Thoughts. I have them.

[schmiss]

I will make a general Lost finale post, eventually. This is for my thoughts about the last ten minutes of the episode. I loved it. Some people didn't. This is my attempt at explaining what I thought it was, with the caveats that 1. I was watching through a haze of tears and 2. I am a little tipsy, so I may have missed important things.

Comments

[txvoodoo]

The problem is,I think the sideways universe was only Jack's purgatory. Which means that it really doesn't matter what happened there from the perspective of the other characters - it was entirely a construction for Jack.

And this is one way I think the writers failed - if it's only Jack's, it should only have been shown from his persepctive.

[schmiss]

idk, if it was only Jack's purgatory, why the plots about Ben and Sawyer and Locke? I don't think Jack even knew about the Anthony Cooper thing...?

[txvoodoo]

Right. Which is what makes it even MORE writer fail to me.

Am not clear here for good reasons but...if it comes out that I'm right, you'll hear about it.

[blindbeats]

I am right there with you.

I think that the AU world was created by Eloise so they all could develop their own fantasies, so it doesn't make sense that they all have to die when Jack is actually dying in real life. I just assumed that the purgatory was a goodbye to Jack, simple as that.

[tunaeverynight]

This is all beautifully said, and exactly what I think as well.

Although I believe that some of the missing faces were due to being stuck on the island, like Michael. I think for some of them, their afterlife was still tied to the island. Michael had all of this guilt for what he did, so he was stuck there in his own purgatory, hence the whispers. I definitely think Nikki and Paulo would still be on the island. Maybe Ana Lucia as well? Even though she appeared, it could have been, like you said, as a device for Desmond. I think Eko's fate was all due to unavailability, unfortunately. It would have been cool to see him there at the end.

I'm still unsure about Desmond. Was he really flashing between timelines? Because in his flashes in earlier episodes he knew about Penny, but he didn't this season.

[schmiss]

See, I want to believe Eko had closure. Not just because I like him as a character, but because of his badass speech in The Cost of Living, when he says he has no regrets for what he's done. Smokey was unimpressed with his lack of penitence, but I don't think he's exactly the arbiter of all that is moral and good.

Desmond confuses me too. buongiornodaisy's suggestion, that he had a near death experience, makes sense. His other flashes were inside the first timeline, while his new ones went across the first and second ones.

[tunaeverynight]

I also think it's possible that in death they might have played out other scenarios in their heads. Maybe in The Constant, when Desmond was flashing, he was going to another afterlife reality where he and Penny were accomplishing some kind of different feat. But that didn't work out, and so another afterlife scenario happened. I don't know. It's so fun to keep on theorizing even after it's over. I don't think we'll ever stop. THERE'S SO MUCH TO THINK ABOUT NOW!

[kools_pad]

I totally buy that 'they are living out past guilts' angle. The Juliet and Locke were the more obvious ones.

Ben being honestly asked to help the protector of the island was something i really liked. He was so touched. And it clearly changed him.

I can't remember the last time i cried. I mean, years. But i teared up like a little bitch at the end. Too much poetry in the scenery.

[schmiss]

They did real justice to Ben. I expected him to have a noble, self-sacrificing end. I'm glad they defied my expectations. He was finally important to the island in a way. And it was really sweet of Hurley to offer the job to Ben, knowing how much he always wanted to have something like Jacob's status. Of course I thought of them sharing the candy bar in s4. :D

I can remember the last time I cried but tv on the other hand... probably not since season 3 of BSG, and before then, I don't know. I didn't know if Lost would get me but it did.

[sauron]

What was Ben's unresolved business? I took this as him simply being unready to face his curtain call, perhaps a mixture of both cowardice and a desire to experience the normal life he'd never known before. However maybe I missed something more important.

Someone said he was waiting for Alex and that made me jear even harder. IDEK.

[staticnight]

Agh, I love the way you see it. I think that's the way it is, too. While I would have loved more mythology questions answered, I think they tied things up nicely. And they made me cry. A lot. Everyone who had to let go, in that light. Jears.