The series finale of Lost is here. I woke up this morning like it was my first day of college, my stomach in knots over the unknown future that awaited me. Lost has changed the face of what television can do, and after 150 more minutes, the legacy of Lost will be complete.
I’ll be here throughout the finale with my immediate thoughts, so join me in the comments section below and let’s celebrate the wonder of Lost.
First, if you want a laugh, Jimmy Kimmel had a special ode to Lost on his Friday night show with a special Lost-centric edition of This Week in Unnecessary Censorship. It’s basically the funniest thing I’ve seen all year, especially Locke and Michael.
7:26pm: Watching the Lost two-hour special and they just showed the raft launch at the end of season 1 with Michael Giacchino’s score. It remains the most emotionally powerful moment of the entire series and reminds me that Lost very deservedly won the Outstanding Drama Series Emmy for the first season.
7:50pm: Michael Emerson calls Ben the most beaten man in the history of TV during a montage of scenes of Ben get;ting his butt kicked. It’s both hilarious and awesome. I’d forgotten how often characters beat him up.
8:11pm: It says a lot that in the two-hour retrospective, there is as much time devoted to season 1 as there is to seasons 2, 3 and 4 combined. Basically, here’s all you need to know: Hatch, Others, Flash Forwards, Freighter, Donkey Wheel.
8:30pm: Thirty minutes to go, which means it’s time to turn off my cell phone. I’m cutting off all outside communication. I don’t care if my grandma is abducted by aliens, the next three hours of my life belong to Lost and nothing else.
8:59pm: Here we go.
9:04pm: After a beautiful montage, Kate finally does something awesome: she makes fun of the fact that there’s a character named Christian Shephard.
9:07pm: Hurley says Jacob is worse than Yoda with his lack of answers. I couldn’t agree more.
9:07pm: Hurley and Charlie! Jorge Garcia looked so happy.
9:10pm: Opening credits feature a ton of names listed as series regulars who aren’t, including Faraday, Charlotte, Christian, Mrs. Hawking, Pierre Chang, Juliet, Penny, Libby, Charlie, Boone and Shannon. That’s kind of crazy.
9:15pm: Rose and Bernard are alive! And they’re the ones who saved Desmond from the well! Seeing them and Vincent again is making me so happy.
9:22pm: Richard Alpert is alive!
9:24pm: Sun’s OB/GYN is Juliet Carlson. Not only is it great to see Juliet again, but apparently she never married that dude who got run over by the bus.
9:26pm: Seeing their baby brings back all of Sun and Jin’s memories, even of the two of them dying in the submarine, and they both speak fluent English. This is very weird, but it was so beautiful that I temporarily don’t care about the questions of what just happened.
9:33pm: Rowing across the ocean, Richard and Miles find Frank Lapidus. It turns out he somehow survived the submarine sinking. God bless Lapidus.
9:35pm: Jack tells Flocke “I’m gonna kill you.” It’s just about the most bad-ass thing this show has ever done. Thirty minutes in and I’m loving this finale.
9:39pm: Juliet is the mother of David, Jack’s son. Most people (including me) predicted it, but it’s still cool to see.
9:42pm: Desmond tells Jack all about sitting next to him on Oceanic 815 and how the Light leads to the altverse where everyone gets what they wants. So both Desmonds are aware of both timelines.
9:49pm: Hurley drives Sayid to a bar where Boone gets his butt kicked while his sister watches, giving Sayid and Shannon a chance to reunite and remember the original timeline. Huey Lewis was right when he sang about “The Power of Love.” My only problem is that it’s impossible for me to see Boone and not think that I’m watching Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries.
10pm: At Table 23, Desmond and Kate are seated with David and Claire while Jack and Juliet are at the hospital, all while Daniel Widmore and Drive Shaft perform on stage. It’s all so brilliant.
10:03pm: The craziest thing ever just happened. Desmond went into the Light, moved the stopper at the bottom of the pool and drained the water and light, causing some weird lava-type substance to spew out. I have no idea what happened, but the result is that Jack can now hurt Flocke, and vice versa.
10:13pm: Kate, Claire and Charlie all get their memories back thanks to a recreation of Claire giving birth to Aaron.
10:18pm: It took halfway through the episode, but we finally arrive at something I don’t like. Jack jumping in the air Prince of Persia-style while coming in for his battle with Flocke on the cliffs was really cheesy.
10:23pm: An epic fight scene between Jack and Flocke in the rain on a cliff seems very out of place for Lost. It’s the exact opposite of what I think this show is.
10:26pm: Regaining his legs is what brings back Locke’s memories in the altverse. God bless that iconic image of Locke staring down at his foot and wiggling his toes.
10:33pm: The best scene of the finale so far is a quick one in the altverse when James walks into Sun’s hospital room. Sun and Jin smile hilariously because they know who he is and they’re mildly amused to learn he’s a cop, while James doesn’t understand what’s happening. So funny.
10:37pm: Shippers alert! Jack and Kate kiss and profess their love for one another, so that settles that debate.
10:46pm: At the hospital vending machine, James and Juliet touch and remember everything. It’s almost too beautiful. I’m loving all of these memory floods, even though I don’t quite understand what they mean.
10:56pm: Jack’s short reign of Island Protector ends as Hurley takes over. Without the chanting, the ceremony lacks a lot of impact.
11:02pm: Jack puts the cork back in the Island wine bottle that is the magical hole at the bottom of the cave.
11:04pm: Ajira 316 takes off! Huzzah, we now have the Ajira 6, though technically, only two were originally on Ajira 316 (Lapidus and Kate) while Sawyer, Claire, Richard and Miles are new.
11:06pm: The Light is turned back on. So I guess the world is saved?
11:30pm: It’s over. So the altverse was Limbo or Heaven or a second life or whatever you want to call it after you die? I’ll admit the ending was painfully beautifully, especially the perfect symmetry of ending with Jack’s eye shutting as he died, but it’s going to take me some time to figure out whether I loved it or not. Right now, I’m stuck with the fact that the ending puts too much weight on the altverse and not enough weight on the five seasons of mythology built before the altverse.
(Image and video courtesy of ABC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
