What a show. Nothing else on TV has ever prompted me to spend hours on a chart, that’s for sure. This will be a long post, but hopefully interesting to fellow fans. Spoilers will occur.
“It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress.”
I liked the finale. I suppose I wasn’t entirely satisfied with the explanation of the Sideways universe. I don’t object on principle to such spiritual stuff on a TV show, but I feel the explanation makes that whole storyline less interesting. That is, it can function as showing us character traits, but it does nothing in terms of plot. It was interesting seeing Ben function in a high school, Jack being a father, and Desmond being a badass no matter what universe he’s in, but the universe cannot reveal any plot points. When we were still thinking it was an alternate universe, we could wonder “when exactly did the Island sink?” “is Smoky released in this universe?” “is this the universe where Smokey gave them what they wanted?” “is this what their lives would be like without the influence of Jacob?” “how many secrets can Eloise hide in that hair?” and more. But since it is more a collective fantasy than anything real, none of these questions can be answered.
The one place I think the Sideways works especially well is the Hurley scenes in the finale. These only gain significance on a second watching, knowing that this Hurley has all the memories of his time as The New Jacob. We see hints about how he might run the Island. When Sayid threatens to leave: “Then, that’s your choice. But if you stick with me, you’ll be happy you did.” Trying to convince Charlie: “What if I told you that playing this show is the most important thing you’ll ever do. Would you come then?” Talking to Sayid: “I think you are a good guy Sayid. I know a lot of people have told you that you’re not. Maybe you’ve heard it so many times you’ve started believing it. You can’t let other people tell you what you are. You have to decide that for yourself.” I think Hurley would be a nicer, less mysterious Island protector.
“Every question I answer will simply lead to another question.”
Naturally, some things didn’t get answered, but what would be the fun in that? Did we really need to see some Egyptians building the Statue? Some things we should just imagine on our own, sort of filling in the gaps. You don’t need to have everything spelled out; why do you find it so hard to believe?
And I like the ambiguity of Allison Janney—was she really just another shipwreck, or was she Smokey? Was Smokey truly Jacob’s brother, or simply mimicking his form and memories like it has done with others?
“We’re not going to Guam, are we?”
Think about when Ajira Air lands. It took off from LA with tons of passengers, it will land with just 5 and a pilot. Only Lapidus and Kate were even on the plane to begin with! Along with them are Sawyer and Claire, who have been declared dead for over 3 years, Miles, who has been missing for 3 years, and Richard. (I wish Richard hadn’t left the island previous times, though, as it would make his finally leaving so much more intense. He’s been on the island hundreds of years! He’s returning to a vastly changed world; everyone he knew has been dead for centuries.)
How are they possibly going to explain what happened? “Yeah this flight just happened to have the Oceanic 6 on board… and yeah only one returned, but with 2 other (supposedly dead) people from Oceanic… and these two random guys… and everyone else is dead, sorry.” (P.S. Miles got the diamonds!)
“For the first time in a long time, I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”
With a show this popular, it is likely that ABC will want to bring it back someday. I would be tempted to say that this is a terrible idea, but I think there is potential for whole new stories taking place on the Island. Maybe the new series starts 15-20 years later. Does Ji-Suo Kwon ever wonder what happened to her parents? Was she the Candidate after all? What about Walt, might he want to return someday? Will Aaron Littleton and Charlie Hume ever be drawn to the Island? Maybe these new castaways will find themselves jumping through time, and start shooting at another canoe…
