Lost and Found

So its been a few days since my personal favorite television show, Lost, ended its six-year long run, and the internet has been on fire since that fateful day. The buzz has been mixed, drifting from loving how it ended to hating how it ended, and various theories ranging from what happened in the finale to what happened during the entire show. So I decided to toss my hat into the mix and offer my view on the show, and what may you ask makes my opinion any different than everyone else? Not a damn thing, but thats the beauty of the internet.

First off, this is spoiler filled so if you haven't seen the finale... what the fuck is wrong with you?

But basically, Jack sacrificed himself to save the island, perhaps the world, killed the Man in Black/Smoke Monster/Locke; Hurley is now the new guardian of the island with Ben serving as his second in command; and the rest of the Losties got away on a plane. The big reveal though was that the "flash sideways", long theorized to be an alternate island-less universe, was really a sort of afterlife, and this is the main point of debate among viewers.

Many people guessed that because it was revealed that they were all dead that it meant that the cast was really dead the whole time. I'm pretty sure this is a case of overzealous fans just jumping the gun as soon as they heard Jack's dad say "You're all dead" but if you listened to the dialogue in the scene you realize that the island stuff really did happen.

In the final scene at the church, Jack's dad tells Jack that he is indeed dead and so are everyone in the church. But Jack's dad also tells him that the time spent on the island was the most important part of his life and that all of the castaways needed each other then just as they need each other now in this purgatory (I'll just use purgatory for sake of argument). Jack's dad also says that some of them died before him, and some long after.

So, we can infer that yes, the island stuff was all reality. At various points throughout life, the castaways did die (as we all do) and met up in purgatory. Now purgatory is not exactly a bad place, but a place where you go to prepare yourself for heaven, the place where you let go of your unresolved issues in life and move on to paradise. And as we saw throughout this season in each castaways respective purgatories, they still had plenty of issues. Sayeed was still hung up on his lost love, Sawyer still wanted to find the con man responsible for his parent's downfall, and Jack still had daddy issues. As each castaway came together in this world they slowly remembered their life on the island and how they each had in some way conquered their demons. As they remembered and acknowledged their lives on our plane of existence, they were ready to move on. And much like Jack was the last one to embrace his destiny in life, so he was the last one to do so in death. But at last the castaways reunited and Jack's dad opened the church doors filling it with light, presumably the after life.

Now many people have also pointed out the shot during the credits of the plane wreckage as a clue that the castaways really were dead the entire time, and for a bit I thought it was a valid argument seeing how I couldn't really figure out the importance of this shot either. But I read a recent article that brought up a very good point about that shot. In short, if you look at it you can see signs of the survivors, foot prints, towels, etc. I think the shot was just thrown in to symbolize that our band of castaways were just the latest in a long line of unfortunate souls to come aross the island. From the slavers on The Black Rock to the crashed plane full of drugs to Oceanic Flight 815, people have been crashing on this island for a while. The characters in this show were not the first on the island and nor will they be the last and I think that final shot was just a reminder of that.

And as for this damn island, what the hell is it? People are complaining that we didn't get enough answers or that the answers were too vague. After the finale I thought about the show and what lead up to this point and I'm fairly certain there were answers in the show, they just didn't pop out in your face. If you watch the show the dots are there, you just gotta connect them. Needless to say I can't wait for the boxed set of the series because I'm going to be re-watching it beginning to end, and I'm sure things will be a lot clearer. Many details are still fuzzy but I've peaced together some clues and I'm sure I'll find more as I go.

First off, what is the island? We know that at its heart lies some light, a light that if extinguished will somehow end all we love. Some people have theorized that the light was the same light that the main characters became part of in the final moments of the show, that basically Jack gave his life to save heaven. Now I must admit that this is a sound theory but I'm not sold on it yet, and to be honest I'm not sure if I know what the light is yet. From what I can gather, the island and the light are the source of all life as we know it, and that this island has probably been around since the beginning of time and someone has been on it from that point to guard the light. The light is the source of the island's healing properties, Jacob and Richard's agelessness, and the electromagnetic energy that the Dharma Initiative wanted so badly.

We can also gather that whoever is the guardian of the light sets the "rules" of the island and everyone on the island must follow them. Thats why no one could leave the island and why the Man in Black and Jacob couldn't kill each other, among other rules.

Another lingering question is the others and the Dharma Initiative. Once again by listening to dialogue and watching closely, you can figure these out. Jacob said he was always bringing people to the island to show the man in black that people are capable of good, and I'm guessing the ones that he was pleased with he kept around as his crew, so to say. Jacob's priority was protecting the island and keeping the Man in Black from leaving, so he had to do whatever it took to do so. Then comes the Dharma Initiative, who for whatever reason has learned about the island and wants to exploit it, and Jacob sent his men to stop them, hence why Dharma was always referring to them as "hostiles". All throughout the show The Others referred to themselves as the good guys, and basically they were, though their methods were questionable (mass murder and kidnapping among them).

The lists of people The Others were sent to kidnap were obviously candidates for Jacob's position, though one thing I'm still working on is the kids. The Other's kidnapped the children first and revealed that pregnant women died on the island. I guessed that The Others wanted the kids as possible candidates as well but the pregnancy issue is one that still bothers me. I'm something will come along that will make it all click but for now this is one of many loose ends.

But ultimately, I'm glad Lost left plenty open. It was established that this island, whatever it is, is something far more important than the people on it and I like the air of mystery it gave it. I was really hoping that the series finale wouldn't go with a cheap way out and have some character pop up and explain everything (something I feared Jack's dad would do in the final moments) but thankfully they didn't and left it up to you to decide, which has been the fun of the show. For six years everyone's favorite conversation topics have been Lost theories, each person has their own idea of what the island is, and lets face it, no explanation would have lived up to what each of us had imagined it would be. The show runners made a smart and risky move by making the island what we want it to be, either the source of all life, the doorway to heaven, etc. Much like the past six years, each fan now has his or her own idea of what really transpired these past six years, and I think thats the charm and beauty of this show. We can keep obsessing, prodding, and poking, and people will for years to come. All of this fandom really just defies one of the central themes of the show, which is to just let go and move on. Much like our castaways in purgatory, we have to accept the island for what it is, acknowledge what we learned from it, and move on to bigger and better things.

http://screenrant.com/lost-finale-explanation-kofi-61464/