Lost: I Didn't Know Jack

There are a lot of reasons that I haven’t written down my thoughts on the “Lost” series finale until now, four days later.

1.) I’ve been extra busy at work because Memorial Day pushed up our deadlines this week. 2.) I’ve been putting off writing what will be (sniff) my last official word on one of my favorite shows. 3.) I’m lazy as hell.

The problem is none of those reasons are true. 1.) Yes, I’ve been busy (and a little sick too), but that hasn’t stopped me from pumping out recaps of (and incorrect predictions for) the “American Idol” and “Dancing with the Stars” finales, as well as a semi-detailed wrap-up of “24.” 2.) That’s BS too. The season 6 DVD comes out in August, and you can bet I’ll be re-watching it in light of what we learned in the series finale. Also, I can’t imagine NOT referencing “Lost” in one way or another in my writing and conversations for years to come. 3.) Ok, there’s no arguing with #3.

Still, the real reason is that I needed a few days to digest this epic two-and-a-half-hour episode (that was really more like one-and-a-half, thanks to those omnipresent commercials).

Here were my thoughts immediately after the end of “The End” — I was both incredibly moved by the story it told and I was absolutely impressed by the epic-scale of this TV presentation. (The overhead shots when Jack and Locke were fighting on that cliff were breathtaking — even if Jack’s Falcon punch going into the preceding commercial break made me laugh out loud.)

The only problem was that I really didn’t know what the hell had just happened.

As I’m sure you know, there are a lot of different theories and interpretations out there, but the consensus seems to be that the six-season-long drama on the Island actually happened and the Sideways world we followed this entire season was basically Jack Shephard’s personal limbo.

I’m inclined to believe this interpretation and I also think it was a neat trick to make the Sideways world limbo/purgatory, since people had been guessing for years that the Island itself was purgatory.)

I really liked this finale revelation because (I’m not proud to say) Jack, with his raging stubbornness and his addiction to fixing everything, was always the character I identified with the most. (We all wish we were cool and quippy like Sawyer or lovable like Hurley, but a lot of us are Jacks and we’re afraid to admit it.) However, I also completely understand why people had problems with the finale.

I’m guessing if you had problems with the finale, it was for one of two big reasons: 1.) You demanded answers (that you knew deep down the show was never going to give you). 2.) You hate Jack.

To the Jack-haters, I feel your pain. After that heroic first half of season one, the good doc became more and more of a pill until his hard-headedness became downright unbearable. Still, you can’t be THAT shocked that the season 6 story (and to a lesser extent, the story of “Lost”) ended up being about Jack. This season was all about Jack humbling himself and accepting his limitations, and I think the change looked good on Matthew Fox. If you want to go further back, look at the show’s iconic first image — Jack opening his eye in the jungle! (How else would you expect it to end other than by having Jack’s eye close in the very same spot?)

The answers-demanders have a much more legitimate gripe, in my opinion. As I mentioned before, people in this category HAD to know the series finale was not going to answer all their questions (otherwise, they haven’t been paying attention all this time). There’s actually not much I can say to make these people happy because I don’t have the answers.

I think what we have in this case is a philosophical difference. Most shows on TV (and works of fiction in general) introduce a mystery/question and eventually answer it, while a select few encourage viewers to puzzle out the answers themselves. “Lost” obviously falls in the latter category. In my opinion, the show presented us — over the course of six years — with enough evidence for us to come up with our own answers as to why women who get pregnant on the Island die, or why the Others kidnapped Walt, or why Sun didn’t time travel back to 1977, along with the rest of the Oceanic 6, etc.

Here’s where the philosophical difference comes in. You can read my previous paragraph and say, “Screw that…I actually want to REALLY know why women couldn’t have babies on the Island?” OR you can go back, analyze what we’ve all seen and come to your own conclusion. I don’t think either response is incorrect, but the second response takes much more work. What’s more, even when “Lost” tried the direct approach (Michael explaining to Hurley the origin of the Whispers), I felt like it was clumsy and unnatural.

What I’m saying is that I can totally understand why the answer-demanders are frustrated (why should TV have to be work?!), but I definitely fall in the other category. I LOVE that “Lost” has engaged my imagination all these years whereas, in contrast, people probably stop thinking about the latest “NCIS” the minute it’s over. (Then again, NCIS is the #1 scripted show on TV, while “Lost” struggled in the ratings toward the end, so what do I know?)

(Of course, there’s a very strong chance that I’m full of it and that the producers simply wrote themselves into a corner, ran out of time and couldn’t possibly explain all the mysteries they introduced.)

