Thoughts on the Finale of Lost

Now that almost a week has gone by, I think I’ve formulated some thoughts about the Lost finale. Maybe.

Disclaimers:
-1- I like the show. But I don’t love it. I used to love it in the first 2-3 seasons. I really didn’t like seasons 4, 5, or the beginning of 6.*
-2- I tend to dislike TV finales in general. I think it’s really difficult to write a good conclusion (to a paper, book, TV show, movie). You want to conclude in some way, but you don’t necessarily want to end the conversation.

A Character Show?
I say all of that to say this: I did not expect the finale to be perfect. I just wanted it to be not bad. And, in that, it surely succeeded. I expected it to wrap up things, but was pretty sure that the writers had bitten off more than they could chew when it came to successfully answering questions. During the pre-finale show, Lindelof and Cuse kept saying things like “the finale will come back to the characters; this is, after all, a show about characters.” Methinks they protest too much. Declaring this is a show about characters implies (in my opinion) that the show at some point deviated from that and now we need to be reminded.

Also, it’s a lie. It is not just a show about characters; it is also about a mysterious place where the characters met, struggled, lived, died, etc. Or, to put it another way, the Island has become a character for me and I don’t feel like the show gave the Island its due resolution. One more complaint about this claim: For a show about characters, there was little attention given to their scripting. Much of their conversation throughout the show was clunky, contrived, and it seemed like characters’ motivations often changed in unrealistic ways for the sake of moving the plot forward.

Unanswered Questions
Now, I never bought the ABC marketing hype that all my questions would be answered. And I am comfortable with mystery and ambiguity. However, I don’t know that I would call many of the unanswered questions my questions as much as their questions. Meaning, they are the ones who wrote sci-fi/fantasy questions into the show. They weren’t questions that I was projecting on the show. They were questions that the show spent a lot of time (whole seasons, in some cases) and effort asking, and I think they are responsible for answering their own questions.

For instance: Why the Egyptian theme? Is that really the best explanation you can give us about the Widmore v. Ben fight? Jacob’s cabin? Why do the rings of ash keep Smokey out? What is /Smoke-Locke/Fake-Locke/Esau/Jacob’s brother’s name? Why can’t Island folk have babies? How and why did the Dharma Initiative get there? What on earth was so important about Walt?** It is true that a lot of these things don’t matter much in the grand scheme of things, but in that case, why bring them up? This makes me feel like cheap and used. It seems a little manipulative and self-indulgent to me; they’re throwing curve balls just because they can.***

All of that being said, I actually really like what they did with what we’ve been calling “Flashes Sideways” all season long. I think it fits in really well with the theme of redemption that the show made clear in the early episodes of season 1. I think it does provide some closure to the character aspect of the show. Theologically, I like that they seem to be saying that redemption is communal; that they could not have gone to heaven/bright light/whatever without each other. My dissatisfaction with the finale is less about what they did (with the characters) and more about what they didn’t do (with the mysteries).

Other things I didn’t like:
--The focus on Jack. He is not my favorite character and for a show with such a large cast, it seems unfair to (somewhat suddenly) make it a show about Jack.
--Similarly, making Christian the mouthpiece to explain the resolution that was about to happen. I prefer “show” to “tell.” I think they did this because Jack had daddy issues. But it shouldn’t be all about Jack…
--The treatment of women and minorities. To quote Maureen Ryan from Chicago Tribune: "Lost started out as an ethnically diverse show with a lot of potentially intriguing male and female characters. Now it is, to a large degree, a story about the epic, heroic or anti-heroic journeys of a bunch of white men. Non-white or female characters -- with a few exceptions -- just aren't in the foreground of the main narrative most of the time. It's disappointing."
--Where were Michael and Walt in redemption room/the lobby of the white light? They brought back Boone and Shannon and not Michael and Walt?
--I would have been happy to close on all of them sitting in the church, knowing they were all going to heaven/wherever together. I could have done without Christian Shepherd leading them out of the double doors into a bright light. It was campy.

Things I did like:
--Hurley being the protector of the Island. Ben’s redemption and anticipated helpfulness to Hurley.****
--The plurality of religious symbols in the stained glass window in the church office.
--Almost all of the “moment of realization” scenes (except Shannon and Sayid. Meh.). They were beautiful and emotional (more emotional, for me, than the ending itself). Also, I’m very glad that many of these moments (even for our characters that were in love) were not a kiss with whoever-they-love. I’m always impressed with a show that doesn’t collapse “romance” with “love.” For instance, Kate’s moment of truest love was delivering Claire’s baby, not making out with Jack.
--Vincent! Also, Rose and Bernard. I really like that they don’t have any idea when/where they are, and they just don’t care.
--Not-Locke being the voice of all of us when Jack (briefly) became protector of the Island: “You’re sort of the obvious choice, don’t you think?” I like it when a show makes fun of itself.
--Sawyer finally got to leave the island. Poor guy.
--Jack getting to see his friends flying away from the island as he dies. And generally speaking (despite my feelings about him as a character) Jack’s acting in this episode was great.
--The switcheroo of the “real world” being Purgatory, instead of the Island, which was a popular theory early on. I think making the Island the “real world” is good.
--Miles: “I don't believe in a lot of things. But I believe in duct tape.”
--Kate making fun of Jack’s dad’s name: “Christian Shepherd. Really?”

Intriguing:
--What does it mean that Ben wasn’t ready to go into the church yet? Is he still atoning? Does he just want to fall in love with Rousseau and spend time with Alex? Poor Ben. Seems like if Locke gets to go to heaven…

So, Lost did a lot of things no other TV show has: maintained and grew an audience over 6 years, became a topic of conversation the next day at work, etc. But it had to end sometime (again, in my opinion, it should have been sooner), and now it has. And I’m happy about that, because now I can watch it all again from the beginning!

*Lost was originally intended to be a 3-4 season show (as per season 1 DVD special features) so my theory is that Lost started stalling toward the end of season 3 and didn’t get back to what it was originally intending to do until about halfway through season 6 (since it was such a colossal waste of time, my guess is post-temple).

**The mysterious absence of Walt could very well be attributed to something as simple as puberty. The actor who played Walt started out 10 years old, and the action that took us 3 years to watch was only supposed to be a few months on the island. This is problematic with child actors. Random theory: Walt was supposed to be Desmond. Not literally. I think Desmond would have existed either way. But maybe some of the significance they intended to give Walt was conferred on Desmond. Who knows?

***Also, and this isn’t anything that I haven’t said before, but I don’t think that the finale worked as a stand-alone episode of television. I think Lost stopped doing a good job of micro-narrative (single episodes having a theme and a story arc, a purpose of their own) somewhere in the middle of season 3. I got the sense that every episode is only contributing to the larger macro-narrative and myth of the show.

****Not that I really want this to happen, but a spin-off “Hurley and Ben rule the Island” show could be good. I wonder if they hang out with Rose and Bernard… Something I kind of do want to happen: a spin-off “Miles and Sawyer cop show.” Hilarious.