Might As Well Get My Thoughts In Too by MHKM

First I want to preface this with the fact that I did enjoy the finale quite a bit, but only really when I look at it in isolation. When I take the season/series as a whole I get a little disappointed.

In the following I will first explain my interpretation of what I feel are the ambiguous parts of the finale, the sideways world, etc. and then delve into why I am slightly disappointed.

I know a lot of what I will say has been covered but whatever, one last post for the road.

The sideways world is a kind of purgatory. I know people are hesitant to call it such because of its Christian overtones but that is essentially what it is, strip the Christianity from the term and the definition still stands. Going forward this is what I will refer to it as.

It occupies a space we cannot be aware of, at least not yet, and a time ad infinitum. It doesn't matter if Hurley was 5,000 years old, he died eventually so he is there now, this just has to be accepted.

Certain people aren't with them simply because their time on the island wasn't the "Most important thing they'll do in life", it wasn't what defined them as a person, redeemed them, or allowed them to let go. As Christian says, you all created this so you could find each other again. People create their own purgatory, their own theater in which to allow themselves to let go, repent, redeem, or whatever it is they need to accomplish before moving on.

This is why I think Michael was still on the island. That was where he felt he needed to be to make up for his past regressions. That was his purgatory. Except, on the island, because it is a crazy weird-ass place, the dead can cross the ethereal boundary and whisper/appear to people. I like to think Michael moved on after helping the other 815ers and apologizing to Hurley. Mr. Eko was probably with his brother somewhere in Africa, where his original sins took place. Richard was probably somewhere in the Canary Islands with his wife. I also like to think that possibly Richard was in a good enough place when he died that he didn't even need a purgatory, he just moved on.

Ben wanted to stay in purgatory so he could atone for his past life with Alex and Rousseau, enlighten them, deal with the repercussions, and then finally make the next step.

Faraday and Charlotte were going to enlighten each other and move on. Miles probably will get enlightened through some further conversation with his Father. And frankly who cares about Eloise and Widmore.

Juliet's "It worked" referred to the scene with Sawyer at the vending machine, which was a red herring, making us think it was an alternate universe but it was really just Juliet flickering between life and the after-life.

Everyone's situation, the slight differences, within the purgatory is an extension of their faults/problems/hang-ups in real life: Jack’s father issues=Has a good relationship with his “Son”, Sawyer’s criminal ways=Sawyer’s a cop, Kate’s killing her father=She is innocent (Admittedly self proclaimed innocence but ehh, she’s too beautiful not to believe her), Desmond not able to please Widmore=Widmore right-hand man, Faraday never being able to pursue his passion=Faraday the musician, Hurley’s curse=Luckiest man alive, Locke unable to accept love=Accepting Helen’s love, Claire’s lack of family/Not wanting Aaron=Claire with a family and accepting Aaron, Ben being a ruthless asshole=Ben being a good guy and helping others, Sayid was essentially the same I think.

What allowed them to let go in real life was each other, granted the island was a hell of a catalyst for this. But this is the same thing that allowed them to let go in purgatory, each other. And I get this, and I like this but (Moving on to my disappointment)…

If this show was so much about the characters then why introduce all of this stuff, forcing its apparent importance on us only to then tell us we are placing value in the wrong things. Don’t get me wrong, some of it I know was needed to progress the plot and push certain people into situations that would allow them to reflect and grow but in the end I think they got a little trigger happy with it all.

For me, every season was balanced between the island craziness and character development up until season 6 really. The whole of season 6 was largely based on the island mythology, reinvigorating its apparent importance (Not that it ever got unimportant but it really drove it home this season I feel with the flash-wayback episodes, seeing little Jacob running around, the lighthouse, the temple, Jacob’s cave etc.). And I am not saying it was totally swayed, granted we got Jack’s transformation and Hurley believing in himself among other things, but it felt very much unbalanced, with the tilt towards the island mythology.

Only to have the season/series finale address none of that and tell us all of it was rather unimportant, besides the fact that it was the catalyst for their transformation. I mean come on. There are some people out there that are so enamored by Darlton and their “genius” they would surely offer a reach around if encountered. For me I can look at it objectively and say yes, I agree the story is about the characters and their transformations, but no, it is not entirely about them, when you yourselves made me care about everything else. If it wasn’t that important then they shouldn’t have placed so much emphasis on it, that is my opinion anyway.

As for answers I’m looking for, I don’t really have any that I’m dying to know besides maybe how was the heart of the island seemingly constructed by man when this thing is suppose to be so other-worldly, man can’t comprehend it. What I’m saying is I think they should have made the “Cork” in the light cave look like it was made of natural occurrence, and there shouldn’t have been hieroglyphs in there because what was the island doing before we came along and figured out we should cork this bad boy off, twiddling it’s thumbs? I know, let it go, right?

I could say I want an explanation for the sickness, the cabin, the temple, the statue, and the child-bearing problems (Probably missing a few). I can work most of these out on my own, besides maybe the child-bearing problems that could have, and probably should have been addressed. I know people say it was jughead but that is a little too flimsy for me given Aaron’s birth. I like the thought that it might have been another of Jacob’s rules since he didn’t want children being involved in the island mayhem and Claire was allowed hers due to her candidacy.

I’m a little more man-of-science than I am man-of-faith so the island business is a bit hard for me without some more info, but I can let it be.

So then you ask what is your beef if you don’t really have any questions left un-answered. All I am saying is I didn’t think it felt right. The series, and maybe more so this season, when juxtaposed to the finale, was unbalanced, it felt off to the point that I’m slightly disappointed.

And that is about it folks. Love it, hate it, that’s where I’m at with this Lost business.

It will go down as one of the best, most ground-breaking shows in the history of television. We would be luckier than Hurley to have another of it’s kind in our generation, but, it could have been that much better.