"Lost" Review: Finale Brings Satisfying Ending
BY JESSICA DERSCHOWITZ
After six seasons and endless amounts of debate, theories and unanswered questions, "Lost" came to an end on Sunday night with a two-and-a-half hour finale aptly titled "The End."
The shows' creators had a lofty task ahead of them - bring the show's complicated plotlines to a (somewhat) tidy conclusion, while (hopefully) pleasing the legions of dedicated fans -- and they tackled that challenge well. I think what we saw last night was the best ending a superfan could ask for.
(Warning, fans and curious on-lookers, serious finale spoilers beyond this point)
On the island, it all came down to Jack and Flocke (as in Fake Locke, or, the smoke monster/Man in Black assuming the form of the dead John Locke). Jack took on the role of Jacob, protector of the island, while Flocke continued his quest to destroy the island and escape to wreak unknown havoc on the rest of the world. But the two agreed on one thing - Desmond was essential to either outcome. So, really, I suppose, it all came down to Desmond.
Flocke, Jack and Desmond head to the cave that houses the light at the heart of the island. The three Island Wonder Boys enter the cave, which leads to a long, deep hole. Desmond is lowered in, and removes a large stone from the spring where the light comes from.
Suddenly, the light goes out and the entire island begins to shake. Flocke smirks - he was right, he says, and the island and everyone on it will soon be at the bottom of the ocean (as we saw in the sideways world at the beginning of this season). But then Jack punches him in the face, and he bleeds - turns out Jack was right, and with the light out, Flocke is now mortal.
That wasn't the only thing that happened when Desmond turned out the light. Richard, Jacob's immortal second-in-command, can now age again. Seeing him moved to tears by a gray hair was sweet and satisfying.
The epic battle-to-the-death came early, and I was glad for it - so much of the criticism of the show's later seasons (from fans and professionals alike) was that the drama's mind-bending plot twists and beloved characters seemed to be boiled down to a generic good-versus-evil showdown. So, when the two squared off and we weren't even an hour into the finale, I knew I'd like where this was going.
The Jack/Flocke battle in the rain begins. Flocke stabs Jack in the stomach and begins to cut his throat (we see the stomach scar - which Jack believed was from getting his appendix out as a child - and the unexplained neck injury on him in the sideways world), but Jack overpowers the former Man in Black and throws him off a cliff to a very painful-looking death.
In the sideways world, both timelines begin colliding - and all because of love. Desmond and Hurley, awakened to their alternate universe memories by Penny and Libby, respectively, begin to bring the other survivors together in order to help them remember. Sun and Jin are awakened by the sight of their unborn baby's ultrasound - conducted, of course, by fertility expert Juliet. Hurley brings Sayid to Shannon, and memories of their relationship on the island come pouring in. Suddenly, they remember each other's names, and what they meant to one another in the other timeline.
Sawyer, a LAPD cop in the sideways world, ends up at the hospital to check on Sun - the giddy looks she and Jin (aware of the other timeline) give the confused detective (still clueless to it) is sweetly hilarious. He's not in the dark for long, however - a chance encounter with Juliet at the hospital vending machine brings everything back, including Juliet's death on the island at the end of Season 5/beginning of Season 6. Their reunion was one of the best (and most tear-inducing) parts of the show.
John's awakening also came at the hospital (seriously, is there only one hospital in all of Los Angeles?), after Jack operates on him in hopes of fixing the spinal injury that confined him to a wheelchair. Almost immediately after surgery, John wakes up and is able to move his toes. That small feeling is enough to make him remember the island, and how it gave him the ability to walk again. For John, being able to walk was the one thing he loved and needed the most.
Many of the other revelations occur at a benefit concert for a local museum, which, conveniently, everyone was either invited to or was able to crash. A still-pregnant Claire goes into labor at the event and Kate follows her backstage, where she delivers the baby, just as she did in Season 1. Their dialogue about Claire being scared to push and Kate admitting she was scared too was word-for-word from the same scene in the first season, another reminder that we've (sort of) been here before.
The sight of baby Aaron, who Kate raised for three years off the island in Season 4, is enough to awaken her, while Claire and Charlie come to at the sight of one another.
Jack arrives at the benefit and runs into Kate, who now remembers him and all their history. The good doctor, however, is still stubbornly clueless - he sees flashes of the island during both his encounter with John and when Kate touches his face, but he doesn't understand it, or want to believe.
Back on the island, Flocke's death doesn't stop the island from self-destructing. Richard, Miles and Frank Lapidus get the Ajira Airways flight up and running, and take off from the island with Sawyer, Kate and Claire in tow. Meanwhile, Jack must go back in the cave and undo what Desmond did to save the island, but he doesn't think he'll make it out alive. He preemptively passes the Jacob torch to Hurley, making him the next immortal protector of the island. Hurley doesn't want to accept that Jack will die, but agrees to do the job. He also decides he'll needs his own Richard, and appoints an honored Benjamin Linus to the task.
Ben and Hurley lower Jack back into the cave, where he finds a barely conscious Desmond. He sends Desmond out on the rope he was lowered in on, and puts the stone back in the now-empty spring. Water begins to flow in, and the light comes on again. Jack, delirious and now clearly dying, both laughs and cries in triumph.
In sideways land, Kate and Jack pull up to a church. She tells Jack to go in through the back and she'll meet him inside. Jack finds his father's coffin, and opens it - as on the island, it's empty, but this time Christian is standing behind him. Jack, whose daddy issues have been one of the character's central flaws, tearfully embraces his father. They're all dead, Jack tells him, and Christian says it's true - the sideways world is a sort of purgatory that the survivors created for themselves, with everything they needed in order to "let go" of their troubles and be together. It's not a chronological time and place - some died before Jack and others long after - but all the people who were so important to one another during their time on the island are there.
Inside the church is a veritable reunion - I'm sure the happy looks on the cast members' faces weren't just from acting, as some of these people hadn't been back for many seasons. Everyone who was able to let go of the things that ailed them - Jack's issues with his dad, Locke's anger over not being able to walk and so on - is inside. Notably missing is Benjamin Linus, who opted to wait outside the church, apparently still haunted by the terrible things he did during his lifetime. As everyone reconnects, Christian opens the church doors and steps into a blinding white light.
The finale then skillfully circled back to where it began - Jack, on the island and in the jungle, stumbling through a bamboo field after turning on the island light. He collapses in the same spot where we first found him after the plane crash, and, with Walt's dog Vincent by his side, he dies. The show concludes with his eye closing, harkening back to how this amazing series all began with his eye opening.
When the show concluded, I was sad it was over but was ultimately incredibly satisfied. Like Jack, I didn't initially believe in the power of "Lost" - I dismissed the pilot as a wanna-be "Lord of the Flies" remake. But, three years later, at the behest of a friend, I gave it another chance and was converted into a firm believer. For me, the ending, with all the characters I love being together in life and death, was the only ending that would have worked. I didn't know it until I saw it, but that was exactly how I needed it to end.
And now that it's over, I'm just happy that I was along for the ride.
By Jessica Derschowitz