Since it aired in 2010, the Lost series finale has been divisive, but a lot of the criticisms seem to come from a place of misunderstanding.
Lost was the hit show of the 2000s, enticing fans with its unique storytelling and mysterious lore. It took big swings in its narrative, garnering praise and criticisms for those attempts. And through it all, the show developed a rabid following of sleuths trying to piece it all together.
So when it came time to land this complex plane of a story, expectations were high as all eyes were on the finale. For many, the plane crashed.
There is plenty of fair criticisms about the finale but there has also been some that comes from a misunderstanding of what the finale tried to achieve. As the years have passed, many started to parrot those critiques and the rest is history.
I’m not saying all criticism is rooted in misunderstanding. There are a lot of fair points that definitely deserve discussions. My aim today is to explain a bit of the narrative behind the finale and help quell some of the misunderstanding.
Sure, it might not change the minds of everyone, but I firmly believe in judging entertainment with the whole picture rather than a skewed one.
Spoiler Warning: This article will discuss the narrative from Lost with a particular focus on the series finale “The End.”
Synopsis
Because of the serialized nature of Lost, this synopsis will feel a bit disconnected. I plan to only give a synopsis of the final two episodes.
As was the norm for Lost, there were two major storylines in the episodes: the flash-sideways and the present day on the island.
During the flash-sideways, Desmond gathers the survivors for a benefit concert with Drave Shaft. Slowly, each of the survivors regains their memories of the island and the events that happened there.
Jack, however, doesn’t remember and continues acting as though nothing is any different. After the concert, the group reunites in a church for Jack’s father Christian’s funeral.
While the passengers reunite, Ben stays outside of the church, apologizes to Locke for murdering him. Ben also talks with Hurley and the two express appreciation for each other for their time as caretakers of the island.
Jack goes to a backroom and chats with his dad, learning the true nature of the flash-sideways and remembers his time on the island. He reunites with his friends in the chapel. Christian then opens the doors of the chapel to reveal a bright light and the congregation enter into it.
On the island, Jack and a few of the other survivors make for the heart of the island. They encounter the Man in Black, posing as Locke, and Desmond before continuing their journey.
Jack and “Locke” lower Desmond into the heart of the island and he extinguishes the light emitting from it. The island starts to crumble and the Man in Black becomes mortal.
Jack and Kate kill the Man in Black as the island continues to crumble. Kate races with other survivors to Hydra Island where a plane successfully leaves the island.
Jack heads back to the heart of the island and bestows his power as protector to Hurley. He then restores the light but it ultimately proves fatal as Jack dies in the same spot he awoke when first arriving on the island.
What Was the Flash-Sideways?
One of the biggest points of confusion regarded the flash-sideways.
Throughout the sixth season, Lost utilized a flash-sideways, leading the audience to believe that the detonation of the nuclear bomb at the end of the fifth season reset the timeline and created a world where Oceanic 815 never crashed.
These alternate events happened alongside the present-day storyline of the nuclear bomb’s fallout. Throughout the entire season, we believed these events to an alternate universe that is until the finale.
Christian explained to Jack in the final moments of the episode that the flash-sideways world was in fact a world the survivors created to gather after they all had died.
In short, the flash-sideways was actually the afterlife. Each of the survivors weren’t aware of this fact until something awakened their memories, allowing them to prepare to move on.
The survivors, Christian said, created the alternate scenario as a means to find each other once all had died. That way they could move on together.
The survivors needed to be ready to move on rather in order to do so. Ben, for example, was not ready because he said he needed to take care of a few things, implying he still needed to atone for his misdeeds during his life.
So, Were The Survivors Dead the Entire Time?
The answer depends on your point of view.
In terms of the main storyline, the survivors were all alive until they’re deaths. Some died shortly after crashing while others died much later. That said, the events that happened between the initial crash and the plane taking off in the finale all occurred while the survivors lived.
Many fans theorized that the survivors had died in the crash and the island was purgatory. There were hints about this from Christian reappearing from the dead and Locke’s father commenting on it being hell.
Christian, however, denounced this thought in his final conversation with Jack. He explained that everyone dies at some point and some died before Jack and others long after.
He further explains that everything that happened to Jack and company was real, constituting the most important time in their lives.
