LOST Finale – Revised Interpretation

After publishing my blog last night and then sleeping off my LOST hangover, I realize my perception/interpretation of the final scene was a hasty leap to an erroneous conclusion.  Everything has become clearer in the light of day, and I am much more at peace with the ending.

Like Jack's father said, there is no "now" in the Islander's current "life."  Everything that they remembered was real and each of them died at the time we saw them die in the storyline, or they died when it was their time after they got off the Island, or they died on the Island eventually like Bernard, Rose and Vincent, and Hurley and Ben.  Maybe Desmond used the sail boat to get back to his family. Who knows.....

At any rate, they were all dead by the time they finally came together in the church. It was a reunion and celebration of their own deaths. Since Jack was the last to arrive, he was apparently the last one to let go and accept his death.  It took his dead father to explain it to him ("We all die sometime, kiddo."); which is significant, since Jack always felt that his father was never there for him when he really needed him.

This morning, I read a wonderful review by an AP writer named Frazier Moore. He expresses what I was feeling in the final moments of "The End."  This is part of what he wrote:

Through the run of the series, there was much talk among its characters of being on the island for a purpose. As it draws to a close, "Lost" has sustained the eerie feeling (eerie for TV, anyway) that it was on the air for a purpose — a special purpose beyond selling products and filling time, or even entertainment.

Its cast, producers, writers and the rest seemed drawn to create "Lost," and keep creating it year after year, thanks to fate as much as show-biz urgencies.

Deeper and wider than any TV series should dare to be, it has been thrilling, captivating, confounding (and, at times, pretty tedious), while it challenged its viewers to think, talk and feel.

The series ended where it began six seasons ago after the plane crash: with a close-up of Jack's eye opening as he lay on the ground. But this time, his eye was open and it shut.

That's where "Lost" leaves us viewers as it shuts down. Maybe not so clear about all we've seen, but challenged. Still a little lost, but reassured.

I am planning to watch the final episode again and hope I can glean more answers from it—because I still have questions—but then, I will LET IT GO.   

It was an interesting and enlightening experience, which is, what I think the creators intended.  To be able to open up other ways of looking at things, and to create avenues for discussion and debate, stimulate thoughtfulness and hopefully independent thinking.

Now, the rest of us still have a life to live, there is much work to do, and as they say, time waits for no one.

Peace be with you, as you continue on your journey.