Each season of “LOST” has a distinct personality. From the story arc to the tone, pacing, and — of course — a new storytelling twist. The sixth and final season of “LOST” brought us the last act of the island story, as well as the confounding “flash sideways.” With the entirety of the show now behind us, we’d like to know: How did you like Season Six? Which episode was your favorite? Which tested your faith? Do you have a favorite character moment, or plot twist, or scene? Let’s look at the journey from “LA X” to “The End” in our traditional season-in-review show!
Please comment below, send an e-mail to lost@hawaiiup.com, or call the LOSTLine at (815) 310-0808. We plan to release the podcast on Sunday, June 13, 2010, so we’d love your feedback by Friday, June 11.
Wow Ryan, you have answered my question really quick.
Well, to be honest… I loved the last season. Not my favourite because 3rd and 5th season are the best in my opinion, but I really enjoyed. I was really looking forward to knowing how the show was going to end and like I said, the ending was very satisfying.
I enjoyed both the story on the Island and the sideways. The mithology was amazing, they just gave us things about the Island, Jacob and the MIB and two 45 minutes films called “Ab Aeterno” and “Across the Sea”. Both episodes deserve to win some awards, well the series does worth it too.
So, yeah, the story of the Island was really interesting with great moments to remember and the sideways were the perfect complement to it, thanks to them we could see again some of our beloved characters (I waited from episode one to see Juliet back but the waiting was worthwhiling).
I loved the screenplays, all the winks the writers included in them and who they ended the show giving us very beautiful moments to say goodbye to those amazing characters, the best characters on television history in terms of development.
I have lived the last season more than the others because it was released in my country, Spain, just a week after it aired in the USA, but thanks to I changed my mind and watch the episodes from “Dr. Linus” on after they were broadcasted in the USA, I could commment it with 2 co-workers and with some podcasters and you all everybody (better late than never).
Again, not my favourite season, but great and with amazing episodes. And although there are many answere in the air, I’m ok with that, I can think an explanation by myself accordind with what I watched during the last 5 years.
Season 6 of Lost was very similiar to season 3- both seasons started off with a bang, slowed down in the middle, introduced new mysteries and then ended with a major plot twist. I personally liked season 6 for it’s supernatural side. Season 5 was all about the science of the island which made it a great rollercoaster ride of a season, but this season was about the spirit of the survivors, which cannot be explained with science. I compare the island as a good supernatural force that keeps humans alive and good. If the light would have remained off- evil would have taken over and humanity would seize to exist. As for the ancient ruins, temples and cork on the island itself- it reminds me much of the pyramids and ancient ruins around earth. We still don’t understand them today and probably never will. Humans long ago may have understood the importance of the light and realized that they needed to start protecting it with keeping the cork in the ground like that. Or, some supernatural force told the ancient people to protect the island by keeping the cork in the hole- either way, I am fine with not getting those answers. The ending of Lost was beautiful and fitting to the series. I can see how people are upset with it, but some questions are not meant to be answered- like in life itself. Lost was a show about our humanity: sometimes we lose our way in life and have to find faith in ourselves and with the people around us to find our path toward success and salvation. Sure, modern science helps us out along the way and explains the world we live in- but not all questions in life we ever be answered, and we just need faith that a higher power has a purpose for each and all of us.
I liked this season A LOT (along with the second half of Season 3 and all of Season 4) Previously, I cared less for Season 2 and Season 5. Season 1 was amazing and stunning!
However, all the Seasons (episodes) get better upon rewatches. Season 6 really helped me to like Season 5 more, and enabled me to see all the set-ups, such as the MiB and Jack story-arcs being developed. MiB had been working on Ben for a long time to ultimately kill Jacob (as Coolpeace has delineated so well). In Season 5, we see the set-up for Jack to realize his purpose on the island.
Season 6 follows the characters of Ben and Jack with such interesting twists and turns:
Ben is confused and feels betrayed by having been manipulated by UnLocke, but continues to look out for himself until he gets redeemed by choosing forgiveness from Ilana. He appears to turns back to his darker self when he chooses to kill Widmore, and then in the end joins forces with the Losties and ultimately Hurley to protect the island, and in the end still has ‘work’ on himself to do.
Jack seemed so passive in Season 5. In Season 6 after releasing Jughead, he feels LOST once again due to having caused Juliet’s death. He is angry at Jacob in the Lighthouse for ‘spying’ on him as a child, but soon turns to realize he was brought back to the island for an important reason and purpose. Ultimately Jack chooses to replace Jacob and then sacrifice himself to save the island and mankind.
I also loved the Flash Sideways. I loved seeing them all clean and all experiencing mirror (opposite) realities; Hurley being lucky, Locke accepting his fate, Sawyer working for the law, etc. The big reveal about the Flash Sideways initially bugged me, but I have come to appreciate the beauty and completion of this beautiful tale; the the psychological satisfaction of realizing that these Losties placed such a primary and significant part in each others’ lives.
I did not enjoy Claire (never did) or Charlotte (ditto) or particularly Zoe. and I was happy to have a season mostly free of Juliet (whose character also never appealed to me). I’m sure more will come to mind as further comments pour in.
Yeaaaaaa! It’s back!! Thanks Ryan. The withdrawal was terrible.
glad you’re back guys. btw, Season 1 was IT for mew. all of them were grand, but 1 had something i call the Wow Factor. for instance, Iron Man had it, but Iron Man 2, though nice, did not. Season 1 OWNED it. it’s a good thing that the apartment i was in didn’t have flies.
