LOST, Season 6, Episodes 17&18, The End, Parts 1 & 2

Okay, let’s just get this out of the way first, because it may have caused some confusion. The Losties were not dead for all six seasons. The stuff that happened on the Island happened to them...the Oceanic 815 crash, the time jumping, the button, the freighter...all of it...happened. The Flash Sideways, however, was where the Losties went after they died, awaiting the arrival of the other important people from their lives. The hydrogen bomb that detonated at the end of last season did not trigger the Flash Sideways. All it did was destroy the station, and I guess one can assume that Jack, Kate, Sawyer, et al didn’t die in that blast because they were protected as Candidates.

And for the final time, away we go...

Desmond: His unique ability in handling large doses of electromagnetic forces somehow allows him to remove the stone that kept the Light on and prevented the Island from going dark. Once removed, the light from the underground chamber went out and the water from the stream stopped flowing. Oh, and the Island became unstable and was rocked by small quakes. Jack gets him out of the chamber so he can return home to Penny. In Purgatory, his whole mission has been to pull all of these awaiting consciousnesses (is that a word?), or souls, of the Losties. A mission he’s accomplished wonderfully, brotha, with a little help from Hurley.

Uncorking the Island: Once the Light was darkened when Desmond pulled the stone plug, the power that had been bestowed upon SMonster, the power of immortality, was gone. If you assume Jack also gained a similar power when he took over from Jacob, you can also assume he lost the power too at this time. The problem, however, is that once the Light went out, the end of the world was started. With the stone removed, the Island essentially was dying, and with it, so would everything else.

SMonster: Assists Jack in getting Desmond down the chamber to venture into the Light, but once done and the resulting quakes begin, he and Jack fight as Jack attempts to keep the SMonster on the Island. During the fight, he knifes Jack in the abdomen and also cuts him slightly on the neck. Distracted, and not knowing that his immortality no longer exists, he is shot by Kate and fall. Jack then kicks him over the cliff where he crashes to death on an outcropping of rocks above the surf line.

John Locke: In the Purgatory Flash Sideways, after getting surgery on his back by Dr Jack Shephard, he flashes back to the Island timeline, and realizes that he is about to move on to his next existence. “I hope someone does for you, what you just did for me”, Locke says, meaning that he hopes that someone triggers Jack’s memory about what is happening.

Jack: Jack took on the role of Jacob, but did hold this position long. The stab wound from SMonster was a mortal wound and Jack knew this. To ensure the Island would stay protected, he mixed up a bottle of water (didn’t say any incantation or make any magic happen) and passed the baton of Island Protector to Hurley, who drank the water. One final act existed for Dr Shephard...replacing the stone in the hole of the Chamber of Light. Once he completed this task, the Light returned, the water began flowing again, the World was saved, and the end of Jack Shephard was near. But his arc of redemption was complete: he gave his life to protect others. In the Purgatory line, seeing Kate and ultimately the empty coffin of his father triggers his memories of the Island as he accepts that it’s time to move on. This story has really always been about Jack Shephard.

Hurley: Takes over the role of Island Protector from Jack before Jack succumbs to the mortal stab wound from SMonster. Over in the Purgatory side, when the end comes he knows what’s going on as does Desmond (and so, apparently does Boone). Going back to the first episode of the season on the Oceanic 815 flight, Hurley told Sawyer “I’m the luckiest guy alive.” I think Hurley arrived on the flight having died on the Island after his stint as Protector and was no longer the loser Hurley, but the Island Protector Hurley.

Ben: Ben does not go through with his statement to the SMonster that he would kill whomever needed to be killed. Instead, Ben helps Team Jackob defeat the SMonster. Ben’s reward for this? He becomes Hurley’s right hand man, his Number One (like Richard was to Jacob). Great scene between Hurley and Dr Linus in the Purgatory timeline. Great scene between Ben and Locke as John heads into the Purgatory church. Ben apologizes for what he did to Locke on the Island. Locke forgives him. Ben does not go in, however, likely he’s waiting for Alex and Danielle Rousseau.

