LOST - Last Season (NO SPOILERS)

[Toad_Passenger]

Why does everyone think the island was real? Was that confirmed somewhere or is that just the popular interpretation?
I felt like the whole thing, the island and the sideways flashes, were all a part of preparing to "go into the light" or whatever.
At the end when Jack closes his eyes, he is lying in the same place as when the plane first crashed and he opens his eyes right? I guess I kinda' felt like everything that happened was in that moment of him opening and closing his eyes, like and incredible journey of self discovery in just those last few moments of life.
The island being real doesn't make sense to me, but I just casually watched with my husband and am not nearly as well versed as the majority of you. I am probably just totally missing something.

The only problem with thinking that this was all in Jack's head, is that there were visual cues that the island was real.

When Jack stumbled back to die, at the same place he woke up from the crash, he passes a single sneaker hanging in the Bamboo forest. The sneaker is old and worn now. IIRC when Jack awoke in Season 1 and ran to help the survivors of Flight 815, he passed that same sneaker, and it looked new. To me this proved that the time on the island had truly passed, and it was all real.

Aside from Christian spelling it out for Jack.

 

[Jennasis]

My brain STILL hurts. But you have to hand it to the writers and producers...we ARE talking about it the next day!

I still maintain that I didn't like the ending.

 

[TheZue]

The only problem with thinking that this was all in Jack's head, is that there were visual cues that the island was real.

When Jack stumbled back to die, at the same place he woke up from the crash, he passes a single sneaker hanging in the Bamboo forest. The sneaker is old and worn now. IIRC when Jack awoke in Season 1 and ran to help the survivors of Flight 815, he passed that same sneaker, and it looked new. To me this proved that the time on the island had truly passed, and it was all real.

Aside from Christian spelling it out for Jack.

Not only that, but if they died on impact people like Ben, Richard, Charlotte, Daniel, Desmond, Penny, Juliet, Miles would have to have been figmints of their imagination like Jack's son, and then why were they in the afterlife? Not only were they in their afterlife Desmond, Penny and Julliette were moving on WITH them. They weren't on that plane. Desmond inserted himself on that plane in their afterlife/purgatory time so he would meet up with them, and he was as clueless as the rest of them when this season started so it's not like he was set up to be some sort of guide.

Also the other thing that really hammered it in that it was real was Hurley and Ben complimenting each other on being a great number one and two respectively...they clearly lived LONG after Jack died. For all we know Hurley and Ben could have been on that island together hundreds if not thousands of years just like Jacob since Christian said where they were meeting had no real place in time.

Like other's pointed out, Jack's hair and clothing were very different when he died on the island vs when he awoke after the crash. In his afterlife he kept his newer look instead of reverting to how he looked when their plane initially crashed like Sun & Jin did. Again if none of it was real there wouldn't have been a variety of ages for them to apear as in the afterlife.

 

[Shutterbug]

Here is the very first thread for the series...

Interesting to read everyones theories from back then:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=649801

 

[peyjax]

Did they ever explain why the island would shift time or vanished in the water?

I got that everything on the island happened and the whole sideline time thing and that there were so many questions that were just little muses on the writers part as brought out before the season finale. However those two questions seemed big to me.

The actors in this show are all excellent at their craft. I will admit though I was a little annoyed after watching the season finale. I just remember all those nights I would watch and the end of the show would make me go whoa! and holding out for the next week. It seemed this season did not exemplify that at all but just a way to make it drag out another year. Little bummed not just about season finale but about the season as a whole.

 

[DeluxePrincess]

After about 12 hours of reflection, I have decided that I liked the ending. It just wouldn't be LOST if they answered every single question that was ever raised in the series. I feel like I know what the island was and I understand why they were all brought there. That seemed to be the biggest question everyone had throughout the years.

Last night I felt a little robbed realizing that the whole sideways timeline happened after the characters' deaths. This morning, I feel more satisfied knowing that all my favorite chracters were able to move on happily together in eternity. When everyone had their moment to "remember", they were so happy. That's how I want to remember them. Geez, I will miss this show soooo much!!

 

[Halloweenqueen]

The Island world was real. Christian said it was real. Hurley and Ben's conversation at the church points to it's real. Kate said she waited a long time for Jack, which means they didn't die at the same time.

I loved the episode, but I can help being disappointed. I don't mind many questions being unanswered, but they have made season 2-5 pretty insignificant.

My guess is that the story was going to be about Purgatory (for lack of a better word). "We", the viewers guessed that a long time ago. That's why the writers made the ALT universe.

I think it would be easier to think of the Island AS purgatory. Things would make more sense.

