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A huge emotional investment came to closure late in the night after I finished watching LOST. I had a hard time falling asleep because I couldn’t stop thinking about the final episode, and I still couldn’t shake things off my mind when I was going into work this morning. I’ve only heard one perspective on the ending, and it’s one that resonates deeply. My first reaction after watching the show was that I needed to go hug lots of people. That’s a simplistic surface reaction, but I knew deep down there was something more that I hadn’t realized or comprehended yet. It was a lot to take in that late in the night, and I was still trying to make sense out of the details.
I was expecting full closure but intellectually. LOST was a show that was very well written with its complexity in story, characters, and unfolding. It had a huge amount of depth that kept viewers hooked and guessing what would happen. With the past season, the questions I had still weren’t being answered. After the end, I’ve decided that my questions don’t need to be answered because ultimately I don’t think it really matters. The final hours of LOST were emotionally fulfilling as everything came together and ended the events that started in the first episode and continued being told throughout the series touching upon past, present, and future.
Directly answering any lingering questions that people have had would have been too insulting for a show like this. I don’t doubt that there is more backstory that just hasn’t been revealed, and if LOST hadn’t ended now then maybe we would have seen it. I don’t think the writers were jerking the audience around (for the most part), and I think there is a larger message that they wanted to use the show as a carrier for. I think it’s up to us to decide what to do or how to interpret it. That’s exactly how I felt when I finished watching Broken Saints, and its creator, Brooke Burgess, really touches upon an important point.
The first season shows us why the people do what they do, how their past establishes their present. Later seasons show us the effects of the present actions on the future. Answers just lead to more questions. Everyone, cast characters and audience alike, are constantly asking questions of why. The audience finds out why through flashbacks that explain the character’s actions. We may not agree with their actions, but we understand their intentions and end up judging based on that.. In reality, judging on actions and drawing up conclusions is faster “rational” answer because it is so very externally apparent.
What I’m taking out of the show is to never forget who, what, and why we are. It’s all there sprinkled in every episode in all the characters’ lives and how their stories are told. We identify with characters and their flaws, values, and self-worth. At the end, it all comes to an emotional close. Leaving everything else unanswered, I think, was intention to keep everyone guessing and having them draw their stories for themselves. It’s a mirror for our own lives. It’s not about being lost physically but spiritually, confronting ourselves, and finding the things we really need to be whole again.