LOST: The End

"Remember. Let go. Move on."
~Damon Lindelof, Twitter, May 23, 2010, midnight

My God, where do I even begin? There is no way I can do a thorough recap so soon, so I will give you my immediate, knee-jerk reaction (which often times is the most reliable): I thought that it was, by far, the best series finale I have ever seen. It was about as close to perfect as it could have been, at least for me and what I was wanting out of a finale. Would it have been nice to have had the mythology of the show addressed a little more directly? Perhaps, but certainly not at the expense of anything we saw last night.

I have dissected (or tried to dissect) the mysteries of this show right along with the geekiest of LOST geeks, and the tantalizing weirdness of LOST was a big part of the appeal for me. A great television show, however, does not survive on mythology alone. How far would The X-Files have gone if it weren't for the iconic Mulder and Scully? And look at how much the series finale of that show suffered for its emphasis on tieing up an already messy mythology. No, for me, the plot should always serve the characters, and not the other way around, and I would have lost interest in LOST very early on if I hadn't gotten so invested, so quickly in these characters.

There was so much about the finale that I loved, but let's get a couple of questions out of the way, first:

• So what exactly happened when Juliet detonated the bomb? Nothing? I was assuming it had because of her saying "It worked" to Sawyer right before she died; but we now know that "it worked" was really just what she said to Sawyer about the candy machine trick. Was it the detonation of the bomb that created the sideways place?
• Why was the Island at the bottom of the ocean in the sideways world? Perhaps this one is connected to the first question.

I know I have more questions than that, but these will be a good start.

I'm going to take the easy way out and bombard you with bullets. No! not the kind that are always flying around on this show, this kind:

My favorite parts on the Island:

• Rose and Bernard are alive! Vincent is alive! Richard Alpert is alive! Frank Lapidus is alive!! Man, that was a great way to start things off.
• I admit to laughing out loud when poor Ben got hit in the face one last time by Sawyer
• Jack and Locke's epic fight on the cliff was the best fight scene on LOST, ever. As well it should be.
• I'm not a huge Kate fan, but I was pleased that it was she who shot Locke and then got to carry out one last badass move and jump off of that cliff before Sawyer did.
• The scene where Jack hands the baton to Hurley was note perfect.
• and, of course, the final scene. By the time Vincent came and laid down next to Jack, I was a blubbering idiot.

My favorite Sideways parts:

• Hurley's face when he saw Charlie. So much love and affection.
• Sun, Jin and Juliet - that's where the crying began.
• Then Claire, Kate and Charlie had me nearly sobbing.
• But it was Sawyer and Juliet who put me over the edge, especially when he whispered, "I got you, baby" in her ear.

From that point to the end I was crying like a baby. I was wrecked.

I think the thing I took away from the finale - and the show as a whole - is that it is our relationships with others that sustain us through our life and beyond, and that what was important was the they all found each other again. Live together, or die alone.

OK, that's about all I can write for now. What did you all think?

This is my final review of LOST. I can't believe it. I want to thank everyone - however few you may be! - who took the time to come here, to listen to my ravings, and to share in the discussion. I will miss watching LOST, miss it terribly, and I will miss talking about it with you.

Namaste.