What We Watched For

It’s now the dreaded Monday that I talked about on Saturday and I sit here at my WordPress editor with a hundred different thoughts swirling around inside me, all centered around a warm glow of satisfaction, peace, and happiness. The light of my inner island is bright and full of life thanks to the ending that was finally presented to the world yesterday.

Before I get to my thoughts of that, I have some spoiler buffer in the form of a food picture because, after all, this is a food blog. Once the food ends though, be warned that I let loose with no regard for people who don’t know when to avert their eyes. If you’ve never watched the show and don’t think you will, I encourage you to stop reading after the food and give yourself the opportunity to watch what I found to be a spiritually and emotionally fulfilling show down to the very last second.

Here we have my “LOST Supper”, which consisted of LOST Spam Musubis, Kalua Pig and Cabbage (no wild boar in our markets that I know of), Sweet Cheeks, Lost Crostini, and Jungle Fruit Salad (mangoes and lychee).

There are only 8 musubis because Baby Girl was hungry early and she snagged two to eat right away. The LOST Crostini is different than what I’d originally posted and I used pesto, steak, and mozzarella cheese instead, topped off with nori. The Jungle Fruit Salad was something I’d come with on a whim, after my dad sent me a couple boxes of mangoes and lychee.

With that, on to my thoughts on the show.

I’d said before that I hoped I would be on the side of fans who were happy with the ending and I can’t even express in words just how good I feel about the way it all ended. I’ve seen a few series finales in my tv viewing days and pretty much every one, with maybe the exception of the endings to Dollhouse and Rome, left a little something to be desired. I didn’t care much for how The X-Files went out. The ending of Seinfeld was the definition of terrible. Battlestar Galactica was decent, yet not completely satisfying with the ending of Starbuck. The Shield’s ending was very meh.

In my mind, though, LOST’s ending will forever be with me. I cried during every awakening during the finale and yet I didn’t cry during Desmond’s or Hurley’s awakening, perhaps because I hadn’t really had any idea what was going on when they woke up, but with the end so close, I suddenly had a feeling on what was going on even if my brain hadn’t quite figured it out. What happened to me really, was that I simply experienced their awakening with them without knowing the full picture.

The flashbacks to their lives brought me back to my viewings of their lives over the past six years and for that reason, I’m certain that the experience I had is not something that can be replicated by anyone who chooses to watch this show from start to finish after this point. Having lived six years “with” these people, there’s just something there that can’t quite be duplicated.

The ending felt very similar to the ending to Titanic, when Rose lives a very long and fruitful life, yet even with the family she raised, her soul still belonged to Jack and the people that died on that ship. Her homecoming at the end was beautiful and spiritual and the ending for LOST had this same sense of hope and wonder at the thought of the pure brilliance and forgiveness that comes when we leave this life for the next. This feeling of wonder at such a state of consciousness washed over me with such force that it took with it any yearning for answers about smoke monsters and bright light islands and funky lottery numbers.

Yeah, that’s right. I don’t care. Sure, I wanted answers just like the rest of you, but I also watched this show because I loved the characters. This fact was magnified tenfold from the first awakening in the finale. While I know Mr. Pikko is upset about getting no answers, he also admitted that it was still a pretty good ending. There was so much to love that I have to talk about it in detail.

Jin and Sun

I think it goes without saying that Jin and Sun were the star-crossed lovers of the series. No matter what kind of progress they seemed to make in their love for each other, something seemed to rip them apart soon after. We watched them on their long journey from a couple about to split to a couple that found renewed love and a miraculous pregnancy that hadn’t been possible off the island.

When they died together on the submarine, you felt a sense of hopelessness and despair that even though they were together, they were robbed yet again of a happy existence together. In the end, this made their dual awakening exponentially more meaningful and I get teary just thinking of Sun asking Jin, “Did you see?” Knowing that nothing would stand in their way now felt better than I could have imagined.

