(If you feel like you will ever start watching LOST in your lifetime, don't read this post until after.)
Last night I sat down with Mom, Cooper, and Benn, and watched the final episode of LOST.
I have so many feelings, but man, what a show.
(If I expound on these points, this will be a novel, but THE CINEMATOGRAPHY! THE SCORE! GIACCHINO IS A GENIUS and the show would not have been as poignant. LOST would be nothing without Giacchino's score.)
After the episode, I happened upon this really great article by MK Hey called "LOST and Dante's Divine Comedy". Though I've never read The Divine Comedy, the author made some great parallels that have me interested in reading it. But they made other points that I agree with.
I know there were a lot of mixed opinions about the finale, and I guess I understand why, but I wasn't disappointed. I suppose it came down to what you thought you wanted to get out of the show.
"...if you were watching for scientific or even simply logical answers, that wasn’t the point of the show, but they tried to please you here, with mixed results."
I was definitely intrigued by the mysteries of the island, but the show was much more character-driven for me. Which, if you read this interesting article about the creation of LOST, there was a great focus on writers Damon Lindelof and J.J. Abrams' part to really get to the core of these characters.
"The pilot episode makes it pretty clear, right from the start, that the entire show is about death, penance, and rebirth. It’s about escaping your old life and paying for the mistakes you made in it – and maybe getting the opportunity to redeem yourself or to find the peace and happiness that always eluded you."
I was in it for the long haul. I wanted to know what the deal was with the smoke monsters and the polar bears, but I also wanted to see how Desmond ended up on the island, why Ben kidnapped Danielle's daughter, and how Kate ended up being something she'd never thought she'd be - a mother.
Redemption is probably one of my favorite themes of LOST. There were so many characters that I hated or didn't understand at the beginning, but ended up being the ones I loved most. Among them, were Jin, Sawyer, Locke, Ben, and of course, Jack. The thing about this show is that all of the characters - not just the ones I mentioned - but all were in tumultuous periods of their lives; some not knowing what they stood for, or where to go, and that is why the island brought them there in the first place. They were all deeply flawed, and made great developments throughout the series. Through all their hardships, they indeed learned how to "live together, or die alone." They learned how to love and care for others, to set aside selfishness and sacrifice, and to forgive and forget.
While we watched the flash-sideways segments, thinking that it was some sort of alternate universe, I realized that what was occurring has always been fascinating to me. The idea, the concept (I don't know if it has a name - Life? Haha idk) that our lives will cross and overlap the lives of strangers and that they can become our family or dear dear friends is so incredible to me. The idea that once you know someone so well, you can look back and see when they weren't in your lives, and see all the times your paths crossed, but it wasn't time yet for you to know and have each other.
By the time Jack sees his dad again, and Christian helps him understand where they are and what happened - I was bawling. Like, the ugly sort of crying that went on in the theater watching Les Mis for the second time.
CHRISTIAN: Well, this is a place that you... that you all made together so that you could find one another. The most important part of your life was the time that you spent with these people. That's why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone Jack. You needed all of them, and they needed you.
JACK: For what?
CHRISTIAN: To remember. And to... let go.
They go downstairs and everyone from the island is all together again laughing and hugging. What happened, happened, but I thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world that they made this place so they could find each other, remember what had happened to them during their time on earth, their time on the island, and help each other move on to the next stage in life.
That's what I imagine the next part to be, based on my beliefs, and I think this is why this final episode put me in such a state. We will be greeted and surrounded by the ones we love most, and we will have had the chance to redeem ourselves for the mistakes we made in this life. Then we can move on together.
(This fantastic comment was found on a youtube video, of all places and I thought the words needed to be apart of all my ramblings.)
The End.
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