Lost Recap: "The End"

It's pretty hard for me to even start this blog. I wanted to wait until I'd watched the episode again, but there's so much discussion everywhere that I couldn't resist writing it now. So, here it is...my final LOST recap.

Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse called it. They said there would be those who love the finale and people who would hate the finale. Fortunately, I seem to be in the majority of those that loved the finale. In short, I thought it was absolutely brilliant. For all the discussion about electromagnetic energy, smoke monsters, and the island, LOST was a show that always was, and will forever be remembered as, a show about the characters. Everything we saw through six season of amazing television was their growth and journey as humans.

Let's get this out of the way first. I am of the camp that believes they did NOT die in the original Oceanic 815 crash. This seems to be a growing belief among fans, based mostly on the shots of the plane wreckage that were displayed during the final credits. I think that might just be an image they chose for the final credits, just to remind us of where it all started. The LOST logo appears right after Jack's eye closes so I think that's meant to be the final image of the show. Knowing how much we all like to over analyze things, I do question why they chose that particular series of images for the credits. Seems like they could have went with something else that would have caused less confusion.

I believe everything we saw on the island happened and was real. The flashsideways however was a place they created together that acted as a kind of purgatory for each of them to accept their deaths and move on to the after life. They struggled to accept that they were indeed dead. Some (i.e. Hurley) were persuaded easier than others (i.e. Jack). We know that "everyone dies some time kiddo. Some before you, some long after you," as Christian says in the end. Christian also tells Jack that "everything that has ever happened to you is real." He also says that all the people he met were real. If they had all died in the crash, then they would have never met each other anyway (aside from the brief time on the flight). For anyone thinking they died in the crash, just watch that last scene with Christian again. I thought he did a pretty good job explaining it all.

I also love the conversation between Hugo and Ben, which clearly indicates they shared quite a few years on the island together. Too bad it's all ending because I would love to see a whole season dedicated to Hurley and Ben running the island together. That would make for some great tv. 

As for the rest of the episode, I loved nearly every minute of it. We saw a series of emotional, powerful scenes that triggered each of the characters on-island memories. It's hard to decide which one stood out the most. They were all incredibly well done and heart felt.


Locke was pretty much my favorite character so I was thrilled to see that he definitely died for a reason. Without his death, Jack would have never been driven to go back to the island. Jack would have never went back to destroy MIB. The scene were Jack berates MIB for mocking John Locke and his memory was awesome. I LOVED when Jack told him that he disgraced Locke by wearing his face. 

Desmond was also great in this episode. He too has been one of my favorite characters so I was happy to see him get such a great ending. This is certainly up for some debate here, but I think that Desmond took away the smoke monster's powers when he pulled the column out of the light. It stripped MIB of his powers and was getting ready to make Desmond the next smoke monster. Fortunately for us and Desmond, he's resistant to the energy. Not only did he survive the electromagnetic energy once again, it's almost a given that Hurley and Ben found a way to get him back home to Penny and Charlie. Hurley has always had the charming ability to care for others. I can assure you he found a way to get Desmond back home.  

And for Jack. Good ole' Jack Shephard. We have watched this dynamic character grow and develop through each season. He goes from being a concrete man of science to the man who dies to save the island...the island he once fought so hard to escape. 


For all of those who wanted answers about the island and the overall mythology of the show, I certainly see where you may be upset. Try and take a step back though and realize how much this show has been about the characters. Would we have cared so much about the mysterious apparitions if it hadn't been for the characters seeing them? Would Richard's agelessness have been nearly as interesting if it wasn't for his motives and story behind desiring immortality?

You know, I used to be one of those people who always longed for the answers, but something about The End transformed me. Maybe it's because the episode was so well done, but somewhere along the way I learned to let go. I came to realize that this was a show about the journey of characters who crashed on a mysterious island with some pretty cool properties...and some pretty dangerous ones. It's about a group of characters who learned to love, live, forgive, and ultimately, how to die.

Even still, you may be in luck if you are wanting more answers. There have been rumors floating around about all the extra content for the DVD release and it sounds like there may be a lot of answers there. I'll be sure and do a post when we get some type of official confirmation on that. 

I can't guarantee this will definitely be my last post on the show. In fact, I can almost guarantee that I will be making some LOST related posts in the future. I also plan to blog about other topics, I'm just not sure what all I want that to include yet. LOST is definitely still fresh on my mind so I may need to come back and further clarify a point or mention something I forgot. Unlike Jack, I'm still not ready to to let go. 


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