Lost [FINALE SPOILERS PAGE 25 ONWARDS]

[Merusk]

The butthurt is amusing, let them continue to rant.

[Samwise]

Richard wasn't the leader of the Others and was often working FOR the leader, who supposedly took orders from Jacob (though in Ben's case, we know it wasn't Jacob but Smokey).

Negative.  Ben said at one point to Locke (or maybe it was fake-Locke, I forget now) that he'd never actually spoken to Jacob, and he was butthurt because Locke got to and he didn't.

According to Richard's origin story in s6, his purpose was to talk to people on Jacob's behalf.  Maybe not "lead" them, but he was supposed to be the voice of Jacob, and presumably "advise" the leaders of the Others based on what Jacob told him.  That was his whole purpose in life.  But I suspect the writers didn't come up with that purpose until s6, and prior to that point they just had Richard down as "mysterious immortal guy with eyeliner and no particular agenda", which is why that explanation doesn't actually match up with anything he did in previous seasons.  Bleh.

[Vaiti]

Remember when Michael appeared to Hurley, he said he was not allowed to leave the Island. Just like the MIB. He wasn't allowed into this sideways world and thus, was not afforded the opportunity to move on. Why? Because he had proven himself to be unworthy with his actions on the Island. He failed the test. The others, passed. They made it into Sideways world when they died

Keamy.

If that was from one of the writers, then he didn't watch the show he was writing.

[Draegan]

then he didn't watch the show he was writing.

Would that surprise you?

[Samwise]

The mechanics of the sideways/purgatory world suggest to me that it was entirely constructed for the benefit of the main characters; all the other "people" in that world are figments of their imagination.  Jack's son, for sure, and I would guess any characters that they didn't bother to "awaken".  The thing from the "writer" that suggests that the purgatory world is someplace everyone goes to doesn't make as much sense to me since everything in that world seemed to revolve around the main characters (i.e. everything had been rearranged to give them all relatively happy existences that would help them find peace, or something).

For example, I would guess that the "real" people in purgatory couldn't die (being already dead), which is why Desmond happily whacked Locke with his car without any fear of killing him and messing the whole thing up.  But "imaginary" people who were basically just stage props to help the real people work their issues out could die just fine, like Keamy.

The main question this leaves is who all was real and who wasn't.  For example, was the newborn Aaron in purgatory real, or was he a prop?  If he has to spend his afterlife as a one day old baby just because that was when he was on the island with his mom, that's kinda fucked up IMO; he never gets to reunite with his soulmate then.

[Rishathra]

According to Richard's origin story in s6, his purpose was to talk to people on Jacob's behalf.  Maybe not "lead" them, but he was supposed to be the voice of Jacob, and presumably "advise" the leaders of the Others based on what Jacob told him.  That was his whole purpose in life.  But I suspect the writers didn't come up with that purpose until s6, and prior to that point they just had Richard down as "mysterious immortal guy with eyeliner and no particular agenda", which is why that explanation doesn't actually match up with anything he did in previous seasons.  Bleh.

Actually it was pointed out pretty early on that Richard was an 'advisor of sorts' to the Others, and that he had been around for a long time.  Long before season six, at least, and not long after his character's introduction.

As to the nature of the sideways, to me the statement, "there is no now, here" sums it up well enough.  Why wasn't <insert character here> in the church?  Because this wasn't necessarily the group of people that was most important to them.  In fact, I think that we can include Jack's dad in this group.  To me, that final scene played out in a way that suggested he was merely there as a guide, and that he had already himself moved on.  "Already" being a somewhat nebulous term, of course.

I'm in agreement with most here that the handling of the overall story arc and the various plotlines and mysteries was handled atrociously, but ultimately, I'm still happy with how they handled the characters themselves.  The finale gave me a nice chance to say goodbye to them.

[Draegan]

I still don't see how people are satisfied with the characters.  You got a hamhanded mushy ending where everyone was happy!  Yay?  Jack died!  Oh wait he lived!  Who gives a shit!  They took out all the emotional punch of the "Jack eyes close for the last time" because you know he's in heaven fucking Kate.

Edit:
Oh and Choose your own answer.

[Samwise]

Actually it was pointed out pretty early on that Richard was an 'advisor of sorts' to the Others, and that he had been around for a long time.  Long before season six, at least, and not long after his character's introduction.

Yes, but I can't think of any instances where we see him offering any advice that seems to further Jacob's supposed goals.  On the other hand, I can think of a few cases where if he WAS passing advice from Jacob to the Others, they would have done different things than what they did.  Like spending two seasons being giant assholes to the candidates for no apparent reason (but not killing them like they would be if they were somehow taking advice from Smokey instead).