WHY THE ISLAND WAS UNDERWATER:
Ryan, you mentioned in your last podcast that one of the things about season 6 that goes in the column of head scratchers is the scene of the island underwater…why? was it a head fake to get us thinking in other directions? we never really saw anything else that referred to that or explained it.
One of the interesting explanations i’ve read (and i wish i could take credit) for what the light at the heart of the island is…is TIME.
The light is the essence of time. The island is the time keeper for the universe so to speak.
Think about it…time has been a significant theme of the show…time on the island has always been screwy, night and day coming and going quickly, or as Farraday would say…”the light not scattering right.”
And of course the time jumping and all….
According to Mother…the light is something that all men have and want more of…TIME
And, if the light goes out, all we know and love ceases to exist…catastrophe for the world…right? Makes sense…if time ends.
SO NOW TO THE SIDEWAYS WORLD:
We see in the beginning of season 6 the plane flying over the island that is underwater. The mistake I think is trying to figure out…hey how did it get there? Was it jughead? blah, blah….thats not the point the writers were trying to tell us.
I think that scene was a major clue but one we couldnt pick up on without hindsight. I think what we are supposed to take away from that scene of the island underwater is that it is a world where the island doesn’t exist…OR…where TIME doesnt exist.
Christian told Jack basically that time doesnt exist there…there is just now and all that.
Ryan, I think the purpose of that scene was to tell us (even though we wouldnt figure it out until the end of season 6) that this is a world where the island..i.e. time..i.e. life… doesnt exist because it is the AFTERLIFE.
Just my little theory….
Z in DC
I liked the Ab Aeterno and Across the Sea episodes.
I was interested in the Flash Sideways when I thought that it was going to somehow connect with the Island timeline, but after the finale and realizing none of the FS was “real” so to speak, it seemed like a huge waste of time.
I’m still unhappy with the way the series ended. So much more could have been done if they hadn’t gone the FS route…sigh…too late now 🙁
@ Z in DC : Interesting theory, do you remember who or where you came across this theory?
I would like to think this could be the reason the Island is under water. But Mother said the following :
BOY IN BLACK: It’s beautiful…
MOTHER: Yes it is. And that’s why they want it. Because a little bit of this very same light is inside of every man. But they always want more.
Can time be inside every man? Perhaps a better explanation is that the “light” is a life force. That life force exists in every man but once we die, the life force is no longer within us and therefore the Island is under water – not part of the realm of the ‘afterlife’.
Is it crazy that I am really going to give this some thought before posting?
But some of the things that were HFC moments for me were :
1. The reveal that MIB was smokey
2. Sayid (killing dogen and Lennon, and then taking a bomb for his friends)
3. Sun and Jin dying
4. The introduction of “David”.
5. Crazy Claire killing the guy with the axe
You know I thought I wasn’t crazy about this season, but when I think of how many podcast phonecalls started with HFC, I realize that it must have been a better season than I thought. I am sure when I think about it there will be many moments I loved.
But season 1 will always be my favorite. I liked the show the best when everyone was together.
Looks like the website may be hacked?
Hi Jen and Ryan, my overall reaction to the very last season of LOST is a good feeling, but I thought it seemed to stray into Flash-sideways too much, and I felt a bit misled by Cuse and Lindelof, because they said it was a real place, which is true, but so much of it was concocted by the Losties and not something in an actual place and time. I was totally surprised by the revelation that they were all dead, I didn’t even think it for a minute until Christian implied Jack was dead, and it was a great reveal moment because I came to the conclusion the same time Jack did.
I understand why there weren’t more of the island’s or characters’ mysteries resolved, because it would have been too obvious to the audience every time the story stopped dead for a “hey, remember when I did such-and-such, or when such-and-such happened? Well, this is why I did it…or this is why it happened,” moments. It’s very difficult to have it seem natural within the script, and it would have been much like the scene for the ghost of Michael’s explanation of the whispers.
It was a good season, and I’m really sorry that one of the greatest dramatic adventure TV shows ever is now ended.
Loved “Across the Sea” ~ loved seeing MiB as a boy; his depth; his curiosity; his sad journey… I liked thinking about the roots of evil and how a person takes evil on through a darkness that grows inside them, whether someone else has a hand in it or not, or whether someone is able to take responsibility for their (evil) actions or not, and particularly whether someone can be reformed and/or redeemed
Hated it. They promised us a rational explanation for everything, then brought in a sideways reality which really was a self-made Aprez-vis for an afterlife. I felt conned. It’s kinda the danger of keeping the premise of the whole show until the end, and why knowing the elevator pitch from the get-go is so important. I don’t like being told a show is one thing, then discovering I was proselytized to the whole time. I liked parts of this show, but the ending throws them in a different light with this ending.
The stories in season 6 were good, but it’s not on par at all with any of the other seasons. Maybe it is the fact that they tried to answer so many questions, instead of dropping any bombs on us. There wasn’t any wow factor in this season, like there was in season 2 for me. I loved the reveal of the hatch and the Apple 2 computer. (I’m a big geek.) For me, season 2 was the best.
@Z in DC- I like that theory about time. But the thing is that although we would like to have more time for certain things, we don’t posses any time inside us. So my thoughts about the light is that is, like Mother said, something which is inside all of us, so that could be goodness, because if someone takes that the world would be a place full of evilness.
@greenberry- I also loved “Across the Sea”. From the beginning of the sixth season when we met the unLocke I thought the guy wasn’t bad and I think I was right, they made him to be bad. The boy in black was a curious kid who wanted to know things, Jacob was the opposite, and he just wanted to leave the place where he didn’t belong to, but he couldn’t just because Mother wanted a replacement. Of course he did a lot of bad things for his cause, it was a war against him. Monsters are made my monsters, and although I don’t think Mother was bad (she had something to protect), between she, Jacob and the first others, the MIB was transformed to become a bad guy.
