A break from my life to talk about LOST

The one thing I know about myself is that I am a pretty cool person.
No, seriously, I am. People have told me this.
However, I have a lot of dork in me. I love the Star Wars films, the Lord of the Rings films, and like Star Trek. It doesn't get much dorkier than that.
It stands to reason, then, that the ABC television series LOST would be right up my ally. It appeals to all the things I love about the other movies I mentioned. I can't think of another show in TV history that did, or even attempted to do what LOST did. How many times has a television drama been appropriately described as "epic"?
Well, this show was epic, no question about it. The pilot episode was one of the most original, thrilling pieces of television I had ever seen and I was hooked right from the start.
So, as a LOST fan, what did I think of the final episode?
I loved it.
Now, let me say this: I wish the final episode had done more to give hints as to what, exactly, the island was and what the "light" that must be protected is. It seems like the creators went out of their way to explain the "flash-sideways" portion of the show but left everything up to interpretation as to what the island actually is. Considering the island was the centerpiece of 6 years of television watching, I would have liked at least a few more hints as to what it could be.
Having said that, the ending was a surprisingly emotional and satisfying end to the entire series because it really did focus on the characters we have grown to enjoy. I didn't realize how attached I was to all of them. I didn't realize how emotionally involved I would be watching them reconnect. By the end of the episode I was equally interested in watching all the characters "find" each other in the alternate universe as I was in watching whether the island was destroyed or saved. Each time one of them connected, the raw emotions seemed genuine, and the fact that the connection came at the end, literally, seemed even more poignant.
The beauty of this final episode, to me, was that it was so well crafted, so well done, at the end you didn't even care all that much about the "answers." While each LOST fan came into the final episode (well, the final few episodes) with a laudry list of questions they would have liked seen answered, mid-way through all you wanted to see was Jack kill the Locke monster and save the island, while everyone in the alternate universe connected again. I wanted to see Sawyer and Juliette connect, Claire and Charlie, and even Kate and Jack, the relationship that always seemed the most right, the one that had been left for dead, that had been beaten and battered, finally came together at the end.
I loved the semi-redemption of Ben, loved that Hurley was left to guard the island for who knows how long after Jack died, loved that all the characters made a comeback for that final hello/goodbye, and what I especially loved was the fact that they all seemed to be moving on in a new adventure together.
So, what is the island?
My feeling, the island is exactly what Jacob described it as to to Richard: the cork that keeps evil from explanding and overtaking good. The light is that good, that righteousness, what can be seen by the eye in the spirit world when it comes to that good and evil. Without the island, evil would be allowed to spread, and since it has no limits in terms of time and space, everything that has been or will be would be ultimately changed.
The protectors are those who take it within their heart to defend the light no matter what. They choose to, even if they believed it is forced upon them. Jacob chooses to drink from the cup, even though he is reluctant, just like Hurley. Jack is the least reluctant, rightfully believeing that protecting the island is his destiny. Hurley, like Jacob, takes it on reluctantly but, again, willingly. No one, not even Jacob, if forced into service for the island, which is a metaphor for good and righteousness. It is a choice, albeit a hard one and one that generates a multitude of problems for the person who takes on the responsibility.
Also, the fact that the island, and the light, can only be explained or thought of in very abstract terms also represents spiritual belief. No one on the island REALLY knows what it is or what the island is. The woman who raises Jacob and the Man in Black only knows that the light must be protected. She explains nothing else, only that if it goes out on the island it goes out everywhere else. Does she simply fail to divulge all that she knows or, rather, does she divulge all that she does know? I think what we learn is that for all of them, from the mother to Jacob to Locke to Jack to Hurley, it simply comes down to faith. They don't have all the answers. They don't know EXACTLY what they are protecting. They simply have faith that it must be protected.
They are pushing that button, like Desmond and Locke, because they BELIEVE they must.
The redemption comes in death, when all of their willingness to do for that cause, to take those leaps of faith, no matter how small or how great, ultimately lead them back together and on a path towards whatever concept of heaven you might have. Even their purgatory offers a level of redemption, as Sawyer gets to live life as a officer on the right side of the law, Kate professes her innocence to a crime she most assuredly committed in real life, Claire finds a family in the Shepards and gets to keep Aaron, Hurley becomes a man of extreme good luck, and Jack has a son.
In the end, in my opinion, they were rewarded for their committment to each other and their dedication to helping the island. It didn't come easy or painlessly, and it certainly didn't come without doubts or missteps, but it did come and, for that, they were carried over into the afterlife together.
As a fan, I came to a conclusion a while back about LOST: I could enjoy this show and the entertainment it brings, or I could nitpick it to death, demand it meet my expectations, demand it answer my questions, and allow those high (and ultimately unfullfillable) expectations ruin the whole situation.
In reality, how many shows do you get to enjoy for a full six years? How many continue to fascinate and challenge you? How many ask that you be more than just an audience, but an almost active participant in the story?
Why ruin that with some laundry list of what the show SHOULD do or SHOULD be? It was what it was, and that is pretty darn good and pretty darn amazing.
When people talk about disappointing endings for highly popular dramas, the first mentioned is always The Sopranos. Count me in the category of those who felt cheated by The Sopranos last scene.
Why? Am I being hypocritical in my love for LOST and criticism for Sopranos?
Nope. Here's why. First, LOST has been a consistently wonderful show, whereas The Sopranos had been mediocre at best for two seasons before the final year. There was a sense, in my mind, that the final season, and final episode, had to "save" the final part of the story for me. That wasn't the case for LOST.
Second, and most importantly, LOST did NOTHING in the final episode that deviated from the series in any way. Each season of LOST ended with questions, so why not end the series entirely with questions remaining? The series revolved around fans conjuring up their own interpretation of what was happening. The series ended as it started. The series delivered what it always had delivered.
The Sopranos? That show wasn't built on cliffhangers or questions about this or that, it was built on character development and mafia family narrative. Creating a scenario where Tony Soprano might be killed and then leaving that question unanswered was, in my mind, the ultimately cop-out. There was no need to end it that way. The only reasoning behind it was that Chase didn't want to completely answer whether Tony Soprano is killed or not, yet the show never hinged on that question. It was manufactured and then left unanswered.
In thinking about LOST, what I truly appreciate about the final episode is this: for so long, fans like myself believed that the attraction to the show was the unanswered questions and the cliff hangers. What is the island? Is everyone already dead? Who is Jacob? Who is the smoke monster? That is what made the show so unique and so fascinating.
However, what the final episode showed me, and I think a lot of fans, is that what really kept us coming back were the characters. Last night was about the characters we have gotten to know for six years finding redemption. It was about their ability to find each other and, in that, find peace and even love. By the end, I cared more about what was happening at that concert, and who would have the awakoning next, than I did whether Jack could save the island or not. That's because, by the end, I wanted to see this group together and happy. I wanted these characters to be together in a way that was impossible on that island. What, exactly, the island was, the light, the reasoning behind killing evil Locke, was secondary suddenly because something bigger was happening. I was realizing for the first time that I actually cared, really cared, about a group of fictional characters.
Maybe that is the true legacy of LOST. That it was so well done, so well crafted, it allowed the fans of the show to discover something about themselves theye didn't even know. Like Jack and Locke and Kate and Sawyer, the fans realized that, while they believed they loved this show for its sci-fi elements and constant twists, what we all really loved were the people. And, in the end, when Jack walks out into that Church, what matters isn't what the island is or what the light is, it is the people he befriended and came to love.
Well done, LOST, well done.