LOST.....That's what I am after the finale.

[buddha]

Any fans of LOST out there? I've been a fan since the beginning. Needless to say my favorite character was John Locke. But after watching the finale last night I'm torn. I don't know whether everybody died in the crash or when the H-bomb went off, I don't know if there were parallel universe issues at play, I don't know if all the people on the plane had some kind of intense baggage that they were trying to deal with and everybody died in the crash but the island was Purgatory until they put their demons to rest or what. I'm also pondering whether the writers just got way too many peripheral stories going that there was no way to end the show coherently so they just ended it.....however.

Any LOST fans out there have any insights? Help a brother out.

[-Doug-]

I am just as confused at you!!! I am a huge Lost fan too. It was making sense (for the most part) up until the last ~20 mins.

[MikeM]

Everything that happened on the island happened. Hugo is the new caretaker of the island, and Ben is his new sidekick, perhaps running the island with a different set of rules from Jacob's. Man in Black was able to be killed because Desmond temporarily turned off the light (Jack restored it later). (Man in Black wanted to become mortal, as that was his only way off the island.) Jack died restoring the light.

The flash-sideways were all the characters gathering in a self-created limbo, whenever (not contemporaneous with the events of season 6, or anything else for that matter), waiting for everyone to die, and to realize they're dead and that the best moments of their life were when they were on the island together, so they can move on.

Amazing show with a brilliant ending.

[marcx]

Here is what I get out of it--Evertyhing on the ilsand was "real" and the parralel lives we were seeing this season where like a colelctive conscious where folks neede to come to turns with theings and realize their passt before moving on....Jack died after saving the island and went to this place, the other folks there may have died before or after him since time is not a concept there, and those who were ready were "moving on"..clearly Ben has not yet been able to come to terms with his life and cannot move on yet--hence he does not enter the "church"...

But....where are Michael and Walt?

[MikeM]

But....where are Michael and Walt?

Walt I don't know about.

Michael was one of the lost souls unable to "move on" and left whispering around the island. He revealed this himself to Hurley, and I take that at face value. So, in my mind, he wasn't invited to the big party in the church at the end.

[marcx]

good point about Micheal--

Overall I am quite happy with it--my only thoughts are I wouls have liked more details revealed about the dharma initiative and the island itself...but I still really loved it...

[-Doug-]

But what about the numbers? I don't recall there being an explanation of their relevance/significance.

[-Doug-]

But what about the numbers? I don't recall there being an explanation of their relevance/significance.

NM....I just read some stuff on the net and realized that they were explained.

[buddha]

Regarding Hurley, I'm not getting how he could have become the Island's new caretaker because he was in the church at the end.....wasn't he? Maybe Ben Linus because he didn't go into the church.

Doug, I'm gonna have to research the meaning of the numbers.

I don't know about anybody else who is/was a fan of the show but I have this feeling of loss with the show being over. It's hard to explain, I've never had this happen with a TV show.

[The Noggin]

I got lost in the 2nd season already... 

[-Doug-]

Doug, I'm gonna have to research the meaning of the numbers.

This page gives a pretty good explanation of the numbers, along with a bunch of other mythology surrounding the show. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_numbers#The_Numbers

I don't know about anybody else who is/was a fan of the show but I have this feeling of loss with the show being over. It's hard to explain, I've never had this happen with a TV show.

This show was so unique that I think it's understandable.

[MikeM]

Regarding Hurley, I'm not getting how he could have become the Island's new caretaker because he was in the church at the end.....wasn't he?

On the island Hurley became the caretaker. He drank the water and Jack said "You are now like me" (or whatever the exact saying is).

At some very unspecified time after that, Hurley dies offscreen. So does everyone else you see in the flash-sideways who hasn't already died onscreen (Kate, Sawyer, Rose, Bernard, Claire, Penny, Desmond, etc.). That's what makes them eligible to be in the flash-sideways/limbo. Remember: Ben told Hurley he had made a great Jacob, and Hurley told Ben he made a great Number Two. This suggests they lived out some time together. Everyone in limbo is dead. They didn't necessarily die at the same time, but they're waiting for each other to make the final ascent together.

(Expect tons of fan fiction to appear chronicling the lives of everyone from the final events on the island to the ascent into light.)

A subset of those people in limbo go into the church, and move on, together, into the light. Notably left behind are Ben, who said he still had some issues to work out. And Daniel and Eloise -- remember the conversation between Desmond and Eloise about "not taking my son." (Eloise is clearly still calling some shots.) And Miles and Richard.

I don't know about anybody else who is/was a fan of the show but I have this feeling of loss with the show being over. It's hard to explain, I've never had this happen with a TV show.

You've spent years with these characters. That's not surprising.

[MikeM]

I don't know whether everybody died in the crash or when the H-bomb went off,

We now know the whole H-bomb thing was a bit of a red herring. It got everybody back to the right time -- 2007 -- but it didn't "reset" anything.

When Juliet said "it worked" and the bit about coffee the first time, we now know she wasn't talking about the H-bomb resetting things as Daniel/Jack had thought, but she was talking about unplugging a vending machine to release a trapped candy bar. She was dying, and we and Sawyer could briefly hear her from the limbo universe.

[cvasara]

I don't understand a darn thing that anyone here is talking about.   I got "lost' in the first season
Or was it the second one?     I gave up on it way back when.
I don't think I've seen the ball since kick off.

[ChallengeMe]

Since I worked 2nd shift for 6 years, I never watched any LOST episodes. After I got laid I started getting DVD's at the library, and started watching LOST in October. I watched the first 5 years in four months. I realized I have a major advantage over others who took 6 years to watch it all, and forgot much.

I have read some of the comments on their Yahoo group, and their Facebook page (15,000+ comments so far). People either thought it was the greatest show ending ever or the worst. Most complained their were too many unanswered questions. I can tell you, most of those questions were answered, or hinted at in the four months I watched the shows last winter, but most people forgot them in the past 6 years.

Not sure about Michael and Walt, but the boy couldn't be shown this season, he is six years older and probably 6' 3", and taller then all the rest of the cast.

When they are at the church in the end, time does not exist. They have all died in their own time. Hurley and Ben said they were the greatest #1 and #2; they probably lived decades (centuries) on the Island after the rest left.

As for all the loose ends, the producers said the show was about the actors, and not about the "facts". Just remember the show for how great it (and the writing) was. Was life on the Island real? I think it is best if we never know the answer.

And maybe Hurley and Ben will have a spin off???