@ Amaia ~ Yes, MiB did not start out “bad” ~ he got a raw deal, and could not “roll” with it
What I loved most about LOST was watching the redemptive journeys (or being psychologically found) of our LOSTIES ~ Season 6 brought those journeys to their conclusions ~ For example(s): Sayid turned a hero in the end, Ben also slowly turned a new and better leaf, Sawyer learned to care for others beside himself, Jack transformed completely, Claire came around, and Kate finally did something uselful!!
@greenberry- Yeah, Jack changed completely. I liked him at first but the character became sadder and sadder and I wanted him to be kill!! I liked the last season Jack a lot.
And yes, many of them redeemed I don’t agree about Sawyer because he had redeemed himself a long time ago. The first Sawyer we met was selfish, rude and he only did things which were good for him. But little by little he did integrate himself with the group and start thinking of them not only him. And well, in the 5th season thanks to his relationship with Juliet he left Sawyer behind to be James. I love Sawyer, he’s the character who evolved more.
@greenberry – I agree, I really enjoyed the growth of all the characters this year.
@Amaia- I think the young MIB pre-smokey wasn’t bad. I think when he turned into Smokey, smokey was an evil spirit that had MIB”s memories and amplified his anger and desire to leave the island. The boy MIB wanted to leave the island for curiosity and smokey wanted to leave for his own evil purposes. When smokey became Locke, he retained part of Locke and MIB.
There wasn’t any season I really hated, the only time period I disliked were the cage episodes. I am so glad the writers got an end date or the show would have not have sustained the quality that it had. It definitely needed a middle and an end.
Wow, I get my own quilt pattern now on the board. Fun, makes it easier to look for posts.
@Carol from Boston- No, you’re right, the boy in black wasn’t bad, but he could lie and Jacob didn’t so I think that was an important fact. And yeah, Smokey took some things from both the MIB and Locke. In the end he failed in his purpose because he didn’t have the information and didn’t believe Mother when she told him he could never leave the Island.
By the way, many people says wy Jack didn’t become Smokey when he was into the cave. I have two theories about that. The first one is that Jack is a good person and the MIB did bad things, and the second one is that JAck was alive when he got inside the cave but the MIB wasn’t because when Jacob threw him, he did bang his head against a rock.
I’m going with the idea expressed by Coolpeace that the light is the life force, particularly because the pool and the cork look like the lingam and yoni from Hindu belief system, the lingam being the cork (male) and the yoni being the pool or basin (female). Fertility or lack thereof having been an issue (no pun intended) throughout the series reinforces this. When the water began to flow over Jack when he restored balance by reuniting the lingam and yoni it seemed like a joyous baptism (not to mix religious metaphors).
About the season, I am so glad that Kate came back to herself. She seemed quite confused throughout much of the series and it was wonderful to witness her transformation. Strong, purposeful, loyal, resourceful, and determined.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the theme of baggage: in LAX the baggage carousel, Hurley’s guitar case, the “package”, the empty coffin, the lost luggage, Locke’s knife case and the ‘lost’ father. Also, backpacks being switched, and the cases on the canoe or outrigger supplied by Widmore. Letting go, lightening one’s load, finding that luggage is empty or contains something unexpected.
I think my expectations were too high for season 6. Knowing the writers had full control over how they would wind the story down over time made me think every episode would be a real knockout, with great twists, reveals, etc.
I actually don’t care that much about not getting all the answers (although I guess I should). What frustrated me most about the season were the temple episodes (why???). And I didn’t care much for crazy Claire (but squirrel baby was superfantastic).
Things I liked most:
1. Not Penny’s Boat. That was actually THE moment of the season for me.
2. The Substitute and The End.
3. Seeing Juliet again.
4. Jin’s crazy-joyful grin when he recognized Sawyer in the FS.
5. Ben’s speech to Ilana, and Ilana saying “I’ll have you”.
6. This wonderful community — thanks y’all.
Overall, the season was a bit of a letdown, but I have to remind myself that over the course of six seasons this show totally held my attention and always left me impatient for the next episode. And I truly loved the finale.
I just started my own personal re-watch tonight with “Pilot, Parts I & II”, because – and maybe some of you have felt the same? – the realization that “Lost” is really over hit me hard this week and I’ve been feeling rather depressed about it.
Anyway… Season Six…
Despite how much I loved the finale, Season Six is probably my least favorite season right now. Which really isn’t much of a criticism, since my least favorite season of “Lost” is still 100 times better to me than anything else on television! And Season Six did produce six episodes that will go down as some of my all-time favorites: “Ab Aeterno”, “Across the Sea”, “Happily Ever After”, “Dr. Linus”, “The Substitute”, and “The End” – so it definitely had a lot of great moments. But compared to the other seasons, many of the episodes this season felt like filler. I do understand this to some extent, because after Jacob was killed and the “resurrected” John Locke was revealed to be Smokey, not much was left to do before the final showdown. But I often got frustrated with the on-island storyline where nothing happened except for constant walking from one spot to another, and there were times in some episodes where I felt the writing didn’t live up to the “Lost” standard. Some characters, like Sun and Jin, were given woefully little to do, and the dropping of plots for potentially interesting characters like Ilana really bothered me – and still does.
Overall I felt like the Sideways reality was more compelling than the on-island story, at least until “The End”. And I do believe that it was essential to the series. Many of the characters were unable to complete their “journeys”, the resolution of their development, because of their untimely deaths. The Sideways allowed them to complete the journeys they began on the island or work through their issues with other characters who may have died before that resolution was achieved.
