The End - Lost Season 6 Episode 17 & 18 Review
Written by admin on May 27, 2010
First of all, I’d just like to say thank you for reading this blog. I haven’t written reviews since The Lighthouse, mainly through lack of time, but I also didn’t feel very inspired to continue. I’ve loved Lost since The Pilot and thought every season was amazing, and even though I fully enjoyed season 6 too, I just didn’t feel as compelled to write about it as I had before.
That being said, I feel it’s only right that I write about my thoughts on The End. It’s a way for me to say goodbye to what has been an amazing ride. And even though my feelings about The End aren’t as positive as most, I’ll never forget how amazing the show was before that.
Without further adieu
I have to admit I was really dissapointed with The End. Actually, I was enjoying it very much up until Christian Shepherd appeared. Up until that point I thought the episode was amazing. But then we find out that the “Flash Side Ways” is a form of afterlife, something that that particular group of people created so that they could “move on”. It didn’t make sense to me.
Now, I’m not one who wanted all the answers. I’d have been quite happy for the show to end with mystery still surrounding it, something to keep us talking and theorizing about it for years, and even though there are alot of unanswered questions, The End didn’t give us any meaning for those questions. There was no resolution as to what we’ve been witnessing over the last 6 years. I was looking for an end that gave the mysteries a purpose, an end that would make me want to re-watch from The Pilot and spot clues, or to confirm that the writers knew what they were doing all along.
It feels like this was just thrown in at the last minute because they couldn’t give it any real “closure”. All those questions, all those mysteries, were for nothing.
Afterall, the “Flash Side Ways” was only introduced to us in Season 6. This season could have been so much better had they focused more on giving us closure on already established mysteries, instead of introducing us to a new mystery that was the “Flash Side Ways”. Fair enough, we know now what that is, but why introduce it in the first place? It had no purpose, no reason. Everything we’ve seen up until Season 5 didn’t relate to what we’ve seen in Season 6. It didn’t match. I honestly believe that Season 6 could be a standalone season and Seasons 1-5 are better off without it.
I know there are alot of fans who loved the ending, and they are entitled to their opinion, much as I am mine.
I fail to understand why The End was perceived as the best possible ending for Lost. They all died. They were in the afterlife. They were “living” in the afterlife but not with each other. As soon as they remembered everything they had no time to “live” with each other. They had to move on. So what was the point?
I think it’s safe to say that I could go on forever about how dissapointed I was with The End. It isn’t because I expected answers, it’s because The End didn’t give the island and its mysteries a purpose.
Lost has been my favourite show since it started, I was hooked from the very beginning, but now I’m not even sure I’d want to watch it again. And that makes me sad.
What lies in the shadow of the statue? Certainly not he who will save us all…
Namaste x
LA X - Lost Season 6 Episodes 1&2 Review
What Kate Does - Lost Season 6 Episode 3 Review
The Substitute - Lost Season 6 Episode 4 Review
Lighthouse - Lost Season 6 Episode 5 Review
The End - Lost Season 6 Episode 17 & 18 Review
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May 27th, 2010 at 11:41 am
Namaste x, thanks for the review.
It almost seems that for the die hard lost fans, we need some sort of closure to an ending that was very unsatisfactory to say the least.
I agree that the flash sideways was pointless and there was no point on introducing it in the first place. My thought is that the writers could not come up with explanation for all the mysteries, and thus focused on a flash sideways/emotional/character development in order to distract us and hopefully satisfy enough viewers.
I believe now that the mysteries introduced during season 2-5 was simply a way to keep the viewers tuned in. We have to face the fact that the writers did not have a plan all along. What really bothers me is those reviews talking about how brilliant the ending was because it was left for interpretation and we can theorize the ending based on our own beliefs, blah blah, bunch of people attempting to be artsy and smart. It’s like those movie reviewers that always give a film they don’t understand a great review, or the art critics that give raving reviews on a piece of art with random splashes of paint on it.
