said that they were brought to the island because they were all alone in life. The flash sideways was imagined ideal life that each character had imagined for themselves. (This was cleary evidenced when Locke told Jack that he didn't have a son.)
We don't know if the people on the plane got off. But I assume they did because you saw Jack smile right before he died.
As for Kate saying that she missed him so much was threefold. First is the obvious that Kate missed Jack because she loved him. Second, it was probably the feeling that all the characters in the Church felt for each other. Last, it was meant to display that some time had passed since Kate last saw Jack. We don't know how much time elapsed from when Jack died and to the time when they all met at the Church. It
Jack Deth
May 24th, 2010 11:00 AM
At some point I would like see JJ/producers/writers collect fan questions and answer them in either book form on a website. Probably wont happen but it would be nice.
I would have loved to see what happens between the period when the show ended and everyone had finally died. How did Hugo and Ben run the Island was the force of evil behind Smokey really dead? If it was what the heck did they do there? Turn it into Fantasy Island/Mr. Clucks Chicken resort and retire?
For those who stuck it out to the end, whether they loved the ending or hated it or somewhere in between, one thing is certain it was unforgetable and may have even learned a few things about myself in the process as I did.
Great but no Cigar
May 24th, 2010 10:58 AM
@John
The writers actually issued a press release saying the Island was NOT Purgatory after season 1.
Cloud
May 24th, 2010 10:58 AM
Blrssp, I am sorry but your comments insult my intelligence and imagination. The ending was poetically perfect. The writers nailed the ending
dedalus
May 24th, 2010 10:58 AM
No bashing here, as the writers did better than I ever could. Here's my stab at a Better Ending for the final 6 minutes instead of "I see Dead People":
As the alt/sideways universe people realize they are not in a true "reality" they fade or start "skipping" into the Reality of their other, post-island lives, drawn by their Constants (those who love them/those they've connected with).
Not only does this tie in perfectly with the big Constant episode re Desmond and Penny, but it indicates that Love/Connection With Others is the Ultimate Reality, a great philosophical theme.
Those that are dead could then be truly grieved over by those that lost them...Kate for Jack, Claire for Charlie. Or if the mawkish truly need a post-life reunion, then you could show those few couples meeting each other after death.
This ending allows for some intellectual consistency and some philosophical meaning.
Oh, and I would have used some device other than bathroom drain plug f
spanky
May 24th, 2010 10:57 AM
Well, well (so to speak). A few minutes after the show I was thinking…..What tha? Why couldn't Jacob pull the plug after smoke appeared the first time, kill the smoke with a rock and be done with it or just let the island sink. Clearly the island serves no purpose in the real world. Not everyone passes through the island. Only idiots like Widmore try to find it, for what reason? Who knows.
No, this Jacob dude has to leave the island and go tromping all over the world finding candidates and leading them to the island for years on years… but he can't pull a simple plug? Could have saved him a lot of chalk and frequent flyer miles not to mention lives. Oh, that right his "mother" told him to never go in there. Weak.
I really, really love LOST, but the first few seasons were my favorite by a long shot. Great character building and use of the flashbacks was excellent story telling. These last few seasons not so much, but still like it better than anything else on TV. Gu
Stephen
May 24th, 2010 10:48 AM
@ Great but no Cigar
sorry, I didn't mean that no one 'got it' but I see a lot of posts from people thinking that none of the events of the island ever took place.
John
May 24th, 2010 10:47 AM
Mark,
The "light" is the source of the electromagnetic properties of the island. Christian explained that time has no meaning in purgatory. However, the "losties" were living in purgatory. They weren't dead like Michael who were forced to stay there since they didn't find their redemption. The island itself is purgatory....it's just that the "losties" weren't dead when they crashed into purgatory. Remember in the ending they headed to the light...the same light that was on the island. In terms of a scientific explanation of time travel and electromagnetism, you have to understand the "Casimir Effect".
When the Man in Black entered the light, he was destined to a fate worse than death as stated by his mother which meant living a life as the smoke monster. However, since the smoke monster can assume the corporal figure of a dead person, sometimes he chose to take the form of who he was when he was living.
Israel
May 24th, 2010 10:45 AM
@ John
Thanks John. So, do you think Desmond realised he was dead when he finaly accepted it after near-death experience with Charlie, and decided to make the others realise they were all dead too?
As per the wrecks, if we are to assume that those are Ajira's, so we should reckon (please correct me if I got it wrong) that Saywer, Kate, Miles, Richard and Lapidus never made it out of the island, right? This wouldn't be quite a suprise, since we've seen more than twice in the past that it is impossible to fly off the island...