Personally I came to love the Sideways reality for one big reason: it allowed me to see my favorite character, John Locke, again. Locke had a miserable life and a tragic, violent death, and if I had not been able to see the “real” John Locke again before the end of the series I would have been greatly saddened. Without the Sideways Locke would have ended as a thoroughly tragic character. But in the Sideways we are shown a John Locke who remembers his tragic life and reacts to the remembrance with great joy and gratitude towards Jack. We get to see him realize that his faith and belief in the “magic” of the island was vindicated, and we get to see him forgive Jack for his doubt and Ben for his murder. He was also able, in the Sideways, to work through his issues with his father and with Helen, whose death prevented him from finding her and making amends to her when he left the island.
Jack was allowed to make peace with his father issues through David, who I think was – as others have said – a construct composed of his youthful memories and insecurities about his relationship with his father (which doesn’t rule out that David might also have been a child Jack never knew he had fathered with Kate – I like that theory, Ryan!). He was also able to deal with his guilt concerning both Locke and Juliet through his relationships with them, and also able to interact with Claire and deal with the revelation of their relationship in a more meaningful way than either of them could on the island. All of the other characters were given similar opportunities to mend relationships and come to terms with their past actions, and I believe that was essential to the story. The island began their journeys of redemption or change – either in life or death we had to see those journeys completed.
I still believe that the Sideways reality could be interpreted as either a spiritual limbo state or as a parallel world or astral plane shaped by the hopes and desires of the Losties. But either way I think it did serve as a kind of purgatory, forcing all of the characters to face their unresolved issues and, for some, experience very real trauma and pain. My personal theory, though, is that none of the characters lived full lives there, from birth on – I don’t think it was like they were reincarnated in this separate world. I think whenever they died they just “woke” in the Sideways world with memories instantly “downloaded” of a full life and history in that place which were in some ways similar, and in other ways different, than their real lives, and which were designed to force them into a confrontation with their major issues. So I don’t think Locke and his father were ever in a plane crash – but the situation allowed Locke to confront his issues with his father and with his paralysis. Anthony Cooper may have “woken up” in that nursing home, but unable to speak or walk it may be a very long time before he is able to leave this “limbo”, whether he remembers his real life or not. But even though their histories in this place were a kind of invention, almost like a “virtual simulation”, I do think the Sideways world was a real, concrete place. Perhaps we are meant to think it is a more or less exact copy of this world where everyone goes right after death to work out their unresolved issues before moving on. That would explain the nurses and other patients at the hospital, or the taxi driver who dropped Locke off at the church – they, too, have died but have not yet remembered their lives and moved on. I think that maybe when Christian said that it was a place they had created he may not have meant that they (or Hurley) physically created it, but that the circumstances of their meeting up there were created by their need to be together once more.
Sorry for rambling on so long! But the finale, and the whole season, is on my mind all the time – I’ve even had repeated dreams about it for the last two weeks! Even though Season Six wasn’t my favorite season, it was still very powerful, especially when viewed in retrospect after “The End”. I’m very, very sad that it’s over. 🙁
@ Islandsidhe ~ I realate to a lot of what you posted above re: the sideways universe being an opportunity to complete each Losties cycles in a positive way
@ Embie ~ good analogy about the ‘lost’ baggage, etc. that needs to be found or unloaded
Someone on the last thread (?) pointed to the the vending machine as a metaphor to the island ~ another good analogy
@Islandshide- Like you, and sure many others, I’ll rewatch the series but Ineed a holiday first. So I think September will be a good date for me to watch everything for the second time because yes, I have only watched the series once but twice the pilot. What I can’t help doing is watching some videos on Youtube, I’ve lost the account of how many videos about Sawyer & Juliet I’ve seen already.
Season 6 as a whole was good until the finale, then it sucked.
Somethings been bugging me…so hopefully YAE can fill in the blanks for me. Several places I read/heard that there were only 4 scenes not filmed in Hawaii. I only remember reading about one of them: the season 4 episode when Ben visits Widmore in his London apartment after Alex is killed. This was due Alan Dale’s schedule that they couldnt film it on island. Can you fill me in what the other 3 are? Its been bugging me for awhile. Thanks for a great podcast. I’ll miss it as much as Lost itself.
now that i’ve rewatched the last 20 minutes of the series finale three more times i must admit…i didn’t cry on my wedding day…i didn’t cry when my daughter was born…but I did cry each and every time I watched those final 20 minutes. they truly did an amazing job…the music alone was incredible. I found myself holding my breath…
even though i had some concerns about the reveal of the flashsideways “purgatory” and the lack of answers to some questions, i’m beginning to realize it ultimately doesn’t matter. my expectations don’t need to match reality because that was an absolutely beautiful ending to the journey we’ve all been on.
other high points for me in season 6: dr. linus, happily ever after and ab aeterno. there was some brilliant storytelling this season regardless of the final outcome.
My personal End of Series recap is as follows: I am a baby boomer, a life-time tv watcher. No tv show that I have seen to date has ever entertained me more than Lost. It is so far the most complete cliff-hanger/arc of redemption epic/no gratuitous or excesssive violence or sex scenes, and ultimately, heart-warming piece of fiction-based entertainment that I have watched. It kept me engaged, curious, and excited – pretty much every episode. I have re-watched each episode, (even enjoying the rewatch) – I’ve never done that before. I loved that it fascinated me in its storyline: even the episodes that didn’t love, suceeded in entertaining me to an acceptible level. Its wasn’t perfect, but then nothing is. I will always have fond memories of it forever, and even if this viewing experience is ever surpassed, it will remain a fond memory, so I really don’t know what more I could ask.
