The end has arrived for the survivors of Oceanic 815 and while we’ll never get to follow any more adventures on that mysterious island, here’s what worked (and didn’t work) for us in “The End.”

Robert

“It worked.”

That’s really all I can say about the goings-on in the two and a half hour series finale of LOST.

After multiple viewings of the finale and so much reflection on the series as a whole, I’ve come away with a greater appreciation not just for science fiction or spirituality or even the age-old debate of fate versus free will, but also for the inherent capacity for love and compassion that I believe is in all people. It’s a deeply personal reaction that I only half-expected to glean from a show like LOST. After spending so much mental energy over the last couple of weeks trying to figure out the logistics of the show, I realized after the finale that I still wasn’t seeing the forest for the trees. The mythology, the setting, the much-cherished characters; they all came together to create an elaborate tale based on the simple concept that everything has a beginning and an end. On such an abstract level, I can’t help but relate it to events that have taken place in my own life.

Several years ago, I found myself in a place that brought me together with people from all different walks of life. While everyone brought their own past experiences with them, we also encountered new life experiences as a group as time went on. Although some didn’t last long and others were introduced along the way, the dynamic of the group was always a key factor in the equation. There were good times and troubling times, but we all soldiered on and did what he had to do to keep moving forward. Some stepped up when it mattered most and others provided support and leverage when it was needed. But then our time together began to grow short. Many fell by the wayside and it became so that the only decisions left to make were often the hardest ones. In the end, no one would survive what was in store for us in the larger scheme of things. Everyone fell prey to events that were beyond any of our control and driven by hands more powerful than our own, no matter how much we persevered. The best we could do was take our lumps with pride and do what we felt was honorable and right for our own souls. Ultimately, the point came where the only thing left to do was to simply let go.

Now, none of that took place on an island, and there were never any struggles of life and death. Instead, it was just a job—a job where I got to work with some great people that lasted nearly six years and yet ended with everyone losing out. I don’t have any illusions that there was anything special bestowed upon me, and maybe the people who were a part of it would be surprised to know that I still get choked up about it now and then, but it was a time in my life that I’ll never forget. The point is that whether it’s time on a job, with your family or a group of friends (or even strangers), closing out those special times in life happens to all of us at some point or another. As painful as it is when they end (and they all end eventually), they’re all the more rewarding when you can look back on them with new perspective. Those are the times that enrich us with strength and hope and make us better people, but they don’t last forever. Life simply will not allow it. So that moment of letting go and realizing that you have to move on is a truly powerful thing, and for me, though I didn’t even see it coming, the finale to LOST reflected that in a profound way.

On the surface, this show has been about being lost on an island, lost at sea and even being lost in time, but it’s also about being lost in life. And I don’t just mean that general feeling of “where’s life taking me?” but also in the sense of understanding what matters. At the beginning of the story, our characters are given a new beginning and while it’s rough going at first, they eventually begin to find their way. Knowing what to value and what to stand up for isn’t always easy, and having reason or faith on your side doesn’t always make you right, but everyone has to stand for something. But standing your ground is only worth doing if you can help your fellow man along the way. In my eyes, that’s the story of the survivors of Oceanic 815. Everyone who was in that final scene in the church stood their ground at some point on the island and did what they thought was right for the benefit of others.

As it turns out, the story of LOST is also as much about death as it is about life. In the end, everyone dies. It’s the one inescapable fate that we all succumb to sooner or later, and for those of us who have either lost someone or have nearly lost our own lives, death also becomes a point of higher understanding. Everything you do in your life is up to you, but what you do in death is maybe the most important. Even if you’ve been dealt a bad hand, your life is still yours to make the most of, and when you draw your last breath, the most important time in your life will be the one you look back on with the most vivid, meaningful memories.

All told, if there’s a definite moral to LOST, it doesn’t present itself front and center—and nor should it—but instead lets viewers decide what parts of it mean something to them. Perhaps that’s the beauty of a story like LOST. The meaning and insight that I take away from the show is my own, and if someone else doesn’t get anything at all out of it, I suppose I can’t fault them for it. Maybe they weren’t paying attention, or maybe they weren’t ready to understand. Or maybe, like a cast of strangers on a flight from Sydney, we’ve just lived different lives.

Scott

“The End” was one of LOST‘s best episodes—fun, thrilling, heart-wrenching and mind-expanding—while also being deeply frustrating, failing to sum up any of the series’ long-term mysteries in a satisfying way.

The marketing for this final season used “All will be revealed” as its tagline. After having three full years to wrap up the show, almost none of the LOST‘s big questions — Why can’t babies be conceived on the island? What was Walt’s significance? Where were the supply drops coming from? Why were the Others kidnapping specific people? — were answered. Sure, there was some beating around the bush, but “each question will lead to another question” (still pissed at you about that one, Darlton), and while we kinda sorta learned what the Island was (it has a glowy cave that’s allegedly important) and what the smoke monster was (a mean man who fell into the aforementioned glowy cave or something), none of that means anything to my puny human brain. The answer is, essentially, God did it, or more precisely, anything strange that ever happened was the work of godlike creatures who were manipulating, for good or for bad, the humans who happened upon their playground. This is not a satisfying LOST conclusion for me.

