LOST 6x17/18: "Perfectly perfect in every way"

The finale of LOST was one of the most highly anticipated television events ever -or at least hyped as such. The ratings seemed to support this, as they remained fairly steady for the duration of the episode – an unprecedented occurrence for a single event that lasted two and a half hours. If you’re reading this blog, you undoubtedly watched the episode, and you’ve probably been debating it for the last couple of days anyway. So rather than recap the full episode, I’d rather share with you my reaction to it and a couple of parallels I drew.

I loved it. I haven’t been uniformly positive about every episode of the series, but this was an amazing finale. Yes, it was sentimental. No, we didn’t see Walt or get the answer to what the numbers really meant or get the Man In Black’s name. (It was Samuel, by the way, according to a video clip on E!'s site.) And yes, it got pretty dusty in the room numerous times on Sunday night. But I feel great about “The End”.


Lost 6x17/18: The End


Top moments from the finale:

• The Jack vs. UnLocke Crouching Tiger-like fight scene on the cliff. Epic in the storytelling, this was an epic moment in cinematography, as well.
  

• Jack hands the keys to the island to Hurley. Hurley was always a fan favorite, and probably the most innocent among them. He was also a very simple, but that also made him pure and a very similar choice to Jacob.
  

• Locke and Ben's conversation outside the church. It was good to see Ben's redemption continue and that he wanted to continue his life with Alex and perhaps Rousseau to repent for his on-island denial of her. To see John Locke kick away that wheelchair and embrace the island was a great moment.
  

• Juliet and Sawyer finally go Dutch. The moment in LA X when Juliet is dying in Sawyer's arms is paid off finally as they meet at the candy machine over, of course, an Apollo Bar. To see their recognition was perhaps better than any other "awawkening" on the finale. (Though I'm sure some Sawyer/Kate "Skaters" felt otherwise.)
  

• The callbacks to earlier episodes. From Jack and Locke looking down the golden cave waterfall toward Desmond reminding us of looking down the Swan hatch at him, to Juliet giving Sun a sonogram again, to Vincent and Jack in the bamboo forest, to the literal cork in the island that was keeping good in and evil out...
  

• The score. Michael Giacchino's score was at least as important as any other element of LOST, and perhaps even more important than most. Thankfully, they made the decision for the series to use Giacchino and a live orchestra to score the series. In case the ending of LOST didn't get you somewhere between teary and sobbing, Giacchino's score undoubtedly did. Or else you have no heart.
  

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Some of my thoughts on the episode generally...

One theory of the Big Bang is that the Universe will eventually attain a critical density after many billions more years of expansion. It will reach its maximum size and then begin to contract, pulling in on itself and eventually ending with a dense mass of hot matter – known as the Big Crunch – resuming to a state similar to that in which the Universe started. As this happens, at least as I imagine it, the closer the matter returns to the Big Crunch state, the faster it moves.

This is how I interpreted the last season of LOST. We saw the Universe of the Losties begin to contract into the Big Crunch (or the big church?). And as we neared the end of the season, the action began occurring faster – Jin and Sun got a quick goodbye, Widmore no more, Sayid see you later…

The series ended much the way it began, with Vincent finding Jack on the beach and a close up on his eye. Except now, as the Big Crunch completes its contraction, we see Jack die, content as he sees a plane fly overhead that the next Big Bang will take a different path.

* * * *





One other thought I’ve been stuck with since yesterday… The final scene in the apparently non-denomonational church (on the stained glass window were a Christian Cross, a Jewish Star of David, a Hindu Om, a Muslim Star and Crescent Moon, a Buddhist Dharma Wheel, and a Tao Yin & Yang) felt to me a lot like the final scene in the 1984 film, Places in the Heart, a movie I saw as a kid. The film, set in the 1930s South, ends in an idealistic scene of redemption where all the characters are celebrating communion together at a church – black and white, killer and victim, alive and dead, etc. Regardless of their places or their actions in life or even when they died, they were all together spiritually. In the final battle of science vs. faith on LOST, the writers make the statement that the winner is faith.

