the tindog coffeehouse

It’s safe to say that there will be two groups of people who watched last night’s epic finale of Lost: those who are angry because they didn’t understand the ending or because it didn’t end the way they wanted it to, and those who have a soul. I’m kidding. Sorta.

Personally, I thought it was a perfect conclusion to what has been an obsession for so many people for six years, a final chapter that was full of heartbreak, renewed hope, and ultimate redemption. It was necessarily explosive at times but beautifully tender and poignant in its closing moments. This story that began with Jack opening his eyes in the middle of the jungle ended with him closing them in the middle of the jungle. But as the Sideways storyline so masterfully reminded us, that wasn’t really the end. Instead, the reunited castaways, lost no longer, would make their final journey together.

A happy ending? I say yes. But bittersweet? Absolutely.

Throughout the series, viewers have been begging for answers, an explanation for all the mysteries of the island. They got a bunch this season, and naturally there are many others that will never be answered. Hence, so many people’s frustration. But this story was never really about the Island. It was never about “the Numbers”, or the Dharma Initiative, or the Others, or Jacob and the Man In Black. Those were merely plot devices, hooks that drew the audience in and provided a framework for the real story: the story of how a bunch of “flawed” and “alone” individuals came together and realized how much they needed each other. The same story could’ve been set in New York or Seattle or Dallas or anywhere else. It could’ve been told without the science fiction elements and all the mysteries. But clearly those elements were what made it as exciting and memorable as it was.

I remember when Lost first premiered in 2004. Alias — another J.J. Abrams series — was still on, and I remember Abrams saying something in an interview to the extent that they learned a lot while shooting Lost that they never knew when shooting Alias. Alias was a show that I really liked early on but one that I felt never really lived up to its potential. I always felt like it needed to be much bigger, have a bigger cast, focus other characters more, and fully develop the mythology that drove it. Alias never did those things, but Lost did.

Of course, I remember thinking at the time, how are they gonna sustain a show about a bunch of crash survivors stranded on a deserted island? I thought, as good as the pilot episode is, they’ve got one season, maybe two at the most. Characters will start dying off, and because they’re the only ones on the island, they won’t be able to replace them. It’ll devolve into something like Gilligan’s Island.

I was wrong.

Instead, the crash of Oceanic 815 was only the beginning. Over six years, the viewers would go back and forth through time and space, learning about a centuries-old battle between the forces of good and evil and how this group of people fit into it. We came to love many of the characters and hate some of the others. (Or Others?) We debated each episode, analyzed it, pulled it apart looking for signs and clues that were hidden in plain sight before us. We pointed out each instance of the Numbers; pored over both classical and obscure literary references; and questioned the significance of character names that were based on religious figures, scientists, and philosophers. Along the way, we got lost, too. And we loved every minute of it.

Without question, there will never be another show that comes close to duplicating Lost. It will stand apart within the history of television as an example of what is possible with the perfect combination of vision, writing, and acting. I and millions of other devoted fans will miss it terribly, but in time we’ll be able to look back on it fondly and get lost all over again.

Previously:
Lost thoughts, May 19
Lost thoughts, May 12