Six years Lost
Now that I’ve had a day to process, I wanted to put down a few thoughts about the final episode of Lost. Forget the mythology. Forget answers. For me, the show has always been about the characters: a disparate group of people brought together in the face of extraordinary circumstances. The fun has been in following how their relationships grow and change over the course of their time together. Say what you will about how the producers chose to end the show, you can’t deny that they gave their characters their due. They treated them with the love and respect they’ve earned in our hearts over the last six years. And with that, I was satisfied.
Today, as I’ve replayed the last moments of the finale in my head, the way it makes me feel can only be compared to the way I feel when I finish a great novel. Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, Tolkien’s Rings trilogy, and Harry Potter all come to mind. When you spend a significant amount of time in the company of such rich characters, there is a feeling of great sadness when their stories come to an end, no matter how fulfilling the ending is. No TV show has ever been able to elicit this “end of the book” feeling from me before Lost, and it’s a testament to the quality of the show that it can.
Am I bothered we didn’t see Walt and Michael? Do I wish they’d explained some things better (minor things like how Locke’s father got to the island… I’m cool with the good and evil stuff being ambiguous.)? Would I like to know the Man in Black’s name? Sure. But the show has always been more about the fun of theorizing and interpreting for me. That, and those wonderful characters. I’ll miss you guys. Thanks for a great ride, Lost.
Namaste.