I really like Season Six. The only thing that tested my faith is the entire Widmore story. I have no idea what his plan was once he got to the island. He killed everyone on the plane then had all his people killed then he goes to Ben’s closet and gets killed. That made no sense.
The other thing that tested my faith was what Richard told Jack and Hurley after they were leaving the lighthouse.
They asked him where he was coming from and he told him they wouldn’t believe him and they said go ahead then he said he would tell them later. Which he never did. Frustrating.
My favorite episode might have been the season premiere – mostly because it was ‘WTF!” when the opening sequence ended with the island underwater… and we spent the episode trying to figure out what was going on with them at LAX.
I do like the fact that they answered a lot of the questions this season – but not all of them. For example, what, exactly was the island. Was it a place for people to soul-search before they died? How does it move? Why did it have electromagnitism and how does that donkey wheel transport people to Tunisia?
Also, what happened to the Ajira 6 after they took off. Was the plane in the credits that crashed plane? (I think not, but it certainly it up to speculation) Since Kate was in the Oceanic 6, how did that go over? Was she incarcerated again for skipping parole? What about Aaron & Jeo Yeon? Do they even know of their parents? Mr. Kwon – Sun bought him out (loved that moment!) – so what type of dad is he?
Fan Fiction will have a field day with all the loose ends! Bring it on!
Looking forward to your podcasts (as always!) Thanks for all the hard work!
Being from Boston, my favorite episode was The Glass Ballerina.
Ben shows Jack television footage of the final out of the World Series win, which took place after the crash on October 27, 2004, as evidence that the Others have direct contact with the outside world.
@ Pete @ Stephanie ~ Great questions!! ~ I also would really like some more explanation about Widmore ~~ any ideas, YAE??
I’m still trying to figure out the purpose of the poorly concieved character called Lennon. All I can figure is he was a translator for Dogen, and that’s all! It also seemed a little too much to call him Lennon and put those glasses on him. If it was a tribute of some kind, it made little sense to me.
@Stefani from Mass- Forget the images of the credits, that was something ABC put as a transition to the news, the Ajira plane didn’t crash and Sawyer, Kate, Claire, Frank, Miles and Richard could have a live somewhere.
About Widmore, they should have done a centric episode about both Charles and Eloise, I would have liked to know more about them but I think I could fill the gaps by myself. And what is the Island? Jacob said it was a cork, a cork which protected the lights, so no Island, no light, no goodness in the world?
@Island John- All the story about the temple, Dogen and Lennon was the worst of the season for me. Maybe the temple was just to show us other people besides the egiptians had lived in the Island before and to see where Richard brought little Ben after Sayid shot him.
It’s hard to compare any season to Season 1. I didn’t even start watching till the summer rerun. I just happened to change the channel at the right moment to catch Jack’s eye and was hooked for life. The story was so full of surprises, we had no clue what was going on. That was pure deliciousness. My husband stopped watching after Season 2, but I hung in there. I mean, the whole thing made no sense yet anyway!
Lost is brilliant in the unique way the writers made us experience their story. We even sometimes pouted when our individual expectations weren’t met. I can’t call Lost an intellectual failure. We just have to watch it enough times to understand it. We have to work for it. Isn’t that what we love about it? One of my favorite personal revelations came while rewatching the finale. Ben is sitting outside the church while the rest gather inside. The table where he is sitting symbolizes the island, complete with cork! Many people whined about why Ben didn’t go, yet he was sitting on the answer! He was still “on the island†so to speak. Still makes me laugh.
The storyline wove together many facets of religion, mythology, and philosophy (who else could get way with that?) using every literary device known to man. I think the writers may even have invented a few new ones! The Easter eggs buried throughout caused us to really pay attention and forced us to seek larger communities for understanding and sharing ideas. The writers crafted their story so well, made us think about it so deeply, it became our story. We felt we owned it. And it did come to life. As the storyline veered from peoples’ expectations, writers acknowledged those comments in the show. How delicious to have that power to influence the story! But in the end, the bottom line of bottom lines, this is their story. When we read a book, such as Good Twin, Bad Twin, we don’t have any expectation of changing the storyline. That is how I view the Lost experience. I didn’t like every part of it; I really hated that whole cage thing. But no other medium has given me as much as Lost has. I have been on the edge of my seat gasping in surprise. I have been out of my seat dancing with glee (Hurley/VW scene). I have hollered like a lunatic when one of my theories proved correct. And, in true Lost fashion, there are hints that the story isn’t fully told yet…..
I think I see a pattern here. The initial reaction from most people has been “The ending disappointed me.” Then a few days later we hear from them again, but this time they’re saying “Hey, I watched the finale five more times and now I love it!” Did repeated viewing actually answer questions and reveal deeper levels that most of us missed the first time, or do people feel too loyal to the show to be able to slam the way in which it was concluded?
I, for one, was disappointed. For lo, these past six years we have been teased with mysteries, mythology, obscure references and a promise that “everything happens for a reason.” Darlton told us that the Island was the fifteenth main character of the show. Plot threads that seemed to be of utmost importance wound up going nowhere. Charles Widmore had an elaborate and apparently diabolical plan for the Island, which involved a freighter, helicopters, lots of C4, walkie-talkies, a submarine and a nifty portable anti-Smokey force field. But we never learned what Widmore’s motivation was. Ben shoots him, he falls dead, and that’s that.
Too many new characters were introduced as the story progressed, and to what effect? “Mother” comes on board shortly before the series finale and reveals that the source of the Island’s power comes from a Lucky Charms cave from which a golden light emanates. Huh? Why didn’t we get as much as a hint that such a power existed before then?
