lizardbeth | LOST

Show. I just can't even process.

I'm a little afraid to read reactions because I can see how some might have hated it for various things. I also fully expect some people to not understand wtf just happened.

But.

I thought it was beautiful. Earned. Expected and yet surprising. It 'answered' what I needed answered and made me realize that the rest of it doesn't fucking matter.

Everyone got a little something in the end. And above all, as Christian said, it was their time on the Island which affected them so profoundly: most because they died there, some because they lived on afterward and were never the same. It wasn't the Island that was purgatory -- it was the Sideways verse.

As anyone reading this knows, my personal fictional hobby-horse is very much destiny, mysticism, and death. So yes, this obviously was RIGHT THERE in the sweet spot, even more than I expected.

Sartre said that Hell is other people. But this show makes me cry because its point has ALWAYS been that other people are also our Heaven. None of them went on alone - none of them went on without ALL of the others. And that, I think, is a wonderful, hopeful ending.

(I'm not quite sure what it says about me that Kara and Sam dying and going to the Other Side, and this one where EVERYBODY is dead and working out their issues before heading off into the light, is a hopeful ending. But it is.)

I sort of want to squee about some things that were awesome and squeeworthy, but this isn't that post. This is the "holy shit it's over and it stirred many emotions and it was amazing" post.

And if you didn't agree, THIS IS NOT THE POST TO TELL ME SO, mmkay?

**

Oh, by the way.... ABC, with the exception of the Target ads which were brilliant, I HATE YOU horribly for chopping this show into little pieces with your billions of ads. YOU SUCK.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It wasn't the Island that was purgatory -- it was the Sideways verse.

I KNOW WASN'T IT AWESOME!?!?!

(I still can't think in lower case! That's a good sign!)

There were definite similarities to the BSG finale (for me, with Ben specifically), but I also found it very Narnian, which I really, really enjoyed.

OMG!SMOKE DETECTOR! ;)

It was definitely an ending worthy of the show that owns the title of "greatest pilot of all time".

I'm shocked (ok, not really) by how many people completely misinterpreted it as the entire SERIES being purgatory. Even the main tv critic in my paper! NOOOO. Just goes to show that even if they HAD explained everything, some people would just misunderstand or not buy it or not like it anyway, so it was probably a better choice to leave a lot of it on the floor.

I'm amused though, speaking of Narnia, by the people who reject the ending because of the afterlife angle. It's like they're taking the reality of the characters too far and forgetting that we're not ACTUALLY seeing what happens after people die. It's a STORY, people! Jeez.

Oh Ben. :( But I like that even after however-many years as Hurley's second and presumably doing good, he still has some stuff to work through (obv Alex and Danielle). And a little bit that he was never really OF them so he couldn't join them.

SMOKE DETECTOR! BEST AD EVAR! lol

See, last night I was all "Wow, Christian! You exposit like NOBODY'S BUSINESS!" and then I went on the internet this morning, and was all *head desk*. People are morons. ;)

(My personal favourite is the one I read where they were like "They crashed and Jack opened his eyes, flashed the entire thing, closed his eyes and died! It was so perfect!" and I was like "Um...NO IT WASN'T!" This is why I need my livejournal, clearly.)

I just assumed that, as with Susan, Ben and Daniel and Charlotte and Miles (Miles? I don't remember seeing him in the church at the end...) and Richard and Frank...all of them will go in their own time. Further up and further in!

Christian DID nicely exposit, so I have NO CLUE where some of this is coming from! Except people WILL BE MORONS on the internet, it's a law! LOL

And yes, ITA that the others who weren't in the church were going in their own time. But I think it was right that Ben didn't go with them. I picture Richard as having gone already I mean, there's no way he'd be sticking around if his wife is waiting for him. Or if he had a Sideways, it had Jacob in it, since Jacob was a far bigger connection/issue to Richard than the losties were, when it comes to the Island.

