Allie “Cried When Sawyer Found Juliet” Townsend: Those bastards.
(I kid.) Kind of. So it was purgatory all along. They awoke on the island in purgatory, sent there to protect the barrier between heaven and hell all the while working their way through. Holy Catholicism, Smoke Monster?
Graeme “It was … fine” MacMillan: Y’think? I took it as the island being “real” and the sideways world being a happy purgatory. Except, of course, one where you thought you were someone else until you remembered, got to be happy for a few hours and then went on to a final destination. Which, you know, I’m not sure is that great of a purgatory.
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Mike “Madness!” Williams: Ok, fine. Alt world was purgatory. When did everyone die if the island was real? When did Kate die? When did Sawyer die? When did Hurley die? What was Penny doing in the Church?
Also how many fake rocks can they bounce across a set in one episode? And why the hell would Sawyer jump into that water head first? Madness!
GM: Never mind Penny being in the church – She belonged there, after all,as much as Libby – but why wasn’t Michael there? Or Walt? Or Ana Lucia? Or Mr. Eko? Or Miles? Or Rose and Bernard? I mean, sure, yes: They couldn’t get some of those actors, but still: Apparently only SOME of the castaways were important enough to meet up in purgatory.
The “When did X die?” question really doesn’t bother me; they died in the future, and then appeared in the ever-present “now” of purgatory. That made more sense to me than the idea than the castaways were more important to Jack’s afterlife than his wife or mother.
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MW: Rose and Bernard were in the church, by the way.
So of all the LOSTies, of all the others, of all the people that were on that island only Miles, Lupitas, Kate, Sawyer, Claire and Alpert made it off? Presumably to live the rest of their lives until they died at some point and joined the purgatory party?
Here was some heavy handed symbolism that was completely wasted on me: Sawyer looking into a shattered mirror, Saayid and Shannon sitting off by themselves in the church, a single tattered shoe hanging in the bamboo forest where Jack died. What did any of that mean? I don’t believe, at this point, that a single shot didn’t have specific purpose in this finale.
GM: Clearly, I was too busy going “Hey look, it’s Penny! Who otherwise didn’t really get much of a role this season, and what WAS the deal with her dad and Ben anyway?” to notice Rose and Bernard. Glad they made it, though.
In terms of those who escaped the island: Walt and Aaron, as well, previously. But, yeah, that’s pretty much it.
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(Sawyer’s broken mirror was because THAT REALITY WAS A BROKEN MIRROR AS WELL DO YOU GET IT?!? Or maybe it’s the mirror he smashed Miles into earlier this season, unless that is an entirely fake memory I have invented from my own personal purgatory. I’m with you on the Sayid/Shannon thing, and have to add: The finale’s Shannon reveal made it look as if Shannon was the love of Sayid’s life, which is just… no. I don’t believe that there’s any reason other than Shannon was one of the original Losties and it was fan service that she got that role when it really, really should’ve been Nadia.)
AT: At least Vincent came back. Thinking about it, I bet Vincent was God. I have no other explanation as to why there are dogs (or Polar Bears) in purgatory. So Linus also stayed behind, along with Alex who wasn’t in the church, yes? Michael wasn’t there because he had told us earlier that he was stuck there to forever repent for the terrible things he did on the island. So he’s still working his way through? When did purgatory become Donkey Kong? And where were Eloise and Charles Whidmore? They were also missing from the church, no?
As for Ana Lucia, when Hurley paid her off Desmond mentioned that “it wasn’t her time yet,” which leads me to believe that she’s still working her way through as well? I think the only explanation for this ending is that the show was really all about Jack. We understand what happened to Jack (well, sort of) but as for the rest, we only saw snippets of their stories? I think that cheapens it a bit for me, but it’s the only thing I can think of that will make sense.
GM: Well, the show was certainly from Jack’s point of view for the most part, and he was the one who had the largest/most important character arc. Yeah, I think it ended up being all about Jack. Which I’m sure he would’ve loved.
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Eloise and Charles Widmore didn’t really belong in the church, did they? Eloise, at least, seemed to know exactly where she was when talking to Desmond earlier in the episode, so I’m guessing that she, Charles and Daniel – and maybe Charlotte? Poor, backstory-forever-unexplained-born-on-the-island-even-though that-was-supposedly-impossible-except-when-it-wasn’t Charlotte – had their own purgatory experience to get through.
Getting back to the Jack-centricness of the show – well, the episode, at least – for a second, the only way I can not get caught up in “Why THOSE people? Why didn’t (Plot Element X) get resolved for them?” nit-picky-ness is to pretend that what we saw was Jack’s subjective purgatory experience, and that all the other characters experienced something similar but tailored towards them. Otherwise, I’m left wondering why Jack’s dad was so important to open the doors to heaven/hell for everyone.
AT: I’m not sure why they chose to close with Jack’s father. I would have rather seen Jacob there, further explaining things. It seems strange that Jack’s dad would have any more details on just what the hell was going on than the rest. Maybe it was a statement on that when you die, the people who meant the most to you will come together to help you make peace with your life and cross over. Christian Shepard certainly would have fit into that category.
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As for me, I can’t decide if I liked the finale or not. I do like how the story wrapped up on the island, for the most part. I liked Hurley and Ben Linus became the new Jacob and Richard. I didn’t like that the rest escaped the island, to what? Die in another plane crash? I was so rooting for Richard to rediscover life as a mortal guy, though to be honest I was betting on him, Miles and Claire to die.
GM: I’m… okay with it? I didn’t really DISlike it, at least. I like that I was surprised by some things (Hurley becoming the new Jack who was the new Jacob, seeing Rose and Bernard again), but overall it felt kind of unsatisfying the more I actually think of it: What did pulling the stopper out actually do? Why was it, ultimately, so easy to kill the Man in Black (and why does no-one become a new Man in Black, a la Jacob? Although, I have to admit, I did kind of love that he was killed by someone other than Jack, even if it was Kate), and am I the only person who felt that that plot resolution was a massive anticlimax after a year of him being all smokey and unkillible? “Oh, the island’s collapsing, I’m mortal now. Oh, I’m shot.”
It felt like there was a lot of “And this is what happens because we say it’s what happens” going on, and also that a lot of it felt rushed. But, y’know, it was a relatively happy ending. It was fine, I guess.
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Peter “This is all I have to say” Ha: Motherfrakking Polar Bears!
GM: If the Man in Black had turned mortal, gotten into a fight with Jack and then been killed by a wandering polar bear, that would’ve been awesome.
And then the polar bear could’ve been revealed to be Walt in a polar bear costume, thereby delighting the fans who demanded to see him return, and also the large Lost furry fanbase.
Man, I should go into showbiz.
MW: I’m not unhappy. I am slightly annoyed that the creators obviously put a lot of effort into packing the finale with ‘answers’ and thus some things felt rushed. Like the death of smokey.
As much as I’m genuinely annoyed at the whopping pile of unanswered plot threads I guess I’m happy that what happened on the Island was real. Even if the other way around would have made more sense. “The Light” of the world is now more protected than ever at the bottom of the ocean. Which, I suppose, is a win for team Jacob.