* * * *

I can understand the confusion or even frustration of many fans. The ambiguity of elements of the final episode – and especially the final shots of the wreckage of an Oceanic flight – might appear to negate all of what we’d watched for the last 6 years…perhaps even negating anything we’d learned about the mythology of the island – from Jacob and MIB to the Dharma Initiative to the Others and the 815ers. I don’t believe that’s the case at all. Everything that happened on the island happened. After all, we know that on LOST, Whatever Happened, Happened.






In the Jimmy Kimmel reunion/recap special, Jimmy points out that in the season premiere, “LA X”, as the turbulence starts to subside, Rose tells Jack, “You can let go now. It’s ok, you can let go.” This was the first clue – in retrospect, a massive one – that the sideways was all leading to Jack letting go and crossing over. However, that off-island sideways flashes were happening in the limbo of Jack’s mind as he was stumbling through the bamboo forest. (Coincidentally, bamboo is tied to the creation myth in some Asian cultures.) He lays down there, just as we’d first found him, with Vincent escorting him again to his next phase…letting go.


As Juliet is giving Sun a sonogram, she tells Sun that her baby is "perfectly perfect in every way." LOST had its missteps, but as far as an overall television experience, it was a near-perfect experience to me.


Thank you, LOST, for six amazing years of unprecedented television.



Drop your comments, interpretations or recipes below.

- Sean Salo

LOST 6x16: “Get your friends. We’re very close to the end.”

Richard Alpert gets a sore throat from UnLocke. Widmore whispers sweet nothings to UnLocke. Young Jacob asks to see Hurley’s ass…I mean ash. And Jack drinks the Kool-Aid.

LOST 6x16: What They Died For

I think I intentionally delayed the writing of this recap in the hopes that the season would somehow be extended if I did so. Alas, LOST is coming to an end tomorrow evening. I’m not even sure what to say about it. They media and fan community anticipation is almost overwhelming. I’ve never watched the show with anyone really but my wife, so in a way I’m glad we’re having people over to watch tomorrow as a distraction from the impossible hype.

They’re literally rushing through to the end. (More than I’m comfortable with, actually…) So as we come to the end of this incredible series, what did you think about this episode, and how do you think it’s going to end? I just want to thank my regular readers – even the ones who pester me about where the recaps are within hours of the episode airing. And commenters to the blog, I think I’ll miss you most of all. Comment below with your thoughts.

Los Angeles, 2004:

We see another close-up on Jack’s eye open the episode and are called back to the pilot episode post-crash. Sideways Jack wakes up and walks into his bathroom to see blood on his neck, just as he had on the sideways flight 815. This time, it appears that the wound is fresh. At breakfast, David reminds Jack about the concert, and Jack asks him if his mom will be there.

Out walks Claire, and they eat breakfast together as a family. The phone rings, and it’s Oceanic Airlines saying they’ve found the coffin. However, we see that on the other end of the line is Desmond, grinning.


Nerd alert: More mirror staring time…

Question: The mom has got to be Juliet, right?


Desmond starts his car, and we realize he’s back in the same parking lot where he hit Locke and sent him and his wheelchair flying. Dr. Ben Linus happens to be walking by and jumps in front of the car and calls for help, screaming for someone to call 911. Desmond hops out of the car and starts wailing on Ben. But Desmond says, “I’m not here to hurt him, I’m here to help him let go.” Ben asks who he is, and Desmond starts wailing on his face.


Ben gets flashes of Desmond wailing on him at the pier, when Ben was there to shoot Penny, and it’s clear that Ben has some recognition of what Desmond was trying to awaken him to see.

Ben goes to the school nurse’s office and is staring into the mirror as Locke wheels up. He tells Locke of the attack, and Locke tries to call the police. But Ben tells him that Desmond said he was trying to get Locke to let go, and he says that he believed him. Ben asks if that means anything to him, and it’s clear Locke’s gears start turning.

