SPOILER ALERT
If you are watching Lost and haven’t seen the last episode, please do not read this blog. This is fair warning for those who have not seen the end. If you never plan on watching Lost, then go ahead and read it. There are definitely some references below you won’t understand, but please read the post anyway because I think there’s enough high-level stuff that you can still appreciate the themes/messages without knowing the story/characters. I appreciate your feedback whether you have seen it or not!
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I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Lost since I saw the finale last night. So after bawling my eyes out watching the 105 minute season finale last night, a month after it aired, I wanted to share my interpretation and what I got out of Lost. It’s probably different for each person because the ending is so open to interpretation. There are many things unanswered.
I don’t think Lost is the Gospel Truth or anything like that, but it does give you some food for thought and it’s fun to think about all the “what ifs.” I liked what one author said: “Your experience of Lost is your experience of Lost, and it is valid.” So this is my experience. Take it for what it’s worth. I will also be sprinkling in some of my own beliefs where the true meaning of life is on the table.
Ok, so how did I get addicted to this show? Well, my friend Alex got me into it after Season 1 was out on DVD – I think that was back in fall of 2005. It was my last year of college. So I have been watching this show for nearly 5 years. And I was truly addicted. Each season was a little different. You never knew exactly what the real “problem” was. Are they really on an Island? Seems like it could happen. Then fanciful things started happening. Why is there a polar bear and black smoke? Who are the “others”? Is the true conflict going to be between the survivors and the “others”? Is the true conflict how to get off the Island? Then you start getting hooked because of the relationships that are formed: Claire and Charlie, Sayid and Shannon, Jack and Kate, Kate and Sawyer. The connections are also equally intriguing. Most of the people are connected through their past lives and these connections are slowly revealed like candy. Then several seasons later you start seeing the metaphysical / spiritual nature of lost: ultimate good vs ultimate evil (Jacob and the Black Smoke), death, life, free will versus choice, destiny, fate. So then towards the end you realize that none of the things you originally thought Lost was about are the real story. It’s really about life and has a much deeper meaning than anything you were thinking it was about the first few seasons.
What I got out of Lost
- Importance of relationships
Relationships are one of the most important things in life. This is why I was bawling for two hours while watching the season finale. I don’t think I have to spend a lot of time here, but besides God, people are the most important thing in your life. Are you investing in other people or are you just worried about yourself and your own little slice of self-made happiness (Rose and Bernard)? Hopefully I will choose the former more often.
- Don’t judge a book by its cover
Sawyer, Ben, Hugo, Sayid, Jack, Kate…. Everybody has two sides. Nobody is all bad. In the last season (Across the Sea) you see that even the Black Smoke has a reason for being who he is. You can understand that his actions are all a result of how his mother treated him (lied to him about life and everything). I don’t think the creators of Lost or anyone else would say that you bear no responsibility for your actions, but I think the point is that we should try to understand where people are coming from before we pass judgment. Maybe you can understand why they are behaving that way. If so, you might be able to help them behave differently, maybe you’ll make an effort to treat them differently than they have been treated, maybe one day they will change for the better. But either way, writing them off is not the solution. I could go on and on about this with the other characters I mentioned above, but this is already a very long post!
- It’s about the Journey, not the Destination
It doesn’t matter if all the storylines didn’t get answered. That wasn’t the point. The point of Lost (to me) is that we need to focus on each other and live in the here and now, whenever or wherever that happens to be. You can believe whatever you want to believe about “how we get to heaven” – ultimately that wasn’t what the show was about. It was about people and the journey we take with them. Stop and smell the roses sometimes and realize that you have limited time on this green and blue “Island” we live on, so make the most of every moment. Don’t chase after things or experiences. Why do you want to get off the Island and back to real life? What did you have there? It was “normal” to you, but what’s so wrong with the Island? I really like Desmond’s outlook in the last few episodes after he started realizing “what it’s all about.” He really transcended above the things we normally worry about and started focusing on much more important things.
- I want to Live!
I really liked when Richard (the immortal one who cannot age) got his first gray hair after the Island was “unplugged.” He smiled and Miles asked him why. He said “Because I think I just realized that I want to live.” Miles said “Good timing!” Oh the irony! But life is good. It is full of ups and downs. No matter how bad it gets, we should keep fighting for life, never despair (Charlie, Jack, etc) because you don’t know what will happen in the rest of your story.
