DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE FINALE!!
(I use such references as "Latin" and "Ltn. John The Flying Beaver" to describe what the afterlife could be. It would be too mundane to just say "Heaven" and "Jesus/God" plus everyone should have their own idea right?)
This is my 4th try at writing a blogpost on the finale of Lost and for the first time since I created this thing, I can't for the life of me put the words together that could describe the last 2 and a half hours of the most emotional rollercoaster on television that I've ever witnessed.
I still haven't come to terms with the fact that it's gone and never coming back. I'll never forget the first time I watched it, back on the day when it first aired in the UK...I just had this awesome feeling that I was watching something special and now that it's all over, it's very clear to me it was more than that, but I can't think of a fitting word. The ending wasn't bittersweet for me, I don't understand how people can describe it like that, is it the fact that everybody is dead? Like Christian Shephard says
Everyone dies sometime, kiddo.In my opinion, it was more of a "....And they lived happily ever after" finish.
There is so much to go through that I'm going to do a rundown of some noteworthy major characters, so in no particular order, here they are:
Kate
Had I known what she would have done later in Season 6, then I might have been a little less harsh on the episode "What Kate Does", as that episode was necessary for the story to progress the way it did. She killed the MIB in epic fashion and for me, that totally redeemed her character. I've never been a huge fan of hers, always running away from her issues instead of taking responsibilty for what she did, regardless of her good intentions, she was still the reason for at least 2 people dying and then she even flat out refused to take the fall for it when she was making deals with the prosecution in Season 4. Her manipulation of the Jack/Sawyer situation didn't exactly do her any favours, but I was indeed happy that she and Jack ended up together right before he died...and then after...? From the very first episode I always knew that Jack and Kate were meant to be together and the Sawyer/Juliet stuff was just another bump in the road for them. Let's hope Kate doesn't become a homewrecker in Heaven/Hell/Latin.
Richard
Ah, his character was mysterious, exciting and in a way - loveable. Everything he ever did was for the good of the people on the island and that is ammicable. He's saved so many lives and yet...the average fan just sees him as that ageless dude that was taking orders from Ben/Jacob. His backstory shows that he has had the worst experiences out of all of the Lost gang and he never complained about it (that we saw). Jacob recruited Richard because he wanted somebody to communicate with the people that came to the island, so that the MIB couldn't manipulate them or even kill them. I'm not sure how successful that turned out to be (especially under Ben's regime with the purge and stuff) but essentially, I think it helped to have a 2nd in command. I loved the Richard character and it's a pity we didn't see more of him. Who knows what kind of life he ended up living after he left on the Ajira flight, but I'm sure after he died, he found his own peace with Isabella...in Heaven/Hell/Latin.
Illana
What a waste of a character, a shit one at that. Added nothing to the dynamic of the group and was essentially boring. Then she went and got herself blown up ("Blown up? You said my parents died in a car crash!!"...heh...had to.) Her character deserves a place in Heaven/Hell...but not Latin. Even though she was...was she Latino? I dunno. Who cares. Everytime I watch the dynamite scene from now on, I shall shout "OPA!" Just for shits and giggles.
Rose & Bernard
They weren't exactly Adam & Eve (I was wrong...I know), but they certainly added a light-hearted feel to whole thing. When things are going shit for everybody (like Jack's gonna blow up the island) they give us a different perspective to the one we're used to. In their eyes, they really don't care if they die or not, as long as they're together why should it matter? They have faith and that's what makes them accept their fate; that they're going to die no matter what. As little as they were shown in the last 2 seasons, their appearances have always been, to some degree, important. They were like the Grandparents of the Islanders, always there when there is a need for good, heartwarming advice. I hope they give God/Ltn. John The Flying Beaver some good times in Heaven/Hell/Latin.
Hurley
The big guy was certainly comic relief and in the finale he proved to be much more than that. The producers created the role FOR Jorge Garcia, something which is extremely believable as he is obviously such a tremendous character. Up until somewhere around the fourth season, Hurley was more of a background character, I never thought that he would be such a huge asset to the end game of Lost. He is most definitely one of my top 5 favourite characters as the show would have been extremely mundane without him...we totally needed him when the shit hit the fan. Who knows how long he lived as leader of the island or how he changed things, but I do know this; Ltn. John the Flying Beaver/God will be very proud to have him in Heaven/Hell/Latin.
