Sunday, May 23, 2010
Lost: The End Has Come at Last
Wow. Where to begin? This is one of those landmarks in not only television history, but in millions of lives, including mine. Tonight, Lost joined the pantheon of mythic series finales that includes Seinfeld and M*A*S*H. It's a show that's become ingrained in the American pop culture psyche. The numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 can never be used in conjunction again without conjuring images of the island drama. Any time you hear "brotha," you're going to think of a certain button-mashing Scotsman. See Mathew Fox in his next blockbuster and you're going to think it's weird his name isn't "Jack." I could go on for hours, but the point is, this finale was bigger than all of us. I feel almost foolish attempting a review of it, but I need to get my thoughts down so that 20 years from now, I can look back and remember how the ending of Lost made me feel. Because in the end, that's hugely important, and something Lost nailed on the head tonight. I have my gripes with the finale, but for the most part, Lost went out on a high note.
Let's start out with the episode's biggest strength- the flash sideways. I was truly shocked at how much the alternate timeline stole the spotlight in the show's final hours. In a way, I'm a bit perturbed that a plot device got more attention than the reality we'd been invested in for six whole seasons, but it was so well done, I'm willing to forgive the showrunners to a point. And if you don't believe that the flash sideways ruled the finale, let me ask you this: two weeks from now, when I mention this finale, what's the first thing you'll likely remember? For me, it's the flashes we were treated to all night. I think more than a few people got choked up watching them, and there's no doubt Cuse and Lindelof (C&L) packed a ton of them into the two-and-a-half hours due to their impact. I'd been debating about the relevance of the flash sideways all season and I can honestly say I think it was explained beautifully. Basically, we were being shown the journey of our characters after their deaths as they learned to "let go." Apparently, the universe they inhabited was the place they designated as their meeting spot in the afterlife. In a way, I guess that makes Eloise Hawking's church the equivalent of being outside Heaven's gates. The survivors all met there before they moved on to whatever fate you wanted them to have. To put it simply, the island was real life, the sideways world was purgatory and the light at the end was "Heaven."
I can dig that. In fact, the flash sideways reminded us of one big reason we fell in love with Lost in the first place- the amazing characters. Each flash was so powerful, and watching who sparked the character's memories was quite an emotional whirlwind. Some highlights for me include Sun and Jin (2nd best couple behind Desmond and Penny) and Charlie and Claire. I wasn't sure about the choice for Jack's and Sayid's revelations, but they fit well enough. All in all, I'm happy to know that all our characters got to be together after their lives were over. In that regard, the flash sideways a big success. On the other hand, I firmly believe the device was introduced as a way to distract us from other important Lost mysteries this season. I got into this discussion with a friend on facebook, but there's no denying that Lost succeeded early on for more reasons than just stellar characters. This was a show about a crazy island that made Lost a unique and trippy experience, and by the end, we were so busy checking out the sideways world that we forgot about a resolution for the island storyline. We'll get to this more in a second, but if I have one gripe about the alternate storyline, it's that it seemed too distracting at points this season from the on-island drama.
Another thing that made this finale so powerful was the use of symmetry. It was hard not to get nostalgic with all the references to previous seasons that we got in this episode. There's the obvious ones, like the show beginning with Jack's eye opening and ending with his eye closing. There's the ones that were sprinkled throughout, like Jack and Locke staring down into an abyss with Desmond at the bottom and Jack telling Desmond, "See ya in another life, brotha." Then there were the more subtle ones, like the frantic airplane scene with Lapidus (a throwback to the season 4 scene with the helicopter) and the vending machine reunion between Sawyer and Juliet (reminiscent of Jacob's season 5 scene with Jack). These nods to the fans and odes to the glory days of Lost were greatly appreciated and helped add weight to the finale. By revisiting familiar scenes, lines and motifs, you could see the great deal of respect C&L had for the viewers and the show. They wanted everything to come full circle, and a healthy dose of symmetry is a great way to do just that.