Why were Miles and Charlotte introduced? Why did Widmore choose them to be among the first from the freighter to come onto the Island?
What about the babies? A lot of time was spent on the problem of pregnant Island women being unable to carry their babies to term. (The problem was not an inability to conceive, which I have heard more than one podcaster recently say.) That seemed to be an issue central to the story . . . but then it was dropped and never dealt with again.
Why was the radio tower broadcasting the numbers sequence? Why was Mikhail seeingly indestructible? Why was Ben able to summon Smokey by pulling a plug out of a hole in his secret room? And what’s with all the plugs and corks, anyway? When Des goes into the Lucky Charms cave and pulls the giant carrot out of the light pool all hell breaks loose, and the destruction doesn’t stop until Jack puts the stone carrot back in its hole. That was all too flat-footed for me. I would have been much happier had I been shown less. Imagining what could be in that cave was more powerful than being shown.
To sum up, it was an enormous let-down to be told “Oh, don’t worry about all those unexplained mysteries. The show has always been about Jack, get it?”
I didn’t expect to have everything explained. That would have been a let-down, too. But I was hoping that all the pieces of the puzzle that was “LOST” would come together in the end with an almost audible click – that everything would suddenly fall together in a beautiful and unexpected way that would have had all of us saying “OMG – I never saw that coming!” “LOST” was, for the most part, a creative and intelligently written show. It’s too bad it didn’t live up to its promise.
I liked Season 6. We knew about the whole sideways thing but we didn’t know for sure what it was. Some really great episodes like “Dr. Linus” and “Ab Aeterno”. And the big “Whaaaaat?” of the finale. A couple of things, though, since I’ve been seeing a lot of questions about them. Remember in Season 5 when Ben went into the bottom part of the temple to be judged. There was a heiroglyph of Anubis (The Egyptian God of Death Himself) KNEELING before something that, to me anyway, looked like Smokey. If that’s true, then Smokey wasn’t really made from MIB. It was something that was already on the Island and was just released by MIB upon entering the Cave of Light. That could also explain the MIB Village Purge.
And speaking of that, I kinda thought that, aside from Mother loving him so much she didn’t want him to leave, MIB wanted to use the light to leave. He was using the villagers to make all those conduits to move the water and light to do… I don’t know what exactly, but it seems like a lot of people come to the Island and want to mess with the light/EM properties on the Island. So I can see that another reason to not let MIB do that in the past. After that, it was Smokey and maybe that thing couldn’t or maybe shouldn’t be allowed to roam free on the planet.
Lastly, simply because I hadn’t seen anyone else say this, I know that Stephen King is a huge influence for the writers and many have been seeing the Dark Tower series as an influence for the finale, I had a different thought. (Spolier Warning for the book Desperation and maybe the Regulators) When Jack went into the cave, my first thought was of the end of Desperation, when Johnny Marinville had to go into the mine pit to plug the hole that was letting the entity Tak do bad things in the town. Also the book The Regulators was a mirror version of Desperation with similar yet different things happening in both. But that end bit really made me think of that, except that Jack was only mostly dead.
Anyway, in the end, for those who thought that the had wasted the last six years… REALLY, REALLY. What other show has done what this one has? All the debates and theories. All the fun that could be had with the books and music from the show. And after all, it was only one hour a week for part of a year. The time you put into it was your time. You didn’t have to do it. Frankly, I’m extremely glad that I did or I would have had one fewer good show to watch on TV. Better yet, the final season was on one of my days off and I could actually watch it live. Plus, because of this show, I found this podcast. So it can’t be all bad.
Season 6 – Well let’s see.
I actually had three favorite episodes from Season 6, which the reasons for them being “favorite†are totally independent of each other so I guess it is hard to pick one over another. I guess in that light, I’ll just briefly explain why each one was my favorite for the specific reason.
Episode 6-11 “Happily Ever After†was I think not only my favorite of Season 6 to watch & enjoy, it was probably right at the top for my all time favorites for the entire series. I just loved the revelations and the interactions between characters that made you just KNOW things were about to get turned on their head and something big was coming.
Episode 6-16 “What They Died For†was also a favorite but for a completely different reason. I guess I really can’t say as I “gleaned†as much from this episode, but it was an episode that I got to see several scenes from it being filmed while in Hawaii this past March. Watching them film take after take after take of the scenes, then actually seeing how it turned out on the screen, was an absolute hoot!! Also being able to watch the actors as they prepared and practiced for the scenes before shooting just added to the enjoyment and excitement.
Ah yes, Episode 6-1 “LA X Part 1â€, the episode I got to watch for the first time on the beach at Waikiki surrounded by a hundred other LOST Transmission fans. That was the ultimate episode. Having missed a LOST premier on the beach by only a few days several years prior, I knew I wasn’t about to miss another one if the chance came up again. But then when I found out about the whole “Transmission Week-End†that Ryan & Jen had planned, I knew I not only had to attend the screening, I had to make it a week-end adventure. From the dinner, to the brunch, to the location tour, to the Premier on the Beach where we were all able to sit together, Ryan & Jen put together just a fantastic weekend package that made it not only one of my most enjoyable times in Hawaii, but also one of my all time favorite episodes of LOST.
Aloha Ryan and Jen,
Looking back at season 6, I couldn’t have thought of a better way to bring the series to a close. With the show being rich in mythology, there was no way that thy were going to answer every question. Brining back the “character centric” type story telling in the sideways, was amazing.
