Random thoughts on the Lost finale presented in bullet point form

Okay, so this is the first entry since the Lost finale (last night). And my prediction regarding the media covering it with the same zeal devoted to the Super Bowl appears to be… less than prescient. Despite ABC's best efforts to make it an societal event, it probably only mattered to those who'd been following the show. Flipping around on the morning TV programs this morning I found nary a mention of the show; it didn't even warrant the coverage that Idol or Dancing with the Stars get.

Um, allow me to interject here that although this post will not attempt any analysis of the episode, if you're in that category of viewers I described yesterday who still haven't watched it but plan to, you should stop now. Or in common parlance:  SPOILER WARNING (just in case).

And glancing on the 'net last night after the episode ended I found a brief post on the EW site where the blogger astutely noted that one who didn't even watch the show could jokingly spoil it for someone by saying they all died, and that would turn out correct, but that would not spoil it for someone who had not seen the show (or even the series). I suppose that's a good thing. Maybe.



~

Here's some random, glib thoughts on the finale, in no particular order:

• I'm still not sure that I understood the ending. However, if the two-hour clip and interview show that preceded the finale had any point it was to allow the producers the opportunity to try to convince those who were getting ready to see the finale that the show should be regarded more as a character study than as a plot-based drama. And I suppose that's a better light in which to view the last scenes.

• The finale didn't throw too many curves. It hit the marks it had to—those being resolving the "flash sideways" storyline with the island one, and the showdown between Jack and Locke. The closing image of Jack's closing eye was predictable (I saw it coming with 45 minutes left) but that made for a good bookend with the opening image of the series.

• It was an ending. That much can be said; it didn't leave any cliffhanger to be picked up by a feature film. It's definitely over.

• I must say that as a viewing experience the 2 and a half hour length pushed it a bit longer than worked best for a show that is usually only an hour. It also seemed like the extra time was as much to give a chance to sell more ad time as it was to get more crucial story elements included.

• On the Jimmy Kimmel episode that aired at midnight (after the local news) they showed three humorous spoofs on how other shows ended, putting the Lost crew in the scenarios of Survivor (with Sayid getting voted off), of the diner scene that closed the Sopranos, and in bed with Bob Newhart. The latter two are bona fide iconic TV endings, which is why they worked well in this parody alternate ending for Lost. Whether 10 or 20 years from now the closing scene of Lost's finale will be something that could be parodied that way… I can't say that it lends itself to that treatment. That's not a criticism, per se; it's merely acknowledging that some things hold that opportunity and some things don't, and this didn't. (Jack staggering through the bamboo forest, collapsing, and closing his eye as he dies: a bit maudlin out of context. I suppose they could do something with how Vincent the dog just appears and lies down next to him.)

• The characters got reunited, both the couples (like Jin and Sun—who got to both be killed off and to live on… well, in a manner of speaking… I think) and most everybody. It was a class reunion for Island dwellers, getting to see each other once again and be happy about that.  And ultimately that's what I think the producers wanted the audience to get from the episode.

• In an interview with Jimmy Kimmel just days before the finale, when the host asked them if he would cry during the show, the producers responded they thought he would. And the plot was thick with these aforementioned reunions that seemed tailored to elicit that misty-eyed elation, based on seeing characters one had come to care about achieve some approximation of happily ever after.

• The audience was best served by feeling the finale moreso than analyzing it.

• In a brief discussion with the only co-worker who watches the show he had a middle-of-the-road reaction much like me, where he neither loved nor hated it, and where he didn't want to think about the ending as he feared that would only make it worse. Which strikes me as the best way to approach it.

• Be happy they got their happy ending (or at least what I interpret as should be interpreted as a happy ending), and leave it at that. Because this whole they-were-dead-but-had-to-figure-that-out seems cribbed from The Sixth Sense if you start to think about that. And let's not go there.

• Did the show's ending bump it from good to great by my criteria? Hell if I know. That would involve activities I've already forbidden in the point above.

• Those who were inclined to get emotional almost certainly did cry, and that's precisely the reaction they should have had. The episode was geared for them.

• It's over. There won't be another Lost.

• Line that my wife speculated would end up being used most frequently as a Facebook status:  "I don't believe in much but I do believe in duct tape." - Miles

Let us never speak of this again.