May 24, 2010

LOST

Breaking my blog silence to talk about LOST. How could I not, right?

Here is your spoiler bar:


__________________SPOILERS!!!_______________________



Seriously. Spoiler ahead.



Well, yesterday I watched a few first and last episodes of past LOST seasons to get ready. Even before watching the recap or finale, there were some AH! moments. Which makes me even more certain that if you go back and watch the whole show again knowing what you know now, you'll actually get more answers...or at least more inside information to help you form your own answers.

It's hard to even approach talking about the finale, because you have to consider LOST as a whole to be fair to the show and the characters.

Did we get the answers to the all LOST mysteries? Nope. We knew we wouldn't. But I'm okay with that. We knew more than Jack knew and since he is considered the 'main character', I'm happy that I know more than he knew. There are some answers still out there, I hear we'll get that in the DVD collection, but there are questions we will never have answered, and that is part of the point, which, by looking at the blogs out there already, a lot of people are pissed about. Oh well, sorry. Life isn't fair and you never get all the answers you want and a show like LOST can't answer them for you either. Which I think is exactly what the writers wanted you to do. Think about what the answers are for you. That is what I will do.

The Flashes:

I think that the Flashbacks, Flashforwards, and even the Flashsideways were all one long (yet quick) "my life flashed before my eyes" sequence. That nanosecond between life and death for all the characters (when their time had come) experienced all the flashes. Their past and Island life flashed before their eyes, then at the end of their Island story they all fell into the Sideways world, that they created, to finish their journey to the afterlife so they could be together. During the Sideways flashes, they each found their trigger of enlightenment which then gave them another "my life flashed before my eyes" moment to help them realize they were, in fact, dead. A flash within a flash. Fun.

They all arrived at this Limboland of Sideways together, despite when they died in the timeline, which would make sense because after you die, time is kinda irrelevant isn't it? So what about the people who weren't there? Walt, Miles, Daniel, Frank? Well their significant life moment wasn't all about the Island like it was for the rest of the castaways (the majority of them died on the island anyway) so their Limboland of Sideways is different, with different people who meant a great deal to them. And, if you think about it, those in the church really are the core characters of the LOST story.


The Island:

Life, Death, Rebirth. I didn't really dig into this meaning until watching the finale for the second time. Jack was reborn on the Island. He lived, really lived for the first time in his life on the Island. And he died on the Island. Okay. That works for me. I kinda like it too. But what WAS the Island? Exactly what Jacob said it was, the cork, keeping bad things locked up. Someone posted a comment about Juliet's line about the vending machine: "Unplug it, then plug it back in. It's legal." Guess it was "legal" to do on the Island too. If you need deeper meaning about what the Island is, who put it there, who was that woman guarding it before Jacob, what is the light, really, etc...I don't think you'll ever get it. You have to imagine it for yourself.

I do think that the Island has abilities and can bestow them on the Guardians. I don't need to know why, I just like the fact that the Island is special and can do special things and I don't mind that I don't know why. I think the Temple water is probably clear again and can heal. And I think more people will go to the Island.

Jacob:

I'm glad he learned from his mistakes and owned up to them. When he took over as Island Guardian, he was an immature Manchild without any true meaning of life and the real world around him. However, after his hundreds of years watching and obviously learning, he grew up. I think he knew all along that MIB would eventually get him, and I actually think Jacob knew exactly how he was going to die, what would happen after, and how the Island was going to be saved. Jack's line about Desmond coming back to the Island gives that theory a little more weight. Any other person pulling the plug would become another Smokey most likely, right? But not Des, because the Island touched Des when the hatch blew giving its protection to him, sorta like Jacob's touch protected his candidates. Jack ended up where MIB's body landed when he went to the heart of the island, but he lived. Why? Not entirely sure, but I think it either has something to do with the fact that he was technically still a Guardian when the light came back and hence just got teleported away from the light as another island protection mechanism. "Oh no, my Guardian fell into the hole! GET OUT!" *Poof*

The End:

Des and Jack save the Island because it DOES matter. MIB (Will we EVER know his name?) dies. Kate and Co. escape on the plane. Jack knows Hurely is going to protect the Island, lies down right where he woke up when the plane crashed, sees Vincent, and watches his friends fly off the Island to safety, starts to close his eyes, finds his trigger in Limboland of Sideways, and goes to the beyond with all the significant people he knew in his life. Okay, that works.

We have no idea what happened to Kate, Sawyer, Claire and the others on the plane. We don't know if Rose and Bernard lived through the Island quake. What about Desmond? We don't know how long Hurely was Guardian with his new Bichard, nor do we know who is Guardian of the Island now.

I'm okay with that.

I have my own ideas about what happened to them all. I think Hurely let the LOSTIES visit him and guarded the Island for a long time and probably did it better than anyone ever did before him. I believe Rose and Bernard lived happily with Vincent on the Island. I believe that Des and the others went home and lived their lives as best they could after their experiences on the Island and are better off because of it. And I think Walt went back to the Island to take over after Hurely. Maybe. Or Aaron. Possibly. See, isn't this fun?

There are a lot of unanswered questions. But if you go back and watch the show again, you will find some. For instance: Someone asked the writers to explain the Polar Bears. What explanation do you really need? All the answers are in the show. Dharma brought them there for experiments. What kinds? All kinds probably. Genetic testing to survive warmer climates, teleporting in the Orchid, or perhaps turning the Donkey wheel? A Polar Bear skeleton was found (by Charlotte) in the same dessert Locke and Ben showed up in when they turned it. Do you really need a more solid answer? Some, like why couldn't the women stay pregnant on the Island, won't have a formal answer, but the show leaves you with clues for you to come up with your own explanation, say, for instance, no one could stay pregnant because of "Mother" killing Jacob and MIB's real mother, or the Incident caused the problem, or left over gas from the Purge had something to do with it, we'll probably never know. What about all the weirdo Dharma stuff? The Map? Why did the Others want the kids? To me, they aren't so important. Leaving some things unanswered allows us all to come up with great theories and explanations.

Yet, in true LOST fashion, they indeed gave us even more questions up until the very end. Skeletons in the light well? Great!! But that's okay too. Life is about questions and searching for answers. Sometimes you get them, but sometimes you don't.

The first time I watched The End...I was like huh? Really? But then my BFF and I started to talk about it, and I began to wield my theories, and the more I talked, the more it made sense, the more it meant to me. When I drove home, I heard a few songs on the radio that made me think of LOST and I got a bit emotional. I came home, read a few recaps from various places, then decided to watch it again. This time, I cried a lot. I wasn't expecting it, but because I knew the end, some of the scenes had more of an impact on me, especially Sun and Jin and Jack and Christian. So I'm pretty sure I will sit down and watch the show all the way through again to pick up minor details the writers always intended us to catch after we knew the ending. For now, though, I'm still thinking, reading, and talking about it.

What did you think? What are your theories/ideas? What questions do you still want answered?

Lostpedia is a great place for LOST freaks. I suggest you check it out, you may find an answer to one of your questions.

Now, I have to go say goodbye to another favorite show, 24. *Sigh*

No comments: