May 23, 2011. It has been one year since “The End” of LOST. Back in August I wrote a review of “The End”. Here it is again, updated and expanded, as well as some points on the season as a whole.
For 5 years, 8 months and 1 day (September 22, 2004 – May 23, 2010) I have been obsessed with LOST. It is a science fiction show with many mysteries. And so, with the end near, I am hoping that LOST will have a satisfying ending with some answers. But no, I was wrong.
Because in the end, it was not about the plane crash. It was not about the island. It was not about the smoke monster. It was not about the hatch. It was not about the DHARMA Initiative. It was not about the others. It was not about the freighter. It was not about the science team or the mercenaries. It was not about the rescue and return. It was not about the time travel. It was not about Jacob and the Man in Black. In the end, it was the stinkin’, “The Five People You Meet In Heaven.”
For those who have never read the book or seen the movie, it is a story about an old man who is killed and goes to “heaven” where he meets five people who he had a great impact on their life. And basically that is what happens at the end of LOST.
Jack dies and goes to this “heaven” as a church and reunites with his dad, Locke, Kate, Desmond and Penny, Sawyer and Juliet, Hurley and Libby, Charlie and Claire, Sun and Jin, Rose and Bernard, Sayid and Shannon, and Boone. And together, they go into the light which is Nirvana or enlightenment or become one with the Force or whatever. And that’s it.
And the end of their time on the island? Desmond goes into the magical electromagnetic light, uncorks the island, turns off the light, the island earthquakes, Smoke-Locke fatally stabs Jack, Kate shoots a now mortal Smoke-Locke in the back, he is thrown over a cliff and dies anticlimactically (not even a final wisp of smoke coming out of the gunshot wound), Jack makes Hurley protector of the island, Jack goes down the cave, saves Desmond, turns the magical electromagnetic light back on (which has healing power and yet for some reason does not heal Jack), Jack is somehow spit out, he walks to the bamboo forest where he woke up all those years ago, he sees the duct taped plane fly over head and he dies. The End.
And that is how LOST ends. This show of science fiction and mystery ended with this multi-religious feel good phooey. It took me a couple months to realize it, but the end of LOST was very disappointing.
The hard-core fans of LOST, to whom the entire series was perfect, use the argument, “It was all about the characters.” Well, if it was just all about the characters it should have been set on a regular island instead of a magical island with smoke monsters, secret groups, murderous “natives,” and a 2,000 year old demigod.
But let’s look at Season Six as a whole. All the plot holes were just patched up with weak duct tape. For instance:
The Temple – In Season Three, Ben called the temple the last safe place on the island. We finally get to see it, and for being so safe, it is fairly easy to sneak in and out of.
The Statue and The Black Rock – We were introduced to the statue’s foot in the Season Two finale, and we saw the entire statue at the end of Season Five. We were shown the Black Rock at the end of Season One. Both of the mysteries, “How did a ship get into the middle of an island?” and “What happened to the rest of the statue?” were answered at once: a tidal wave picked up the ship and threw it through the statue. Way to cover two plot holes with one patch.
And then there’s The Lighthouse. Where did that come from? The characters trekked all over the island for 100 days, and then for three years Jin searched the island grid-by-grid, and yet no one found the lighthouse? That’s because it didn’t exist until it was necessary.
This is just a sample of proof that the writers didn’t have a clear plan about the direction they were going for the final season, and were still making it up as they went along.
(Photo updated May 23, 2020.)