All that being said, I feel that Lost fans were handed only 1/2 the ending they deserved last night. Granted, the half we got was spellbinding, but that doesn't make up for what was left out. I began to worry when I kept hearing C&L say that Lost was a character drama and the resolution they were crafting would deal with giving Jack & Co. the ending they deserved. Without sounding arrogant, the producers couldn't be more wrong. Lost is indeed a character drama, but it's much, MUCH more than just that. It's a character drama wrapped around a core of sci-fi mysteries. Lost is about an island capable of healing people, creating smoke monsters, jumping through time and generating huge amounts of electromagnetism. Like Michael Emerson said, the island is a character in and of itself. And as such, it did not get the resolution it deserved last night. C&L pulled the "character drama" card out as an excuse to shy away from answering the big questions once the expectations started to crush them. In a way, that's a huge disservice to the fans and an insult to their intelligence. They've basically said for five seasons "Look at what this crazy island can do, isn't it a weird place?" only to bail on offering an explanation for it all. If that was their plan all along, why not place these characters in Los Angeles and let this drama play out there? After all, this is a "character drama," right? Wouldn't all the viewers tune in regardless of where these amazing characters played out their story? I don't think so.
That emphasis on character resolution is the reason the flash sideways took center stage in the finale. Whether C&L thought no answer could meet fan expectations, or because they simply never knew themselves, Lost fans will never get an answer to the question posed in the second half of the pilot: "Guys, where are we?" Sure, we found out more about this crazy island over the next six seasons, but we never found out WHY the island was so significant. In fact, by not explaining the island to viewers, it cheapens Hurley and Ben's decision to stay and protect it. Why do they need to protect the island? The Man In Black is dead and only the protectors of the island can find the light that we're told is the heart of the island. Hell, they could sail on back to America and never worry about anything happening to the place they've sworn to protect. I can understand C&L being afraid to fall short of fan expectations, but any explanation is better than none. Tell us it's a spaceship, a time machine, a heavenly testing ground...tell us anything! Don't leave us hanging! "Open to interpretation" is fine. "Leaving you completely in the dark" is not. Just of the reviews I've read, the viewers who loved the finale said the ambiguity kept the show from having much punch. Sure, the ending we got was warm and fuzzy and made us all feel good, but it lacked balls, and that's sad considering how gutsy this show's always been.
Some people have said I'm focusing on the wrong thing by bemoaning the answers we didn't get. I say if you were watching Lost all along for Jack & Co., then I'm happy you got the ending you wanted. But along with millions of others, I watched the show because it spun this vast web of mystery and intrigue. Remember when the electromagnetic burst in season 2 gave Desmond ESP or when the island moved in season 4 or when the smoke monster wasn't some whiny, homesick dude? THAT was "Lost." Seeing all these sci-fi elements being embodied by a mysterious island was fascinating. I had no idea how they'd wrap it up. All along, I trusted the producers when they said they had a plan. Then the sixth season came along and every episode was an exercise in frustration and futility. That's when I started getting a little worried. It seemed the showrunners might not be as in control as they claimed to be. There were a couple episodes that helped me keep the faith, but for the most part, the sixth season was a disappointment and it made it pretty clear we might be headed for a lackluster resolution. While I wouldn't call "The End" lackluster, it did fail to deliver the answer many of us have clamored for since the pilot, and that's where it falls short.
From the first season to the sixth, Lost has always been a show divided. With flashbacks, flash forwards and flash sideways, we've come to view this show in halves. It also hasn't helped that along the way, the writers have done their best to keep the Oceanic survivors split up. Saying that, the finale was set up as a tale of two stories- on the island and flash sideways. One half delivered, the other sputtered. Both left fans emotional. The flash sideways inspired tears of joy and happiness. The island inspired yells of frustration and betrayal. Along the way we've had dark and light, Jacob and Man in Black. Last night light triumphed over dark and the Man in Black was slain. How appropriate then that one side of the story came out the winner and the other got tossed aside? I say we were destined for this conclusion all along and just didn't know it.
But hey, it wouldn't be Lost if they didn't leave us confused and frustrated, right?
BUOY CLUB GRADE: 80 out of 100.
