my memory is notoriously poor, but i have a vivid recollection of watching the LOST series finale. i recall precisely nothing else about that day, but i can clearly recall myself sitting at the kitchen table after school watching on my laptop. more than anything i remember how i felt: emotionally drained, sad to say goodbye to characters i’d been following for years.
over the years i’d forgotten whether the show as as confusing and nonsensical as the zeitgeist sometimes makes it out to be, but rewatching it again tells me that, no, actually, LOST makes a lot of sense and is a fairly tightly plotted story, if you accept the fact that a lot of answers boil down to Magic Powers on Magic Island, as stated in this incredibly informative article, 108 answers to LOST’s Supposedly Unanswered Questions, written by the same person who runs the LOST Answers Tumblr.
i think for me, what settled a lot of questions was their answer to “what is the island?” which i’ll quote almost in its entirety below:
Magic.
The longer answer for this is "The Island is a conscious place that can travel through time and space. It contains the source of all life. Water and Light combine at its center to form an energy that fuels Life, Death and Rebirth throughout existence. The Island, like all life, can make choices and be manipulated. If the light at the Source of the Island ever goes out, everything ends."
But the shorter answer is still "Magic." Magic is actually the answer to many Unanswered Questions, and if you hate that fact, then LOST just wasn't for you. Since the beginning, the central argument in the show was about Science vs. Faith. As it turns out, the winner of that battle is "a little bit of both." Our protagonist Jack started out as a man of Science, and he saved the world after he learned to balance his beliefs with his new found Faith in the Island. John Locke, on the other hand, operated on blind faith, and it broke him. He helped save the Island, but he also ended up being the face of the villain. On the other hand, Jack, the balanced one, was our hero.
once you accept that as fact, then suddenly a lot of things make a lot of sense.
another theory put forth by this person is about the Smoke Monster. according to them, the Smoke Monster is only one half of an Island Protector. Jacob and Smokey’s Mother had the powers Jacob and Smokey had, but she split those powers between her sons. therefore, hurley is now the new Jacob, and jack is the new Smokey, and once their reign ends, they will pass the mantle to Super Special Walt, who will have both of their powers and be a Full Island Protector. this also makes a lot of things fall into place! such as why the island is “broken” and/or not at full power (it doesn’t have a whole protector, and one half of its protector wants to leave).
i think i’m truly just in awe of the scope of this show, and the incredible talent it took to put it together and maintain continuity over the course of 121 episodes! writing on a week-to-week basis, keeping track of all the little hints and easter eggs and nuggets of information, coming up with all the lore and tying it all together to everything they’d written themselves into in the first season, before they knew they were being renewed…
the writers’ room must have looked like this all the time:
i wish i could write something that makes me feel that same level of grandeur as LOST does. also — and i know i sound like a broken record — it is such a great loss that we seem to be moving past the art of the 24-episode tv season. part of the reason i love the LOST characters so much is because i spent so long with them — 121 hours! a whole journey! you couldn’t make a show like this today, and if you did, it just wouldn’t hit the same with 10 episodes a season.
there is no question that this is one of my favorite shows of all time.
some other thoughts:
i am and always will be a diehard sawyer/juliet shipper. i think i love them together even more upon rewatch, because i was watching their relationship go from enemies to reluctant allies to friends to lovers knowing that was its trajectory, and so i was able to appreciate the development more. they suit each other so well, and i love seeing how different and calmer and at peace sawyer is with juliet. that moment when he asks her to stay with him on the island and not leave on the sub, before they have actually entered a relationship, is phenomenal — it’s crazy seeing sawyer show so much vulnerability (still couched within his trademark sarcasm ofc). “who’s gonna get my back?” kill me already!!
speaking of juliet! she was my favorite character fifteen years ago, and she is my favorite character now. in fact she’s probably one of my favorite characters of all time, in any media, ever. it’s a combination of who she is and her affect, played brilliantly by elizabeth mitchell. she’s just so cool and collected and seems so stoic but is really hiding such a deep well of emotion. she’s brilliant and ruthless but is also capable of so much compassion, particularly to her patients. i love her so much. the scene where she confronts sawyer and sayid with their sins while she’s trying to save claire (who is sick as a result of juliet’s complicity!!).