Ok, I’m tired of blabbing (and you’re tired of reading) about all this Big Picture stuff regarding the end of “Lost.” Here are some stream of consciousness thoughts on the finale itself.

- Although I’ve expressed that I liked the twist of having the Sideways world be Jack’s limbo, I still have a few issues with the Sideways storytelling device.

1.) If this was all told from Jack’s perspective, did we REALLY need Sideways episodes dedicated to stuff like Ben’s high school-level scheming and Sayid pining after Nadia — in other words, stuff that had NOTHING to do with Jack. I get that we needed to see what those characters were up to and how they’d eventually be put in a position to recall their Island lives, but all those episodes seem somewhat like a waste of time since they were basically supporting players in Jack’s story.

2.) On a completely selfish level, I HATED that Jack’s son David was never real. (I now see Sideways Locke’s “You don’t HAVE a son” line was meant to be harsh.) Whereas most of the other characters welcomed the idea of remembering their Island past, Jack was definitely the most resistant and I’m guessing his reconciliation with his son (which probably ended up being a manifestation of Jack’s wish to reconcile with his own dead dad) the main reason why.

- Speaking of those Island Enlightenment moments, I found pretty much all of them incredibly touching. You could say the circumstances in the Sideways world were incredibly contrived, but that world was basically revealed to be a fantasy, so I can overlook that. My favorite part was recognizing each moment right before it happened. For example, I got chills right before Juliet showed Sun and Jin their baby for the first time, meanwhile, my girlfriend Erica totally called Kate helping Claire deliver her baby. (I’d also throw in the moment with Jack and Anti-Locke lowering Desmond into the cave mirroring Jack and Locke lowering Kate into the hatch…where Desmond was.)

- I’ve even come to accept the Sayid/Shannon reunion. At first, I was as confused and annoyed as you, then I realized that this is Jack’s purgatory. I don’t think Jack ever really saw Nadia as the love of Sayid’s life — to him, Sayid and Shannon meant to be together. (Or they just wanted to shoe-horn Maggie Grace into the finale.)

- When/why did Desmond and Hurley find time to re-Enlighten Boone, of all people? (Nice to see Ian Somerhalder back.)

-Speaking of Hurley, I thought Jorge Garcia (an underrated dramatic actor) was all-around outstanding in this episode. I LOVED how happy he was to see Charlie (kinda alive) again in the Sideways world. I LOVED the speech he gave Sayid about the Iraqi (or Pakistani, as his mom might say) torturer not believing what people say about him. I also LOVED that he ended up being the Island guardian, with Ben as his #2.

- In a related story, who else wants to see a little bit of “Lost: The Burley Years”? By the way, the quick “You were a great #2” exchange between Ben and Hurley is my strongest argument against people who say the passengers of Oceanic 815 died in the original plane crash. That line CLEARLY implied that they worked together on the Island for years.

- Underrated touching moment: Locke forgiving Ben before he went into the church. I’ll probably miss Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson doing their thing together most of all.

- O’Quinn gave TWO Emmy-worthy performances this year. Just sayin’.

- So Kate, of all people, actually ended up saving the day. Though the character caught a lot of flack over the years (Evangeline Lilly’s work was always strong though), I feel like the finale more than redeemed her. Kate shot Anti-Locke, FINALLY made a choice between Jack and Sawyer, AND wore a really short tight dress. (Notice she had changed clothes to something more appropriate once she was actually in church — she didn’t want to arrive in heaven looking like a hooker.)

She also had, arguably, the best line: “Christian Shephard? Seriously?” (She turned out to be more right than we knew.)

- I have to side with the answer-demanders on two points.

1.) I REALLY wish we’d gotten at least a little more background on the Island. I can accept the light/source, but what about that cork business? I get that uncorking Island effectively killed the light/source (which had been giving Anti-Locke his power, thereby making him mortal) and that re-corking it restored the Island’s magic. I’m more wondering about the mechanical aspects of the Island.

Also, why is the Island able to move?

2.) Also, what WAS the deal with Desmond and why was he so special in what turned out to be Jack’s story. I mean, the dude wasn’t even on the original Oceanic 815. My best guess is that Desmond being the actual cause of Oceanic 815’s crash probably had something to do with it.

So what’d you think of this episode? What was your favorite Island Enlightenment moment? (For me, it was Sun and Jin, especially since they were so happy to be back together and Jin was so amused that Sawyer was a cop.) Why do you think Ben wasn’t ready to join his friends and move on? (Did he feel like he needed to atone more or did he simply want to spend more time with Alex and Rosseau?) Finally, what did YOU think of “The End” of “Lost”?