With about an hour left of this episode, I came to the realization that this finale wasn’t going to be about answering questions as much as it was going to be about concluding their story. And in a really, really strange and unexpected way, I found myself not really minding.
At the beginning of this season, when it became apparent that only one of the two universes we’ve been watching unfold would survive, a lot of people (myself included) were a little skeptical. We were worried that the sideways world was the end game, and that all of the years we invested in these characters on this island would be discarded in favor of a “fake” reality. But yet as this episode played out, I found myself actively rooting for the sideways world to persevere.
This feeling really kicked into high gear within the first half hour, during Jin and Sun’s hospital scene. The idea of these two getting a second, less tragic shot was downright touching. In a crazy way, I found myself more engaged in the sideways world than the island one. Never would have predicted that.
And you know what I really loved? That this finale focused more on love than death. We had been taught that island enlightenment is either triggered by a near death experience or connecting with your soul mate. For the most part, every single character who became enlightened in this two-parter did so when they set their eyes on somebody they love. Sayid and Shannon. Charlie and Claire. Charlotte and Daniel. Sawyer and Juliet. As I mentioned countless times in my top episodes rankings, this show is truly about characters and relationships. I felt that here.
I also loved the way Aaron’s sideways birth was almost identical to his island birth. And while I do wish that Jack was the one who knocked Kate to her island senses (I’m a sucker for them), it was probably more appropriate that it happened with Aaron’s birth. Aaron has, after all, been her motivation over the past couple of seasons.
Speaking of Jack and Kate, I did love their scenes together. I actually found myself wanting to scream at the television at times, because it seemed like every single time they teased a heart to heart, something interrupted it. First Kate was staring at Jack moments after his christening as the new island protector, only for Sawyer to step in and start asking Jack questions. Then Kate was telling Jack that nothing was reversible – clearly referring to their past problems – before Hurley cut the moment short. Then after Kate rescued Jack and held him in his arms, Sawyer, Hurley, and Ben burst into the scene. Similarly, in the sideways world, Jack kept getting held up at the hospital and Kate had pesky Claire giving birth, delaying their confrontation in that world.
But their two climatic scenes were well worth the wait. I loved their island good bye, as Jack couldn’t bring himself to lie to her about his safe return. And I was thrilled that they finally just pulled the trigger and had them confess their feelings for each other. I recall being so frustrated that they pussyfooted around it in last year’s finale, so I was worried they’d do it again here. But they didn’t. They finally told one another that they love each other, and they shared a passionate kiss. It made me not even mind that she essentially ended her island experience with Sawyer.
And in the sideways world, they had a much briefer discussion, as Jack wasn’t yet enlightened. But Kate’s comment about how much she’s missed him really hit me after the big reveal at the end of the episode.
Oh, and for those of you keeping score, Sawyer met Kate in the airport elevator, chased her down in an alley, interrogated her at the police station, and talked to her when she was in her jail cell. The result? No island enlightenment. He runs into Juliet at a vending machine (those Apollo bars must be defective) and he’s knocked off his rocker.
So when Jack came to the conclusion that he had died, I couldn’t help but chuckle and say, “Heh, I guess it was purgatory after all.” But I’m glad that’s not how it played out. Instead, the sideways world just turned out to be a place all of them created so that they could find each other again. All of these people are real, and everything that happened on the island really did occur. They really did spend three months there, then three years in the real world, and then another hellacious week there. Many of them died on the island, but some of them managed to escape and died years later – likely after a long and fulfilling life.
And I really liked that final act, with all the characters now fully aware of their life on the island. Characters like Ben had the opportunity to genuinely apologize for what he had done to Locke. And through Hurley’s appreciation, we could tell that Ben truly was a changed man in whatever happened following the events of the finale. Jack could extend his appreciation to Locke, something he wanted to do following the latter’s death. And you could tell how happy everybody was to be reunited with the person they love. And the final visual – in a clear allusion to the moment the Pilot picked up – the last thing Jack would see is his plot work. In his dying act, he helped his friends get off of the island.
So no, we never quite found out exactly what the island is and what that bright light does. We still don’t quite understand what it is about the island that cured Locke’s paralysis and Rose’s cancer. And we never discovered if there was anything special about Walt. And we still don’t know what Widmore’s nightmares were all about. But you know what? Instead of giving us the final installment of the Matrix, where a character sat in a chair and literally explained every facet of the mystery, Lost opted to tell a beautiful character-driven conclusion to their story. And in a way, I think they were almost making a point, reminding us that this series wasn’t ultimately about the strangeness or unexplained mysteries. It was about characters and relationships. And in the end, I felt exceptionally satisfied with where the characters ended up. Everybody was reunited with the person they loved, and Jack got closure on the one thing in his life that he couldn’t let go of.
And Target, I applaud you and your brilliant commercials.
So I will be doing one final Revisited column, taking a look back at this two and a half hour finale. So be sure to chime in with your thoughts. I’m sure some of you are disappointed with the finale, particularly because they didn’t answer every single question, and while I encourage you to voice your opinions, please don’t try to be overly and unnecessarily negative. I really enjoyed this conclusion and I’d rather not be bombarded with negativity, which could tarnish my overall experience. Again, feel completely free to share your disappointments, just try to be needlessly negative.
I can’t help but feel like there’s something else I need to say. Oh, right, now I remember. SUCK IT SKATERS!
Matt Basilo has been writing for Inside Pulse since April 2005, providing his insight into popular television shows such as Lost, 24, Heroes, and Smallville. Be sure to visit his blog at [a case of the blog] and follow him on Twitter.