Ben
Bringing Ben in was one of the smartest things the producers ever did on the show. He is truly the biggest cunt on the face of the Earth and yet pretty much redeemed himself in the last season, especially the Finale. He killed at least 40 people in the purge, murdered John Locke, was responsible for Sayid slaughtering all those men and women and yet...we still hoped that Ben was a good guy didn't we? He has alot to atone for and that's why I think he waited outside the church, to repent and hopefully one day join his fellow castaways to wherever they're going. John Locke's forgiveness of Ben and all of the wicked things he'd done was probably one of the greatest scenes in the entire series, emotion-wise. I hope he enjoys life with Danielle and Alex in the between life and I am glad that he and Hurley had a great time on the island, I always knew there was a certain chemistry (no homo) between them, especially after the Season Four episode Cabin Fever. To Ben: Give 'em Hell...in Hell!/Heaven/Latin.
Sawyer
I think for me, he didn't make much of an impact as I'd like in the grand scheme of things. I guess they didn't know what to do with him, too many cooks and all that. He went through alot of shit to be the good guy that he turned out to be, even when the love of his life perished, it didn't take long for him to stop blaming Jack and start getting on with what's important: Surviving. He felt great shame for what happened to Jin, Sun and Sayid, but luckily Jack reassured him that it wasn't his fault and it was this moment that I think Sawyer realised that Jack had only the best intentions at heart...just like him. Sawyer has been the victim of some really bad writing in the past (Recon), but it didn't stop him from being a great character. Do you think Ltn. John The Flying Beaver can be conned by him in Heaven/Hell/Latin?
Jacob
Just how is he special? What exactly are the powers he possesses?
The questions above are ones that I never need to have answered. What's the point? Do you ask how magic occurs in Harry Potter? No, because it's fiction, just like Lost. That is why, when Jacob first appeared I knew that he would be an epic character. He'd been mentioned as early as Season 3, but we didn't really have a clue who this guy was, all he did was give "The Others" lists with people's names on them and they acted like they feared him. It was at the end of Season Five that we actually got to see this guy...and he didn't seem scary at all! His evil twin brother on the other hand was nutso, yes that's right, I said EVIL. Jacob to me was a good man with alot of flaws, his job as protector made him that way, aswell as the fact that he made a grave mistake when he popped his brother into the source and thus The Smoke Monster was born. I think Jacob has always had the best intentions, his campfire chat with the losties definitely gave us some closure on that even if some will disagree. If it wasn't for Jacob, I think Season Six would have sucked even more than it did. Let's hope he doesn't make Ltn. John The Flying Beaver a candidate by "touching" him in Heaven/Hell/Latin.
Locke
They could have done so much more with this character, I have no idea why in the blue HELL they did what they did to him...however getting to see Terry O' Quinn as a legit bad guy was incredible and I forgive the producers for killing him off like they did.
What a troubled character he was though eh? From a young age he was tested to see how "special" he was, to see if he could be the new leader of "The Others" I suppose and it was only for a few minutes that Richard was able to welcome him into this secluded group of people when all of a sudden, Locke got time-flashed. His reign from that point on was over and the real struggle began. It's here that I began to think that Boone wasn't the sacrifice the island demanded, it was Locke all along, especially if we consider the Island to be the Smoke Monster (in the metaphorical sense).
His time on the Island was amazing, his interactions with people like Jack, Ben, Charlie, Boone and Eko made him one of a kind and it was from these people that he developed the drive to become a natural born leader. I'm glad that he got what he wanted in the afterlife and I sincerely hope that we can remember him as the guy he was in Seasons 1-2 and not the confused, pathetic guy that the producers turned him out to be in Seasons 3-5. Long Live Locke...in Heaven/Hell/Latin.
A man of Science and eventually a man of Faith, Jack epitomised what Lost was about. His life outside of the island wasn't too exciting (we don't exactly remember him for how he got his tattoos), but his on-island life had the ups and downs of a true hero and this is what made his character real to the fans. He saved many lives starting from the first episode and that never stopped throughout Lost's tenure. Never turning his back on his castaway friends, he was always loyal and ready for any action that the bad guys through at him, I would say this is why everybody loved Jack and why they needed him when the going got tough. Jack is overall my favourite character, which would surprise alot of people who know me because, I always bitched about Jack, especially during Season 3, but that was because all he could do was scream, make matters worse for himself and generally act like a tool. Like I said however, he NEEDED to do all that to make him what he was at the end of the finale...no not dead - a saviour. His relationship with Locke was unfortunate, they never got along and it was only after John died that Jack realised that Locke was actually right all along. What was he right about? The Island. It took alot for him to understand that not everything is down to science, sometimes you need to take a leap of faith. I know that Jack will rest easy now with his friends and enjoy his time in Heaven/Hell/Latin.