Nevertheless, if they actually (Saywer, Kate, Miles, Richard and Lapidus) did crash right after taking off, how come Kate told Jack that she "missed him so much" ? It led me to believe, after figuring out the whole Flash Sideways/Purgatory deal, that she had lived a long life after island and missed him for years, before their encounter in the after life...
Jack Deth
May 24th, 2010 10:42 AM
LOST was so deep and complex that it was a once in a lifetime experience. The usual finale reactions were predictable. Some loved it, some hated it, some were annoyed, some were suprised, some were not suprised, some were ambivalent, some cried, some shrugged their shoulders turned off the tv and went to bed. Its impossible to produce a finale that satisfies everyone is an impossible task. Early on I thought the end could be a Matrix like conclusion where the Dharma Initiative where the passengers of Flight 815 were all hooked up to computer running simulations to study if mans knack toward self destruction could be changed; with the plane sitting on a desert runway and the show was the 108th simulation where the finally got it right. One thing thats clear is that LOST was unique and will be tough to reproduce and will be debated analyzed by hard core LOST fans for years to come.
On the Faith and Reason/Science, my favorite series of the 1990s Babylon 5, said it best in an episod
Great but no Cigar
May 24th, 2010 10:39 AM
@ Stephen
I think we all got that thanks.
Most peoples point was that we felt it was a cop out, not it was so complex we couldnt understand, quiet the opposite.
Mark
May 24th, 2010 10:39 AM
I agree I always thought what was going on on the island was happening but there were bits that just didnt make sence with the flash Sideways.
It could be me but I really dont see how they all realised they were dead or realised they should move on?
I thought the sideways was showing that these alt realities were linked and people off island were getting flashes of the island.
Wasnt VERY clear to me, but I may have just missed it...
blrssp
May 24th, 2010 10:37 AM
"At no point was I led to think that the island and the events that took place weren't real because it was very clear that it was all real, the Flash Sideways/purgatory all happened after the fact once everyone died at different periods of time.
I thought they made that pretty clear."
I found it to be more ambiguous than that. Jack ended up dying from the same wound he got in episode 1, and in the exact same spot where he "woke up." The actor, on the Jimmy Kimmel aftershow, indicated that the whole thing happening in the span of a nanosecond in the mind of Jack was a possible interpretation. I don't think that this is what the writers intended, but there is evidence for it, I think.
May 24th, 2010 11:27 AM
blrssp - please be respectful and mindful of other people's thoughts. If you're mad about the ending and want to be rude, write the producers a nasty letter.
John - I like your theory on Aaron's birth/death. Just not sure I have a formed opinion on whether or not they left the island... that shot at the end of the show, where we see the wrecks of a place sort of gives away the fact that they never did it. Yes, Jack did see it before he died, but right after that it could have crashed, so Jack died in peace, and as pointed by Christian Shephard, "before some of them"....
May 24th, 2010 11:26 AM
Great but no Cigar,
Yes, all the events on the island did transpire while they were alive. The flash sideways is an ideal but reality they were living in.
From Merriam-Webster, definition of purgatory.
1 : an intermediate state after death for expiatory purification; specifically : a place or state of punishment wherein according to Roman Catholic doctrine the souls of those who die in God's grace may make satisfaction for past sins and so become fit for heaven
2 : a place or state of temporary suffering or misery
As you can see from this definition, the flash sideways clearly isn't purgatory.
May 24th, 2010 11:25 AM
blrss,
I don't think Jack and kate were soulmates. jack's struggle was with his faith and that was what his journey was about. kate seemed to find her greatest happiness with Aaron and she redeemed herself by getting Claire off the island to reunite mother and son. Thus, her sideways life culminates in her helping Claire give birth (a parallel to what happened on the island) Remember, Kate could not be a protector of the island because she became a mother according to Jacob. i agree with you that the writers used the literal and symbolic significance of the island in a sloppy way, and it never would have made sense if this was an actual mystery or sci-fi novel.
May 24th, 2010 11:23 AM
"Off the island, they were all separated from each other. Jack and Kate had a good relationship but when Kate started lying about Cassidy that's when Jack and Kate drifted apart. So as you can see, off the island, they were all alone again."
So Jack and Kate are only spiritual soul-mates when Hurley and Locke are in the same room? Oh dear God, such stupidity...
May 24th, 2010 11:21 AM
bssrp,
Off the island, they were all separated from each other. Jack and Kate had a good relationship but when Kate started lying about Cassidy that's when Jack and Kate drifted apart. So as you can see, off the island, they were all alone again.
May 24th, 2010 11:17 AM
It was a bit strange that Jack was suddenly no longer in the cave anymore. Very similar to how the MIB's body was spit out of the cave, or rather left behind by the Smoke Monster
May 24th, 2010 11:16 AM
John
Well purgatory is generally accepted to mean a holding place between life and the afterlife, so I accept that's what you think 'it meant' but I dont think so, they say at the end those things did actually happen.
