Remember - 6x17 & 6x18: The End

It worked.

"The End" worked. At least for me. There are many, many, many other people out there over the course of the last 3 days who have come out to say that it didn't work. Do I care about those people? Nooooo. I mean, they are entitled to their opinion, but the majority of them didn't seem to get it. I'm not trying to sound superior when I say that, but the points they make are based on personal expectations. No, demands. "It was a terrible finale because Walt didn't come back," or "It ruined the entire series because they didn't give us any answers."

'They didn't give us any answers.' Have they been watching the show for the past 6 years?

Look, I agree that there were some things I was hoping to get more information about, but if you went into the finale with a checklist of all the things they "needed" to resolve once and for all, then why are you watching this show? This show was never about giving answers; it was about finding them. Finding them in your own life. Finding them amongst the friends and co-workers you talked with. Finding them by observing and thinking and feeling. Finding them through listening to podcasts or reading discussion boards, if that's your thing. But for them to simply tell us everything would go against everything that this show, as true fans know it, was about.

What was the light in the well? What do YOU think it was? How was the flash-sideways created? How do YOU think it was created? What did Jughead actually do? What do YOU think Jughead actually did?

~ ~ ~

This is actually not the way I intended to begin this post, the first of what will be several about LOST's grand finale, "The End (Part 1 & 2)," but I'll go with it. Boy, have I heard some spectacularly lazy people who just couldn't open their minds enough to understand what the writers and producers of LOST accomplished. And I believe what they accomplished is nothing short of perfection.

As I get into the actual episode (finally!), I guess I'll begin with my interpretation of it. Let me tell you that I have not watched it again after Sunday night, partly because I don't feel I'm ready. Sound strange? Yeah, it is. There were a lot of emotions flowing as I watched it, and it's almost like I'm afraid to go through all of that again. I've listened to half of one podcast about it (granted, it's a 5-hour podcast) and have barely been able to get onto the Fuselage, my discussion board of choice, so I've honestly had little outside "influence," so to speak. The best feedback about the episode that I've heard came from the people I watched with at our finale viewing party. I'll talk about that in a future post. I've also just been trying to process all of it on my own. I finally feel like things have settled in my mind and I can post about it, but be forewarned, this will not be a comprehensive, detail-packed, quote-laden post. This is purely an initial reaction.

Here's my take on "The End": this was a story about Jack, both on and off the Island. On the Island, after being made the new protector, he faces off against the Monster. After Jack and the Monster, for their own very different reasons, help Desmond get into the well of light, where he removes a plug (or should I say a "cork"...?) that changes the light from a glowing golden color to a red, menacing one, the Island starts shaking and crumbling. Is the oft-rumored volcano on the Island finally making its presence known? While the Island begins to literally fall apart, Jack follows the Monster to the edge of the cliffs above the cave with the names inside. They have a very dramatic knock-down, drag-out, until Jack hits the Monster in the face. And he bleeds. He is no longer immortal, and they both realize it. The Monster gets the jump on Jack, and is trying to plunge a dagger into Jack's throat - in the same place he kept having a cut appear in the flash-sideways - until a shot rings out: Kate shoots the Monster in the back, telling him, "I saved a bullet for you," in reference to a scene earlier in the show. Jack decides that he must go back to the light well and undo what Desmond has done. Hurley and Ben help him down, where he finds Desmond's unconscious body, and ties the rope around Des. We knew that Jack would sacrifice himself, but here is where it hits home that he really will. He puts the plug back in, and the water flows back as well as the light, and Jack collapses on the ground, laughing as he is enveloped by the water and light.

In the flash-sideways, our Losties continue to cross paths, especially at the Driveshaft/Daniel Widmore concert, but this time, those that hadn't fully remembered their Island life did. Claire gives birth to Aaron with Kate by her side, just like on the Island, and Charlie wanders in from the stage to experience it as well. This dramatic event causes them to remember the Island. Hurley drives Sayid to a seedy ally where Shannon walks out and is promptly hit by a douchebag, which naturally causes Sayid to run out and protect her. When they meet, they remember. As they kiss, Boone is there, smiling with Hurley over the scene, and it's clear that he knows what Hurley knows.

Now I will mention the three reunions that hit me the strongest. First, after all of my comments about how the death of Sun and Jin didn't affect me to much, their scene in the hospital, when they see Ji Yeon on the ultrasound and remember everything, made up for it. Wow. And a later scene as they both calmy and happily refuse Detective Ford's protection and leave the hospital was one of the first things I picked up on about what we would find out at the end.

Juliet and Sawyer. Spectacular. What a scene. Their realization about their Island past was exhilarating, and it also revealed why Juliet said "we should get coffee - we can go dutch" in the season premiere before she died.

