I’ve now watched all three hours of Lost’s season finale twice, and it was actually better the second time around. I especially enjoyed rewatching the Flash Forward scenes where the Oceanic 6 discussed Jeremy Bentham since I had already found out the big reveal that Bentham was in fact John Locke. By the end of hour 3, it only made sense that it was John Locke in the casket, but even I wasn’t 100% sure until we saw his body lying there in the open coffin. There was a lot covered in the three hour finale, so I’ll try to cover it all while still being brief.
The first thing that was finally pinned down for me at the start of hour number 2 is how much time has past for the Losties in the Flash Forwards. At the time of Locke’s funeral, Jack and Co. had been off the island for three years. This explains Aaron’s and Walt’s growth (glad to see Walt finally making a speaking appearance) and how long Sayid was married to his long lost love. This brings a new question to my mind though, where will the show pick up next season?
I had always imagined that at the end of this season the show would catch up to the Flash Forwards and next season would focus on the Oceanic 6 returning to the island. Obviously this may or may not be the case, since according to Locke a lot of bad things seem to have happened on the island since the Oceanic 6 made it home. I’m guessing that “real time” on the show will be three years in the future and we’ll learn about what occurred on the island of the missing three years in Flash Backs. Although, I can’t imagine they’re going to go continue on for two seasons with so little screen time for Locke. Obviously the island has future plans for him and the Oceanic 6. Hopefully those plans will involve Walt as well.I am a little confused as to Michael’s storyline. It seems like the show brought him back, realized they didn’t have much to do with him and the decided to tie up his loose end storyline by killing him. I was disappointed that his big reveal to the other Losties ended up being pretty anti-climactic as well. At first when Christian Shepherd said to Michael in his final scene, “You can go now,” I took it as either meaning he could try to escape while the island delayed the bomb or that the island was finally letting him die.
Since rewatching the episode though, I stumbled upon this interview with Harold Perrineau in which he admits that his character, Michael, is indeed dead and that he was pretty upset he rejoined the show only to die a few episodes later. (link) I even thought at first that this interview might just be spin by Perrineau and the Lost writers to throw us off of next season’s storylines until I read that Perrineau had joined the cast of “ABC’s one-hour pilot presentation The Unusuals.” (link)
I’m torn as to what I think about this particular turn of events, because I just didn’t see Michael’s death as the heroic sacrifice Lost was trying to play it off as being. Obviously he delayed the bomb which allowed Desmond, Sun and Aaron to escape the blast and get on to the helicopter, but was that really what the island needed from Michael from the very beginning? Did Ben and the island really need Michael to help the Oceanic 6 escape, because now it seems like the island needs everyone to come back. If that was the case then why let them leave in the first place. I hope there’s a real explanation of why the island/Jacob let the Losties leave since its obvious a lot of bad things have happened since they returned to civilization.Ok, one last thought on Michael. If he is dead why has no one informed Walt? I bring this up because in his scene with Hurley, Hurley explains to Walt that they have to lie about the island to protect the people that didn’t get off. Walt then says, like my dad and Hurley nods. This implies Michael’s still on the island, doesn’t it? I have to imagine that when Locke visited Walt, Walt asked about his father. So either Locke lied and said his father was on the island or maybe Michael, like Christian who was never buried, makes some after death appearances on the island.
If anyone is interested in knowing what was said to Kate on the phone in her dream before Claire showed up for her one and only scene to warn Kate against returning to the island with Aaron, check out this great article which explains the message and gives you an MP3 to listen to it. Also, if you haven’t heard already there were three different endings to the season finale, each one having a different cast member in the coffin just in case one was ever leaked to the media. You can now watch the two alternate endings in the video clip below. While I think Locke was the best choice, the other two options could have lead to some interesting storylines as well.
Ok, here are some random thoughts and questions about the season finale that will hopefully be answered in the final two seasons of Lost. It’s a long list so I won’t really go into much detail about each one, but I’d love to hear everyone’s views and theories on the following topics:
What caused Locke to finally leave the island? Did the horrible things that occurred over the past three years force him to move the island and subsequently banish him from it? Why has Claire all but disappeared from the show? We ended up seeing more of Rose in the season finale than we did of Claire, and she's a main cast member! I guess it's better than being dead. Can anyone explain what the deal was with Jack’s appendicitis? I thought no one could get sick on the island, but first Ben gets a tumor and now Jack gets sick.
Does anyone wonder why Kate goes back with the remaining Oceanic 6? Couldn’t she have just as easily stayed with Penny and Desmond and lived life with a new identity, similar to what Locke did as Jeremy Bentham? Who is the second person Sun blames for Jin’s death? Obviously Jack thinks it's him, but the real answer is either Ben or Charles Widemore. Widemore was the one who ordered the invasion of the island, but Ben killed Keamy after he already knew his death would result in the blowing up of the freighter.
I’m hoping Sun’s meeting with Widemore was a trap and not a sign she is going after Ben. In my opinion, there is absolutely zero chance Jin is dead. After rewatching the freighter's eplosion a few times, if you pause the show right before the explosion you can see that there is no one actually on the boat anymore. To me that makes it an easy out that Jin jumped off the ship prior to the eplosion. But if that is the case, where has he been? Did he make it back to the island before it disappeared?Speaking of making it back to the island before it was moved, what happened to the group of Losties that were on the Zodiac raft with Daniel Faraday? Did they make it back to the island after watching the freighter explode or are they lost at sea. It is possible that they picked up any survivors from the freighter’s explosion, which could explain how Jin is still alive and on the island. But, if that were the case wouldn’t Locke have shared that information with Sun?
And lastly, what in the heck has been going on on the island since the Oceanic 6 left? I’m interested in seeing the dynamic of the island’s inhabitants now that the Oceanic 6 are gone. Locke now leads The Others while Sawyer and Juliet are left leading the Losties, but how many of them are even still alive on the island? I’m assuming Rose and Bernard are still on the island and I would imagine Charlotte and Miles are now apart of the much smaller survivors camp. We saw some great banter between Miles and Sawyer as they traveled together across the island, and I am guessing this will continue on into next season.
Well I think that about covers it all. This is the fourth season and the fourth season finale that has ended with either Desmond or Penny (or it really ended with Jack, Ben and Locke but whatever). I’m just glad to see Desmond and Penny finally happy and together. Unfortunately I don’t think any of us thinks their story is over or that a happy ending is in store for them…especially with Ben searching the globe fore Penelope Widmore. I’m sure I’ve left off a few things, but the show just crams in too much stuff to hit on every last detail.It’s been a great season and the show has really grown in the past year in its depth of storytelling. We’ve seen some great additions to the cast in Lapidus, Miles and Faraday, as well as the untimely deaths of characters that have been around a very long time (Rousseau, Alex and Michael). While many complained about Seasons 2 and 3, I don’t think anyone was disappointed in this season’s twists and turns or the direction many of the show’s central characters have taken in the mysterious Flash Forwards. Hopefully Lost will be able to build upon this season and give us two more great seasons before the show’s eventual grand send off.
