Pixel du Jour

WAY WAY WAY WAY Late: LOST Post-Mortem

I wrote this like the day after the LOST finale aired and then saved it as a draft. I then promptly forgot about it for like over half a year. So here it is, completely unedited because I don’t really care at this point:

LOST is over, and I feel like my brother just died.

It’s such a strange journey we went on as viewers, almost as strange as the journey taken by our favorite characters, over the past six years. I hardly know what to even think about it at this point. I’m still in a state of shock, reeling from the finale of what I consider my favorite television series. What’s strange is that I have been in this state after numerous episodes, but it’s different this time. For once I am not in a stage of shock because I don’t know what’s going to happen next. Rather, it is because I know nothing is going to happen next.

I poured six years of my life into this show. I can still remember hearing about it, back when I was still in college, and scrambling to “catch up” after the first four episodes had aired. There was too much buzz going on to ignore, so I buckled in one afternoon and watched them. Ever since I have been glued to my TV (and later my TiVo) to find out what was going to happen next. Now, with nothing to anticipate, I feel like Locke, not knowing how to cope with the loss of his mobility.

I have always enjoyed LOST as a character piece, but for a very long time I was far more interested in the mythos of it all. The idea that these characters crashed on a very unique island intrigued me to no end. I wanted to know everything: what was the mysterious column of black smoke, who were The Others, how was the Dharma Initiative involved in all of this. I remember thinking like this up through the fifth season of the show, which was even more intriguing because it dealt with all sorts of time travel theories. I certainly still enjoy these aspects of the show a lot, but my view has changed.

It took until season six, but eventually, it clicked. LOST isn’t about mysterious islands, polar bears, hippy scientists, and time travel. LOST is about people. It’s about Jack, Kate, Hurley, Locke, Ben, and everybody else. These people inhabit an incredibly dazzling place, but what matters is how they react to it. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how a polar bear ended up on a tropical island. What matters is how the mere knowledge of this fact sends all of the characters’ minds reeling and how it leads them to react.

I’ve grown to know these characters better than those in any book, movie, video game, or other work of fiction. To have their story end was an interesting experience. And I am very glad that things ended the way they did. I could be upset that I don’t know what “evil” the island was keeping in check, or how it and the island even came to be, but I’m just not. Instead I’m just happy to see my favorite characters accept reflect on their time spent on the island.

The final moments of LOST speak as much, it not more, about the show itself than they do about the characters. During the ending sequence I often felt like the dialogue was directed not at another character, but at the audience. That even after their lives had ended, these characters all end up in “a place where they can be together” felt like the show was telling us that even though LOST has ended, we will still all be together in our love for the series. LOST has brought friends together for six years, and even though we won’t be reuniting every week to watch, we will always have that shared experience of wonder and excitement. It won’t ever be gone.

While it certainly was an emotional finale, it was that feeling of community and shared moments that really tugged at my heart-strings and made it so special for me. That, along with Vincent returning to Jack’s side to comfort him in his dying moments, are what really did me in. (I don’t see how any dog lover wouldn’t be moved by that scene.)

In the same way that all of these characters have died or will eventually die, they will still be together and everything will be alright, the show’s finale said to me, “LOST is over, and everything will be alright”. And that, to me, is the perfect ending.