Renault on 24/5/2010 at 06:54
Yeah, I gotta say, even if the show wasn't originally about the characters being in purgatory or hell (as the writers claimed), making it that way in the alt timeline looks pretty bad, and doesn't exactly support the case that they made years ago. They really should have stayed far, far away from the purgatory/hell scenario altogether, mainly because it seems most people thought it was lame from the start anyway.
The disappointing thing is that there were so many other cooler, more interesting options they could have used with alt. It's basically a cop out to go the route they went.
Renzatic on 24/5/2010 at 06:54
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
I say all of this with a fully functioning disclaimer that I gave up on season 3
Which is a damn crying shame, considering seasons 4 & (especially) 5 were arguably the best of the series.
Anyway, I liked the show, regardless of the fact that one core mystery was left unresolved (or open to interpretation if you want to get fancy). Everything else was wrapped up quite nicely. We know what the Dharma Initiative was and why it was there, who The Others were, what the smoke monster was, basically everything going on since they crashed the plane on the island. Not a bad chunk of answers given.
Sure, we'll never know what the glowy yellow light was, or why turning a frozen donkey wheel that's been stuck in it shoots you all the way to the other side of the Earth. But I don't think we were ever meant to know every little thing. Instead, the writers have made it some great unknowable. Something scores of people throughout the centuries have tried to come to terms with, but have always fallen short of truly understanding. That core mystery was used as the catalyst for all the other mysteries, of which most have have been resolved with a (sometimes) satisfactory explanation.
...or the whole thing was just a huge copout and holy fucking shit fuck Lost. You know. Whatever. All I know is my Tuesday nights are free again after being held hostage for 6 years.
Scots Taffer on 24/5/2010 at 06:56
Yeah, someone said this which I thought was interesting:
Quote:
I think LOST is religious storytelling at its finest. It's a show about religion, and religion necessarily seeks to explain the inexplicable beginning and ending of existence. LOST has an explanation- The Light- that's as good as any other. It's pure nonsense; it's a MacGuffin. What matters is not the MacGuffin, but what it means within the context of the story and how it fits the context of the explanations offered by past mythological storytellers. And by that measure it is perfect. It encompasses creation and destruction and Heaven and Hell and it is guarded by foolish and destructive men who act selfishly and impulsively and thereby endanger its existence. I don't think there's a better metaphor for the relationship between the fundamental idea of The Sublime and its treatment by religion.
Renzatic on 24/5/2010 at 07:19
Yeah, that's about dead on. Or at least as apt an explanation of Lost you're ever likely to find.
Fafhrd on 24/5/2010 at 07:20
There were some spectacularly effective emotional moments in this ender, but I kind of feel like the ending took a dump on my chest. The whole sideways timeline didn't actually have any connection to what was going on on the Island, other than Jack, so that's pretty much half of this season that was just a giant waste of time.
Thor on 24/5/2010 at 10:01
It didn't have much connection, sure, but it had a nice meaning. The writers had been going clever all the way through the show and they scored.
I loved so much about this show. I loved the survival stuff and occasional misteries (like Jack followin' his dead father, stuff like that) during the first season. The further the show went on, the more it concentrated on events and personal stuff and more misteries. The show had more magic back then, sure, but it still remains asskicking as ever. The whole show was about misery, so it even went off being one. Everyone had found their ways, pretty much through faith/fate, otherwise known as Jacob.
Hmm, so much to say, but here's what I loved most:
- I was ultimately right about Hugo
- Locke's and Jack's final fight. It's like throughout the whole series they were rivals, enemies, and now they're finally settling the score, except Jack went to Locke's side and now just fought the demon within him. Pretty abstract stuff.
- Desmond being guy that does The stuff again. He also was the one who pretty much brought everyone together in the fake universe.
- Kate shot Locke? Wtf? That's new.
- Frank's alivezorz!
- The show ending exactly how it started. That is just... awesome.
Poor lonely Ben... He was pretty much the saddest character of the whole thing. :(
The only thing that really bothered me is they true purpuse of the island, which is free for interpretation. I'm assuming it's simply a power source to keep the balance in the world. Not too complicated, adds up to everything. Though that's just one side of the coin but the other side...
P.S. Speaking of the not-real universe, it's all fine and dandy, but it just didn't really make much sense, why would a hydrogen bomb exploding result in a dream universe.
Jack's final talk with his dad was epic. The meeting in there was like a reward from the island so everybody would see each other, no matter when they died. Means even Hugo died eventually.
P.S.S. I saw a pretty clear message in the series, pretty much saying, that
Man of faith > Man of science
Jack wasn't my favorite character, but in this season, especially the finale, he was great. Old characters like Boon, Libby, Charlie, Michael were great to see. Speaking of which, I guess not everybody made it to letting it go. :(
Now, all there is left to do is to shake off that lonely sad feeling I get from finishing a great story.
Last note... Best of all - Richard got mortal and thus found joy in living once again. I just wish it wouldn't have ended with such an emotionally executed death. Other characters were just as important. But then it wouldn't have ended how it started.
T-Shirt T-Smith, how did Sopranos end then?
JediKorenchkin on 24/5/2010 at 16:16
Quote Posted by T-Smith
Also, why doesn't Ben enter the church?
Isn't that obvious? Ben wasn't ready to move on. Even despite his redemption, and the several years he spent protecting the Island with Hugo, he doesn't feel like it makes up for all the wrong he did in his life.
T-Smith on 24/5/2010 at 16:20
Quote Posted by JediKorenchkin
Isn't that obvious? Ben wasn't ready to move on. Even despite his redemption, and the several years he spent protecting the Island with Hugo, he doesn't feel like it makes up for all the wrong he did in his life.
Seems fitting. It also fits in with the whispers - those who can't move on. Perhaps future inhabitants of the island can look forward to seeing ghost Ben.
Thor on 24/5/2010 at 17:30
Yeah, but it kind of sucks to be them, doesn't it? Even Jacob's bro went on. It's probably not even possible for those stuck to go anywhere.
Avalon on 24/5/2010 at 20:38
I was pretty happy with the way the series ended. I've really never liked Jack (especially the actor's horrible horrible failings at trying to do emotional scenes), but I've always loved Hugo, so that ending worked out pretty well.
I don't know if it was that 5 seasons of 0 answers killed my desire to figure it out, or if the ending was just executed really well, but I didn't mind what they left unexplained.
Really, the only questions I would have liked to see answered are: How exactly did the smoke guy become the smoke guy by falling into the light thing? What happened that made him go from "JACOB I LOVE YOU COME WITH ME" to "I'm going to kill you"? It was a pretty just punishment given the whole murdering thing he did, so I guess I don't understand his major character transformation, and why he specifically targeted Jacob for his hatred. I really don't get his entire character in the current time frame, given what we saw of pre-smoke in "Across the Sea," so I consider that whole episode a big mean tease.