[Teleku]

I still don't see how people are satisfied with the characters.  You got a hamhanded mushy ending where everyone was happy!  Yay?  Jack died!  Oh wait he lived!  Who gives a shit!  They took out all the emotional punch of the "Jack eyes close for the last time" because you know he's in heaven fucking Kate.

Edit:
Oh and Choose your own answer.

Eh, I think that's a bit harsh.  While I've been bashing on the ending a lot, I still liked the purgatory way out.  I was pissed and upset with them killing off some of the people they did, and it was nice to just give everybody a sort of happy ending (I mean, for fuck sake, most of them still died violent deaths).  It didn't take away the emotional impact of the end for me when Jack died.

[Ironwood]

Still not sure why you would run someone down in your car in heaven.

 

[Paelos]

Still not sure why you would run someone down in your car in heaven.

 

Insurance scam.

[Draegan]

I still don't see how people are satisfied with the characters.  You got a hamhanded mushy ending where everyone was happy!  Yay?  Jack died!  Oh wait he lived!  Who gives a shit!  They took out all the emotional punch of the "Jack eyes close for the last time" because you know he's in heaven fucking Kate.

Edit:
Oh and Choose your own answer.

Eh, I think that's a bit harsh.  While I've been bashing on the ending a lot, I still liked the purgatory way out.  I was pissed and upset with them killing off some of the people they did, and it was nice to just give everybody a sort of happy ending (I mean, for fuck sake, most of them still died violent deaths).  It didn't take away the emotional impact of the end for me when Jack died.

How is there any emotion in what happens on the island when you know they're all happy in the afterlife.  It just cheapens the whole Lost on the Island experience.  (I'm getting very close to a death penalty in MMOGs argument)  As soon as I figured out everyone was going to heaven (except black people) I really didn't care what happened on the island or if they died or lived.  It really didn't matter.  I felt like I got taken for an idiot and was force fed a happy ending to make me feel better about myself.  Meh. 

[Paelos]

Just as a point of advice, don't give any eulogies. 

[Draegan]

 

[Teleku]

Just as a point of advice, don't give any eulogies. 

Haha, yeah, that's what I was thinking.  I mean, knowing your love ones are off in heaven doesn't really take away the sting at all that their dead.   

Wouldn't you just assume Jack would be off fucking Kate in heaven anyways, even if they didn't show the afterlife stuff?

[HaemishM]

As soon as I figured out everyone was going to heaven (except black people) I really didn't care what happened on the island or if they died or lived. 

Except everyone didn't go to heaven. Michael was still on the island working out his stuff. Keamy didn't go to heaven, and apparently spends purgatory being shot by people. The man in black wasn't in purgatory, nor was Jacob. A lot of the Others (Dogan, Tom) didn't go to heaven though they may eventually work their way there if they can accept their lives and deaths.

[Draegan]

As soon as I figured out everyone was going to heaven (except black people) I really didn't care what happened on the island or if they died or lived.

Except everyone didn't go to heaven. Michael was still on the island working out his stuff. Keamy didn't go to heaven, and apparently spends purgatory being shot by people. The man in black wasn't in purgatory, nor was Jacob. A lot of the Others (Dogan, Tom) didn't go to heaven though they may eventually work their way there if they can accept their lives and deaths.

Maybe you can list a bunch of other characters no one cares about.  I mean really, Keamy?

[Soln]

The show peaked at the hatch.

I think I have to agree there.  Dharma was a much better mystery than Jacob.

yeah have to also agree

[Special J]

Maybe you can list a bunch of other characters no one cares about.  I mean really, Keamy?

George Minkowski? 

[tazelbain]

Kate Austin.

[Teleku]

As soon as I figured out everyone was going to heaven (except black people) I really didn't care what happened on the island or if they died or lived. 

Except everyone didn't go to heaven. Michael was still on the island working out his stuff. Keamy didn't go to heaven, and apparently spends purgatory being shot by people. The man in black wasn't in purgatory, nor was Jacob. A lot of the Others (Dogan, Tom) didn't go to heaven though they may eventually work their way there if they can accept their lives and deaths.

Well, that purgatory was suppose to just be a special purgatory for the lost people, not everybody.  Other groups of people who die go to there own special purgatory as well.  So the others not showing up doesn't mean they didn't get to heave or were reincarnated, they just weren't really apart of that group moving on together.  People like Keamy might not actually be the real beings/souls, and are just illusions in this purgatory like everybody else in the city.  Or maybe Keamy gets to spend purgatory constantly getting shot before moving on to the next life.   

One thing I noticed on my second watch through of the end was the stain glass window in the church.  Kind of cool:


I noticed that the room was filled with idols and trinkets from just about every religion as well.

[Draegan]

Did anyone catch this in the background?