Sayid and Shannon

This was the pair I felt didn’t exactly fit the bill because I’d always found Sayid’s love for Nadia to be more interesting and meaningful than his island love affair with Shannon. Yet, despite this, I felt that their awakening was beautifully filmed. From the way Sayid grabbed her elbow to the way the light fell on her face to the wind blowing his hair gently away from his face, it was just a beautiful scene to watch. Still, as someone pointed out to me, Nadia was never on the island and this was all about this group of people specifically.

I was very annoyed to hear that Sayid has never watched the show.

Kate, Claire, and Charlie

To have Kate awaken while delivering Aaron again was very touching, especially since Jacob had revealed that Aaron was the reason for him crossing her name off the wall. Aaron became her missing piece in the world and I loved how this unexpected part of Kate was once again born through her awakening. I loved the look on her face as she shook off the first memories. She also gets mad Badass Points for being the one to shoot Smokey.

When Rabid Claire came out of the bushes on Hydra Island, my brain crapped its pants because I thought for sure that someone was gonna die right there. I haven’t exactly been a fan of her character since she came back because she seemed a complete wild card and plus that hair was woefully unattractive. When she later revealed that she wasn’t leaving because she was too ashamed to be Aaron’s mother again, I finally felt moved by her. While it’s entirely plausible that her reunion and life with Aaron after she returned never went well, the birth seemed to indicate that this was her chance to start over from the very beginning and really be the mother she’d always wanted to be.

Charlie’s creepy stalking look as he watched Claire go into labor was hilarious and while I never really liked Charlie, his death really moved me and his awakening moved me even more. Despite how icky his character was at some points, his acting in the scene that Claire grabs his hand was just so good that I forgot any ill will I’d had towards his rocker persona. I couldn’t remember if he’d used that same line, “I couldn’t find any water…” before, but it sounded familiar.

James and Juliet

When he first encounters Jin and Sun, it was such a cute moment to see Jin smiling at him laughingly when he showed them his badge.

“Detective.”

Out of all the reunions, I felt the strongest emotion about Jin and Sun, but his reunion with Juliet was my all-around favorite because it incorporated lines from way back in the first episode of Season 6, in which she rambles on about going dutch for coffee. The writers also managed to answer a question that had been bugging me since the beginning of the season. When Miles listened to Juliet’s last words, he said they were, “It worked.” The question about just what the heck she was talking about finally came when she picked the candy bar out of the machine and said, “It worked.” So it appears that she was fluttering in and out of her awakening while she was dying.

I was really broken up over the loss of Juliet and so to see them live through it again in a matter of seconds and then be together again was just so perfect. Then to have him say those same haunting words, “I got you.” again only to be able to follow through this time? Again, perfect.

Locke

Although Locke didn’t have a significant other to wake up with, his awakening with Jack looking over him was just as moving and I cried during his as well. I loved that Ben was able to get the wish he made during the eulogy he gave for Locke on the island and ask him for forgiveness. Out of all of them, Locke seemed to have the most forgiveness to give and some forgiveness to earn as well.

In the end, John Locke once again became the man that he’d emerged as in the early seasons.  Noble, knowing, and content. To me, he helped drive home the idea that anything can be forgiven. His ability to forgive his murderer is the ultimate forgiveness.

Hurley

The teddy bear of LOST had me crying again as he tearfully insisted that the job of island protector was supposed to be Jack’s. It boggles my mind that an out of work guy who originally auditioned for Sawyer had become such a profound central character for the show and would now be closing out business on the island.

His little conversation with Ben at the end of it all when he tells Ben that he was a great Number 2 confirms what Christian later says to Jack, in that some of them died long after he did and it opened the door for some great potential fan fiction. I was surprised he wasn’t at the Aloha to LOST show.

Desmond

I admit, I thought it was lame that Penny got no awakening, but in the end as I mentioned before, she wasn’t on the island. I have to go back and watch Happily Ever After again to see his awakening. I didn’t quite understand what the purpose of Desmond was until after we’d seen the whole thing. Things seemed to make more sense after I got to digest every thing. While I wanted my favorite character to have more before I saw the finale, his role in everything became enough and I say goodbye to Desmond with a smile on my face.

