I thought the ending was quite well written and as far as I'm concerned sufficiently answered most of the questions I wanted to know.

Quote: Original post by programmermattc
There wan an interesting article on CNN the other day about some answers to the questions people were having after the finale.

http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2010/05/25/geek-out-five-unanswered-lost-finale-questions/

Very good quote from this article about the dangers of entering 'Midi-Chlorian' territory. As far as I'm concerned, a lot of the unanswered questions can remain unanswered as the story is not complete.

Take the numbers for example. Yeh they were against each candidates name in the cave, but where did they come from? Well Hurley is the most aware of the numbers, he's now looking after the island, and the island does have time-travelling capabilities. So you could easily, if you wanted to, come to the conclusion that Hurley planted the numbers all along, thus starting the cycle.

All in all, I'm satisfied and look forward to re-watching the series to nit-pick it.

Here's the real ending:

Quote: Original post by Esys
Having not watched a single episode of LOST (I prefer my shows to be self-contained 30 min packages that don't require a goddamn committment to watch), I had the finale explained to me by my mother-in-law. Honestly, it sounded like the creators were being clever for the sake of being clever and they themselves forgot what the hell the story-arc was supposed to be in the first place and coped-out with "Oh, they were all dead in the first place".

Which is funny, because 4 years ago I was saying that the finale will probably be that they're all dead and/or dreaming.

Actually, there was an episode with Hurley (Dave- Season 2:Ep. 18) where he starts seeing this guy on the island and pretty much explained why those magic numbers kept recurring because he never really left the mental institute and the island and everything was all in his head!
The show should've ended there IMO. That's probably why I'm bitter about the end since I was already 99% sure they would go with the whole "Jacob's Ladder" ending.
I mean if a literal Jacob's ladder down the cliffside wasn't an obvious enough reference I don't know what was.
I'm just glad I only spend several months watching all 6 seasons on Hulu instead of wasting 6 actual years watching it.
I mean the show had it moments and some good episodes like the Hurley one I mentioned above but for the most part I had wished they god rid of Jack, Kate, etc long ago since they were some of the most annoying characters for me. But like Sawyer,one of the few characters I liked, said you can pretty much be sure the island will kill all the good people off first and of course Ben survives to the end.Of course this assumes you buy that the island was actually real and not a figment of Hugo's mind or some sort of purgatory as most seem to have concluded.
I mean really how many people really survive a plane crash these days?
In the end it was all just a way for the networks to make money and there is no deeper meaning in the show than writing it so that 1 question begets 10 new ones to keep viewer watching the show:
"The whole show was a 6 year money making scam with a kick- in-the-head finale. It could have been over in the first episode. Plane took off. Plane crashed. Everyone died. End of story.......but...
Of course people will disagree and say it was all about the people all along but you know what I didn't really care for 1/2 of them so that's what's really sad. And the best one Locke gets killed of course but of course they have to bring him back as "fake" Locke because he really is the show and I know that is the main reason I watched it.
Anyways, I find it hilarious that people are still trying to justify all the gaping plot holes in the show will as I mentioned above is pretty futile if you accept what I said in the previous paragraph LOL:
WHAT ABOUT THE BOMB?
Wait so don't tell me all the alternate timeline mumbo jumbo wasn't some sort of alternate universe where the crash never happened like Faraday wan't to happen. I guess he was wrong just like him mom DOH!


p.s. They should definitely leave time travel to Dr.Who. No show does it better!
Oh and the whole thing with the Echo actor was that he was from England and couldn't stand the hot Hawaii weather so he asked to be killed off. When he asked to come back they show was like no thanks and thanks to the inconvenient truth I mentioned above it was easy to blow him off. Actually, this is why they would arbitrarily kill off characters all the time from what I heard because it cost to much to keep them all on the payroll so that's why the show was written as explained above to easily get rid of people if needed.

[Edited by - daviangel on May 27, 2010 11:57:05 PM]

Quote: Original post by Rattrap

Quote: Original post by Nytegard
This is where I disagree with most people. I personally am in the group that the island was purgatory all along, and that they all died in the original plane crash. The people who died before were the others, Desmond, etc. The people who died after were the new group, or other additions to the island. It's even hinted about that they're all dead from Richard, Locke's father, etc. (Locke's father who was in an accident, and then just suddenly appeared on the island...).

Actually due to the scenes at the end of the episode led many to believe this was the case, ABC did come out and say they weren't dead the entire time. - Lost: No, They Weren't Dead the Whole Time!

Not to be antagonistic, but I disagree with the article. All ABC stated was that the plane was a transition between the finale and the 11 o'clock news and wasn't part of the story. It was IGN who made an assumption from the LA Times story that they must not be dead.

And even if they were dead, it doesn't mean that seasons 1-6 didn't happen. I'm just stating that for myself, things make significantly much more sense when viewing it like that than trying to piece together the story making the assumption that they were all alive on the island.