May 24th, 2010 11:15 AM
Jack Deth,
I think the way to answer the question is that when the protector duty passed on to Jack, he wasn't susceptible to it. However, when the man in black went in, he wasn't the protector and wasn't protected by the effects of the light.
May 24th, 2010 11:13 AM
"If you look back on the series, the only peace any of those characters experienced was in the arms of the person they loved the most." That would explain Jack and Kate's "wonderful" relationship that they had off-island after that left it? See, this is where things got very sloppy. If all it was *really* about was the people and the island and its mythology was incidental, why were the flash-forwards all so depressing? It was drilled at the viewer time and again that they all had to go back to the island -- that the *island* and its fate was the most important thing, not them. If Jack and Kate were spiritual soul-mates, why couldn't they have this off of the island? The problem is that the writers switched back and forth between the literal and symbolic importance of the island too often, and whenever it suited their needs.
May 24th, 2010 11:10 AM
@ Jack Deth
I'm very interested to know what Hurley and Ben did during their time as the new Jacob and Richard and whether or not there was still a smoke monster.
But all that's a whole nother story we're never get to hear. Speculation and debate will run rampant though. The last smoke monster was born by being exposed to the light in the water, which we saw Jack soaking in like a jacuzzi before his death.
Why didn't it happen to him? Or did it?
May 24th, 2010 11:09 AM
Great but no Cigar,
I understand that's what the producers said and I remember when they said it. However, everyone here seems to call it purgatory, so to simplify I just called it purgatory. It really isn't purgatory because in purgatory you are supposed to be purged of your sins before you are able to enter heaven. However, as seen in the flash sideways, there is no purging of any kind. But I don't know of a better way to say what it is since that's what many people seem to believe it is.
May 24th, 2010 11:07 AM
If the show was indeed all about the characters, then the title tells us all we need to know about their journey. they were lost and the resolution had to be that they were found. you can take that literally and try to follow all the eggs the writers laid to a logical conclusion - which they did not supply. However, if you look at it figuratively, they were flawed characters that were redeemed in the end. Whatever that island was it served as the vehicle by which they earned their redemption - the start of which commenced at the opening of Jack's eye and their achievement signaled by his eye closing. If you look back on the series, the only peace any of those characters experienced was in the arms of the person they loved the most - except for Jack whose journey symbolized the debate we are having here, fact versus faith. Hence Ben could not join in the church gathering - his daughter was not there for whatever reason. The dharma initiative, the others, the electromagnetic stuff s
May 24th, 2010 11:02 AM
Israel,
I think Desmond realized that although people were living their "ideal" life, they were still missing out on what was real, i.e. the relationships they built with each other. Remember that Jacob said that they were brought to the island because they were all alone in life. The flash sideways was imagined ideal life that each character had imagined for themselves. (This was cleary evidenced when Locke told Jack that he didn't have a son.)
We don't know if the people on the plane got off. But I assume they did because you saw Jack smile right before he died.
As for Kate saying that she missed him so much was threefold. First is the obvious that Kate missed Jack because she loved him. Second, it was probably the feeling that all the characters in the Church felt for each other. Last, it was meant to display that some time had passed since Kate last saw Jack. We don't know how much time elapsed from when Jack died and to the time when they all met at the Church. It
May 24th, 2010 11:00 AM
At some point I would like see JJ/producers/writers collect fan questions and answer them in either book form on a website. Probably wont happen but it would be nice.
I would have loved to see what happens between the period when the show ended and everyone had finally died. How did Hugo and Ben run the Island was the force of evil behind Smokey really dead? If it was what the heck did they do there? Turn it into Fantasy Island/Mr. Clucks Chicken resort and retire?
For those who stuck it out to the end, whether they loved the ending or hated it or somewhere in between, one thing is certain it was unforgetable and may have even learned a few things about myself in the process as I did.
May 24th, 2010 10:58 AM
@John
The writers actually issued a press release saying the Island was NOT Purgatory after season 1.
May 24th, 2010 10:58 AM
Blrssp, I am sorry but your comments insult my intelligence and imagination. The ending was poetically perfect. The writers nailed the ending
May 24th, 2010 10:58 AM
No bashing here, as the writers did better than I ever could. Here's my stab at a Better Ending for the final 6 minutes instead of "I see Dead People":
As the alt/sideways universe people realize they are not in a true "reality" they fade or start "skipping" into the Reality of their other, post-island lives, drawn by their Constants (those who love them/those they've connected with).
Not only does this tie in perfectly with the big Constant episode re Desmond and Penny, but it indicates that Love/Connection With Others is the Ultimate Reality, a great philosophical theme.
