LOST: Why It Was Really About The People

My two cents on what was most likely the most anticipated series finale in television history. Seeing as there are mega spoilers ahead, I'll start after the jump...

Well...wow. It's the end of an era of sorts. LOST wrapped up it's television presence with 2.5 hour season finale that seemed to fly by. It was packed with action, drama, romance, even some comedic moments. So did it live up to expectations? 

I say yes. No-I say hell yes. I was on the edge of my seat, I found myself grinning like an idiot, I even gasped out loud several times. 

It began like so many episodes have-we see different groups around the island, trying to figure out what's happening, who is where, how to stop each other. The Man In Black and Ben set out to pull Desmond from the well where he was thrown. Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sawyer deal with Jack taking the responsibility of the new island guardian. Miles finds Richard alive but shaken, and as it turns out, is in contact with Ben.

What happens next is a final battle of sorts, as Jack and MIB fight for Desmond, who they believe to be a "weapon". They all return to the "light", the apparent secret of the island and what must be protected from evil. 

Here's your crash course on what goes down: Desmond removes a stone pillar from the light source, setting off what seems to be a giant earthquake. Jack fights the Man In Black and is stabbed by him in the chest-in true surprising hero fashion, Kate puts a bullet through the MIB's chest, keeling him over. Jack gives him one last look before kicking him in the face, knocking him off the cliff. Jack tells everyone he's OK, and goes off with Ben and Hurley to right the pillar near the light, telling Hurley that it's now up to him to protect it. Meanwhile, Sawyer and Kate hustle to Hydra island to meet Lupidus (yep, he's alive), Ben and Richard and take off in the plane. Jack rights the pillar and saves Desmond, telling him that he has a family to take care of. Jack rights the pillar and finds himself washed downstream, where he walks through the bamboo garden where he was thrown when the plane first crashed, weak from his wound and starting to die. He lies down in the bamboo, where Vincent comes to comfort him. Lupidisus' plane flies overhead, and Jack's eyes close, right near the same spot where they once opened.

Then comes the ending. Jack finds himself in the alternate timeline arriving at the church, where he is told all his friends are waiting for him. Hurley invites Ben in, though Ben smiles knowingly and says he's staying, commending Hurley for his leadership. Jack goes upstairs to see his dead father, but the coffin is empty....

Turning around when he hears his father's voice, Jack finds Christian Shephard standing behind him. Jack is as dumbfounded as the audience, happy to see his father but wondering why he is there. "You're dead..." he says. And then that's when he realizes it-Jack is dead himself. Jack is shaken but his father re-assures him, reminding him of the inevitability of death-we all die at some point. The connection is made...everyone else in the church is dead too. They've all died, but not at the same time-this place is somewhere for them together once again, one more time, before they move on. To where? Heaven, the afterlife? It's whatever you want it to be.

Christian reminds Jack of something-the time that he spent with these people was the most important time in his life. And there it all is, wrapped up in one that one statement. These people learned from each, fell in love, made friendships. And they all left behind whatever parts of their lives they would give anything to forget. This idea united them all, despite the fact that for some it was running away from a criminal record, while for others it was neglecting their own children. 

And this is exactly where the "alternate timeline" comes in. Each character lived out their perfect life-Jack was not an alcoholic, but a surgeon who saved lives and made John Locke walk again. Ben Linus was a teacher who became a father figure for Alex Rousseau and helped others before himself. Hurley took his lottery money and made himself a successful business man, moving away from home. And on and on...

So how did they get to live out this life, blissfully unaware that in reality it's all a false projection that will allow them to feel like they're living their own perfect life? Redemption. It's all about redemption. Redemption is undoubtedly one of the strongest themes in story-telling. A character could start out as a nothing, the average man-but when they're thrust into the middle of a conflict, it is in facing the conflict that they redeem themselves and make themselves more than ordinary or sub-standard. 

For the survivors of the Oceanic flight 815, that conflict was the island.

Let's look at Jack Shephard, who is by most accounts the central character of LOST. I hated Jack for the longest time. He was a drunk who didn't take responsibility for his actions and put the blame on everyone else. He never believed that there is such a thing as fate, that everything is coincidental (I personally believe there are no coincidences), and everything has a logical explanation. For Most of 6 seasons he raged at John Locke, a man who tried to help him see the error of his ways. He was in some ways selfish, appointing himself the leader automatically, deciding for everyone what was going to be done. For this reason, I hated Jack. I mean, really hated him. I was always a Locke man, yes, but I thought Jack had an ego about him that needed some serious checking. 

But this past season, I started to see Jack come around. He started to let go, to realize he can't control everything. He finally believed in the idea of fate and destiny. And of course, most importantly, he volunteered himself as guardian of the island.

 Glad you came around, Jack

He had finally done it-he had let go. He had accepted responsibility and, more importantly, that some things are meant to be. In the end, he died to save other people-the hero's sacrifice. And when he lied in the bamboo, dying from his wound, it all came together. Because of his sacrifice and his redemption, Jack could for a period of time live out the life he always wanted. 

I could write an entire article about each character and how they ended up deserving their purgatory version of the perfect life, but we would all be for quite some time. So let me wrap up by saying this: Lost was about people in the end. There is no doubt that Lost was a pioneer in science fiction television as well as in drama and thrillers, and that the island and it's secrets helped create one of the best shows of all time. Sure there are questions left unanswered-where did the temple come from? What exactly IS the light? How long has the island been there? Where is it? 

But all that is not nearly as important as the people on the island, and their connection. Without those connections, without that fate, their individual redemptions would quite possibly have never happened.

And that's where we left Jack and company-as redeemed people, meeting together one last time before they move on to whatever awaits us after death.