I've looked into the eye of the island and what I saw was beautiful

So I know I said I was going to wait a few days to post my thoughts but I wanted to respond to all of the negative feedback about last night's finale. I have read a few bad reviews and all of the morning radio hosts were trashing it. So here is what I thought.

First and foremost, I thought the episode was beautifully done, it was epic, and it was a fitting end to a great series. I could not have been more pleased. This is complete speculation, but my general thought is that if you were a die hard fan who has followed Lost over the years and spent more hours than you care to remember watching, rewatching, and discussing all of the intricacies of the show you probably enjoyed last night (I know some people who didn't enjoy it fall into this category but I'm generalizing). If you were a casual fan who watched the first two seasons and then decided that the show was too complicated, you watched episodes when you got around to it, or watched because you thought (insert actor or actress) was gorgeous, you probably didn't enjoy last night. I think those who came into the finale wanting answers to very specific questions probably walked away disappointed.

Lost is and always has been a show about the characters. The mystery surrounding the island was certainly intriguing and led to many of the countless hours of rehashing that we did here. But at the end of the day it was about Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, Jin, Claire, Charlie, Desmond and the rest of the gang. This is the reason that I have enjoyed Lost so much. Now that Lost is over I'm sad that the show has ended, but I'm mostly sad that I am losing these characters that I have come to know so well over the years. Would I have liked to have known what happened to Walt, what the deal with Aaron was, more on the Dharma Initiative, how the island came to be, etc...of course. But at the end of the day those things were ancillary to the story of our central characters. I think this show is the ultimate example of being about the journey and not the destination.

I have to say, for most of the season I was very iffy on the "flash sideways." I thought the payoff last night was worth all of it. There was something so beautiful about the awakenings and then the final reveal. This has long been a show about life and death, faith, spirituality, and redemption, and I think the end was only fitting of this.

So why should we care whether Jack saved the island or not? Because everything that they did on the island mattered. Despite Desmond's assurances that none of it mattered, Jack proved correct in the end. Everything each of them did in their lives mattered. They each affected so many others. Had Jack not saved the island I have no doubt that the world would have ended. But everybody dies eventually. It is about the journey. Live together or die alone.

I will have more thoughts as the days go on and after I watch the finale again, but for now I just wanted to calm down all the haters. Enjoy the ride. I can't think of a more fitting end for our Losties. The final scene was just perfect. I hope you all have enjoyed this journey as much as I have and I look forward to hearing all of your thoughts.

The Beginning of the End

Unfortunately this is not a review of the season 4 premiere. We are less than 36 hours from the Lost finale. I think it finally hit me after "What They Died For" that it really is all coming to an end. I'm trying to think of other shows that I have been as invested in that have had a series finale. Many of my favorites, either I didn't get into until after they had aired (The Wire, Firefly/Serenity) or in the case of Battlestar, I wasn't caught up on previous seasons until the final 6 episodes were airing so there wasn't the long goodbye. With Lost, I have been a faithful viewer since the Season 2 premiere. I actually saw the pilot, but the show aired on Wednesday nights, and Wednesday's were Kinvara trivia and dollar draft night at the Kells so there really was no room for a serial drama as a senior in college. After watching Season 1 during a two day viewing marathon, I have seen every episode since. I know many of you have similar stories (Julia and Jim watched 4 seasons in a matter of days I think). I am excited for tomorrow but at the same time I know that this is the end of an era in television. There really aren't any good serial dramas on the horizon (I think Caprica has been promising but I'm not convinced that SyFy will give it a chance to get its legs). It is very difficult for shows to get the right mix. Lost caught lightning in a bottle. Look at all the shows that have tried to piggyback and failed: Invasion, Day Break, The Nine, Flash Forward, Heroes after season 2. I think Fringe is the only show with a overarching story arc that is still successful (of course J.J. Abrams is at the helm). I'm sad that the story is ending and I don't want to let these characters go, but I will say I am excited to find out how it ends and almost as excited to go back and watch all 6 seasons again (DVD and Blu-Ray box set out this summer!). It has been a pleasure sharing with you over the past two seasons and maybe in the future we can coordinate a a rewatch to discuss some episodes after knowing how everything ends. I will probably hold off posting any thoughts after the finale to give myself time for everything to set in. I hope you all have enjoyed this show as much as I have. I look forward to having a spirited discussion after all is said and done, but until then, if anything goes wrong Desmond Hume will be my constant.