Those that are dead could then be truly grieved over by those that lost them...Kate for Jack, Claire for Charlie. Or if the mawkish truly need a post-life reunion, then you could show those few couples meeting each other after death.
This ending allows for some intellectual consistency and some philosophical meaning.
Oh, and I would have used some device other than bathroom drain plug f
May 24th, 2010 10:57 AM
Well, well (so to speak). A few minutes after the show I was thinking…..What tha? Why couldn't Jacob pull the plug after smoke appeared the first time, kill the smoke with a rock and be done with it or just let the island sink. Clearly the island serves no purpose in the real world. Not everyone passes through the island. Only idiots like Widmore try to find it, for what reason? Who knows.
No, this Jacob dude has to leave the island and go tromping all over the world finding candidates and leading them to the island for years on years… but he can't pull a simple plug? Could have saved him a lot of chalk and frequent flyer miles not to mention lives. Oh, that right his "mother" told him to never go in there. Weak.
I really, really love LOST, but the first few seasons were my favorite by a long shot. Great character building and use of the flashbacks was excellent story telling. These last few seasons not so much, but still like it better than anything else on TV. Gu
May 24th, 2010 10:48 AM
@ Great but no Cigar
sorry, I didn't mean that no one 'got it' but I see a lot of posts from people thinking that none of the events of the island ever took place.
May 24th, 2010 10:47 AM
Mark,
The "light" is the source of the electromagnetic properties of the island. Christian explained that time has no meaning in purgatory. However, the "losties" were living in purgatory. They weren't dead like Michael who were forced to stay there since they didn't find their redemption. The island itself is purgatory....it's just that the "losties" weren't dead when they crashed into purgatory. Remember in the ending they headed to the light...the same light that was on the island. In terms of a scientific explanation of time travel and electromagnetism, you have to understand the "Casimir Effect".
When the Man in Black entered the light, he was destined to a fate worse than death as stated by his mother which meant living a life as the smoke monster. However, since the smoke monster can assume the corporal figure of a dead person, sometimes he chose to take the form of who he was when he was living.
May 24th, 2010 10:45 AM
@ John
Thanks John. So, do you think Desmond realised he was dead when he finaly accepted it after near-death experience with Charlie, and decided to make the others realise they were all dead too?
As per the wrecks, if we are to assume that those are Ajira's, so we should reckon (please correct me if I got it wrong) that Saywer, Kate, Miles, Richard and Lapidus never made it out of the island, right? This wouldn't be quite a suprise, since we've seen more than twice in the past that it is impossible to fly off the island...
Nevertheless, if they actually (Saywer, Kate, Miles, Richard and Lapidus) did crash right after taking off, how come Kate told Jack that she "missed him so much" ? It led me to believe, after figuring out the whole Flash Sideways/Purgatory deal, that she had lived a long life after island and missed him for years, before their encounter in the after life...
May 24th, 2010 10:42 AM
LOST was so deep and complex that it was a once in a lifetime experience. The usual finale reactions were predictable. Some loved it, some hated it, some were annoyed, some were suprised, some were not suprised, some were ambivalent, some cried, some shrugged their shoulders turned off the tv and went to bed. Its impossible to produce a finale that satisfies everyone is an impossible task. Early on I thought the end could be a Matrix like conclusion where the Dharma Initiative where the passengers of Flight 815 were all hooked up to computer running simulations to study if mans knack toward self destruction could be changed; with the plane sitting on a desert runway and the show was the 108th simulation where the finally got it right. One thing thats clear is that LOST was unique and will be tough to reproduce and will be debated analyzed by hard core LOST fans for years to come.
On the Faith and Reason/Science, my favorite series of the 1990s Babylon 5, said it best in an episod
May 24th, 2010 10:39 AM
@ Stephen
I think we all got that thanks.
Most peoples point was that we felt it was a cop out, not it was so complex we couldnt understand, quiet the opposite.
May 24th, 2010 10:39 AM
I agree I always thought what was going on on the island was happening but there were bits that just didnt make sence with the flash Sideways.
It could be me but I really dont see how they all realised they were dead or realised they should move on?
I thought the sideways was showing that these alt realities were linked and people off island were getting flashes of the island.
Wasnt VERY clear to me, but I may have just missed it...
May 24th, 2010 10:37 AM
"At no point was I led to think that the island and the events that took place weren't real because it was very clear that it was all real, the Flash Sideways/purgatory all happened after the fact once everyone died at different periods of time.
I thought they made that pretty clear."
I found it to be more ambiguous than that. Jack ended up dying from the same wound he got in episode 1, and in the exact same spot where he "woke up." The actor, on the Jimmy Kimmel aftershow, indicated that the whole thing happening in the span of a nanosecond in the mind of Jack was a possible interpretation. I don't think that this is what the writers intended, but there is evidence for it, I think.