LOST: A Perfect Ending to an Amazing Show

Well Lost ended last night with what was, in my opinion, the perfect ending.  It had it all.  It was sad, happy, funny, scary, very well written and well acted.  It was everything you could ask for from a series finale.

Now some people may not be satisfied with the resolution of the storyline.  I was. Regardless that this theory had been floating around since the beginning of the series, it didn't matter to me.  It was the way it was presented, and the way the story came to its end that I was happy with. 

The theory being that castaways were dead and in some sort of purgatory or limbo, and that our main character Jack, was the focal point.    He was the one that needed to complete his journey so he could move on.  He needed to "let go."  The Island world, we learned, absolutely mattered to the physical fate of the survivors. In my opinion, the events we saw on that island, actually happened to these characters.  And the Sideways world, an afterlife of some sort,  mattered because it was the culmination of the lives of the characters. It was a resolution to their spiritual existence, their souls.

Some fans will complain that the Sideways timeline was bogus, because the producers said long ago that Lost wasn't about Purgatory. In fact, this theory they refuted was that the Island was Purgatory, and it wasn't.   The Island events were real life, and the Sideways events were an afterlife in some way.  By doing it this way, the producers actually managed to find a way to discredit the purgatory theory, while still using it.  The Sideways events, was the purgatory that they themselves had created in order to find one another again, to reconnect one last time with the most important people in their lives before they could move on to the afterlife.

Not everyone is going to like how it ended.   If you watched this show for the characters, then you probably will love how it ended.  If you watched the show for the intricate plot, then you will probably not like the ending very much.  Many people will not like that some if not many questions went unanswered.  In my opinion, with a show like Lost, having unhappy people and unanswered questions at the end is unavoidable.   You are not going to please everyone, it's a fact.  Many of the BIG questions were answered, and many were left open to interpretation.

Certainly people have guessed that the series that began with Jack's eye opening would end with it closing. It made perfect sense that Jack, who was meant to die at the end of the original version of the Lost pilot, instead die at the end of the series. 

But here is where I think they made the perfect ending. As Jack staggered through the jungle, he eventually found himself laying in the very same spot where he awoke on the island in the pilot.  Vincent reappeared as he had in the pilot's first minutes as well.    Before Jack's eye closed for the final time, he saw a plane fly overhead with his friends safely on board.

The actors have to be given credit too.   All of their scenes of remembering the island in last nights finale were so well done.  I had said all through this series that it boasted the best acting on television and last night just enhanced my opinion of that.

As to things being left open to interpretation, that's fine with me.  If everything was answered and tied up in a neat little package, what would fans of the show talk and debate about?  Lost fans can talk and speculate and debate about this show for as long as they want now.  For Lost fans, thats a good thing.  It's a way that the show can live on.  If all answers were given, then the speculation and debate ends.  No one talks about the meaning of the end of MASH.  We all know what it meant.

Lost was about life, death, faith, and redemption.  It has always been theorized that the title of the show referred to characters souls and not them being physically lost.  Now we now that to be true.

What I am going to miss most about Lost is not the mythology or the many questions we got each week.  I'm going to miss these incredible characters and the journey they took to get to where they were in the finale.  Never has a show had such rich and well written characters.  That's what kept me tuning in every week.

LOST was an incredible experience for me as a TV viewer, and I'm so glad that I went along for the ride.