But the one that surprisingly touched me the most was when Kate and Jack met after the concert. The way Kate walked slowly toward him. The way she took his face in her hands. The way he was struggling to understand what was going on, and how we could tell that he was sensing something. But the part that killed me was when Kate told him, "I've been waiting for you for so long." At the time, before I had figured out what was actually happening, it had a sentimental impact, but after the episode ended, it was one of the scenes that really stuck with me. I just felt this weary joy that Kate must have felt, and it was beautiful. From then on, she was his guide, helping to lead him to what he needed to see. Instead of tagging along and following him as she did throughout the series, now she was leading him.

The flash-sideways, according to Christian Sheppard, was a place that had no time, and was created by the Losties so that they could meet up in death. My take is that they didn't sit down one day and consciously create this place; it was created in their hearts, though the deep connections that bound them together because of their experiences on the Island. And I'll say this now - the Island was real. It happened. There is no doubt about that.

The flash-sideways was, for some, a playground (Hurley); for others, a place to resolve outstanding issues (Sawyer), or to come to terms with things they struggled with in life (Jack). But most of all, and this is how I keep thinking of it, it was a waiting room for the "other side" (which is yet another thing that people had a negative reaction to - "it's heaven, that's so lame." Who said it was heaven? What do YOU think it is?). This was especially apparent when Jack entered the room in the church with the casket. I will get into this scene in much more detail in a future post, but here are my quick thoughts: I love that the casket was empty. I love the conversation they had. I love all of the religious symbolism, especially the stained-glass window. It's a scene I want to watch over and over again.

Once Sun and Jin realized what was happening in the flash-sideways, from that point on, I was a mess. Tearing up. Joyful. Sad. So what got me to finally break down? When Vincent came out of the bamboo forest and laid down next to a dying Jack, it was all over for me. That pushed me over the edge. I know why it did personally, but even if it didn't have a personal meaning, I think I still would have been devastated by it. I'm tearing up as I type this just thinking about it, that's how hard it hit me. With no exaggeration or hyperbole, it was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life.

The reunion in the church was a blur for me at that point. I vaguely remember which characters were there. I remember Kate looking back at Jack and leading him to a seat in the pew. I remember Jack sitting down in the church as he collapsed to the ground on the Island. I remember Christian opening the doors and letting the light in.

The Ben and Hurley scene outside the church, as well as Locke's rising from his chair, was, at the time, really jarring for me. I still hadn't fully figured out what was going on, so Locke simply getting out of his chair and walking with no struggle was wonderful. And the conversation Ben and Hurley had, I'm looking forward to listening to again. Ben wasn't ready, he knew it, and for the first time ever, you believed what he said. He knew he still had issues to work out, and had the perfect opportunity to do something good with his life in having a family with Danielle and Alex. I guess even though he knew he was dead and that where he was wasn't the "real world" (though I'd argue it's as real as any other life), he still wanted to "live" his life.

The eye closing was crushing, satisfying, fitting. It was perfect.

My thoughts are going to be all over the place in these posts, so forgive me for not being that organized. When I recap the show and comment on each scene, that should be easier to follow, at least. For now, I'm just trying to get what's on my mind out there, and to see what you think about everything.

Some things I plan to touch on in future posts:

My finale party experience.

The Island's light.

Why the Island was underwater in the flash-sideways.

How the "waiting room" demonstrates fate and free will.

Was Shannon really Sayid's true love, and not Nadia?

What "the rules" were all about. Or maybe there were no rules...

When Widmore exposed Desmond to the electromagnetic energy in the shed near the Hydra, he traveled into the flash-sideways. Now that we know what the flash-sideways really was, think about what that means.

Let me leave with you this until next time:

Crashing in the Island is a metaphor for life. Depending on your religious leanings, you might say that we don't set a course for this place, we are brought here, and for a reason. Or, scientifically, we are an accident. We crash here just as much as the Losties crashed on the Island. We end up here. We are the only living things (that we know of) in our little corner of the universe, and we don't know why. We are strangers when we arrive here, and we leave our lives with connections to other people who we have grown to love throughout our lives. We go through trials and tribulations as we learn to survive on this Island of life, and we experience joy, discovery, pain, enlightenment, disappointment, betrayal, and resolution. It's through these experiences that we make connections, which, in "The End," is what it's all really about.

What do you think? You will have plenty of opportunities to comment when I get more specific about the episode, but what I'm really interested in is your take on the finale, and what questions you still have. I'd like to take a shot at answering them for you, so send 'em in!

Until next time,

Namaste & Good Luck,

~ Matt