Quote: Original post by daviangel

Quote: Original post by Esys
Having not watched a single episode of LOST (I prefer my shows to be self-contained 30 min packages that don't require a goddamn committment to watch), I had the finale explained to me by my mother-in-law. Honestly, it sounded like the creators were being clever for the sake of being clever and they themselves forgot what the hell the story-arc was supposed to be in the first place and coped-out with "Oh, they were all dead in the first place".

Which is funny, because 4 years ago I was saying that the finale will probably be that they're all dead and/or dreaming.

Actually, there was an episode with Hurley (Dave- Season 2:Ep. 18) where he starts seeing this guy on the island and pretty much explained why those magic numbers kept recurring because he never really left the mental institute and the island and everything was all in his head!
The show should've ended there IMO. That's probably why I'm bitter about the end since I was already 99% sure they would go with the whole "Jacob's Ladder" ending.

Wow, for some reason while reading the posts before this that episode was flashing through my mind and suddenly you brought it up. Creeeepy.

Anyways, I'm pretty sure many people would have been mad if they ended it there where it was all in Hurley's mind. It would have provided a good way to connect the reocurring numbers and stuff but IMO it would have been a complete ripoff of St. Elsewhere.

Another hidden reference that wasn't as obvious as the Jacob's ladder one and pretty much reinforces that Jack never made it alive to the ground in the original plane crash was the book "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge":
In Season 2, Locke in the hatch looking for Dharma movies, comes across the book An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Obvious in some ways, yes, but the series can be explained (to the extent it needs to be) with the notion that in the last nano seconds of life, Jack's life flashes before him, and he fantasizes about the possibility of living, so in flash he imagines falling safely onto the proverbial tropical island with the images of those seated immediately around him, of becoming the ultimate hero–starting with the run from the bamboo and saving crash survivors and culminating with defeating evil and saving life on earth itself (Total Recall anyone?)–and imagining how he could fix his life back home would he ever get there (having a son) with all its fits and starts and frustrations (doesn't work relationship-wise). These people become important to Jack because in the last seconds of life he uses their existence (real or imagined) to provide a vehicle for him to construe life in a way that allows him to accept the death of his father and himself. As soon as he accepts he is dying, he is dead. Maybe his nano second of semi-consciousness was during his fall through the air. Other passengers have similar nano-second flashes. After all, your plane is over the Pacific and what else do you imagine but landing on an island with all the people around you . . . take it from there. So, no purgatory, no one was dead, but just in the last glimpses of consciousness. All the mythology is a genuine projection of culture and the meaning of existence because that is what folks consider in dying moments. Why these people–because they are lost and in the last moments of life and consciousness they struggle to create a reality where they can accept "what comes next."

Quote: Original post by daviangel
Another hidden reference that wasn't as obvious as the Jacob's ladder one and pretty much reinforces that Jack never made it alive to the ground in the original plane crash was the book "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge":
In Season 2, Locke in the hatch looking for Dharma movies, comes across the book An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Obvious in some ways, yes, but the series can be explained (to the extent it needs to be) with the notion that in the last nano seconds of life, Jack's life flashes before him, and he fantasizes about the possibility of living, so in flash he imagines falling safely onto the proverbial tropical island with the images of those seated immediately around him, of becoming the ultimate hero–starting with the run from the bamboo and saving crash survivors and culminating with defeating evil and saving life on earth itself (Total Recall anyone?)–and imagining how he could fix his life back home would he ever get there (having a son) with all its fits and starts and frustrations (doesn't work relationship-wise). These people become important to Jack because in the last seconds of life he uses their existence (real or imagined) to provide a vehicle for him to construe life in a way that allows him to accept the death of his father and himself. As soon as he accepts he is dying, he is dead. Maybe his nano second of semi-consciousness was during his fall through the air. Other passengers have similar nano-second flashes. After all, your plane is over the Pacific and what else do you imagine but landing on an island with all the people around you . . . take it from there. So, no purgatory, no one was dead, but just in the last glimpses of consciousness. All the mythology is a genuine projection of culture and the meaning of existence because that is what folks consider in dying moments. Why these people–because they are lost and in the last moments of life and consciousness they struggle to create a reality where they can accept "what comes next."

Well, that makes a modest amount of sense, but it still seems like you're grasping at straws. The whole thing about Jack's father saying that some people died before Jack and some after him could just be Jack's imagination as well, but from a writing perspective why would that line be in the episode at all if everyone did in fact die in the plane crash?

Also, the Ben/Locke scene at the end would be pretty dumb if you consider that a) Jack isn't there for the scene, and b) Ben wasn't on the plane. If we accept the whole "it's in Jack's mind" thing, we have to accept that this scene is Jack imagining himself not seeing a conversation between one person who he's only just met and another person who as far as he knows isn't even real.

And I'm pretty sure you could find a literary reference on Lost to justify pretty much any ending you want. Likewise, you could take any television series and claim it's a dying vision of the main character. I'm just not seeing it here.