You wouldn’t be here unless you watched the Lost Series Finale so no, I’m not putting a spoiler warning here. 
I feel fairly confident in saying that there could have been no better way to end a show like Lost than what we saw last night. It was heroic, emotional, and filled with the kind of poetry that you rarely if ever see on a pop culture television show. I know I’m going to miss some things here as it was pretty rough even staying awake for this last night but I’ll give it my best shot:
THE ISLAND
“You all head to your heart of the island, and I’ll go get the magic leprechaun out of that well.” – Sawyer
As with all Lost finales, this one began with everyone scattered about the island and on a mission to get somewhere. **Note: Loved the opening with the music over flashes of Sideways characters juxtaposed to their island personas.** The revelation that Desmond was the key to the whole mess came and went with a lot of ease to our Losties and I had to laugh when Sawyer so quickly volunteered to go get him, though I found it odd that there was not even a discussion as to someone backing him up. I also found it immensely entertaining how bad Sawyer is at hiding since Ben found him with relative ease, though of course Sawyer took care of that pretty quick himself. Being that the finale had to cover a lot in a short amount of time, I’ll forgive them these conveniences, especially having Sawyer find everyone so fast. Lost in a forest? Call James Ford.
I think I wasn’t the only one that cheered when Vincent, Bernard and Rose popped up. The island’s resident happy retired couple as usual did not disappoint with Rose kindly asking recovering Desmond to be on his way. That of course made Smokey’s entrance into their camp all the more terrifying. Terry O’Quinn has a lifetime of Emmy clips to submit from this one episode alone. When he threatened to hurt Bernard and Rose if Desmond refused to come with him and said “I’ll make it hurt” – well, that was as scary as this show has ever gotten. Smoke Monster indeed. BTW, that was SOOO not the same dog.
Jack’s group wasn’t fairing much better and believe it or not it was due to Hurley. Always the source of light (hmmm…) and humor, Hurley’s proclamation “I have a bad feeling about this” somehow transcended the cheesy nature of this overused statement and made me genuinely agree that this didn’t look good for Jack & Co. The utter state of doom that Jack had entered into in his own mind became abundantly clear when he told Kate “I took it because the island’s all I got left. It’s the only thing in my life I haven’t managed to ruin.” I’m thinking Jack already knew he wasn’t making it through this much longer. Perhaps Jacob told him, perhaps not.
Oh and Richard’s alive! And aging! And happy about it! Lucky.
I think here endeth the linear nature of my post. Things got a little nutty on the show after this and it’s easier to take a block at a time.
“When you said you were going to destroy the island, I thought you were speaking figuratively.” – Ben
You know what Ben? I don’t know that you did think that. One of the many things I’m still perplexed by with this finale is the motivation for Smokey to be doing what he was doing. Did he want the island destroyed? In my opinion, I don’t think he cared either way. Desmond taking that stone out of that hole (…um…whatever?) was the only way he would be free to leave the island. Did Smokey know that it would also cause the destruction of the island? Yes but he didn’t care. Now, did he know that Desmond doing his thing would make him mortal? Probably not. He looked pretty surprised when Jack made him bleed. I think that’s why he decided to take off and not kill Jack, he knew he was vulnerable and had to get off that rock pronto.
Smokey was so full of hate in this episode. Is it because our Losties represented the work of his brother Jacob? Or did Jack merely represent his last obstacle to getting what he wanted? His behavior in this one, and really since he killed Sun, Jin and Sayid, made it very hard to keep up my sympathy for the Man in Black from that “Across the Sea” episode. And can you just imagine the spinoff “Smokey and the Benry: Lost at Sea” in which Ben and the Smoke Monster have hilarious mad cap adventures on that tiny sailboat? J
There was never any doubt in my mind that Jack was going to defeat Smokey at some point. The epic battle between Jack and fake Locke was cheesy – and so totally awesome! I know it wasn’t actually Locke but Matthew Fox and Terry O’Quinn have always been great sparring partners and to watch that tension between the two manifest in a violent, brutal fight to the death was exhilarating. Kate redeemed herself in my book when she shot Smokey. “I saved a bullet for you.” Ha! But again, O’Quinn just stole this show, like, the whole season.
“You disrespect his memory by wearing his face, but you’re nothing like him. Turns out he was right about almost everything. I just wish I could’ve told him that while he was still alive.” – Jack
I was so freaking happy to hear Jack say that. Jack’s tormented relationship with Locke came full circle here. See Jack, you were being kind of a dick in Season 2…and Season 3…and definitely Season 4.
“I don’t believe in a lot of things, but I do believe in duct tape.” – Miles
With all the crazy-ass stuff going on with Jack and Smokey, it was really nice to have a simple, let’s-get-off-this-island storyline to balance the insanity. Miles, Richard, and a not-dead Lapidus (I admit I was wrong on that one and I was shocked to see him floating in the water) burned rubber to the plane to get off the quickly falling apart island. Sawyer and Kate, after she had a tearful goodbye with Jack that even made me become a fan of that couple, rushed to get to the plane in time. Along the way they find Claire who is too scared of what the island made her become to go back to her son. Was the whole Kate convincing Claire to leave thing a waste of time in a jam-packed episode? Eh, somewhat but I still liked it. Turns out Kate’s most special relationship on the island was not with Jack or Sawyer but with Claire. Very tense seeing that plane try to take off. I kept thinking Smokey was going to jump out and smack it down.
And with that, we get a huge answer: who survives the island? Miles, Lapidus, Richard and, from the original flight 815, Kate, Sawyer and Claire. Never in a million years did I think Sawyer was going to survive this thing. One of a million shocks of the evening.
“That’s how Jacob ran things. Maybe there’s another way. A better way.” – Ben
Though I expected it at one point, I understand now that there is no way in hell the creators could have killed off Hurley. He is and always has been the heart of this show, the conduit for the viewers, and the most genuine of all of the characters. How fitting is it that he would be the protector of the island. He is pure, he is incorruptible by power, and all he has ever wanted to do is, as Jack told him, help people. I think he’s perfect for it.
Surprise one million and two for me last night was Hurley asking (!) Ben to be his number 2. I thought for sure Ben was a goner and was stunned when the gang willingly tried to help him get out from under that tree (after he had saved Hurley mind you) without even debating whether the time should be taken. Ben put these people through hell yet they still saw him for what he was: a pawn. The character of Ben had one of the largest redemption arcs of the show and leave it to Hurley to be the one to offer the hand of acceptance and purpose. More on these guys later.
I thought it was great that pretty much the island story ended here. We don’t know if Desmond got back, if more people came to the island or how long Hurley protected it. There was no big bang for the island, instead the island’s story keeps going on. Perfect.
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Wow, I’ve rambled on and I haven’t even touched on the Sideways story, character ends and the overall ending to the show. Look for the second post in a little while.