Jack

His reluctance to wake up seemed tied to the fact that he was one of the most miserable characters in the real world. And while he wasn’t exactly the happiest in the Sideways, things were looking up, unlike how things had gone for him in life. His marriage to his wife failed and she went on to marry someone else and start a family. He couldn’t even attempt suicide without nearly killing two innocent people. His dad died with no resolution to their dramatic relationship. Then, they crash on a deserted island and one by one they’re killed off for some reason or another, leaving him feeling personally responsible for all of it. He got rescued and lied about everyone he left behind. He drank himself out of his job, lost Kate and Aaron, then found himself back on the island with some of his most dear friends dying again. An island of misery is the only thing he has left that he “hasn’t ruined”. It felt damn good when he kicked Smokey off that damn cliff. The goodbye kiss and exchange of ‘I love yous’ was also really good.

What touched me the most about Jack was the way they showed him awake and dying at the same time. They highlighted his painful death, the agony plain on his face, while at the same time showing how regardless of how it all played out for him, his soul was allowed happiness and peace. The ear to ear smile he wore in the church was like a horrific burden had been removed from his soul. In his father’s words, he had finally let go of the pain of his life.

I seem to have different theories about the people who were missing from the church at the end, so I’ll throw my thoughts out there for people to digest.

The “Others”

The common theory seems to be that Ben stayed behind to do further penance for his sins, but this isn’t the way that I see it at all. I feel that his character was redeemed earlier in the season when he poured his heart out to Ilana. Sure, he wasted Widmore, but admit it, the dude had it coming. They established during Ilana therapy that the loss of Alex had crippled him and so really, you aren’t supposed to feel bad for ole Charles.

In “What They Died For”, Ben woke up after Desmond kicked his ass. In his awakened state, he was told by Danielle that he’s the closest thing to a father Alex has ever had. My thinking is that he isn’t ready to leave because he has the two of them to stick around for. While Desmond had a group of people to awaken and take with him, Ben eventually found his own little group in “the only person who ever mattered” to him and the woman he wronged to have that person. He has to make it right with these two women before he can leave. This is his unfinished business.

I feel like my thoughts on Ben are supported by the fact that Daniel and Charlotte don’t have actual awakening scenes and are not present at the church. While they were on the island, neither of them were castaways and presumably, they’ll awaken on their own and leave when they’re ready.

I’m assuming that Richard ends up joining Isabella in their own world. Lapidus and Miles, while entrenched in the island, didn’t have as profound a connection to anyone. The only person I saw who wasn’t originally on the island was Penny, and her connection to Desmond is obviously so strong that she just got grandfathered into the group.

What We Watched For

It’s weird how I went into this show expecting answers to long ago questions to materialize at long long last and when I came out, I had made a complete 180. This show wasn’t about what the Man in Black’s name was or how Jacob’s bitch of a mom ended up on the island or what the smoke monster meant or why souls are stuck on the island or how turning a donkey wheel can possibly do anything to that room Desmond unplugged the island in. It was about life’s tragedy and beauty and about how no matter how much suffering these people went through, they were together in the end and that was all that mattered.

It tapped into that secret yearning so many of us unconsciously harbor about heaven and seeing loved ones again. It let you see that while Jack and Kate could never quite be together in life, that even though he died as she escaped, they could be together forever in the end. It showed us that through the love they shared in life, Sawyer and Juliet could find each other again. That Jin and Sun could finally bask in a loving relationship for longer than a couple of weeks. That Charlie could finally be with Claire and be a father to Aaron. That Locke could finally relax from his never ending quest for meaning in life.

When the white light washed over them, tears rolled down my face for the same reasons I cried at the ending of Ghost. It was peaceful and touching and the most appropriate goodbye any true fan of LOST could ever ask for. I think it brought a sense of hope that despite what we may have to endure in life, in the end, we will cherish it all for the miracle that it is. In the recap, Terry O’Quinn said it best.

“You don’t want to get to the end of the book, but you close the book and you say, “Gosh that was great.”” When Jack closed his eye, bringing the show full circle, I only had one word for it all.

Wow.