Walking into the police precinct, Desmond asks to see a detective. Miles reminds Det. James (“Sawyer”) Ford about the benefit concert for his father’s museum and invites James again. Desmond comes into the room and confesses that he hit Ben with his car. They walk Desmond back to lockup and he’s placed in a cell with Sayid and one next to Kate.


Question: Do they actually keep men and women in adjacent cells? I’m thinking not.


Bending down, Alex runs over to Dr. Linus and is upset to see him hurt. She’s dumbfounded that anyone could do this to “the nicest man on earth”. She insists on giving him a ride home, and his mother, Danielle Rousseau (she cleans up pretty nice) invites him for dinner as well. At the house, Danielle tells him that Alex is the closest thing to a father she’s ever had, and Ben looks out to see her and realizes his impact, but also, I’m guessing, is remembering the sideways pain of losing her on the island.

Locke arrives at Jack’s office and starts talking to him about the coincidences between them. He tells Jack that Desmond wanted Locke to “let go”, which is the same thing that Jack told him earlier in the hospital. He realizes it’s time to let go and try the surgery to re-gain use of his legs again.


Kate, Desmond and Sayid are in a van, and Sayid agrees to work with them to get free. The door in the van opens and it’s Ana Lucia. Hurley arrives with a bag of cash to bribe Ana Lucia to let them go. (So Ana Lucia is the only one of the sideways folks that havent been redeemed?) Desmond tells Kate they’re going to a concert.


On the island, 2007:
On the beach, Jack’s making some thread out of an old shirt and sewing up Katie’s bullet wound. Kate’s taking it like a trooper, but acknowledges what we all knew and hoped wouldn’t go unnoticed – that Sun and Jin left behind a little girl, and that Jin never even met her. Kate tells Jack that they have to kill Locke, and he answers, “I know.”



Nerd alert: Call back to the pilot episode when Kate sewed up the wound on Jack’s shoulder.


Staring out at the ocean, Sawyer sees a pair of life vests washing ashore and we’re reminded again of Sun and Jin. Kate cuddles up to Sawyer. Jack says that they have to set out to find Desmond to protect him from Locke.

We re-visit Ben, Miles and Richard (finally!) as they’re looking for Ben’s old house. Miles asks if Ben knows where he’s going, and Ben reminds them he lived there for years, but Miles retorts that he was there 30 years before him, “otherwise known as last week”. Ben wants to find the C-4 explosives in his house so they can blow up the plane.


Nerd alert: Didn’t Ben’s face looked bruised in almost the same exact way as in the flash sideways post-Des beating?


Miles is stopped in his tracks, and Richard tells Ben that Miles is sensing Alex, because Richard buried her there. Ben looks more determined than ever to complete his task. They head into Ben’s secret room and as they’re packing it up, they hear someone out in the house. They find Zoe in the kitchen, and Ben asks, as if for the rest of us, “who the hell are you?” Charles Widmore answers, “She’s with me,” as he walks into the house.

Ben asks what he’s doing there, and Widmore sends off Zoe to sink the outrigger so UnLocke can’t use it. He tells Ben that the plane is already rigged with explosives. Asking how Widmore got back to the island, Ben is in disbelief to hear that Jacob asked him to come. Just as he’s about to reveal his plan, Zoe interrupts the answer by radioing in that UnLocke has arrived at the dock.


In the jungle, Sawyer asks Jack if he’s responsible for the deaths on the sub, and Jack assures him it was Locke who killed them. Trailing behind, Hurley sees young Jacob, who demands the bag of ashes from Hurley. He snatches them from his hand, and Jacob runs off. Hurley chases after him and finds adult Jacob sitting by a campfire.


Jacob tells him that his ashes are in the fire, and when they’re gone, Hurley will never see him again. “You should get your friends, we’re very close to the end, Hugo.”