And no I don't think Miles was there. No freighter folk were in the anteroom. In fact, I think Juliet was the last of the characters introduced that was in the room. Most were original recipe losties, plus Penny But as Mister Exposition *g* put it, they were the people who most profoundly mattered to each other while on the Island.

It's interesting to look at that group and realize that only Kate,Claire, James, Des and Penny died someplace else than the Island -- so OF COURSE it profoundly affected them, it's where they died! So of course, they'd want to experience a life where that didn't happen. only to realize they missed those connections and they were just as happy with the way things had actually happened.

and oh yes, I keep writing comments I should just put in a post. Since I'm blathering. :)

I wondered a bit about Michael and Walt.

Y'know, after watching the finale, I fully suspected everyone would hate it. ("But what about the polar bears? WHY DIDN'T YOU ANSWER MY QUESTIONS ABOUT THE POLAR BEARS?!")

I am SO THRILLED to see other people who actually loved it as much as I did. :) I've just recently started delving into some of those heavier subjects like destiny and mysticism and whatnot, and seeing such a popular show like this take that route? Unexpected and extremely impressive. The writers and producers were brave to go there, what with so many viewers who are only looking for fluffy stories with neatly tied up, 'happily ever after' endings on their TVs, and oh, am I glad they did.

The details (like the polar bears) ultimately don't matter. "Lost" was a giant fable, a giant myth, about mankind and life and death and good and evil and love and redemption and our connections with others and bettering humanity as a whole. We take out of stories like this what we, personally, want and need to take out of them, if we're willing to ask ourselves these questions. Personally, I suspect I'm going to be mulling over all the themes in this story for weeks, months, years to come. :)

Out of curiosity, you said themes like this were your personal "hobby horse." What other shows/books/movies/etc. do you recommend? Now that "Lost" is over, I'd love to delve into more fiction along these lines. :)

heh, watching the meltdown after BSG ended, I was pretty sure people would go nuts over this one too! Thankfully there are also people who loved this one though (so I don't feel all alone in my YAY).

We take out of stories like this what we, personally, want and need to take out of them, if we're willing to ask ourselves these questions.

And THIS. yes. It depends on what questions you find important and/or interesting. And the funny thing is I am TOTALLY one of the people who loved putting all the bits together, and wondering WHY things happened and how. But that's also never been what the show is ABOUT to me. The finale gave me my ending on the theme, and that's more satisfying than an endgame to the puzzle. I can figure out the puzzle myself (queen of the fanwank here! *g*), but the thematic and character resolution I would've been frustrated to miss.

I just meant really in terms of my own writings - almost all my fic ends up dealing with those these themes of free will and prophecy and the like (and is one reason I rarely write fic for fandoms that don't include those themes someplace). BSG obviously. Babylon 5 was my foundational fandom, and deals with some of those issues, especially destiny and free will. JMS' followup series Jeremiah makes some interesting stabs in that direction too, on top of their main question about doing good when the world is an evil place. Sarah Connor Chronicles and anything Terminator also deal in that sort of thing, including more alternate universes than you can shake a stick at!

I thought I hated it last night. On further reflection, I loved everything on the island. I am less pleased about the Sideways verse, but that was more about the execution that the idea.

I'm still processing. I feel less bitter as time goes on (disappointed shipper here).

I thought of you, knowing you're a Skater. But at least they escaped the Island together and they could've have had quite a long time together until they both died? I was afraid for a few seconds there that the plane was going to explode (when Jack saw it above him), which might have made things more bitter. But at least we can believe that a handful escaped and even though they obviously never quite got over the Island, they continued their lives for some time.

Heh, I've already posted my handwavey fanwank. I feel better now.

I WON'T TELL YOU I DON'T AGREE, BECAUSE I TOTALLY DO. :)

yay! EEE!!

I think LJ ate my reply to your post, I'll see if it shows up and then try again.

LOST

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