This blog has took me about a week to write, I've been doing it in portions here and there because I just simply haven't had the concentration to sit down and focus primarily on it. Life has beckoned and I've had to take a step back from some things and a step forward toward others. It has been roughly 10 days since the Finale and I was satisfied with how it ended, no matter how many loose ends there were. There are a few things that niggle at me about some of the answers though...
"Adam & Eve" skeletons could not have survived in the jungle for 2000 years. The producers had promised that they have known since day one who these people were, but it's pretty obvious that they had no idea and were playing it by ear. Jack said that clothing like that would take around 50 years to deteriorate and I know Jack doesn't know everything, but he was out by a couple of thousand years. Proof that they were making it up as they went along.
Jack
A man of Science and eventually a man of Faith, Jack epitomised what Lost was about. His life outside of the island wasn't too exciting (we don't exactly remember him for how he got his tattoos), but his on-island life had the ups and downs of a true hero and this is what made his character real to the fans. He saved many lives starting from the first episode and that never stopped throughout Lost's tenure. Never turning his back on his castaway friends, he was always loyal and ready for any action that the bad guys through at him, I would say this is why everybody loved Jack and why they needed him when the going got tough. Jack is overall my favourite character, which would surprise alot of people who know me because, I always bitched about Jack, especially during Season 3, but that was because all he could do was scream, make matters worse for himself and generally act like a tool. Like I said however, he NEEDED to do all that to make him what he was at the end of the finale...no not dead - a saviour. His relationship with Locke was unfortunate, they never got along and it was only after John died that Jack realised that Locke was actually right all along. What was he right about? The Island. It took alot for him to understand that not everything is down to science, sometimes you need to take a leap of faith. I know that Jack will rest easy now with his friends and enjoy his time in Heaven/Hell/Latin.
...More Thoughts
This blog has took me about a week to write, I've been doing it in portions here and there because I just simply haven't had the concentration to sit down and focus primarily on it. Life has beckoned and I've had to take a step back from some things and a step forward toward others. It has been roughly 10 days since the Finale and I was satisfied with how it ended, no matter how many loose ends there were. There are a few things that niggle at me about some of the answers though...
"Adam & Eve" skeletons could not have survived in the jungle for 2000 years. The producers had promised that they have known since day one who these people were, but it's pretty obvious that they had no idea and were playing it by ear. Jack said that clothing like that would take around 50 years to deteriorate and I know Jack doesn't know everything, but he was out by a couple of thousand years. Proof that they were making it up as they went along.
"The Monster" We never got closure on this, the biggest question of Lost. Guy gets shafted into the "Source" and becomes a black pillar of smoke who can read minds and shape shift? On the other hand, the source has been mentioned only briefly by John Locke when he described his encounter with the Monster as a "bright light"...at least I assume that's what he was talking about.
"The Rules" Wtf were they? They seem so specific and huge to the mythology of Lost and all we got was...well...nothing. We don't know what they are, who made them or why they were made. Were they the same rules that Widmore and Ben had to follow...even though Ben didn't follow them when he shot Widmore and nothing happened to him...infact it turned out he had an awesome life with Hurley on the island! Ehh, go bollocks.
That's all I can come up with. This isn't my final blog about Lost as I'm sure in the future I will be rewatching the entire thing, but for now I think I'm going to give it a rest and blog about whatever else comes to my mind. I love Lost and I know alot of my friends do aswell, but we have to remember that it's a TV show and our lives must come first, we can't obsess too much or it can affect our lives in a bad way. I know somebody who, just recently, got a little too involved in regards to obsessing about the characters and let it control their life...this person then posted a "suicide" status on Facebook, which I'm sure was unrelated, but nevertheless unnerving. I swiftly deleted this person from my list as I tend to stay away from psycho babble.
I'm really sorry for my bad grammar and lack of constructive sentences, I'm not an author afterall. Lost has been an amazing and I wanna say cheers to Laura for having some good, honest discussion with me about it, Lisa tends to agree with everything I say, but Laura's always been up for a good ole fashioned debate, so thanks for that.
Anyway, I must stop this blog before it becomes even more boring than it already is. Thanks for reading, it's been a blast!
'Till next time...
1 comment:
As if you let me disagree with you without strangling me. :)
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