Why “The End” Was The Greatest Finale Of The Modern Era by James Hughes

Too often, TV shows try to give us a finale that panders to the ‘safe zone’ of simply showing the lead character going on to live a happy life having fulfilled their objectives. And the question has been on the horizon for some time now…how on earth could the creators of Lost end this story?

Well, they did so, by giving us one of the most intelligent, moving, and brave endings in TV history. After the woeful ‘Across The Sea’ is was debatable that they could actually pull it off, and I for one was not expecting much from the finale. But boy was I wrong, and here’s why:

1) The show refused to bend to the fanatics who wanted answers about the Island.
Yes, I know there are those of you out there that were disappointed because you didn’t get ‘Island’ answers. But you are missing the point. As they have continued to hammer home to us since season 1, this has never been a story about the Island, it is a story about the people. That is why throughout all six seasons we spent more time off island than on it. If this was a story about the Island the writers would never have left it. And yet they could’ve easily thrown some answers in there to keep you happy but it would have been irrelevant to the ‘Lost story’. It could have been set on a mountain range or in caves, it was ALWAYS a story about PEOPLE that were LOST and needing to FIND THEMSELVES. That one thing that makes them feel whole, their destiny, and in most cases it was each other. Why Jacob had a thing for numbers is irrelevant. That’s his business.

2) The Biggest Answers Were All Answered.
a) Why exactly was Jack brought to the Island? – To sacrifice his life to save it.
b) Why was Kate brought to the Island? – To kill Locke.
c) Why was Hurley brought to the Island? – To become Jacob.
d) What Is The Off Island World That We Keep Seeing? – A place of denial in which they had to be forced into seeing what had really happened to them all.

3) Some Of The Greatest Scenes In TV History.
a) Sawyer and Juliet At The Vending Machine - was quite simply one of the best written scenes that have ever been filmed in any medium.
b) Charlie and Clare Finding Each Other – Incredibly powerful and full of meaning.
c) Jin and Sun Remembering – They remembered dying, which was a big clue as to what was about to come in the closing ten minutes.
d) Jack In The Light – The look of disbelief on Jack’s face when he thought it hadn’t worked, to the one of utter and complete joy of having fulfilled his destiny when he saw the water trickling down was a stunning scene. Not one word of dialogue and yet it conveyed a thousand words. Truly magnificent.

4) The Two Huge Twists

a) That The Alternate Reality Wasn’t A Reality At All – Never saw this one coming and yet it makes perfect sense and resonates.
b) That It Was Actually Hurley That Was Meant To Be Jacob – Jack seemed to always know this. He never spoke of doing the job for a long time. He knew, like Jacob did, that he was here for a reason. In the Lighthouse, Jacob said Jack was here “to do something” = ONE SINGULAR EVENT. And that “he has to figure that out on his own.” When the Island was falling apart, Jack knew what his destiny was, to sacrifice his life to protect the Island so the real Jacob (Hurley) can stay on and protect it. For Jacob to make Hurley the guardian any earlier would have been to expose him to Locke, and it was always Jacob’s trump card.

5) The Island Survives
When Hurley and Ben eventually die, we can assume that Hurley found his own candidates and passed on the Jacob role to someone else. It is still important and people will continue to go there to find themselves when they are ‘lost’.

6) Island Answers Left Open
This was a masterstroke because it allows everybody to do what they have always done = interpret the answers their own way. By leaving them open, the writers have created a legacy that will continue to be discussed and debated for many many years. If they had spent season 6 answering Island questions then there would be nothing left to discuss when the show ends. It would have been all too easy and common place to answer these now. Leaving them open has left the mysteries of the Island in the hands of us viewers.

7) The Perfect Last Image
To book-end the story with what we saw in the opening image of season 1 was the right way to end Lost. And yes, this is where Jack died. Not in the original plane crash, and not when the bomb went off. For Jack’s character to come full circle, he had to sacrifice his life to save the Island, and when he’d achieved this, the Island was done with him. Brilliant last image and could not have been better. When he closed his eye, he died. Jack was no longer ‘lost’, he’d found his destiny. The End.