My review of the last LOST

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!
So after six years and all the twists and turns and time travel and coincidences and mythology, we learn that LOST is just a retelling of the story of Christ. Jack is the chosen leader, saves the world, dies for our sins, is reunited with his “Father” (whose name happens to be “Christian” as opposed to say Schlomo or Habib) and the “Christian Shepherd” leads everyone happily into the light.

So depending on your personal beliefs you either found that ending enormously satisfying or the conclusion of the world’s longest shaggy dog story.

It certainly was a feel-good ending (even though everyone was dead – hey, at least the party had a theme) and the lead-up to it was LOST storytelling at its very best. The action sequences were thrilling, mysteries were solved, but by far the best part of the episode was the romantic reunions. Call me a softy but I got choked up at the Sawyer-Juliet scene. And is that true that if you unplug a vending machine the candy will come out? Or is that only in the after-life?

The Sun-Jin scene was beautiful (I’d like to think that seeing flashes of their life on the island is what caused them to instantly learn English; that it wasn’t the result of the Sonogram), and I was so happy for Charlie and Claire after all they’d been through. The Sayid and Shannon hook-up was a little weird though. I thought the love of his life was Nadya. But no matter, each scene melted my heart. And at the end of the day I cared so much more about the characters’ fate than the island’s. Besides, you don’t need a mysterious force to blow up the island. Just let BP come in and start drilling offshore.

A few random observations:

I was hoping Richard would be real excited taking his first plane flight. “Hey, look at these little trays that come down from the back of these seats!”

Also, good luck getting through Customs, Richard. Saying you’re from the Canary Islands in the 14th century is not going to get you into America, buddy.

So I guess we’re saying that Ben’s going to hell? At the end of the day he’s the one person who didn’t join “the others”? Or maybe he didn’t want to go in there because in the six year run of the series every person in that room had beaten the crap out of him at least twice.

How did they get the giant tree trunk off of Ben? They seemed to be having some trouble with it. Maybe Superboy did it and they can wrap up SMALLVILLE too.

At least the show didn't end with the screen going black.

When the plane flew over the island one last time weren’t you hoping they’d look out the window and see “Goodbye Hawkeye”?

In the church scene – other than Rose, not a lot of people of color. Where was Michael and Walt? How come Penny was there and Mr. Eko wasn’t? Penny never was even on the island.

And how come Clair’s baby was there and not Sun & Jin’s? If these were supposed to be the most important people in their lives wouldn’t their kids qualify over say, Boone? But of course, that bothered me from the episode a few weeks ago when Sun was trapped in the sinking submarine and drowning and Jin elected to stay with her and die. Why didn’t Sun say, “We have a daughter, you idiot! Do you want her to be an orphan? Go back and…glug glug… raise your… glug… daughter!”?

Ultimately, I thought they did a sensational job of wrapping up all the characters. I especially loved that Hurley became the new island protector. I assume he’s still rich from winning that lottery so boxes of food from Spagos can be airlifted to him instead of Dharma Project supplies falling out of the sky.

The thing I appreciated and admired the most about LOST was that in six years, every single episode, I could never out-guess them. The level of imagination was second-to-none. On the one hand I feel a much needed sense of closure now but on the other I will miss the show terribly. My thanks to the staff for a great great ride.

LOST definitely was a groundbreaking television show. I’m sure people will be enjoying the DVDs for years. And this concluding episode is sure to become a Christmas and Easter tradition.

Tomorrow: My review of the last 24. I guarantee they won't make that Jack a Christ figure.