Mike Southby

So yesterday I caught up with the finale instalment of Lost, like many others I was hoping to have all of my questions answered; but I was sadly disappointed.  For those of you who hoped for a believable explanation to the alternate-reality dilemma… well, disappointment doesn’t even cover it.

It all began as the last episode ended, with a newly Jacob’ed Jack standing in the river.  Though he didn’t feel any different, he seemed to know exactly what he needed to do.  So he called his friends – Sawyer, Hurley and Kate – into action.  Sawyer went off in search of Desmond who was thought to be at the bottom of a well while Kate and Hurley followed Jack to the heart of the island, on a mission to protect it from Smokey.  Sawyer’s search ended before it had even begun however, rather than finding everyone’s favourite electromagnetically resistant friend, he found Smokey and Ben discussing their plan over an empty well.  Sawyer escaped back to Jack after guessing Smokey’s new destroy-the-island-using-Desmond plan and left Smokey and Ben to continue their search.

As for Desmond he was enjoying the company of his rescuers Rose, Bernard and the infamous Vincent the dog.  As if to explain their complete absence from all things plot related over the previous season, Rose told Desmond that she and Bernard had broke their cardinal rule by rescuing him.  The rule basically consists of staying out of everyone else’s dramas and keeping themselves to themselves.  With that, Smokey arrives.  It wasn’t long before Smokey threatens to kill them if Desmond didn’t follow him to the glowing light in the centre of the island; needless to say good old Desmond agreed so long as he gave his word that he would never harm them, ever.

Soon Jack and his gang once again joined by Sawyer, met up with Smokey, Ben and Desmond.  I thought an epic battle would begin but no, Jack didn’t see the need for it.  Instead he suggested that he, Smokey and Ben make the trip to the centre of the island alone.

It seems Smokey’s plan to destroy the island meshed pretty nicely with Jack’s plan to destroy Smokey, so they decided to cooperate instead by helping Desmond down into the light in the cave at the centre of the island.  Once down there Desmond somehow knew to pull the stone cork out of a shimmering pool, which turned off the all-important light and triggered a load of earthquakes which would ultimately destroy the island and see it fall into the ocean.  The result left a smug Smokey believing that he was the winner.  It left Jack believing it was finally the right time to destroy Smokey so he attacks him.  Finally, a bit of action.

It would seem for Jack that there was a huge advantage by turning off the light; it also turned off the islands magic.  Smokey was now flesh and blood, with an emphasis on the latter once Jack set to town on him.  Jack attempted to choke Smokey but he fought back and stabbed Jack.

As if by magic, Kate appeared out of nowhere and shot Smokey (ironically telling him she had saved a bullet for him after earlier in the episode, him telling her that bullets did not harm him so she should save them).  That’s right, just as the fight was really getting going Kate stepping in and cut it short once again showing who wore the trousers.  In Jack’s defence, he did get one final kick in and sent Smokey plummeting over the cliff to his death.  But there was still work to be done, if the island was ever going to stop rumbling, someone needed to put the cork back into the source and stop the earthquakes, restoring the islands magical powers.  Jack volunteers, obviously.

Jack urges his friends to leave; after all, Frank (who amazingly survived the sub explosion), Richard and Miles planned to fly away on the plane.  Sawyer and Kate decided to go, but Hurley and Ben stayed with Jack.  Just before Jack plunged into the same hole that Desmond climbed down into, he prepares a special muck-water drink for Hurley.  It was the big guys turn to be the new Jacob (or should that be Jack-ob?).  The ‘dude’ would now protect the island and thanks to his kind nature, Ben would get a second chance at being the leader’s right-hand man.  Personally, I would have shot him.  Once at the bottom, Jack spots Desmond and helps him to safety by attaching him to the rope so Hurley and Ben could pull him up before grabbing the cork and replacing it, thus self-sacrificing himself to the island.

The end.

No, not really.

It’s a shame really as if that had been the end it would have kind of made sense.  It would have been a typical TV closure to all of the island action.  Sure, it would have left a lot of questions unanswered and we would have been left wondering about the alternate realty glimpses we had been seeing all season, but as is often the case, sometimes it’s better not to know the answers than be given them and be disappointed.  In fairness to the alternate reality world, it had its moments.  A rapid fire series of ‘aha’ moments, but still, they went someway to explaining why the alternate reality world existed, and of course left viewers needing a box of tissues adding to the build up of the finale.

There was the moment Juliet administered Sun’s ultrasound and triggered the Kwons other-life memories.  Sniff.  Or when Sayid attempted to rescue a seemingly random woman only to touch her hand and instantly know she was none other than his island-love, Shannon.  Sniff.  Or when Kate helped Claire deliver Aaron and suddenly knew everything, and then Claire touched Aaron and remembered everything, and then Charlie touched Claire and… You get the idea.  Sniff, sniff and more sniff.

