Sawyer and Kate took off to the Hydra Island, and Jack led the other two back to the heart of the Island to make things right. While Jack was quite obviously bleeding to death — a knife to the ribs will do that to you — he decided to head on down into the cavern. It wasn’t easy, though. Hurley desperately wanted Jack to stay, and begged him to. Instead, Jack made him the new protector of the Island, stating that it was meant to be Hurley and that his job was simply to fix the catastrophe. After performing a water-drinking ceremony with Hurley (and a tearful farewell which is possibly the greatest scene of the series), Jack descended into the cavern, where he found Desmond shaken up and regretful, but alive. Jack then single-handedly replaced the stone back in its spot, and collapsed to the ground, laughing in relief as the water rushed back down. Jack found himself surrounded by golden light.
Back at the Ajira plane, Frank, Richard, and Miles fixed the plane with many things, including duct tape (Miles’ strong believe in the power of duct tape was one of the best lines of the episode), and soon prepared for liftoff. Though briefly hindered by their having to convince Claire to accompany them, Sawyer and Kate showed up just in time for Frank to lift them off the Island. And, perhaps for the first time ever, an Island escape has not ended in a crash or explosion. They soared away into the blue sky, and all was well.
For them, at least. Hurley and Ben were meanwhile mourning Jack’s death. Hurley, finally assuming responsibility of his new job, offered Ben the position of second-in-command, which Ben gratefully accepted. I can’t help but be reminded of the scene from “Cabin Fever” when Hurley and Ben shared an Apollo bar. The two’s peaceful coexistence with each other had been hinted at throughout the series, and here it became legitimate.
Before I get to the final scene of the series, I’m going to cover the flash-sideways timeline, which we discovered was more of a flash-way-forward, or more simply, an AfterFlash. The characters began to remember their time in the Island timeline, and it was so well done. Resolution occurred between characters we had thought long gone. Charlie and Claire were reunited after the birth of Aaron. Sayid and Shannon embraced each other for the first time since her death in “Abandoned.” Jin and Sun realized they could speak English and were happy together with the help of Juliet, an OBGYN who was also David’s mom. Locke regained the use of his legs with the help of Jack’s surgical skills and then forgave Ben for murdering him, and Sawyer and Juliet finally reunited and the origin of the “We could go Dutch” line was revealed.
Things seemed like the two timelines were going to merge, until Hurley and Ben exchanged knowledge of their future, which we had not seen on the show. That’s when we knew that things were not what they seemed. Not in the least bit.
And, finally, Jack was convinced of the Island reality by — Christian Shephard? Sure enough, the coffin was found but it was empty. Christian was alive and well, and he and his son embraced each other in a way that they likely never had. Christian explained to Jack, gently, that they were all dead, and that all the survivors who had gathered at the funeral home were dead as well, having all died at some point in the future. As Christian urged Jack to lead the group to “move on” to the mysterious next, the survivors hugged and celebrated with each other. Christian then flung open the church doors, enveloping the room in a bright light, while on the Island, Jack staggered back to the bamboo, past the old ragged shoe which we saw back in “Pilot, Part 1,” and then he laid down in the grass, dying. A friendly bark from Vincent greeted him, and Vincent stretched out beside him as Jack looked up at the sky, saw the Ajira plane flying overhead, closed his eye for the last time, and died, leaving us with the black L O S T.
I have never seen a better episode of television. The episode offered happy endings to nearly every character without pandering too much, and it also killed off Jack in a way that had been much-predicted but still managed to retain a sense of real storytelling power. The episode also proved to be really funny, with Hurley’s early Star Wars-referencing lines being hilarious, along with Miles’ duct tape comment and Jack’s dry claim that his method of killing MIB would be a “surprise.”
The only thing that really leaves me wanting about this episode was the explanation of the flash-sideways/AfterFlash timeline. Some things were explained, sure, and there was also that wonderful clearing up of the fact that the timeline was not caused by the Jughead detonation. But Christian’s claim that the survivors “created it” was a little strange. How could they have created a metaphysical place? Is it a sort of collective consciousness place? Is the Island responsible? And why does David exist? This is the ending that we’re supposed to be speculating about for years to come, and I have to say, it did leave plenty of food for thought. It certainly gave all our characters a happy ending, and for that, I’m grateful, because their survival didn’t detract from their stories.
I promised I wouldn’t give a letter grade for this episode, since it was such a tour du force, and I stick to my word. However, at this point, I’m not disappointed at all with the LOST finale, and I look forward to debating it with you all in the future.
Stay tuned to TVOvermind for more exclusive LOST content, including a giveaway of six signed copies of the LOST Encyclopedia, and a top secret project to be unveiled very, very soon. In the meantime, share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.
It was a fitting end. I’m glad I was there for it.
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