Lost: Remember, Let Go, Move On.

by Joanna Orland

***Warning: Spoilers Ahead if you haven’t seen the finale***

Lost has been our constant for the past six years. This show has changed the face of television with its high budget production values, multi-cultural and rather large ensemble cast, mythological science fiction plot, and characters that we as viewers grew to love as we would friends.

For a show with such a devout fan base, the series finale has really divided its followers. Audiences were willing to put up with endless questions, random polar bears, a young boy with special powers who wasn’t really seen too much after the second season, sporadic time travel, Richard Alpert’s ageless guyliner, and a mysterious island that was the provoker of all these unsolved mysteries. But with the finale, not all the answers were given, upsetting a lot of fans. I am one of Lost’s most devout fans, and I can’t understand how people can be upset by this finale – after all, Lost is about mystery; asking questions, not answering them; and most of all, about the characters.

Lost was NEVER going to have a clean and happy ending. It’s not in the show’s nature. The island nonsense was a bit far-fetched, I acknowledge that… What the hell was that plug in the light drain? Seriously… But whatever, because forget the mythology… it’s the characters that provoke emotion from me the viewer. I bawled throughout the episode seeing characters who’d perished in horrible ways, old lovers reunite, and in the closing shot I nearly keeled over from distress. How poetic for a series with such an intricate plot to make it full circle and end the series in the way it began. Dr. Jack Shepherd’s death scene was not only poetic, but one of the finest pieces of television I’ve ever witnessed. Of course, I am probably one of the few fans left to actually like Jack as a character, but nonetheless, his inevitable death was heartbreaking.

Plot wise, my take on the mythology is that the island is the centre of the “light” which I am interpreting as a type of “heaven”. Without this light, everyone ceases to exist after death, while the light’s existence allows their souls to carry on and reunite in the afterlife as was seen for our Lost characters in their “flash sideways” which we later discover is the actual afterlife, not an alternate timeline. THE BOMB DIDN’T WORK!!!

The light needed a protector to prevent mankind from greedily destroying it. Jacob was the modern protector and needed a replacement. He needed untainted people from off the island in order to touch them to make them ‘candidates’ and not able to be killed by the Smoke Monster who was the soul remains of the man in black.

The Smoke Monster needed to be destroyed in order for the light to be safe. Jack’s purpose was to sacrifice himself in order to kill Smokey and save the island. Hurley was the natural choice to become the island’s new protector as he was the purest of heart. Jack’s sacrifice allowed the light to continue to shine, allowing all of the Oceanic 815 survivors and their friends to meet up in the flash sideways afterlife.

Characters including Charlie, Sun, Jin, Juliet, Shannon, Libby, and Sayid were all dead during the island years. Survivors such as Sawyer, Claire, Desmond and Kate probably had long and happy off-island lives and post-death met up in sideways limbo. This is emphasized by when Kate says to Jack how she’s missed him so much, implying a long time apart.

Obvious exclusions from the church scene at the end included Michael, Walt, Eko and a few more… Michael’s absence can be explained by his soul trapped on the island as he repents for his sins, much as Ben wanted to stay behind in limbo to make amends for his wrong-doings. Walt… well, he’s aged too much and wouldn’t be recognizable. Eko just refused to be in the show for any amount of paycheque. The fool.

It was both brave and cowardice to end the show in such a way. It was brave as it was something that nobody had expected. And not an ending that everyone would like. It was cowardice, as it made me feel that they were forcing a happy-ish ending to something that was not at all happy. Charlie’s drowning was the most horrific fictional drama scene I have ever witnessed, Jin died in vain and should have persevered to survive for the sake of his daughter, Faraday’s death was brutal and Shakespearean, Jack’s death was both beautiful and horrible. I was not happy. I was devastated by each of these moments in the series. The fact that they’re all now happy in heaven seems cheap. But at least it promotes a message of hope, and shows that these people did not actually die in vain, but died to preserve this beautiful place of light for all mankind. Without this purgatory for the characters to reconvene, the show would have been nothing but tragic, all hope would be Lost, and nobody would understand why they died and what the light is, and therefore what the island’s purpose is. This afterlife was to highlight this purpose, and also to celebrate the beloved characters for one last time before the final bow.

As Lost’s message was Remember, Let Go, and Move On, let us do just that. As the characters are the heart of this show, let us remember them for one last time.

“If we can’t live together…then we’re gonna die alone.” – Jack Shephard

RIP:

Benjamin Linus
human punching bag

James ‘Sawyer’ Ford
son of a bitch

Michael Dawson
WAAAALT

Walt Dawson
DAAAAD

Jack Shepherd
man of science

John Locke
man of faith

Sayid Jarrah
a torturer by day, a romantic by night

Sun & Jin Kwon
a love that survives miles and times apart

Kate Austen
slut.

Claire Littleton
awesome hair

Desmond Hume
brotha!

Penny Widmore
another love story at the heart of the show

Charlie Pace
you all everybody

Hugo ‘Hurley’ Reyes
the group cheerleader and man with the most Star Wars references EVER

Danielle Rousseau
sacre bleu, ma bebe!

Juliet Burke
didn’t like her until she hooked it up with Sawyer. chemistry is everything.

Shannon & Boone
ew.

Smokey
wtf

Man in Black
see “Smokey”

Jacob
he was also very good as Rita’s ex-husband in Dexter

Ana Lucia Cortez
she’s not ready yet

Libby Smith
mentalist

Rose and Bernard Nadler
the one true couple at the heart of the show

Daniel Faraday
time travel 101

Charlotte Lewis
ginge

Miles Straume
i see dead people

Frank Lapidus
Burt Reynolds called. He wants his look back.

Charles Widmore
has now officially appeared on every American television program of modern times.

Richard Alpert
Guyliner!!!!!!

The Island
isn’t done with you yet.

LOST
a great show that has been the centrepiece of television for the past 6 years. survived by fans across the globe who will now have a lot of time on their hands without all that theorizing to do. ♥