In retrospect, this has largely been a wasted season of Lost. While it was great to see Terry O’Quinn gleefully hamming it up as the Man In Black, the redemption of Ben, and the season-long arc of a newly humbled Jack, it’s more than a little infuriating to hear Darlton tell us that we didn’t need to see the stuff we wanted to see, but it was absolutely necessary to spend 20 minutes on alt-Sawyer’s failed courtship of alt-Charlotte. Worst of all, to me anyway, was the fact that Locke never came back to save the day. While the man of faith’s specter loomed large over the proceedings, with Jack giving the Man in Black a mighty good tongue-lashing about dishonoring his memory by taking his face, I really hate that the show’s best character met a sad and lonely death after living such a sad and lonely life. Characters like Desmond and Sawyer, who seemed extremely important in earlier seasons, were pretty much just long-haired handsome dudes along for Jack’s ride.

Like everyone else in the entire universe, I am very mixed on the flash-sideways, now more than ever. While I heard a lot about people crying during every one of the realization moments, the only one that meant much of anything to me was Sawyer and Juliet’s. Otherwise, you saw one and you saw ‘em all: two people touch, they get a goofy grin on their face, they realize they’re… dead I guess? After the Jin/Sun connection, the rest of them got pretty monotonous. I honestly got pretty angry when I was watching the last scene, but I’ve come around a bit on it in the days since, especially after reading a bit about Tibetan Buddhist bardo states. The idea of a dream realm where you work out your issues of life before moving on to heaven unencumbered by earthly baggage is interesting, and adds a bit more resonance to Locke and Ben’s flash-sideways episodes earlier this year. I think most of us would’ve preferred that the show ended on an earthly note, but it’s not our show, is it?

On a technical level, “The End” was one of the best-made episodes of television ever. The pacing was impeccable, never moving too fast or too slow. Jack Bender’s direction was expansive and cinematic, giving just the right tone and feel to every scene. The climactic final battle between Jack and Locke felt appropriately apocalyptic, particularly when the cliff fell away into the ocean. And the performances left every character with a nice moment, especially Jorge Garcia’s panicked reaction to being the island’s newest guardian.

Still, there are so many holes for longtime fans of the show to overlook. There are actually more mysteries that have been answered than you may realize, but imagine the emotional gut punch this final season could’ve been had Darlton weaved the thousands of loose threads they’ve left dangling over the years into a completed piece. It’s as apples to oranges a comparison as one can make, but compare the final season of LOST to the final few seasons of The Shield. That show began its exit plan in its third season, just as LOST did, and used its fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh seasons to build the series as a whole into an unbearably intense morality play spanning its entire run, culminating in what stands in my mind as the greatest series finale ever. Or compare LOST’s final season to its closer cousin Battlestar Galactica‘s final season. Though some felt the show flew off the rails in its last minutes, the season’s worth of episodes that preceded them were riveting, emotional masterpieces. Way too much of LOST‘s final season feels like *SPOILERS IF YOU PLAN ON EVER WATCHING BSG* Starbuck’s final moments, an unexplainable character who is so unexplainable, in fact, that she ends up completely unexplained, and goes POOF into the wind never to be heard from again *END OF SPOILERS FOR PROCRASTINATING NERDS*.

So, do I feel like I’ve been robbed of six years of my life because the last episode of LOST was disappointing on a mythological level? Absolutely not, and anyone who says so is a complete and total moron. I have never enjoyed a show—and being a part of its fan community—more. LOST is undeniably one of the greatest series in TV history, and I doubt we’ll ever see anything this challenging and bizarre on television ever again. I will miss it terribly.

Dennis

Well, barring any future “Hurley and Ben Run the Island” spin-off, it appears that LOST is finally over. Before I get to my thoughts on “The End,” here’s a little history of LOST and I: I didn’t love this show at first. I remember LOST, Boston Legal, and Desperate Housewives all launched out of the ABC gate the same fateful fall (and Grey’s Anatomy showed up later that very same season), and for some reason I chose the Housewives campy intrigue (hey, the first season was well put together, before it all went to sucksville) over what I assumed would be a dramatic retread of Gilligan’s Island. I (much like Darlton, if rumors are correct) didn’t think LOST would make it past its first season. It seemed too serialized for broadcast television. And then a funny thing happened: It hit it big. REAL BIG. People were sucked in. So, I tried to catch up a few times throughout the first season but still didn’t love it. Then I returned for season 2, still not loving it (I don’t miss Ana Lucia or, blasphemy I guess, Eko). But somewhere in the course of season 2 I really couldn’t stop watching. I’d get angry at the show for not answering questions, and for recurring bouts of lazy writing, and relish in the moments that it got right. All the way up to “The End” (God, that title sounds more and more obnoxious every time I type it) this was true.

Did I like the finale of LOST? Short answer: Yeah, I guess so. I was compelled by all two and a half hours, certainly. Do I still think it lacked answers to some questions? And had logical holes galore? You betcha. I’ve always thought the assurances from Darlton and critics alike that this show was about the characters was a load of bull. I was going to point out that, if that were true, why were some characters (cough, Kate, cough) still 2 dimensional until the very end. But I thought Gawker did an awesome job of conveying that point already. And anyway, some of the characters were important to me.I did rather enjoy when some characters were on screen. It was nice to see Sideways (Heavenways?) Sawyer and Juliet reunite. Still, much like I’ve wondered about much of this show, were Darlton making up the Sideways storyline as they went along? Why give Jack and Juliet a kid? Why put Ben and Rousseau together? If they did know all season long, then were they trying to mislead us so we wouldn’t realize too soon that this was a a Heavenways storyline? It all just seems sort of manipulative. Heartfelt, but manipulative. I guess that’s LOST in a nutshell. I don’t regret the six years I spent watching. It was fun, but like a kid with motion sickness who just got off Space Mountain, I’m just sort of content this ride is over.

We’re really interested to know what you thought of the finale and the show as a whole. Did you find the finale satisfying? Or did it somehow ruin six years of TV? Comment!