The End

**SPOILER** If you haven't watched the finale of LOST, then read no further.

Well, it's finally over. What do we do now, right? I wanted to get all of my thoughts in writing before I talked to anyone or read anything so that I know they're all mine, so here we go.

After sleeping on the finale, I'm going to say that I'm happy with how the show ended. There's really no way they could've pleased everyone, but I think they did a fair amount of fan service without ruining the plot to try and please everyone. Sure, there were bunches of unanswered questions: why was Libby in a mental institution with Hurley? what made Walt 'special'? why exactly couldn't women survive childbirth? Sayid's soulmate was Shannon? Hell, I still have a stack of questions about the island, Jacob, Smokey, and all the mysticism. But, in the end, the finale was not only sufficient, but I liked it a lot. So, here's a list of what I liked specifically:

• It answered the one question I'd come to care about more than any other: did the bomb work? Thank goodness, no, it didn't. Double thank goodness, it didn't make some stupid-ass alternate reality like Star Trek or Back to the Future. Finally, a show or movie gets it right: what happened happened. I'm glad they didn't pull a 180 to say that variables could change the past or some bullshit. Jack had always set off the bomb...er, well, Juliet.
  
• I like what they did with the alternate reality by making it Purgatory or some other between lives thing. It accomplished the above task, but it also means that it was nothing but fan service. It was unimportant to the plot, and that's the way I like it. We all got to play the "what if?" game, and it brought Sawyer and Juliet back together. It would have been nice if Juliet never died, but I think they might have had trouble sustaining that great chemistry. Plus, her death at the end of season 5 was the single most gut-wrenching scene of any movie or show I've ever seen. It was sad, but it was powerful.
  
• I love the idea of Hurley and Ben palling around the island. Spin-off plz?
• The real ending--and this is important--is not that they all went to the afterlife together. The ending is that Jack, like John Locke, was ultimately a martyr to the island. The show ended the way it began, and it was perfect.
• On that same note, the way it wrapped up really drove home that Jack was the main character, and that the whole purpose of the story is Jack's redemption and his sacrifice.
• In the end, John Locke was right, and without him, Jack never would have realized how important he was.
  
• Although it's frustrating that they never really answered what the island is or how it came to be that way (and who the hell built the drain), I guess I'm glad they didn't. Any answer probably would've been pretty cheesy. Just let us imagine that the Egyptians built it...or whatever.
• It didn't end with a question or a cliff hanger. We have a sense of closure, and thank goodness for that.
• All the mysticism and mysterious 'rules' surrounding the island suggest that there is in fact something greater in this world. The ambiguously religious--though very Christian-influenced--sideflashes make sense within the canon of the show. Dead people were always showing up here and there, and the unworthy ones, like Michael, are forced to whisper in the woods of the island. It makes sense, then, that the redeemed get to enjoy an afterlife, and that they can only begin it after realizing what their lives could have been without the island and how much they impacted each others' lives. It's a bit cheesy when looked at out of context, but it fits with the theme of the show.
  

So, anyway, those are a lot of the things I like about it. I can't stress enough how much I liked what they did with the flash sideways in the end. I would have been soooo disappointed if it ended up being the true reality or something. Don't underestimate how important it is to me that the bomb didn't work. Plus, what other show has done that? The whole being reunited in the afterlife ("See you in another life, brotha") thing is something I don't think I've ever seen. That may be because it's cheesy, but I don't care. LOST had me wound around its finger so tightly that I was really just along for the ride. That being said, one thing that does and always will piss me off is how Jin and Sun died and orphaned their daughter.
On a side note: Something that I'm disappointed with was the third to last episode because all it did was paint Smokey in a sympathetic light. Jack's sole purpose in life culminated with him defending the island from Smokey, but that episode failed to show exactly why the island must be protected and why Smokey must be eliminated. Honestly, the show might have been better without that episode.

The last thing I want to re-stress is for the potential those of you who didn't like the revelation that the side-flashes were of the afterlife: don't dwell on that. In the end, they're trivial and completely unimportant in terms of influencing the events of the show. They were purely fan service: they gave potential answers to the question of "what if Jack and Daniel's plan did work?" and they offered a chance for the characters of the show to reunite and be together again...I mean, if you didn't get a little emotional when Sawyer and Juliet reunited, then you might wanna make sure you still have a soul.

In the end, LOST is the single finest piece of television I've ever seen and will probably ever see, and the finale did the show justice. I'm sure everyone has something to say on this matter, so go ahead and sound off. I'm looking forward to it.

--Chilly P

Update: see comment #5