|
The biggest fallacy of this entire show is that they illustrated in the last 10 minutes that the whole point of watching this show was because you really liked these characters. Locke, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hugo, Sayid, Jin, and Sun. You were supposed to be really connected to these characters.
The problem with that is...for 3 seasons in a row, the characters took a back seat to one of the most convoluted plot entanglements I've ever seen in a TV show...that had absolutely ZERO pay off. The whole thing about that "Lost" blog, using Joseph Campbell...nice try. That's fine as a motif, to use for the island. But like it's been said...all this "series finale" did was finalize...the last season. That's where they decided to tell you the history of the island. Which may have never existed in reality. Or, it did, and the "sideways universe" was "purgatory"--something the writers swore was not the case early on in the show.
Again, to me it exposes how little they knew about what they were going to do all along, and so instead of trying to tie up the loose ends, they slapped together a few episodes that told the history of Jacob and the MIB (who again had nothing to do with the last few moments of the show, nor did they really have anything to do with Jack's revelation). This show had so many red herrings, even in its last season. Why did Claire and Sayid change their attitudes to "come along" with the MIB? How did Sayid come back from the dead? And what significance was it? And Fu Manchu seemed to have little to do with anything, and yet during that whole run, they made it seem like he was integral in the story.
Most of the stuff early on about Locke knowing something no one else did, went nowhere. All everything led to was for Locke to tell Jack to "let go".
But everything that happened in that "sideways" universe had to be set up by going to that island in the first place. This also left all the returns and leavings absolutely meaningless because they all apparently existed in both planes the entire time. This meant that the writers really should have been putting in scenes of a "sideways" universe as early as the first season. But at that time, they didn't know they were going to use that device (again, as a Deus Ex Machina) until later on. Also, the dimension of the "sideways" universe should serve as a mirror since all of the characters live a different kind of lifestyle. They should have had "flashbacks" or something about their island life without coming into contact with each other in the first place. And not all of those people that were "connected" in the sideways universe had anything to do with Flight 815.
The biggest amount of proof I have that this show was thrown together was how many times during the first 3 seasons this show would take 4-6 week hiatuses. No other show has ever done that that I've seen. They made this show up as they went along. "Lost snobs" can lie to themselves and say they were taken on this magical journey but if they want to believe that, then again--give the writers of this show a medal for pulling off a huge con.
So, two things here: One...the way they wrapped up the characters *was* nice. I liked the reunion scene. I really did. It choked me up to see all these guys in the same room one last time. That's what a finale is supposed to do. It takes you back to the place you initially had set up--to me, this show was always supposed to be about the characters. There was so much depth and character development in the first 2 seasons and that's what made it compelling. Now think of that pay off--that was good. That worked.
Take the other 4 seasons, in which they introduced countless gun wielding idiots who didn't have anything to do with anything, and you have this OTHER part of the show that just didn't work at all. There was nothing that really came together for that. Yeah they pieced together contrived things and gave them a point I guess--but no real pay off. The island would be moved, the island would be destroyed--what difference did it make? Everyone that mattered in Jack's life was back in Jack's life in that "sideways universe". And if you say, But that wouldn't have happened unless A or B happened...that's really kind of ridiculous. These planes always existed. It was only a matter of someone telling each other about each other. What did Charles Widmore have to do with that? Or Mr. Ecko? Or Walt, or Michael? Yeah they all needed to be in this one room together...why? Besides a reunion...? Like I said, that answers one part of the equation but not all the other mumbo jumbo that went on.
Or...I'll even put it another way. Maybe it did "answer" it; but it wasn't satisfying at all. Not after all the hours we spent watching this show. It seemed like instead of "leaving things open to interpretation" they really just weren't addressing certain things.
But it doesn't matter now. "Lostpedia" has written that show better than the writers ever could. They had no idea what they were doing, what they were creating, and they threw away a lot of years wasting our time with ancillary characters that lead nowhere. They gouged the characters we DID like of everything we LIKED about them, and turned them into cliches. They were able to put things back together by the finale to get us to like them again because they gave us this "alternate" life idea that would...I suppose, make it all okay.
And this hackneyed approach of using the title "Lost" and turning it around and saying, "No, see? They were LOST...it wasn't about the island after all! They just were lost in their lives! And the island was a metaphor!" Give me a break. No metaphor I've ever seen has had that many plot twists surrounding it. If this were an allegory, it'd have to be considered the most contrived allegory ever created.
Those who say that the finale was a colossal failure have it wrong--the entire show was a failure. It should've been a 2-3 season affair, with a lot less of the black smoke, DHARMA Initiative, and Others...if the entire show was simply about people who wanted to find themselves. You didn't need all of that filler.
But I liked a comment my friend said afterward--that they should create a spin off for some of these unresolved stories and call it "Loster".
|
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
That was good. 
