Every question I answer will simply lead to another question

So, I told y'all it was coming, and here it is. Some thoughts on the end of Lost.
I kind of wish I would have written this sooner...almost a week later and I feel a little emotionally disconnected from it all. I could re-watch it (for the 3rd time), but I don't really feel like spending my afternoon in tears. 
Moving on...
We got a few answers during The End, two of them were big ones for me. 
We found out what the flash sideways was all about, and we saw what was behind Jack's mystery scar and his bleeding neck.
Let's start with the flash sideways, which is what the entire episode really hinged on. The sideways world was essentially purgatory. But I'm not a fan of that word, so we'll just call it a waiting room. To me, it seemed like this was a place where they could right their wrongs and learn to let go of anything that still haunted them with the help of others from the Island. Jack's "son" was there to help him let go of the guilt he had about never forgiving his father.
I was so happy that Jack finally found peace with his dad. I think that's what the sideways timeline was all about. Like Jacob said, they needed the Island as much as the Island needed them. More than that, they all needed each other. In their lives, they all had unresolved issues and crazy baggage. In the "waiting room" that they made for each other, they all found what they were missing in their real lives -- closure, peace and love. They things they spent their whole lives trying to find. And now that they have it -- and each other, they're ready to move on. To let go. 
To me, Lost was very much a show about a community of people. Life is not meant to be lived alone, and our castaways were very good at driving people away and running away. The Island taught them to rely on other people, to trust other people. Trust is hard. Trust is even harder for people who don't know how to trust anyone, let alone themselves. 
Lost made us ask ourselves which is more important -- the journey or the destination. What if our every action gets tallied on a scorecard for our afterlife? How does this possibility change the way you live day to day?
I wonder if this is the first sideways experience they've all had.  I especially think that this was not Jack's first go round. He grew so much on the Island and was such a believer, but in his sideways world, he still had trouble letting go. It didn't seem like he was really ready to move on until Christian touched his shoulder on the way to open the doors in the church. 
It was crazy to watch Jack's character develop over the course of 6 seasons. I don't know how anyone could not like who he became in the end. 


I know a lot of people are angry that they didn't get all of their questions answered. But I don't think those questions matter in the end. I loved the mythology of the show, all of the theorizing. What was up with the Dharma pallet drops? Why were the Others taking children? I think they answered why women on the Island couldn't have children. That was Jacob's rule. He saw what happened when his mom gave birth to him and the MIB on the Island, and he didn't want a repeat of that. The mysteries were fun and they were a nice distraction, but they're not important. The people are what was important here. So if you're mad that you didn't get to see why the statue on had 4 toes, then you never understood what Lost was all about. 


I was beyond moved by the show. I think watching these people grown and learn to love and help one another was pretty powerful. I think community is a necessity. Jack was right... "Live together or die alone". 
I think that it was beautiful that they all waited for each other before they "moved on". That's how much they all mattered to each other. I think that it's a fantastic concept that when you die, everyone you ever loved or cared about is waiting for you. That you can all move on together, let go together. I don't think I'd want it any other way.
And could the ending have been any more fitting? I was sobbing at the end when Jack made his way to the bamboo field where we first saw him. Past the shoe hanging in the tree from the crash...watching that eye close for the last time. Perfection.


This did not come out as coherent as I wanted it to, but if it was nice and pretty and tied up with a bow, then it just wouldn't be Lost would it?
I can honestly say that Lost was the best thing I have ever seen on TV and I doubt that I will ever get so drawn into anything again. I know that there is a ton that I'm leaving out, forgetting about... What I loved about the way Lost ended, was that it was so open to interpretation. It will mean something different to everyone who watched. 
So, I think I'll keep the rest of it to myself. But I'd be interested to hear what it meant to you.


I'll leave you with something I saw that Damon Lindelof wrote about Lost:
Remember. Let go. Move on. I will miss it more than I can ever say.


See you in another life brutha, 
Bran