Charles and Zoe go to hide, and Ben asks for their walkies. Miles runs off, and Alpert goes out to confront UnLocke and talk to him. Ben goes out to witness the exchange. What he sees instead, was the black smoke monster come barreling into the village and throws Richard – BY…HIS…THROAT – across New Otherton. (I guess UnLocke wasn’t all that interested in talking after all.) Ben slowly walks to the porch and he appears to be waiting to die. UnLocke walks up and uses his hunting knife to clean his finger nails. He tells Ben that he needs him to kill a few more people (UnLocke still can’t directly kill the Candidates), and asks whose outrigger was at the dock. Ben not only tells him it was Widmore’s, but that he’s hiding in the closet in Ben’s house.


Gripe: So Richard Alpert is tossed away like trash? Like an unimportant bit player? I'm hoping he's still alive and will factor into the finale episode...


Question: Ben is totally playing UnLocke, yes?


Ben tells UnLocke where to find them and even that Zoe is armed. He opens the safe room, and UnLocke is almost pleasant again, “how nice it is to talk without those fences between us.” He asks who Zoe is, and Widmore tells her not to say anything. Locke pulls out his knife and slits her throat. “You told her not to talk to me and that made her pointless.” He tells Charles that if he doesn’t help him get off the island, he will get off eventually, and he will kill Penny.


Widmore starts to answer questions saying that he brought Desmond there as “a measure of last resort.” He says he won’t say any more in front of Ben, and just as he starts, Ben shoots him three times, and declares: “He doesn’t get to save his daughter.” UnLocke says that Widmore had already told him what he needed.

At the campfire, Hurley introduces – or re-introduces – Jack, Kate and Sawyer to Jacob. Hurley is dumbfounded that the others can see him. Kate asks about the names on the wall and wants to know that Sun, Jin and Sayid didn’t die for nothing. They sit down as Jacob tells them why they’re there.


Nerd alert: The four Candidates are the same four as those kidnapped by the Others in season two's "Live Together, Die Alone".

Jacob says that he doesn’t know where to start. Hurley wisely points him to “why you brought us to the island.” Jacob admits that he made a mistake creating the black smoke monster and because of that every one of them and everyone they know is going to die. Sawyer complains that he was doing fine until he was dragged there, but he calls bullshit – they were all like him, all alone and looking for something they couldn’t find. Kate asks why her name was crossed off in the cave, and he dismisses it, saying he crossed her out because she became a mother, “it was just a line of chalk in a cave, the job is yours if you want it.” Jacob asks them to kill UnLocke. He gives them a choice on whether they want to take over for him, and Jack steps up, saying this is his purpose.

Question: So all the over analyzing of the names on the cave and on the wheel were for nothing? And the cave was actually Jacob’s and not MIB’s? Man, that was a lot of thinking that went into that storyline down the drain, when essentially anyone on the island could have been a candidate.

Sawyer jokes, “I thought that guy had a God-complex before…” Hurley’s relieved, saying he’s just glad it’s not him. Jacob tells Jack to find the heart of the island out past the bamboo he was laying in when 815 crashed. Jack says there’s nothing out there, but Jacob smiles coyly. He tells Jack that he can now get there. Jacob asks for a cup and starts to say some Latin prayers as he cleanses his hands. Jack asks how long he’ll need to do the job, and Jacob says, “as long as you can.” Jack finishes the cup of water and Jacob says, “now you’re like me.” Long pause from Jack on this news…


Nerd alert: Again, this scene was reminiscent of Jesus turning the water into wine.


Ben asks why UnLocke would even bother walking when he can just float above it. UnLocke answers that he likes to have his feet on the ground – it reminds him that he used to be human. They arrive at the well and see that Desmond is no longer down there. He tells Ben that he’s happy that Desmond is still alive because he’s going to use Desmond to destroy the island.


So in the home stretch, how do you think it’s going to end? Drop a comment below with your thoughts or theories (no spoilers if you know of them).

-Sean Salo

LOST 6x14: Ocean of tears

The LOSTies try to fly the friendly skies, but instead swim the angry seas. Bernard accuses Jack of making a move on Rose. Sayid makes one hell of a bang as he sacrifices himself. Sun and Jin were apparently on the Titanic. And…well…no snark. This was a sad one.