From the beginning of the season Damon and Carlton told us to “trust them”, regarding the sideways. With that I stopped theorizing and just enjoyed the ride.
My favorite episodes:
The Substitue: John Locke is one of my favorite character and to see how far he has come since Walkabout, was amazing. I loved the the sideways “X” Locke and to see him get from his wheelchair in the finale was very moving!
Lighthouse: Jack was a character that has had his ups and downs and I was hoping that he would eventually find his “purpose”. Introducing David as his son was a HFC moment but was an amazing twist I didn’t even see coming. Seeing “X” Jack find happiness in fatherhood, was incredible and a perfect way to resolve “daddy issues”.
Ab Aeterno: Was one of my TOP episodes of the season. For a side character to get a whole episode to himself was a big risk, but paid off. It had it all mythology, romance and pulled a the heart strings at the end!
There were sooo many good moments this season, its tough to mention them all!
The music: Was amazing this season! Michael Giacchino has scored all of LOST and done a fantastic job! I almost want to call it a character too. At times the music pulled at the heart strings as much as the “character moments” did.
Season 6 was amazing! I can’t wait to hear what other people have to say!
@Jonine from Az: John Locke is my favorite character, and I agree with you about seeing him get out of his wheelchair in the finale, freed from both that physical constraint and the fear and pain that went along with it. It was very moving. Being able to see Locke again would have made the finale worth it for me even if I hadn’t liked it otherwise (which I did).
I just finally rewatched the final episode of the series. It took me a while to watch it again, because I was left pretty disappointed the first time around. On the rewatch, I was actually left pretty satisfied. My expectations were lower (which I think was a good thing, since I believe that they were way to unreasonably high to begin with) and I watched it without looking for answers, but for the sake of seeing what was given.
Since rewatching, I actually came up with a theory that I wanted to get some opinions on.
The entire flash sideways world, was in the sensse of our own notions of time, the death of each of the characters. If you take the assumption, that as we die, our brain, with all its functions of memories etc, has to shut down, it works that the flashsideways is actually the shutting down of each characters brain, that may be instantaneous in our own world, but in the sense of eternity, maybe the metaphorical way each character lets go. The very end when they go into the light is the actually the point in which the physical brain ceases to function and the rest is unknown.
Some reasons for this theory is
1. many things in the flashsideways were similar, but “not quite right”. this could be expalined in the sense of the brain remembering things, but jumbling memories and expereinces as in a dream like state.
2. When Juliet dies at the beginning of the season, she is saying to sawyer, what she is in essence experiencing in the sideways universe. This could be her slipping in and out of conciousness and in essence dying.
3. The final scene where we see all of our losties one final time, is actually Jack dying. The scene is in the church, because that is where Jack was going to bury his father, and thus where, he needed to get back to in order to let go, everyone needed to be there in the church with him because he, in his self appointed role was there “leader” and he needed to see that he had “saved” all of them in order to move on.
4. When we watch them all go into the light, this is actually Jack’s dying moment on the island, but because this is in essence eternity, the issue of TIME does not come into play, and they, even though, in the real world” all of them have not died yet, in terms of eternity, everyone has died at some point(this includes our beloved island that at the beginning of the season is underwater).
I believe that each lostie had their own place in which they let go, and for Jack, his place of letting go was at the church, where he could finally bury his father and ampongst all those he felt responsible for.
This may be from completely left field, but it does continue the science/religion debate that I think is a huge part of the series. Those of us that are religious can take the spiritual reading and see it as purgatory and those of us that are not religious can simply see it is as the brain just shutting down. Both ways to look at the same phenomenon.
I just wanted to say, thank you to the Transmission. it has been a great ride, and I will definitely miss it!
I thought season 6 was good but not on par with the series. I love every thing lost but it felt very rushed towards the end. I know they couldnt explain every little thing they have done but alot of plots they left open kinda made the ending a little bit simple for long time followers of the show. The overall conclusion to the series was: every one dies. Well derr. We got to see a few happy endings. I was for one a bit of a jack hater in the beginning. I was on lockes said. Man of faith rather than science. But i felt jack came full circle and he learnt a lot from lockes death. I even was cheering for him in the flocke fight. Mathew fox was fantastic in the last 3 seasons. His WE HAVE TO GO BACK moment made me feel like he was the new locke. I was really glad he made the sacrifice for the island. It meant he finally believed. ANd although it took along time at lockes entering the church ben finally told him he was special. Which we all knew, but flocke gave inkling that he was just a sorry old man. All up i think i will remember the characters storys and the amazing actors rather than the mysterys and plot holes. If they had used any other actors i think the show would have been completely unbeleivable and corny. But i loved lost and i eagerly wait for another group of losties to find the island. Bring on another generation in 5 years time!!!!!!!
wow, it actually seems like it’s all starting to wind-down, doesn’t it? when is the next podcast?
Yeah somehow LIFE takes over, but LOST will always remain in our hearts and minds…
Any more thoughts on Widmore (or Eloise)??
First of all, Lost is easily my favorite show ever. Six seasons of flashbacks, flashforwards, mysteries, theories, podcasts, Lostpedia and some of the most memorable characters in television history. I doubt I’ll ever invest so much time and thought into another show as I did into Lost.
Second, thank you Ryan and Jenn for your wonderful podcasts, for this site, and for all you’ve done for the Lost community.
Rating the seasons, I think S1 was the best. S2 and the first part of S3 were frustrating in a meandering sort of way. The show really improved once the announcement was made that the show would end after S6. The S3 finale, “Through the Looking Glass”, was my favorite episode of the entire series. S4 and S5 were both very good, although in vastly different ways.
