Lost: The End

It seems obvious now. The flash sideways are in fact purgatory but the action on the island was real and important. One of the first theories I ever considered about Lost, way back in season one, was that the island was purgatory. When I heard the executive producers of Lost swear that the island was not the afterlife I took them at their word and dismissed that notion completely. I am extremely thrilled I did because my refusal to believe anything on the show was after death allowed my brain to create a blind spot for it even though the entire concept of "flash sideways" not "alternate dimension" now seems to scream "dead people".

I would like to clarify however, that what happened on the island really did happen. The events we have witnessed over the last six years on and off the island were the actual lives of the characters we have grown to love. What they did on the island mattered and had an impact on the course of the island's history and possibly the world. The only after life(s) depicted on screen were those shown over the course of season six as "flash sideways". If you do not want to take my word for it review the scene with Jack and Christian at the end of the episode.

I would now like to take stock of exactly what happened at the conclusion of this series. Desmond was able to stop the heart of the island by draining the flow of water and light. Once the power was off, all of the "special properties" ceased to have an effect and Smokey was no longer immortal or powerful.

Since the rules no longer applied, Un-Locke was able to stab and mortally wound Jack. Thankfully that was only seconds before Kate shot and killed the Nemesis who was no longer under the protection of the islands magical properties. Jack made Hurley the newest Jacob (as predicted) and re-corked the bottle before dying in the spot he first showed up on the island. As the light left Jack's eyes Kate, Sawyer, Claire, Miles, Frank, and Richard flew away on the Ajira plane. Hurley made a deal to share some responsibility with Ben who in turn convinced him that he was now able to make his own rules and send Desmond home to his wife and son.

Characters like Michael, Walt, Ecko, Ana Lucia, Cindy and the kids were not in the Church because they were not ready to move on or perhaps they had already moved on. More significantly, the most important aspects of their particular lives did not revolve around events on the Island. Their lives were not as interconnected to the core group of characters and therefore they did not need to show up at that particular church.

Ben decided to stay behind because even though he knew the truth he was not ready to move along. This in spite of the fact that he most likely lived a long and prosperous post-series life as Hurley's, Richard Alpert. Widmore, Eloise, Chang, Miles, Charlotte, Frank, and Daniel most likely had their own departure scheduled from the flash sideways.

Bernard had such a knowing conversation with Jack in his office because he was aware like Desmond that he needed to move on. He found Rose prior to getting on flight 815 so it stands to reason that they both knew where they were and what was happening.

While some questions remain: Why was Walt so important, why did the light create the Smoke Monster, what was the Man in Blacks name, who raised Jin and Sun's baby, why could the others not give birth on the island? None of that truly matters anymore.

When it comes down to it I can say without any disclaimer that I loved the finale of Lost. Not only did the action on the island come to a satisfying conclusion but the flash sideways provided the perfect sense of lasting peace that I usually find missing in such epic stories. This series did such a marvelous job wrapping up key questions without pandering to the audience in such a way to give them every answer formatted nicely into a check list, even though that is what some people thought/think they wanted.

While this series is over I feel I have no written my last words on Lost. Eventually when the dust settles and I have checked in with some other opinions brain may need to work out a few more puzzles with the written word.