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.
You know, I just told Nick Guzman the same thing when he said he didn't like it. I totally agree with you!
ReplyDeleteVery well said. No surprise here, I absolutely loved it. In fact, it honestly exceeded any expectations I might have had, and the ending was so powerfully done that I tossed and turned long into the night thinking about it. That last image of Jack dying in the bamboo field with Vincent providing comfort while laying next to him will likely stay with me for some time to come. And I couldn't agree more about how emotionally beautiful each "awakening" was. To have the chance to once again embrace and talk with those you have loved and lost during your life (Jack/Christian, Sawyer/Juliet, Sun/Jin, Charlie/Claire, Jack/Kate, etc) or to be able to apologize to those you have wronged (the Ben/Locke scene outside of the church was extremely profound) are indescribably awesome (awe-inspiring) gifts. And whether or not we each personally believe in the existence of an afterlife, I (for one) truly feel that LOST's presentation of these themes at least made me WANT for such a possibility to exist. That's not bad for a network television show.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, definitely more discussion to come, but I'm beyond happy with the ending. And while it's always unsettling when others dislike or trash that which you do like, in the end, it doesn't really matter. LOST has always been MY show, and I don't need anyone to tell me that what I just saw was beautiful. Each person can and should come to their own conclusion, and for me, it was simply beautiful.
Yes, yes, and yes. I couldn't have asked for a better ending. I got the answers I truly needed to understand, appreciate, and mourn for this show. It also did exactly what Damon and Carlton promised, it brought the story back to season one where we had no clue what was going on but cared profoundly for this group of people. I'm sad it's over but not one percent angry, so mission accomplished for me.
ReplyDeleteThis post over at Doc Arzt really sums it up for me:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.docarzt.com/lost-news/wait-polarizing-is-a-bad-thing/
I just find it hard to believe that people who liked season 6 all of a sudden did a 180 in the finale and hated the whole show. People who are unhappy with it have been unhappy with the show for a while. Lost had a lot of stories to tell. If you didn't enjoy the finale its probably because you didn't care all that much about the story that Damon and Carlton wanted to tell. And that's fine. But they always said that when they were writing Lost, they were writing it as how they would want the show to be if they were fans. As a fan, I couldn't agree with their vision more. I think the article that I posted hits the nail on the head. The same people who are screaming, "I want those two and a half hours of my life back!" would be complaining today if we had gotten direct answers to all of the questions and talking about how lame the answers were.
After the Battlestar Galactica series finale I heard a lot of the same criticisms. People complained that there were too many loose ends that weren't tied up and that the answers that were given were lame. Behind Lost, I would put BSG up there as one of the best character dramas in TV history. Those who were disappointed weren't so much interested in the characters and were upset that they didn't get specific answers to specific questions. The same is happening now with Lost. I hope that as time passes and people can go back and watch all six seasons as an epic drama they will come to appreciate what the series did. Until then, I think the haters need to let go so that they can move on.