I'm upset how some characters were "saved" and others were not. Ben didn't feel worthy because he killed Locke. Michael is a ghost on the Island because he killed Libby and Ana Lucia. Yet Sayid is saved because he forgave himself and loved Shannon? Just seems unfair and contrived. What about Nadia?

Of course some answers would have been nice. The only real answer we got last night was that the ALT was purgatory. I would have like to know...

-how Jacob could get off the Island
-what was the game? the rules, etc
-frozen donkey wheel, how does it work? etc
-Cindy and the kids. why did she join the Others, etc
-all the Egyptian stuff
-Jacob's cabin
-why the healing spring was contaminated
-the ashes

lol I guess I could go on forever. Sorry.

 

[TheZue]

See I didn't find seasons 2-5 a waste at all. The side timeline was an epilogue, not the point of the show. The point was that Jacob had been bringing people to the island for millenia and without fail the man in black corrupted them and had them kill each other. The Oceanic passengers managed to break the cycle and take out the man in black. It was about the final chapter of MANY finally coming to a close. I think what I really liked about it was that even extremely flawed characters, many of whom were considered the scum of society before arriving on the island, could rise up for good. Also, just because they weren't moving on yet didn't mean they weren't saved, I think in the other thread somebody mentioned that Ben could have been waiting for Alex and her mom to be ready before moving on and others just plain weren't ready.

 

[elizke]

Interesting how many of the questions (what happened during Hurley's time as protector? What's with all the temples? etc.) can be answered with movies.
: )

Don't know if it's something they'd ever actually do, but the stories are there if someone decides to write and use them.

 

[DeluxePrincess]

Interesting how many of the questions (what happened during Hurley's time as protector? What's with all the temples? etc.) can be answered with movies.
: )

Don't know if it's something they'd ever actually do, but the stories are there if someone decides to write and use them.

I thought the same thing.

 

[monkeybug]

Did Christian actually say that they didn't all die at the same time or that they didn't all arrive at the church at the same time?
I guess I didn't feel like Christian saying "what happened really happened" to mean that it really happened in the living world, but that the things we experience in the space between living and accepting death and moving on, are just as real as any other time in our lives. Reality is our perception, not a specific time or state of being.
The smoke monster, the light, the island disappearing and reappearing...I guess they just make more sense to me if they weren't things that happened in the characters living lives. It just seems to fit the shows character driven theme, and overall spiritual overtone, if that time was a journey from death to acceptance rather than a "real" mysterious Island with Polar bears and giant stone bath tub stoppers.
I don't think that the whole thing was in Jacks mind, but that the Island is a spiritual place, a place to take your journey from death to the next step. The people at the church who were not on the plane could be people who arrived at that place at another time and under different circumstances, but their journeys overlap and they become bonded. I thought Desmond might be a kind of guide, and that's why he can do some things the others can't. The others might representative of all the people on journeys that have nothing to do with the Losties, but are still there in that same place.
I know the writers of Lost were big on philosophy, so it would make sense to me that somethings are meant to be taken in a more mythical sense rather than a literal one, but again I wasn't nearly as observant regarding the show as most were.

 

[debknight]

In the "Pilot", when Jack was lying in the bamboo grove, Vincent came out of the forest and ran right past him -- I remember thinking that was odd. In the finale, when Jack is lying in the bamboo, ready to die, Vincent comes and stays right next to him, -- showing, I think, that Jack was a changed person. I believe this little part with the dog was meant to be extremely significant.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

Did Christian actually say that they didn't all die at the same time or that they didn't all arrive at the church at the same time?

Christian specifically told Jack that some people died before Jack (i.e. Charlie, Shannon, Boone, etc.) and some people died after Jack (Kate, Hurley, Ben).

As to Seasons 2-5. I mentioned in the "spoilers" thread, that they were very significant. They laid out the entire timeline of the island, and how long this whole good vs. evil battle for the "light" of the island has been taking place. The island contained the living essence for the entire world. The Others, the Dharma Initiative, even our Losties, were all part of this ebb and flow that showed how easily man was corruptible, even in the face of science.

I said it over there, and I'll say it here. Knowing how the "mother" came to be the protector of the island is not as significant, as knowing how her duty fit into the island's timeline, and that, was resolved over the course of the series' entirety.

 

[monkeybug]

In the "Pilot", when Jack was lying in the bamboo grove, Vincent came out of the forest and ran right past him -- I remember thinking that was odd. In the finale, when Jack is lying in the bamboo, ready to die, Vincent comes and stays right next to him, -- showing, I think, that Jack was a changed person. I believe this little part with the dog was meant to be extremely significant.