Lost 6x14: The Candidate

In choking back the tears over Sun and Jin’s sad passing, it was easy to overlook that we also lost Sayid and Lapidus in this episode. But seriously, we spend TWO YEARS of TV time waiting for Sun and Jin to be reunited for them to be together for, what, 12 minutes? LOST writers, you sank lower than the depths of the sub now laying on the ocean floor.

Rough one for you too? Let me know what you thought below in comments...


2004, Los Angeles:
Close up on John Locke in the hospital bed, post-Desmond hit & run, and Jack tells him that he is a candidate (!) for a new procedure to repair the spinal injury and perhaps allow him to walk again, but he refuses. Helen bursts into the room and thanks Jack for saving John.


In his medical office, Dr. Nadler – Bernard – is working on some sort of dental cast when Jack enters and asks to see John Locke’s file. (Bernard had apparently performed emergency oral surgery on him.) Asking why he needs it, Jack starts to explain how he and Locke met, and Bernard spurts out, “Oceanic 815…I sat across the aisle from you. If memory serves, you were flirting with my wife, Rose, while I was in the bathroom.” Jack looks more than a little confused at the coincidence.


Bernard tells him that he can’t share Locke’s records, but he remembered the name of another man in the accident, and hands Jack a slip of paper with Anthony Cooper’s name.


At a nursing home, Jack’s asking about Anthony Cooper when Helen shows up with flowers for him. Helen asks him to leave, but he insists. Sideways Cooper is catatonic in a wheelchair.

Back at his bedside, Locke’s mumbling in his sleep, “Push the button…I wish you had believed me.”

Unnecessary nerd alert: “Push the button” – reference to his on-island Swan Station button pushing. “I wish you had believed me” – a callback to the suicide note he left for Jack when he tried to kill himself.


Claire shows up at the hospital looking for Jack, and they go to a waiting room. Jack gets a candy bar from the machine. She shows him the box that Christian left her asking what it’s supposed to mean, but neither of them have a clue. She asks how he died, and Jack explains he was flying home from Sydney with his coffin, and they realize they were on the same flight. Jack looks at the box, a music box, but neither of them has any idea what the significance is.


Nerd alert: the selection Jack made was #E4, an Apollo Bar.

Question: Was it just me or did the machine make a noise that sounded not unlike either the Smoke Monster or even the hatch button re-setting.

Nerd alert: The box was a music box that played “Catch a Falling Star”, the song that Christian used to sing to her and that she – and Kate – used to sing to Aaron as a bedtime song.

Awaiting Helen to pick him up, Jack tries to convince Locke one last time to consider the surgery. Locke tells him that he’d gotten his pilot’s license and was in an accident with his father as the passenger on board, leaving him unable to walk or talk. Locke’s been punishing himself for the accident in this timeline. Locke’s mind is unchanged. Jack says to him, “I wish you’d believed me”, using Locke’s mumbling – and the suicide note message from the main timeline – to try to convince him. Locke wheels himself out of the hospital.


2007, The island:
Jack awakes in a boat on the shore at Hydra Island. Sayid is keeping watch. UnLocke tells Jack and Sayid that they’re going to have to rescue the other Losties and then make it onto the plane to escape the island. Jack reminds UnLocke that he doesn’t intend to leave the island. He asks for Jack’s help in convincing them to leave with them, but Jack’s not sure he can be trusted. UnLocke reminds Jack that he could kill them any time, but he’s saved his life and wants to save the others.


Widmore’s henchmen are throwing Sawyer, Jin, Sun, Hurley, Lapidus and Kate into the polar bear cages when Saywer grabs a rifle and tries to get free, but Widmore points a gun at Kate. Widmore tells them he's putting them in the cage for their own good. Sawyer challenges him, saying he needs her, but Widmore confirms what that Kate’s name was not on the list.

In the polar bear cage, Kate is annoyed and tells Sawyer that Widmore wouldn’t have killed her. But Sawyer tells her she was on the cave wall, but her name was scratched out, meaning he was done with her. Kate gets knocked down a peg or two.


