Monday, May 24, 2010

I'm LOST

I've been a fan of LOST since its first episode; I even stuck by it through seasons 3 and 4 which were totally impossible to figure out.  But I made it through them and slid into season 5, ready to get down to business and start to understand what in the world was going on!

Season 5 did start to provide some explanations but of course, being LOST it also raised more questions too.  I wouldn't have expected anything less.  Season 6 started to make sense actually and I watched each episode with excitement and a pending sense of doom because this was it folks, it was going to end!

And end it did, last night.  Why you may wonder am I actually writing about a silly TV show?  Well, for some strange reason it moved me beyond comprehension and I find I have to find a way to resolve all the leftover feelings I have about it.

I spent a few minutes perusing the web to kind of see what other people thought about it and it seems a mixed bag really.  Yes, there were far TOO many commercials in it, it drove me crazy.  5 minutes of show, 4 minutes of commercials for one stretch.  Not fair ABC!  But still I was glued to the set.

I learned several seasons ago that the show was not really about the island.  It seemed like it was though when the show first began.  The strange mysterious island, that was tropical and yet somehow had polar bears on it; the island that had some strange force within it, that could move on it's own and could heal people.  Yes, that was a mystery, but in the end it wasn't really about the island, it was about the people who inhabited it, both willingly and unwillingly.  The island changed people, it did, but in the end we were left wondering how much of the change was because of the island or in spite of it?

At times we watched flash forward, flash backwards and incredibly, the flash sideways that allowed us an amazing perspective and peek at what could have been.  Those flash sideways views tantalized us and made us ache for a perfect ending that we knew would never happen.  And yet, it some ways it did, it was just not how we expected it to be.

In my mind the series ended as it HAD to end.  As we watched the episodes we became so engrossed in the people that there had to be someway to complete their stories, so this ending was the only way to do it.  We had resolution for Seyid and Shannon, who loved so briefly; Seyid who ran from his past and finally learned that in some ways he had to embrace it to be free of it and in the end, Shannon was there for him.

Charlie had vicious demons to fight, but in the end when he died a couple of seasons ago he died in redemption, so wasn't it fitting that he in the end was rewarded by reunion with Claire, who lost her way on the island, as well as her child and her heart?

My heart broke when Sawyer lost his Juliette, it was too cruel.  He had, for the first time in his life found joy and peace, a remarkable life that he had never glimpsed before.  And then she was ripped from his arms, literally and suddenly he was right back where he started.  Sawyer, the anti-hero that we hated and rooted for, the charming bad boy; how could his ending not have had Juliette in it?

Jin and Sun, torn from us a couple of episodes ago, holding onto one another tightly.  What about their child?  They had only found one another again and then they died, it was not fair.  So the end provided them with a renewed beginning, how could anything else have happened?

Locke, once the man of immence faith was then the desperate man driven to evil.  The man in black, who had no faith, only a goal to get off the island.  The representation of evil, as Jacob was the representation of good.  As the smoke monster he fought with rage, with a demonic fervor, but what happened to Locke, the man of faith?  In the end, he found his faith again and that was how it had to be.

So many characters to love, to hate.  Hurley, with his astonishing child-like manner, full of compassion and the ability to keep trying.  His reward?  Libby, who had always seen the real Hurley.  And Ben, dual sides of the same coin, sometimes evil and other times, well, maybe less evil.

Jack.  Some say the story was really about him.  I don't agree with that really, although he was our hero; he united the survivors and also tore them apart.  His strength astonished us at times and his desperation broke our hearts.  Faith did not ever come easily to him, but in the end in his shining moment it came through.  He and Kate will have their happily ever after, in a way. 

So in the end, it wasn't about the island but the people who walked upon it for a short time.  It was about losing, yourself, your love, your life.  Yes, they were all dead in the end, not from the plane crash, but from the events that shaped their lives.  And I was okay with that, it seemed perfect for it to end that way.  Many will disagree with me I know and that's okay.

It moved me, something it has done over the years.  I've felt like throwing things at the TV, I've laughed and last night I cried.  Yes, it is only a TV show, but I do think it will be known as an American Icon, a classic of television's visions.  My hats are off to Lindelof and Cuse - you entertained me, kept me coming back for more.  Thanks for the ride!