I thought perhaps that was a nod to the mythology of animal guides. Many cultures had/have the belief that animals served as guides from life to the after life, as bridges from conscious and unconscious.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopomp

 

[monkeybug]

I'm sure that I'm looking at this from entirely the wrong angle, probably putting to much or to little thought into it, but all I could think about was Joseph Campbell and a heros Journey at the end of last nights episode.
http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/smc/journey/ref/summary.html
When I think about the story of the island basically being centered on Jacks "hero journey" it makes sense to me.

 

[krcit]

In light of the final moments, it is especially moving when you realize that not only were they coming to the realization that they knew each other, but that they also were aware of why they were now in each others' presence.

This didn't hit me until this morning. I was thinking about how blissfully happy everyone was when they reconnected and then it hit me that they realized that they were dead and together again. I think I will cry even more when I rewatch it now. I loved it. Every second of the finale was amazing. I told my husband while we were watching "I'm NOT going to be ok if jack dies." But they way they did it was beautiful and I'm ok....lol!

 

[robinb]

Here is the very first thread for the series...

Interesting to read everyones theories from back then:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=649801

Hey! I posted on that thread .

I think I'm OK with the ending. I was surprised to see Jack die out of the cave, but I liked that it connected back to the Pilot.

 

[gometros]

The Island world was real. Christian said it was real. Hurley and Ben's conversation at the church points to it's real. Kate said she waited a long time for Jack, which means they didn't die at the same time.

I loved the episode, but I can help being disappointed. I don't mind many questions being unanswered, but they have made season 2-5 pretty insignificant.

My guess is that the story was going to be about Purgatory (for lack of a better word). "We", the viewers guessed that a long time ago. That's why the writers made the ALT universe.

I think it would be easier to think of the Island AS purgatory. Things would make more sense.

I'm upset how some characters were "saved" and others were not. Ben didn't feel worthy because he killed Locke. Michael is a ghost on the Island because he killed Libby and Ana Lucia. Yet Sayid is saved because he forgave himself and loved Shannon? Just seems unfair and contrived. What about Nadia?

Of course some answers would have been nice. The only real answer we got last night was that the ALT was purgatory. I would have like to know...

-how Jacob could get off the Island
-what was the game? the rules, etc
-frozen donkey wheel, how does it work? etc
-Cindy and the kids. why did she join the Others, etc
-all the Egyptian stuff
-Jacob's cabin
-why the healing spring was contaminated
-the ashes

lol I guess I could go on forever. Sorry.

If you were looking for everything to be wrapped up with a tiny little bow, I'm afraid you are going to be very disappointed. The simple answer is that it just doesn't matter. I believe some of those questions, while not answered directly, one can guess at. Such as Cindy and the kids. The kids were still innocent and had not yet been confronted with the life challenges that needed resolution and by the Others taking them, they were able to bring them up in a "pure" environment. I'm happy with that and the answers to other questions being something I can ponder for a long time, keeping the memory of Lost alive, just as I wonder what Harry, Hermoine and the Wesley crew are doing with the rest of their lives. Or whether or not Tony Soprano is alive or dead.

 

[gometros]

I had to laugh at this one post on the first page of the first thread:

Way too many commercials but I really liked it. The hour flew by. Can't wait till next Wed.

Clearly the commercial issue was a problem from the beginning

 

[bengalbelle]

Hey! I posted on that thread .

I think I'm OK with the ending. I was surprised to see Jack die out of the cave, but I liked that it connected back to the Pilot.

There are a lot of posters on that thread that I haven't seen around here in ages. I skimmed through it and a lot of people were fairly close in their theories.

If you were looking for everything to be wrapped up with a tiny little bow, I'm afraid you are going to be very disappointed. The simple answer is that it just doesn't matter. I believe some of those questions, while not answered directly, one can guess at. Such as Cindy and the kids. The kids were still innocent and had not yet been confronted with the life challenges that needed resolution and by the Others taking them, they were able to bring them up in a "pure" environment. I'm happy with that and the answers to other questions being something I can ponder for a long time, keeping the memory of Lost alive, just as I wonder what Harry, Hermoine and the Wesley crew are doing with the rest of their lives. Or whether or not Tony Soprano is alive or dead.

I agree with you. The more I think about it the more satisfied I am. I think I know all I really needed to know.

I wanted a happy ending for them, but not really. A truly happily ever after just wouldn't have fit with the show and that ending would have really been a cop out after everything they'd written into the show.

This way, they sort of got the happy ending, just not in the expected way. Some died, the others had lost someone they loved, but in the end they were together again. I think all of us hold hope that even in death we'll be able to be with the ones who matter most to us.

I think it was this thread, but someone questioned the airplane flying overhead. I've no doubt when Jack saw it fly over and he smiled, that was our confirmation that Kate, Sawyer, Claire, Miles, Richard and Lapidus all made it safely off the island. Jack had saved them (and everyone else) and was able to have peace at his death.