Bernard & Rose & Vincent: Nice to see them, even if it was ever so briefly. And thanks for getting Desmond out of the well!

Daniel (Farraday) Widmore & Charlotte Lewis: Also nice to see them get together at Daniel’s recital, accompanied by Charlie Pace and his band Driveshaft.

Sun & Jin Kwon: In the Sideways, they meet up with Sawyer, aka James Ford, after they’ve had their revelation. Jin smiles, knowing that Ford will soon join them on their continuing journey.

Frank Lapidus & Miles Straum: Nice to see that Lapidus was not killed in the sub accident after all. With the help of Miles and Richard he is able to get the Ajira plane ready for take-off. As they are getting ready to take off, Sawyer and Kate come out of the jungle with Claire. They board the plane and take off, flying over a dying Jack as they leave the Island.

Richard: Somehow freed from his immortal life, most likely when Jacob died. Finds a grey hair on his head and smiles. Works with Lapidus and Miles to repair the plane. When he leaves the Island, it will be for the first time for a very, very, very long time, well over 100 years.

The Flash Sideways, it turns out, was a purgatory-like place that the souls, for lack of a better term, of our favorite Losties stayed in until the whole group was back together. To be together meant they had to die, but since purgatory has no sense of time, it didn’t matter how long it took for their mortal life to pass. It was a place for these friends/family, a place created by them to await the people they want to be with when the pass over to whatever happens after purgatory. Maybe something, maybe nothing. In our Losties’ in-between area, it seems that the first person who would’ve been there was Christian Shephard, and they all waited until Hurley and Ben arrived after their undisclosed length of time as Caretakers of the Island, before going into the light. They are led on this final journey by Jack’s father, Christian Shephard.

And as the series began, the final scene was that of Jack on the Island, on his back in the bamboo forest. This time, however, he’s dying from the stab wound. Vincent saunters over from the bushes and lays next to Jack. A close-up of Jack’s eye and it shuts.

Other stuff

--The themes of redemption and relying on others were central to this show and highlighted especially here in this final episode.

--Not sure why Jack would’ve had a kid in the Flash Sideways timeline as he didn’t have a kid in his real life.

--Not sure why Aaron was a baby in the Flash Sideways Purgatory. Did he die as a child, or were the Purgatory memories from the time they first met?

--Michael was not in the Church at the end with the other Losties because he already explained that he did bad things in his life that will keep him trapped on the Island, probably whispering a lot.

--It was never explained why Walt was so special, as referred to by Tom, aka Mr Friendly. The Others took Walt (for Jacob, one assumes) for some reason, but once he left the Island, we only saw him a couple of other times. Also wonder why he wouldn’t have joined them in the Flash Sideways in the Church.

--We never learned what caused healing to occur on the Island, especially in the cases of Locke and Rose.

--Knowing that the cut on Jack’s neck came from the blade of SMonster makes it seem like the first scene of this final season, with Jack and many of the other Losties on the Oceanic 815 flight, was the point when Jack had died on the Island and was now on his way to wait in the Flash Sideways Purgatory for his other friends to arrive.

--The scenes of the characters reuniting as they got closer to leaving the Purgatory were really good, I thought. My favorites were Sawyer & Juliet, and Charlie & Claire.

--With the SMonster killed, it would appear that all subsequent caretakers of the Island won’t have to worry about the eeeeevil escaping, they’ll just have to prevent Mankind from trying to take the Light from the Island.

--Nice scene with Hurley and Ben outside of the Church, when Hurley tells Ben that he was a good Number Two, and Ben replies that Hurley was a great Number One.

I’m glad the writers/producers stuck to their story lines instead of coming up with a lame final episode. It doesn’t matter that all the little detailed questions weren’t answered. I watched this show for all six seasons because the characters and how they interacted was what drove this series. The Island, the mysteries were all great additions, but the show was about these main characters. And quite honestly, knowing that in the end they found their peace made for a nice happy ending for a bunch of people who really had difficult lives.

Thanks for reading everybody!

Namaste.