Jin and Sun are speaking to each other – in English (why?) – and he tells her that he saw pictures of Ji Yeon, and she gives him his ring that she’s been carrying. Just as they’re about to get snuggly, the power goes out on the sonic fence and Smokey arrives, wreaking vengeance against the henchmen. They try to free themselves from the cage, just as Jack shows up and they all run after Jack explains, “I’m with him.”

In the jungle, Jack tells Kate he’s not leaving the island with them because he’s not meant to go. Sayid arrives and they rush to UnLocke.


The fate of the henchmen guarding the Ajira jet is no better than those by the cages. UnLocke snaps one of their necks and shoots the other. He steals the watch off the one who’s been shot and boards the plane, only to find it rigged with explosives.

The UnLocke flock arrives at the plane and he walks off the plane explaining that Widmore wanted them all to get on the plane so they would die. Assuming there might be other explosives on the plane, UnLocke says that they need to take the sub. Hurley reminds the flock that Alpert said UnLocke can’t leave the island, but Sawyer says they’re going. Sawyer apologizes for not trusting UnLocke, and Jack offers his help, but says he won’t be leaving the island. Sawyer pulls Jack aside and tells him that they’re getting off the island without UnLocke and to push him into the water when they get to the dock.

The dock appears to be unguarded, and a handful of them run ahead to the sub. Sawyer and Lapidus climb into the sub and surprise the captain at gunpoint. The remaining bunch head to the sub, and UnLocke hands Jack his backpack. They make it onto the dock and UnLocke is trying to convince Jack to go, but he pushes UnLocke off the dock and into the water. They get fired upon, and Kate is hit. The rest climb into the sub, but Claire and UnLocke are still outside. Saywer climbs up and tries to get Claire into the sub, but he has to close the hatch when UnLocke makes a run toward the sub. Claire looks despondent, but UnLocke is perfectly content.


Looking for a first aid kit, Hurley hands Jack his backpack. UnLocke put the bomb in it. (Did anyone not see this coming when UnLocke handed him the backpack?)

Nerd alert: The watch used as the timer was the one UnLocke stole off the dead man.

With less than 4 minutes left, the only way to get the bomb off is to get to the surface. Lapidus tells the captain to take them up. As they try to figure out what to do to diffuse the bomb, Jack tells them that nothing will happen and that UnLocke can’t kill them, and that UnLocke wanted them to leave without him. Sawyer doesn’t buy it and pulls the wires out of the bomb, which unfortunately only speeds up the timer.

Sayid tells Jack where to find Desmond. Jack asks why he’s telling him this, and Sayid replies, “Because it’s going to be you, Jack.” Sayid grabs the bomb and runs ahead into another compartment of the sub, where the bomb goes off.


RIP Sayid. :(


Still in with the captain, the hatch door blows off, and knocks Lapidus down.

RIP Lapidus. :( (we assume)

The sub is filling with water, and Sun is pinned behind a cabinet. Jack tells Hurley to take the injured Kate and swim to the surface. He gives them a rescue canister of oxygen. Jack and Jin shift the cabinet, but Sun is still trapped behind some metal. Jin tells him to take Saywer up, and he stays to try to free Sun. Jack and Sawyer swim up.


Sun demands that Jin leave, but he refuses to go. (Shouldn’t one of them have gone for the sake of Ji Yeon?!) Finally speaking in Korean, Jin tells her “I will never leave you again.” And in a Titanic-worthy scene, we see their clasped, submerged hands separate, and Kleenex stock goes through the roof.


RIP Jin-Soo Kwon. :(

RIP Sun-Hwa Kwon. :(




Jack, Sawyer, Kate and Hurley make it to the island. Jack tells them that Jin and Sun didn’t make it and Kate and Hurley bawl like the rest of us watching at home.

UnLocke tells Claire that the sub sank. She asks if they’re all dead, and he says no, grabs a rifle and heads off to finish what he started.


I know my wife cried herself to bed. What about you? Drop the comment love below.

-Sean Salo