One of my guilty pleasures over the past five years has been the TV show Lost. I think the writers of this show did something incredibly smart by creating a storyline with enough mystery to hook viewers initially, while spending the first part of the show’s run building character backstories. This helped immensely because it caused you to really care about the outcome of the characters when all hell broke loose.
Well, unless you’ve been living under a rock this month, someone somewhere probably made you aware of the fact that the Lost series was ending. The series finale 2 1/2 hour episode, “The End,” aired this Sunday, and I have to say I was somewhat satisfied with the ending. It was interesting enough to make you think back not only to what you’ve seen this season, but also throughout the previous seasons. So below are some of the answered questions that I was satisfied with, some of the things I was not satisfied with, and some of the questions I think were important to answer, but weren’t.
SATISFACTORY
1) The presence of Rose, Bernard and Vincent on the island was somewhat explained.
2) Jack ended up with Kate. After Season 5 and the Sawyer/Juliet thing, and of course the start of the series, this is how it needed to end.
3) They touched on pretty much every character in the alt-universe that we cared about.
4) The numbers. I know that the numbers representing the candidates was not all that we expected them to be, but it does present a logical explanation for why they kept showing up everywhere.
5) Keamy. I loved this guy. Even though he died twice in the show, I’m glad they brought him back in the alt-universe.
6) The resolution to the show was less about science and more about faith. As a Christian, that tells me that the writers at least understand that people are more important than nature in the grand scheme of things.
UNSATISFACTORY
1) Sayid ending up with Shannon. While I understand it, they shouldn’t have spent so much time after Shannon died trying to play up the Sayid/Nadia love affair if he was going to end up with Shannon in the end.
2) Dogen. I think I understand what his purpose in the storyline was, but I had to reach to get it, meaning the writers didn’t do a good enough job explaining it.
3) Not explaining certain statements happening in the last two episodes. Ana Lucia “not being ready,” Desmond telling Eloise that Faraday’s “not coming with me,” and Boone already being aware of what they were doing when Sayid rescued Shannon really needed a little bit more explaining.
4) Michael not being in the church. Maybe I missed it and he was, but if he wasn’t, why not? He was part of the most important time in Jack’s life, so he should be there. If his soul is still trapped on the island (which Ana Lucia’s should have been then too, and Keamy for that matter), then they needed to reference it.
5) What was the purpose of Zoe? Seems like they just needed another body to kill, because they never explained why Widmore brought a geophysicist on to the island.
6) No Mr. Eko. I understand that they couldn’t work out a deal in time with the actor, but come on, you knew when the show was going to end 3 seasons ago. That should’ve been more than enough time to get something done.
UNANSWERED
1) What happened to Richard? We got his backstory on the island, but how come if he became mortal and aging (as evidenced by the gray hair Miles noticed), shouldn’t he have shown up somewhere in the alt-universe as a dead dude? I understand why he wasn’t at the church in the end, but if they can show us Eloise, Penny, Keamy, Mikhail and many other peripheral characters in the alt-universe, why not Richard?
2) Was Hurley actually crazy? This one came up when discussing with my family. We know that he can see dead people, but what was with Dave in season two? On the island, this couldn’t have been the Man in Black, because he could only take the form of dead people on the island, which Dave wasn’t.
3) What was with the temple and the statue? I heard somewhere that they were supposed to be left over from the Egyptians, but how they got there and what purposes they initially served were never answered.
4) The Dharma initiative. What happened between Jughead and the Linus massacre? Seems like if this wasn’t an important piece they shouldn’t have spent 4 seasons telling us how important the Dharma initiative was.
5) Walt. I hear they’re explaining this on the DVD, but that’s not good enough for fans who gave six years of their lives.
That’s all I can think of for now. I’m sure more things will come up, but maybe some of you readers can answer some of my unanswered questions. Or perhaps you have unanswered questions of your own that you would like to ask about, and maybe I can answer them for you. Drop a comment if you care. Otherwise, that’s a wrap!
Unworthy Yet Redeemed 