- Problems are good for you
Pulled this quote from an Entertainment Weekly article: ''He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves, and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper.'' – Edmund Burke (Incidentally, Juliette’s ex-husband’s name was also Edmund Burke.) Think about Ben, Man in Black, Dharma Initiative. Everything that was “bad” had a role to play in the lives of the characters. They wouldn’t have become who they were in the end without the antagonists and hardships. It’s not necessarily that hardships make you who you are, but they do reveal what you’re made of.
- Destiny versus Choice
Yes, some things are meant to happen, but you are still responsible for your choices. You always have a choice. Jack thought his purpose was to sacrifice himself (that part was right) by detonating the bomb, destroying the Swan so that the Island could not bring them back to the Island. But what really happened was this caused the Ajira flight of 2007 to bring the “Oceanic 6” back to the Island. This happens time and time again in the series – you think the Island wants you to do something so you choose to do it, or you think that you know how to keep something from happening, so you do xyz but it still happens or something else happens that was also supposed to happen. There is a Master Plan and you cannot foil it even though everything you do is a choice made by your own free will. This is so Biblical – predestination vs free will. How can they both be true? I don’t know, but they are! And even Lost agrees with that! ;-)
What I still don’t understand:
- If the flash sideways is Purgatory, then why doesn’t Eloise want her son to leave? Why can’t she go with him if she is aware of what Purgatory is? Why does the final scene take place at her church? Is she something special? Why does she try to help the Oceanic 6 get back to the Island?
- Answered here: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Eloise_Hawking (She wanted to enjoy the happy life with him that she didn’t have on earth, letting him follow through with his heart’s desire/dream to be a pianist.)
- The Lost timeline and time-jumping. It’s complicated, and I’ll have to read more. It’s hard to remember everything that happened in multiple timelines for six years of the show. Besides all the timelines, there are so many characters to keep track of, so many connections.
- Answered here: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline
With regard to the “spiritual clan” / “soul cluster”: I don’t think that the writers were trying to say that you and I eventually form a mini clan of interconnected people that we all go to heaven with, I think it was a metaphor for all humanity. I think the writers were trying to say that we are all bound together and these in the show that went to heaven together just represent all of us. But I could be wrong, maybe that is what they were saying (Evidence: Not everybody in Lost goes to heaven with the clan, only the people who chose to be in the clan and create a meeting place for themselves to find each other in Purgatory). I just have a hard time believing that the writers are truly saying “This is how it happens: you go to heaven in a clan of people you were close to on earth when you find each other in Purgatory.” I don’t think they were trying to be that specific about the afterlife.
It’s interesting that Lost ends with Jack in the same position in which he first woke up on the Island. Really, if you wanted to believe that it was all a dream-world, I’m pretty sure you could make that argument. It’s hard to imagine a “real” Island anyway – especially with the whole time-travel bit. Everybody thought all along that the Island was Purgatory and Michael’s statement about the Island being a holding place still makes me feel like the Island isn’t real. It’s a place your spirit goes when you die. And all the people you died with are there, duking it out until you realize that that place isn’t real, you have died, and you let go of your life.
Questions and speculation aside, the reason I like Lost so much is the same reason Back to the Future is one of my favorite movies – I LOVE a well-written story where every detail masterfully fits together. Everything from beginning to end is pulled together with purpose. It takes some serious talent to do that. It tickles your brain and gives you goose bumps. Yeah some things weren’t answered (or more likely that I just missed it), but we’re talking maybe 1% is still a mystery to me and in the end it’s stuff that doesn’t matter. Therefore I am overwhelmingly satisfied with the ending.
So why was I crying so much? Well over the last five years, I have fallen in love with these characters and I will be sad to not join them on any new adventures. I will really miss Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sawyer, Claire, Charlie and Desmond the most. Ana Lucia was cool too.
This is literally the tip of the iceberg as far as what is packed into six seasons of Lost. There are so many literary references and self-references in Lost that I guarantee you can see something new every time you re-watch an episode. This whole series was clearly thought out from the Pilot to The End – and I really appreciate that. Thankfully, Lostpedia and other websites have done a great job of capturing every detail. I’d have to watch the whole show again from the begging to catch the mountain of details, connections, and explanations that I missed the first go-around. And I probably will at some point.
Theories:
http://theoriesonlost.blogspot.com/2010/05/beginning-end-and-all-that-in-between.html
http://fantasy-tv.suite101.com/article.cfm/meaning-of-lost--the-Island-the-tv-series-ending-explanation
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20313460_20387946,00.html
Other stuff to read (the list is endless, but here are some that interested me):
http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Portal:Mysterious
http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Eloise_Hawking
http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Eloise_Hawking/Theories
