I'm sure there will be a lot of head scratching, spinning, and bitching. The folks at Lost pulled one over on us last night. They have said multiple times that the characters of Lost are not dead folks who are stuck on a kind of island purgatory. I wonder if those questions gave them the idea to have it turn out that the Sideways World was just that-not so much a purgatory, but a place for the "Lost" souls to get together and say goodbye one last time before they finally let go and were then able to, in the words of the ghost of Christian Shepherd, "move on".
I pretty much figured this out when the hospitalized Sun and husband Jin were visited by cop Sawyer, and Jin told him cryptically "we'll see you there". It was such an out-of-place remark, what else could it mean? I hoped I was wrong, but by then the cat was, for me, out of the bag. The phrase was in fact uttered numerous times by various characters, and it left me with a sinking feeling every time I heard it.
On the island, Jack actually joined with Flocke in the latter's project of sabotaging the island, by sending Desmond down into the source of the light. Desmond moved a big rock which allowed the light to sink down into a hole, and from that point on, the island began to shake and fall apart, with big sections just sliding off into the sea.
This set up the final battle between Jack and Flocke, who was now vulnerable. The change in the island had in fact transformed him into a flesh and blood creature, but he was more than holding his own against a weakened Jack, and was in fact about to slice his neck, after having already delivered a stab that would prove fatal-until Kate shot him, whereupon Jack sent Flocke tumbling to his death.
Kate then joined Sawyer to catch the Ajira flight off the island along with Miles, Richard, Claire, and Lapidus, who survived the sinking of the sub and who must have the lungs of a sperm whale. Ben and Hugo decided to stay put along with Jack, who, as I suspected he might, passed on the power as protector of the island. I had not suspected he would pass it on to Hurley, but I was not that surprised either. Jack then went down into the cavern and after much difficulty-he was mortally wounded, remember-he replaced the rock Desmond had removed.
When Hugo and Ben lifted the rope, they brought up Desmond, who was exhausted and seemed close to death himself. Jack later is seen making his way out of the cave, and looking up at the sight of the Ajira plane. Or was it flight 815 passing safely overhead? That I wasn't too clear on.
It was stated at some point though, by Christian Shepherd, that Jack had created the island world with all his Jacob derived goodness. I might have heard that wrong, because what I didn't get out of the whole thing was exactly why.
I'm not a big fan of those kinds of endings. The idea of a ghost world where people don't know they're ghosts, in a world that is so complex and fleshed out you even have instances where people commit crimes, are arrested, are murdered, and hospitalized, they go to their daily jobs, visit friends and families, go to parties and concerts, carry on romantic relationships, get married, and even give birth, doesn't add up.
It turns out though that Jack Shepherd's son in the Sideways world, did not really exist. He was an illusion, meant to help Jack's departed spirit come to grips with-I don't know, loss, responsibility, belonging-who knows?
To be sure, it was well-written, and touching in parts, right there at the end and in other parts as well. Eloise was not willing to let go, so she did not appear at the church, nor did Widmore, and I do not think Daniel did either. It seemed that Desmond promised Eloise, who was seemingly aware from the beginning, that he would not take Daniel. I guess he would let him find his way on his own.
Others whom I do not recall appearing at the church was Miles. So was he dead, or was his presence an illusion, like Jack's son, only in his case meant to help Sawyer come to grips with his demise? And how did Sawyer's demise happen, as well as Kate's and Claire's, all of whom escaped the island with Miles, but who are by this time clearly dead. Lapidus also did not appear at the church, nor did Richard Alpert, who at one point on the island started finally showing signs of aging-a gray hair.
So since these people did not appear at the church-admittedly I might have missed them, or some of them-were they still alive?
Perhaps the most touching sequence at the church involved Ben, who didn't feel as though he should go inside. He asked John Locke to forgive him, which Locke did. Hugo then tried and failed to get Ben to come inside, and told Ben he was a great number two, whereupon Ben told him he had been a great number one. So we are left to wonder, just how many years have really passed? Hugo had asked Ben to be his helper on the island when he replaced Jack as guardian. How did they die? Did they die on the island? Did Hugo have someone to replace him as the island guardian? How did Kate, Sawyer, and Claire die?
I want to believe the Sideways World was real, and that when the Lost characters died, they somehow became attached to their sideways world counterparts, and it took Desmond Hume to reawaken them and allow their spirits to move on, but at the same time, once that was accomplished, the Sideways people went on with their lives the same as ever. I know that's probably not an accurate rendering of what the writers intended. In fact they seem to have gone out of their ways with some statements, such as Christian telling Jack that some of the people there died before he did, but some of them died longer after he did.
Whatever explanation or meaning you want to attach to it, one thing is sure-there's going to be a lot of bitching on the forums today.
