The title of this entry shares the name with the title of my blog, which seems cheap, but is really just very appropriate. The Lost finale tonight was mind blowing. As we were settling down to watch the epic five hours of Lost-related programing this evening, I remarked that season five had ended with a serious game changer. That is, the introduction of Jacob and MIB had forced us to reconsider everything that we thought we understood about the island. I predicted that season six would end on a similar note; I was correct. The entire scope of what we thought we knew and understood about the show changed tonight.
All around the country, people were sitting down expecting answers. This, as it turns out was a trap that we too easily fell into. I and countless others were drooling at the prospect of finally learning where that DHARMA pallet was coming from and what was the source of the light, and how did the island sink, etc, etc, etc. Despite the aforementioned five hours of Lost programming, these answers did not come this evening. Instead, what we got was a completely character-driven finale that refocused our critical eyes. We didn't need the information about the island because ultimately, the island doesn't matter.
The island is an allegorical means to an end. It presents obstacles and challenges that need to be overcome in order to transcend it, but ultimately, the island itself cannot transcend. This story has been told over and over again. The island is Oz and Narnia and Christmastown. Characters who find themselves in these places (almost always by accident) seek to find answers and fulfillment there but never can. This is because they are seeking the wrong things, their goals are associated with the physical world and not the spiritual one. At the heart of all these stories, however, is the fact that it is only in pursuing these false goals, that the characters can achieve real fulfillment. They must seek what they shall not find in order discover what is really important. This is all a pretty common motif, and Lost is in very good company.
The show is able to distinguish itself in its finale, however, in its ability to link the characters' journey to the journey of the viewers. We were all lusting for answers about the island. We wanted to know everything about the origin of the island and the possible applications of its magic. We were distracted by it, and to a point, obsessed with it, in the same way that Jacob and MIB's mother (and her party) were, the same way the MIB himself was, the same way the DHARMA initiative was. It is an essentially human flaw that transcends time, generation after generation on (and off) the island. It became clear to us tonight that this is the challenge Jack has been facing. He needs to let go, this has always been his problem. When he finally just let go of role as protector and passed it onto Hurley tonight, he was baptized and able to achieve fulfillment and transcendence. It is much the same struggle Neo faces in The Matrix and Alice faces in Through the Looking Glass, but in this case we do it with him.
As Jack corks the destructive force buried deep at the island's core, he is unwittingly stifling his own inner demons and finding peace with himself as a spiritual being, something he has been unable to fully do in the last six seasons. We realize then, that answers to our petty island questions are not coming and with that burden relieved, we rejoice for him and for all his fellow islanders who have died before and will die after him as their souls reunite in a glorious final scene in the "sideways" world, which in the one real answer given tonight to be a sort of purgatory. We are reminded that Lost is and always was about the characters and thus about us. What lies at the heart of this story also lies within our own hearts.
Thank you, Lost, for six seasons of remarkable story telling. Thank you for daring to be smart on television. Thank you for calling on us to seek our destiny as spiritual beings. Thank you for forcing us to seek that which we shall not find.
Namaste.