Locke had his own somewhat less tear-jerking solo flash after Jack completed his operation.  A wiggle of the toes brought to mind another lifetime of mobility back on the island.  Of course the big mind-reunions were saved for the members of the islands old love quadrangle.

For Sawyer and Juliet, it was simply a shared moment by a glowing vending machine, they went from strangers to passionate lovers in seconds; but then of course chocolate can have that effect.  Then there was Jack, who despite multiple flashes of the other world kept trying to push back the memories.  He even saw something when Locke had his own moment, but perhaps Locke’s insistence that Jack’s son, David, didn’t really exist inspired some denial for Jack.  But you know what he couldn’t deny?  Kate.

Although he still wasn’t ready to fully accept his former life, just a touch from Kate was enough to get him to tag along with the others to the big group get together she and the others had planned at the church.  Not just any church either, this was the church where Oceanic had finally delivered Jack’s dads remains.  So while Kate joins the others in the pews, Jack has some private time with his dad’s coffin.  Of course it came as no surprise that Jack’s dad was not in the coffin.  While Jack stood mourning his dad, a voice says ‘Hey, kiddo!’ and in the ensuing moments his dad explains exactly what the alternate reality actually was ; a place where jack and his pals created one big, post-mortem meet up.  They were all actually dead.  Jacks dad then open the church doors into the light.

That’s right, it wasn’t a different thread of reality as we were lead to believe created by the time-changing blast Daniel Faraday suggested.  That would have made far too much sense.  Instead, it was just some oddly plotted excuse for everyone to get together after their respected deaths but before they moved on to whatever follows.

What was the point of everything before that?  What about all that alternate reality action?  The alternate reality escapes and killings?  Simple, there weren’t any.

The end.

Yes, really this time.

So what questions did the finale actually answer and what questions still remain?  Here are a few questions that have been answered in one way or another, some conclusively and some with a little imagination:

• What happened actually happened.  The plane crash, the polar bears, Jacob and the Hatch were all real people, places and things that the characters experienced
• The season 6 alternate reality however did not.  The flashes represented a kind of waiting room for the characters to exist in until they were ready to move onto the next world together, whether that is heaven or somewhere else.  The people who existed in the alternate reality world and the events that happened, such as Jack’s son or Ben’s teaching job, were not real
• Not every character died on the island.  Sawyer, Kate, Miles, Richard and Frank all managed to fly off the island to finish living their lives.  Kate’s line to Jack, ‘It’s been a really long time’ is a strong indication that she went on to have a long life after she left
• Hurley is the new Jacob.  Jack assumed the job for just a few hours after Jacob died before passing the torch to Hurley, who kept it for the long haul.  There’s the scene just outside the church where Ben and Hurley pat themselves on the back for doing such a good job, indicating they were a team who shared experiences for a long time
• The show it would seem was about Jack all along.  Just as the pilot episode started with a shot of Jack opening his eyes, the finale ended with a shot of Jack closing his eyes.  He began the journey as a broken man, but finished content.  His dads final words in the last 10 minutes gave Jack the answers that he was looking for

But what still remains?

• Why couldn’t woman have babies on the island?  There are a lot of theories, like radiation poisoning from the nuclear bomb or Jacob’s interference to get Juliet to the island, but the finale didn’t really explain anything
• What happened to Smokey?  He wasn’t the man in black, because Jacob killed that man.  He assumed the appearance of dead people, but then got trapped in Locke.  Why?  And what was so terrible about letting him escape the island?  Why protect the island at all for that matter?
• What was the real role of the DHARMA Initiative?  The island was supposed to be impossible to find so did Jacob orchestrate the whole thing?  Why would he?  If you remember, Ben Killed all the DHARMA people with the help of Richard (the ‘purge’) who in turn was working for Jacob
• How exactly does the corking and uncorking of the islands magic pool work? And why didn’t Jack turn into another Smokey once the water started filling the pool back up?  Mother (i.e. Jacobs) warned us that the water was a fate worse than death; it seemed to turn the man in black into Smokey, and judging by Desmond’s screams it was painful to touch.  Jack however, seemed just fine lying in the water as it filled back up
• Why did Oceanic 815 crash?  Was it an accident or by design?

I for one am more confused after watching the finale than I was last week!  There is a lot that has been left open to interpretation which is a shame; I’d have liked to have seen a more conclusive finale, answering all of the questions from the island, from the crash and the DHARMA Initiative right through Jacob and the ‘magical’ powers of the island.  It’s almost as if the writers had writers block when scripting the final season; or had been too clever with the first few seasons to be able to make everything come together in a believable way.

On balance, I have enjoyed Lost but the finale?  Well, that’s another matter…

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