Oh my god, I did not expect that this finale would affect me so much. I hadn’t seen it since the summer of 2010, and I assumed that all my ~epic feels~ would have gone away by then. NOPE. NOPE. So y’all can blame Stef for making me cry on camera like six times. It’s all your fault.
Videos first!
Part 1
Part 2
- This is another one of those things that I don’t defend, nor do I feel the need to defend it. I get why people don’t like it, and I also think season six is largely a hot mess. That being said, I do love this finale, and I love the emotional closure it brought me. I always find that to be more important for me than plot closure, so that’s just my own personal taste.Â
- I watched this finale in Burbank at my friend Liz’s apartment with nearly 20 other people. It is something I’ll always remember because I’d never done that with any other show in my life. It was a blast, and we were all yelling MST3K-style the entire time, up until about the last 20 minutes. Then everyone got super, super, super quiet, a few people teared up, then it ended and we all just sat there for like 60 seconds not saying anything at all. THEN THERE WERE A TON OF QUESTIONS, but generally, we were all kind of shocked that it was over.
- It wasn’t until I saw the finale a second time about six days later that it hit me super hard, maybe even harder than it did in these videos. I had a rough first half of 2010. My second relationship had imploded terribly, my work was a nightmare, I was at this pinnacle of depression, self-hate, and body image issues, and I hadn’t figured out what I wanted to do with my life. Watching “The End” a second time really solidified the fact that it was over forever, and as each character “woke up,” it destroyed me. I didn’t want it to be over.
- Season six really is super weird. I think it’s hard to find a way to end a show like this, and I don’t envy the task. That doesn’t mean I’m not above criticizing it. So much of the stuff in the Temple is nonsensical and pointless. I hate Claire’s arc in this season. The pacing is pretty bad. When Jack smashed everything in “The Lighthouse,” I just wanted to punch him in the face. But the good moments more than make up for that. I adore “Ab Aeterno,” “Across The Sea,” and “The Candidate.” “Everybody Loves Hugo” is fantastic. And there are countless things in this finale that really make me love how this show went out.
- BERNARD AND ROSE ARE THE BEST. Hahaha, seriously. The thing with watching LOST is that as the show went on, the writers kind of had to address things that people were bringing up in the fandom. I hadn’t experienced this sort of thing since The X-Files, so that element was fun for me. Bernard and Rose also act as a way to turn a critical eye on the relentless ~drama~ so many of these characters act out.
- As you’ll see in the video, I absolutely cannot deal with cute animals and death, so the final scene of “The End” is like setting off a bomb of tears.
- I love that Hugo and Ben are left to run the island. It’s a massive character moment for both of them. The writers acknowledge Hugo’s caring, empathetic personality. Hugo then turns to Ben and offers him a job in a way that respects him, and that’s something Ben has been searching for his whole life. He wants that sort of validation, and he gets it in the end. help my heart.
- Kate shooting Locke rules.
- The video game entrance of Jack’s punch is so brilliantly awful that I will love it forever.
- And I like that the heart of the island is literally a plug and a drain. It reminded me of the giant wheel that Ben turned at the end of season four. Like, the whole time you expected some super complicated nonsense, and it was a goddamn wheel.
- So, the flash sideways things. I love ’em. I’m not religious in the slightest, and I still love them. To me, this show was more about how these people were figuratively “lost” in their lives, and after their death, these people got the chance to work through those issues and problems that plagued them for so long. I believe that Christian’s expository dialogue at the end basically confirms that it was by saving the island that these people were able to create that limbo world. Everything they did mattered, so even if that’s not the “official” interpretation, it works really well in my head. It’s like the island gave them this reward for what they did.
- Are there problems here? Yes. Not re-uniting Penny and Desmond was a bad emotional choice. Whether they intended to create mysteries or not, the finale left a whole lot unanswered, though bonus material helped bridge most of the gaps. Still, I can’t help but love this.
Discuss!
