*SPOILER ALERT*
First: I loved it. I was satisfied; I didn’t feel cheated or let down. (I teared up at the very start of the show because it really hit home that this was it.)
Was the episode perfect? No, not by any stretch. There was some seriously clunky dialogue; there were little predictable bits; some things were left hanging.
And I’m okay with all of that.
My two biggest pet peeves: One, those stupid Target commercials. I just am not ready for Lost to become a major marketing angle of the “get it?” variety. Two, Claire’s birth scene — er, Aaron’s birth scene, rather. Bar none, in the history of television and movies, that was the least realistic birthing scene ever. EVER. (I might make an exception for Rosemary’s Baby.)
The labor and birth scene kind of ruined Claire and Charlie’s reunion for me; plus I thought Charlie was already enlightened. Isn’t he the one who got Desmond on board with the whole idea of Island Enlightenment?
See, already, I’m picking. And I don’t mean to.
I can’t wait to see who loved and hated the episode (and/or the show) based on the finale. I know that we Losties are a unique breed, and we can really get on people’s nerves.
And I’m okay with that.
I cried the most during Juliet (Juliet! FINALLY) and Sawyer’s reunion; and then again at the end of the show. Wherein, pretty much, Jack made his way back to where he started, to end. It was a nice full circle, for the show as well as for our tortured (and at times torturing) character.
I liked how they held Juliet in reserve until the finale. I don’t think anyone was surprised to see her, find out she was Jack’s ex-wife, and mother to their son (in theory). That was well played — not surprising, but well played.
The only real surprise of last night was the unlikely survival of (say it with me) Frank the Penis. Not that I should have been that surprised — Lost has been full of unlikely survival stories. But it gladdened me to see good old Jeff Fahey get his moment in the sun. He threw the damn walkie talkie too much though.
Little moments that I found touching included Eloise Hawking (Widmore) asking Desmond if he was going to take her son; and Kate saying to Jack, “I’ve missed you so much.” In a show with a lot of big, emotional moments and reunions, these little exchanges were gold.
I don’t know if any of the griping out there is about the whole idea of the redeeming power of love, which is pretty much what I took away from last night’s finale. I wonder if people are scoffing at the thought.
But as an avowed Roman Catholic, I completely buy into the idea. Not that I’m going to turn Lost into a religious allegory, but let’s face the fact that is was a show chock full of mythological and religious symbolism. The writers and producers were very clear to steer clear of terms like Heaven, Hell, god or goddess, etc. It was, ultimately, a show about mortal characters and about the idea of an afterlife.
What was brought home to me was the idea that we are put here to love one another — Jack’s message from Season 1: To live together or die alone. I liked the thought that due to what the survivors had gone through on the Island — a kind of cork between the darkness of chaos (if not Hell with a capital H) and the rest of the world — united them to such a point that they needed to find each other again to move onto the next level. That felt, within the context of the show, like karmic destiny of the best kind.
I may come back to this post once I get out and read what else other people are saying. I just know that I was happy with the conclusion.
Dan and I watched the first two seasons on DVD, and then from Season 3 forward watched the show in “real time”. We’ve been with these characters for four plus years.
I’m going to miss them.
I need to find a new way to spend my Tuesday nights.
Red Pen Mama 
Every since I started reading about birth I became annoyed at the unrealistic portrayal of birth in entertainment. (“OMG, my water broke! Let’s go to the hospital!”) But, yes, the Lost Finale sunk to new levels of unrealistic. (“Ouch.” “Push now…here’s your baby!”)
As for the other stuff, maybe if I watched the whole series I would’ve seen all that. I thought the finale meant that no one survived the crash.
BTW – I found the show to be okay, but I never got drawn into it, largely because I perceived the story telling to be very slow and often redundant. A lot of the slowness was due to the incessant flashbacks. I admit, however, that part of the slowness I perceived may have been due to the fact that I started watching the show to be able to watch the finale in real time and was frustrated at the sheer number of hours it would take me to catch up. An entire season watching people decide whether or not to return to an island when I know they return to the island? No, thank you.
So, I enjoyed the finale, but I will not be including Lost when discussing amazing TV. Those discussions will continue to be focussed on Mad Men, Deadwood, The Shield, The Wire, Big Love, and The West Wing. If the topic is enigmatic TV I’d probably still bring up Twin Peaks, American Gothic, and the early years of X-Files before I start discussing lost. Of course, everyone is welcome to their own opinions, and I’ve never been known for having mainstream tastes. I’m glad you were satisfied. I know many Losties were not.
Lost was the only show (aside from West Wing) that captivated me by its unique storytelling process. I still rate the Season 3 finale as the most shocking finale in television. It literally had me diving off the couch, yelling, “WHAT??”
I’ve never been a big TV watcher, and I often come to highly rated shows very late. I’m definitely on board with Mad Men (gotta get season 3 on DVD), and West Wing was for a time one of my absolute favorite shows. In lighter fare, Dan & I enjoy Scrubs, and we had some fun watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer for a while. And I, too, liked the X-Files a lot.
But Lost was… well it created its own mystique and community. It was date night for me and Dan; there was a group at work and an email group with whom I did post-mortems. I never did that with a show before, and it was something I enjoyed.
And as for the still disappointed people — there’s my post for today. Which pretty much sums up my thoughts.
Greetings from Seattle! Had to check in to see how you both enjoyed the finale. I for one loved it as well. The characters, their relationships and personal growth is what has kept me hooked is day one. The mysteries were stimulating and mind numbing at times, but it’s the heart of Lost that captured me.
Jack’s always been my fav and to see the arc of his character to completion made me weep. The man of science becoming grounded in faith and purpose was beautiful. And I just wanted to give Vincent a big hug for looking over him as he passed so he was not alone.
I loved experiencing the enlightenment of each character. As that really matters in the end is love. And as you know, I can only imagine how blissful that day will be when our near and dear are revealed to us on the other side. Juliet and Sawyer’s reunion was stunning. Brings tears to my eyes as I think of it. The overwhelming love and gratitude each character expressed was the essence of life to me. It was a nice touch that the stain glass window held symbols of all religions.
I do believe that we come into life with a family of souls that we are destined to grow and be challenged by. Lost did a lovely job of revealing that.
It’s one cast I’ll truly miss.
Interestingly, Jack was never one of my favs. I was for a number of seasons in the Sayid camp. What I appreciated about Jack’s character was how, over the last two seasons, he did develop. That’s what I like about the show in general, how the story took the characters through an arc of redemption and development. Ben Linus, whom I despised for most the show, caught my sympathy over the last two seasons. John Locke — what an arc he went through! Including, of course, his time as Smokey.
I think Doc Jensen talks about it very eloquently in his recap (part I any way; I haven’t gotten to part II yet). That Lost was ultimately a show that examined character and community and spirituality, and if a viewer wasn’t down with that, the finale was a big disappointment. Which I can understand, but as I wrote in this post: I believe in the redeeming power of love (and faith). Which is why I was blown away by the finale.
OK, NOW I can read your post. I had to DVR Lost while I was away. Yours is the first post I’m coming to, now that I’ve watched it.
On one hand, I loved the “reunions.” As you know, I adored Juliet. Seeing her “coffee date” plan with Sawyer misted me up pretty good. Very satisfying.
On the other hand, as in the ending, I’m all WTF? When did they die? Was the whole Flash-Sideways world an afterlife?
I’ll get to Doc Jensen’s post soon enough I guess… when I have some time set aside. He does go on…