[Lucas]

The two main authors of the show (Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse) will be hiding in a secret place stashing all their gold pieces on a "media-silence" for the next 3 or 4 months. but before the finale Lindelof wrote the following:

http://screenrant.com/lost-series-finale-damon-lindelof-aco-61896/

From all of us who made the show, we really hope that you don’t feel it was a waste of your time. We hope that you spent the entire night not just thinking about the finale on a story level, but that you were emotionally affected by it.

There are two feelings that you feel when you watch the ending of a television show. The first is the feeling that you have of just understanding that the show is over and the second is what your response is to actually what’s happening on the screen.

What I liked about the Soprano’s finale was that it changed the experience because when Chase cut to black, suddenly that feeling of “the show’s over” was replaced by “is my cable out?” – he kind of changed the conversation about it.

For us, we tried to write the last two and a half hours of the show so that those two feelings would feel like they were the same thing. So, you’re feeling of saying goodbye to the show – of the show not being around anymore – was actually literally perfectly paralleling what we were showing you on the screen.

If you had an experience anything like that, then it was mission accomplished.

If you didn’t, we blew it and I apologize.



Oh, and by the way, regarding the supposed "writer" who posted a longish interpretation of the finale in a forum, here's a tidbit from DarkUFO (one of the most popular Lost websites out there):

Update: 26th May I've spoken to ABC and they have confirmed that this person did use to work for ABC as an Intern but were released 3 years ago.

http://lostmediamentions.blogspot.com/2010/05/someone-from-bad-robots-take-on-finale.html

[MrHat]

lol

How it should've ended:



Thank You Internet.

[Paelos]

What I liked about the Soprano’s finale was that it changed the experience because when Chase cut to black, suddenly that feeling of “the show’s over” was replaced by “is my cable out?” – he kind of changed the conversation about it.

If I take nothing else away from that quote, this statement alone proves this man is a raving lunatic and shouldn't be allowed to write for anything ever again.

[rattran]

lol

How it should've ended:



Thank You Internet.

Heh, just came to post that.

[Samwise]

I've been cracking up at that goddamn gif for like ten minutes straight now.

[Draegan]

What I liked about the Soprano’s finale was that it changed the experience because when Chase cut to black, suddenly that feeling of “the show’s over” was replaced by “is my cable out?” – he kind of changed the conversation about it.

If I take nothing else away from that quote, this statement alone proves this man is a raving lunatic and shouldn't be allowed to write for anything ever again.

I knew those two writers were a pair of douchebags but now I know at least one is a dumb asshole too.

[palmer_eldritch]

The sideways world being purgatory was fine with me, but as others have said it was a separate mystery to all the mysteries we were meant to care about throughout most of the show.

Having watched it all, I still have no idea what the island actually was, what that statue was, what the glowing thing in the water was, how come people came back to life, how come Jacob had the magic powers he seemed to have (seeing as he was just a normal guy apart from not dying?), what the numbers on the lighthouse were all about, why those people were so keen to kidnap Walt and, I dunno, a load of other stuff.

I mean, I get that the island and the glowing thing had to survive in order for humanity to survive (is that right?) but I have no idea why.

I’m not asking anyone to post the explanations here, just saying.

You should have some basic idea what was happening by the end of a show like that, even if there’s plenty left which only the more attentive/smarter viewers will get, or plenty for people to put their own interpretation on.

[Sir T]

I have to compare Lost with another M=ystery based show - Babylon 5. They set up a whole host of mysteries in Season one, why did the Minbari surrender to Earth during the War, why did the previous station vanish, etc. And they began answering all those questions as the show progressed. For instance the answer as to why the Minbari surrendered was answered in the very first episode of Season 2, though it had ramifications that were not fully resolved till the middle of Season 4. At the end all the questions were pretty much answered as they began answering the questions as the show progressed, and using those answers to drive the overall story forward. People might have not have liked some of the answers, but no-one was asking what the hell.

Then again, JMS admitted he changed the story in small ways to fit things together as he went along.

[Ratman_tf]

People might have not have liked some of the answers, but no-one was asking what the hell.

B5 is a great example. They left a ton of questions unanswered, but answered the ones they set out at the beginning, and in a way that made sense as they related to the story. I can look back on B5 and say "Yeah, that's what they meant. That's where they were headed."

Lost? *snerk* I think the title works on a lot of levels. 

[K9]

I've been cracking up at that goddamn gif for like ten minutes straight now.

[Vaiti]

Best part of that .gif is the very last frame. The animation rate is too fast on it for you to see it while it's playing, but chrome screwed up the other day on me and .gif's stopped playing right, so it just showed the last frame for me.

It says Lost: The Dream of the Little Yellow Dog 

[ahoythematey]

Didn't see this posted.



I liked the ending.

[Miasma]

Amusing previous post explanation...

I'm also good with the ending.