While the events with the island happened while the survivors were living, the flash-sideways happened after they all died. This means throughout the sixth season, everyone in the flash-sideways was dead.
One of the rationales many used to say the survivors were always dead came during the final credits when the finale originally aired. The credits came over footage of the original plane’s wreckage on the beach, leading many to believe that this proved they were dead the entire time.
As far as I am aware, this was intended to be a scan of the set and not part of the official canon. It was a way for the audience to say goodbye to the set that had enthralled them for six years.
So What Happened Next After Some Survivors Escaped?
The future of the remaining survivors is left up to interpretation.
Christian tells Jack that some of the people in the church died long after him, implying that those who left the island in the finale lived long after departing.
The final scene has Jack laying in the bamboo field and watching as the plane flies away. He then presumably dies shortly after that as his eye closes in a mirror image of the opening scene.
Jack’s life seems to conclude there but there is some speculation on what happens next. There is nothing confirmed so nothing regarding the theorized future of Jack is canon.
While several left, Hurley and Ben stayed behind. Hurley assumed the mantle of protector of the island from Jack. Ben assumed the role as Hurley’s aide and the two went on to protect the island in their own way.
While not much is known about this, there was an epilogue that released called “The New Man in Charge.” In it, we see Ben visit two Dharma Initiative workers in Guam and dismisses them from their job of loading food onto a pallet for shipment.
Ben informs them that he is tying up loose ends and tells them the truth about the Dharma Initiative, which had been defunct for decades prior. He provides them with some answers, a nod to the audience to further clarify plotpoints.
Ben then travels to Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute where he meets with Walt, convincing him to leave with him. They get into a Dharma van where Hurley is waiting to offer Walt a job on the island. The short ends with them driving away.
That’s all of the insight we get but we do get another nugget as Hurley tells Ben he was a great number two and Ben reciprocates by telling him he was a great number one.
This indicates they spent a long time together on the island running the show in the same way Jacob and Richard did. “The New Man in Charge,” implies that they did so in a much different way than Jacob.
Since the flash-sideways takes place after the survivor’s deaths, the memory-restored Hurley would be closer in line to who he was on the island. Ben also appears more gentle and remorseful than his time on the island so we can also assume he grew significantly as Hurley’s right-hand man.
What On The Island Needed Protecting?
The finale spent a lot of time on the heart of the island. Jacob had previously explained that it was like a cork that held back evil forces.
The heart consisted of a large stone at the center of a pool of water. When the stone was in position, a bright light glowed. The pool was meant to be the source of life, death, and immortality.
The heart also gave off a strong electromagnetic field that allowed for the manipulation of space and time. This was the source of time travel early in the show.
Once Desmond removed the stone, the water drained and the island began to crumble. It also removed the immortality off of the Man in Black, allowing Jack and Kate to kill him.
That said, Jack needed to replace the cork so the world would not fall apart, which he did at great sacrifice. That is what Hurley and Ben continued to protect.
In the later seasons, Lost took a much more fantasy approach instead of straight science-fiction. This led to some confusion and frustration as the show no longer seemed somewhat plausible.
In Conclusion
I hope this rundown offered some clarity on the Lost finale. It may not change your mind but hopefully you have a bit of a better understanding of what happened.
There are still plenty of questions that were left unanswered and that is certainly the artist’s prerogative to leave them without concrete solutions.
While the finale could be confusing in its own right, we also have to remember Lost aired during a time much different than today. Serialized TV was not the norm so many likely tuned in to the finale without regularly watching.
Furthermore, Lost was not a show you could binge as easily as today. Many people had to rely on their memories of the past six years to piece it all together.
I can say from experience that watching the show when it aired is a vastly different experience from binging it over a month. I think it benefits the viewer to binge it as it does help in remembering all of the details.
That said, there was nothing like watching it weekly for six years with all of the pageantry that came with it. Viewers would benefit from rewatches as it helps fill in the gaps from the earlier seasons.
Lost is definitely not for everyone and I respect everyone who did not enjoy the finale. For me, it was a fantastic ending and I was left satisfied with it.
What were your thoughts on the finale? What questions did you have after the show ended? Let us know in the comments below or head over to our Discord channel to join the conversation.
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