i was disappointed that i did not like kate more this time. i certainly disliked her less, which is great, but i think i’d been hoping that internalized misogyny was part of why she bugged me years ago, but no, i think she’s just a very frustrating person. an interesting and engaging character, to be sure, because she’s so very deeply flawed, but so very frustrating still. like, stop ruining your own life kate, please!!! but also, it’s not fair to discuss kate without acknwoledging that she is likely a victim of bad writing, too: she devolves into a romantic vessel, a pawn in a silly love triangle (that turns into a love square at one point), and i think i liked her best in season 6, actually, when her goal was to save claire (kate/claire, a great ship, let’s go with that one!).
jin and sun’s death, oof. what a classic tragedy: a relationship on the rocks, with one person about to leave the other; they rediscover their love for each other and learn how to be together in a better way, only to then be separated for years, one thinking the other is dead; spending a whole season trying to find one another, and once they do, they die horrifically in each other’s arms. that’s some good shit.
i think i…don’t like charlie. his death is one of the show’s most famous moments (not penny’s boat!), but i found it much less affecting than the zeitsgest had built it up to be. (i’m also like…wasn’t there plenty of time to leave??? why did he have to lock that door? had he just accepted his death at that point?)
i didn’t remember liking miles so much, but he’s amazing comic relief.
jack, while not a likable person, is such a fantastic character. i love his arc, and i love its juxtaposition with john locke.
another all-time fave character is benjamin linus. everything from his sarcasm to his strategic mind to his delivery of lines to his endless use of lies and manipulation makes him a delight to watch. you never really know what’s going on in ben’s head, and you never know where you stand with him. he’s as slippery as an eel, and he’s always hiding something, and it’s all to cover up the fact that he’s never met jacob. he’s just been operating on the assumption that he would, someday, and he sacrificed so much for this being who never even deigned to acknowledge him. he let his own daughter die. no wonder it was so easy to convince him to kill jacob. so of course he immediately accepts when hurley asks him to be his second-in-command; for the first time, he is Seen.
i screamed at the random japanese man (dogen) in season 6 who insisted on only speaking in japanese so he could be “separate” from the people he led. also, generally, i feel like the others are the weakest point in the show — i never really understood why these people were so devoted to jacob when they’d never seen him. particularly people who hadn’t been recruited there, like cindy the flight attendant — how did she so easily assimilate?
finally, a tentative ranking of the seasons from least favorite to favorite, helped along by this excellent recap of the show’s seasons:
season 6 (i enjoyed the Sideways Afterlife bits, i guess, but i couldn’t help feeling that the characters were just running back and forth on the island and faffing. the whole thing with sayid coming back to life and then being ~infected was really distracting and confusing, and there were so many team-ups, and switching between groups, and i really felt like i was losing the plot there for a hot sec)
season 3 (despite the introduction of juliet, and seeing more of ben linus, this season felt a bit disjointed. a lot happened without really answering any questions. also, we get that weird thailand episode with jack, and nikki and paolo for some reason)
season 4 (some really great twists and reveals, an iconic line (we have to go back kate!!!), but too many new characters introduced without much context, and being off the island unmoored me a little, ha)
season 2 (all the stuff with the hatch is super intriguing, and we get treated to ben’s crazy scheme pretending to be henry gale, which is honestly one of the best introductions to a character i’ve ever seen, then the whole crazy thing with michael, and the merging of the tail section people was so well done)
season 5 (SO MUCH happens in this season! we learn a ton about jacob and the island, there’s so much science and timey-wimey stuff, and this is the season that’s all about sawyer and juliet’s relationship, so of course i’m obsessed. “la fleur” is one of my favorite episodes of the show)
season 1 (there really is just no beating this season. the pilot episode is insane and iconic. the characters are thrust into the complete unknown. so many mysteries are introduced, and we’re in that sweet spot where we’re happy to just let the mystery and intrigue sit without getting any answers. the struggle to build the raft, the shock when the raft is destroyed and walt is kidnapped. finding the hatch and trying to blow it open while having no idea if what’s inside could help or harm (the camera pan to QUARANTINE is so chilling). claire’s abduction and charlie’s near death (“he wasn’t on the plane!” cut to ethan). boone’s death, jack’s desperate attempts to save him. sun being a nurse. learning about all of our characters through their first flashbacks. just some truly good television.
talk to me about LOST if you’ve seen it or want to!
cheers,
hadeer