I know I’m sounding like a ranting lunatic. I mean, imagine you go see a movie like Sherlock Holmes and for the first hour and a half, they build a great murder mystery that Holmes is trying to solve. You’re hooked in, you’re also thinking, you want to know what how the mystery resolves itself so you can compare your hypothesis as well. Then with no explanation, the last half an hour of the movie just completely ignores the murder and focuses on “character development” as Sherlock gets together with that girl, falls in love and sacrifices for one another. Then the writer at the end comes out and says “oh, the Sherlock murder mystery was just to set up the character love relationship.”.
I say Bull Crappy!!! You guys didn’t know the ending, there was no general plan, it was a mere tactic to gather ratings and keep us tuned in. It was for the money. Don’t try to pretend it was something with a greater meaning than a money grabbing machine for the network and JJ.
Ken
May 27th, 2010 at 11:56 am
Upon rethinking about season 6, I now believe I can answer every lost question that anyone have with one sentence.
Let me go ahead and tackle some of the hard ones first so that us lost fans can get the closure.
1) How can they time travel?
That answer is easy, the light gave the island special powers and it can bend time.
2) What was up with the polar bear and the black horse?
Again, the light gave special powers to breed polar bears and black horses on the island.
3) How did the Dharma initiative guys get on the island and what was their purpose?
Easy, they were curious about the special light. And since the light was special, it led them there.
4) Why did MIB turned into Smokie while Jack and others didn’t?
Again, the light was special so it knew how to turn bad guys into bad things and leave the good guys alone.
5) Why did they have to protect the light?
Because it’s special, duh!
6) What was with those numbers?
The light was the source for those special numbers, the light made it up.
7) Why were some people able to see and hear dead people?
Because the light gave them powers to communicate with the dead.
8) Why couldn’t Smokie leave the island?
The light told him he couldn’t.
9) What were the rules?
The rules are whatever the light decides the rules are.
10) What was with the drinking/baptism water?
The water had been touched by the light, so it was special.
I think I just did as good of a job as the writers did explaining the mysteries behind the lost. :)
October 29th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Dear Namaste,
What I think is just so amazing about this show is that it is not just a mythological journey, but a spiritual journey as well.
It is unbelievable to me that a show that has kept TV fans coming back each week for 6 years is one that is steeped in biblical mythology.
There is a line at the end of Star Trek Generations ( I know a terrible movie ) where Picard says, “What we leave behind is not as important as how we lived.” I believe that this is what LOST offers us as a commentary.
The unanswered questions, the unanswered mysteries, are not the important aspect of the series. It is the FATE of the characters that has kept us coming back for more. Whether it was flashbacks that revealed how they got caught up in the island, or flash florwards, to a FATE that wasn’t meant to be, to a flash sideways, that gave them a chance at some sort of happiness, or dare I say it, “reward”, for their sacrifce.
In the end, the whole series was a group of experiences, past, present, future, and alternate life that these characters lived. All of these things lead to that church, the funnel of life where all of our paths cross. The fact that all of those characters met in that space shows the grace of Gad and the promised peace at the end of our lives.
September 6th, 2011 at 3:21 am
Wonderful show! I loved the ending even with all the many unanswered mysteries. I never regret watching it from Season one. Thank you to the writers and producers of LOST (no TV show will top it, IMO).
Thanks to Ken (in this thread) for answering in one sentence some of the most famous questions people have with Lost.
I MISS LOST TERRIBLY.
November 25th, 2011 at 5:28 pm
I think the producers would like us to compare the series end to the movie A Space Oddysey. Argueably one of the best movies ever by the way. One of the critiques about the movie; the end left you were left with more questions than answers, engineered as such for you to walk away deeply questioning, pondering and eventually (or not) reaching your own conclusions as to what the heck this movie was supposed to be about and the message (if any) are we supposed to be left with. IE abridged - your own interpretation is required please.
For some reason I don’t believe the Lost producers had planned this type of ending all along. But I do believe Oliver Stone did.