We're Back - Across The Sea

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back. Many apologies for the long lay off. I feel like as we head into the final three plus hours of Lost we should get this thing up and running again. I am going to avoid the episode recaps because by this point I'm going to assume that you guys have watched the episode. I will focus more on what we now know, what big questions we still have, and what people are thinking. So lets go.

First, R.I.P. Sayid, Sun, Jin, Ilana and maybe Frank. I was confused with Sayid. He was playing zombie for the entire season and then in the wake of his encounter with Desmond he seemed like old Sayid again. He completed the Jesus symbolism that we first encountered as he was carried out of the pool. He sacrificed himself to save the others. Sun and Jin. Eh. I had really grown tired of them. I thought they should have been reunited about six episodes earlier. It was a heartbreaking scene and I'm sad when any Lost mainstay is killed, but I could live with it. Fewer loose ends to deal with in the final episodes.

I'm going to skip most of what we learned in the episodes I missed, mostly because I can't coherently assemble it all right now. If you want to discuss please feel free. I want to concentrate mostly on last night's episode, "Across The Sea."

First and foremost, I loved the episode. I think Mark Pellegrino and Titus Welliver have turned in some top notch performances this season. Plus, it's always good to see Press Secretary C.J. Craig again. I thought the episode started off with a great quote from "Mother" which was basically aimed at the fans. "Every question I answer will simply lead to another question." The writers just aren't going to be able to answer everything. And even if they tried, people would have more questions. So at this point I'm going to stop begging for answers and just enjoy them as they come.

There were a few big reveals in this episode. The biggest of course being what the island is. The "heart" of the island is a light which is "the warmest brightest light you've ever felt." While not exactly very clear as to what this light actually is, it seems to represent purity, goodness, sort of like Adam and Eve before the fall. I think of it like Eywa from Avatar (see I wasn't so far off on my Tree of Souls reference). Mother must protect this light because if man discovers it he will exploit it and the light will go out. And if the light goes out on the island is goes out everywhere. Mother gives the line that men come, they fight, they destroy, they corrupt and it always ends the same. I guess MIB took this to heart.

We see the origins of the donkey wheel. It's not exactly clear to me how this was going to work (the water and the light were somehow going to get him off the island) but eventually someone does figure out how to get it to work.

Another reveal was the origin of the smoke monster. After MIB kills Mother, Jacob is so enraged that he drags him to the light and throws him in. Out comes the smoke monster and to me it appeared that the light didn't come back. I could be mistaken. It is also interesting to think about Jacob's line from Ab Aeterno that the island is like a cork keeping all of the evil bottled up. Doesn't sound like the great light to me.

As an aside, I really came around on MIB this episode. He really wasn't all that bad. He got along with Jacob and they seemed to really love each other. He seemed to also really care for his mother. The massacre of the people he was living with really changed him though. Even after he killed Mother he was pretty upset about it and tried to justify himself to Jacob. After Jacob discovers MIB's body he is genuinely sad. Some really touching but heartbreaking scenes.

We also found out who Adam and Eve are. Mother and MIB were laid to rest in the cave with the black and white stones. "But how can MIB's body be in the cave the whole time if we see him in bodily form later in the timeline, like with Richard in 'Ab Aeterno'?"

When Jacob threw him into the light, he ceased to be the MIB and became the smoke monster. The smoke monster can take the form of dead people on the island. I suspect he was still MIB in a sense. He had the same memories and experiences, but he had no permanent body. He could take the form of his old body, which we see he did later in the show. But the person who was Jacob's brother is no more and all that is left of him is the smoke monster.

I don't pretend to completely understand everything that we learned last night but I am confident it will be clarified in the next three hours. The series is really ramping up heading into the series finale event. As I start to come to grips with the fact that there are only two more episodes it makes me a little sad, but I can't wait to see how everything plays out. I'm interested in what people have to say so please comment away.