S6 was shaping up to be incredible, as the writers seemed on the verge of accomplishing the near-impossible: wrapping up this remarkable six-year story in a way that satisfied everyone. Instead, they blew it.
I’ve re-watched “The End” twice now, and I actually feel worse about the last 15 minutes then ever. I may be in the minority, but I feel that the ending invalidated the entire flash-sideways storyline. We spent half the season watching these events unfold, these characters cross paths, these similar yet different lives. In the end, its all just a fantasy, and that is a massive letdown no matter how the writers try to spin it.
Once the flash-sideways world is removed, the events on island really suffer in retrospect. This season, we saw a lot of characters just sitting around. And waiting, as MIB said to Sawyer in “Everybody Loves Hugo”. Other than the temple scenes in “Sundown”, we really didn’t see a lot of action until episode #13, “The Last Recruit”. From that point on, the pace of the on-island conflict was very quick, and very well written.
In general, though, a good chunk of the on-island dialogue throughout S6 seemed to act simply as a counter-balance for the events in the sideways world. And since the sideways world ultimately lacked any real substance, much of that on-island storyline is ultimately wasted.
I’ll leave you with two questions.
1. Think about where we were after “What They Died For”, and try to recall your expectations for the finale. Would you have been satisfied if you if someone told you that (a) the sideways world is just a dream, (b) there would be no answers forthcoming regarding the show’s biggest mysteries, and (c) there would be no happy ending for our beloved Losties, at least not in life anyway?
(I know that is an oversimplification of the finale, but there no denying that “The End” was a major downer.)
2. Knowing how the show ended, are you now more likely or less likely to re-watch Lost from the beginning?
@ Rusty ~ good post
I think a lot of posters (from what I’ve read here) loved the finale in and of itself, but not necessarily as a conclusion to the series.
I, too, was frustrated with the ending (when I had always loved nearly every moment of the show)
I now take solace in that the final message is quite beautiful: the interwoven relationships of the Losties enabled each other to see and know truth, to grow tremendously, and ultimately to be redeemed
The whole show I waited for the Losties to be (metaphorically) FOUND, and this was how the writers chose to do that
@Rusty – You made some really excellent points. I’ll give my own answers to the questions you posed.
1. To be honest, I didn’t have any expectations for the finale. I had absolutely no clue where things were heading, so I was pretty open to whatever ending was presented. I did wonder if the “Sideways” reality and the on-island reality were going to be combined in some way, and this both pleased and upset me: pleased me because so many of the characters who died would be alive and well again; upset for this very same reason. We suffered through these characters’ deaths and were moved by their sacrifices, and to have them all alive again seemed like it would be cheating. I had a secret hope that my favorite character, John Locke, would somehow get out of his grave on the beach and fight UnLocke – but I knew this was unlikely, and would have outraged a lot of fans for the same reason I stated above: “dead is dead”.
I can’t compare the Sideways storyline to a dream because, to me, it wasn’t. It was an absolute physical reality they had moved into after death, essentially a kind of parallel world. It wasn’t happening in someone’s head, although I suppose you could interpret it that way if you want to. To be honest I suppose I would have liked there to be some kind of mind-warping reveal that the “Sideways” was a construction of Jughead going off and had to be broken down and reintegrated with the on-island reality, or something – that would have been very cool and very original. But, despite my disappointment at not seeing something like this, I can’t fault the writers for how they chose to handle it. There was really no other way to complete the storylines of the characters, since so many of them had died.
I re-watched the finale last night and thought about how many of our important characters had died during the series. Sun, Jin, Charlie, Sayid, Shannon, Boone, Juliet, Locke. There was no way to complete their stories, to show the resolution of their characters and how much other characters had meant to them, except to show them in some afterlife state (unless the writers wanted to contradict their own “dead is dead”). And, although I agree that this does make the finale a downer in a way, it would have been far sadder – at least for me – to never see these characters again, to be left only with the image of their tragic deaths and not to see that they had achieved some peace and been reunited with those they loved.
Also – if you believe that “the Light” was the human soul or essence that is immortal (as “Mother” said, some of it dwells in every man), and that if it were extinguished it would put an end to all continued existence after death, the “Sideways” allowed us to see how important Jack’s sacrifice really was.
And, as sad as the finale is, it is more true to life. People die suddenly and at all ages, in the middle of their life journeys, without finding purpose or reconciling with estranged love ones. We can only hope that everyone gets a chance in some “Sideways” to set things right.
Regarding the answers to the big mysteries, I would have been more disappointed if they had answered them in ways that didn’t fit my personal theories or ideas. And I love that the unanswered questions have given us something to continue talking and thinking about.
2. Absolutely likely to re-watch it from the beginning – in fact, I’ve already started! I’m bummed mostly by the fact that the series is over, so going right back to the beginning fills the void for me. Also, no matter how the series ended, we lost a lot of great characters long before this, and going back to the beginning is like re-visiting old friends.
@Stephen Daigle- Yeah, I was a bit dissaointed before the finale because they didn’t explain what heppened with the babies. It wasn’t an infertility issue but something that happened to pregnant women that would die if they didn’t find a cure. That’s why Juliet was brought to the Island by Ben.
I think they answered us in season 5. Before the incident babies wwere born on thre Island, Miles was born there and Juliet helped Amy to have Ethan. So, the Island, sadly, had done with Juliet when she finaly could help a mum to have a baby and the bomb she exploded caused the problem wit prenatnt women. What was the problem? Juliet didn’t know, so we won’t either.
On a side note, does anyone else suspect that the BP “Containment Cap” resulted from their exec’s watching the LOST finale and coming up with the idea to simply stick a big cork into the hole?