About to Disembark from the Island

Considering I have watched five episodes of Lost in two days (The Candidate, Across the Sea, What They Died For, and the two-part The End) I’m at that fatigue stage. Relieved I finally was able to make it, kind of exhilarated and yet, sure, I’m a bit sad. There is a beginning and an end. I thought I would use this final blog post as a scatter-brained, out-of-sorts compilation of thoughts and feelings as they come the remainder of the week until Friday where I will talk Lost no more for some time. With vacation on the horizon, I will give my brain some needed downtime. I already have some friends urging me to check out Jessica Jones on Netflix, but as of now I’m not going to invest too much into anything. I’m a bit zapped, to say the least. So I’ll use this as my final Lost blog post and add to it as I see fit. I appreciate the show for how it gave me much food for thought, gave me plenty to chew on, sometimes sent my emotions and intellect up and down peaks and valleys. It was a pleasure and reward to follow it. I’m exhausted, but nonetheless appreciative of the chance to take this entire trip, amassing six seasons with lots of fine actors, faces I know from all over television and film, and characters evolving (and in some cases devolving) as they experienced one island adventure after another (sometimes off-the island and even in this type of limbo!).

One of my favorite final scenes has Jack assuring a guilt-stricken Sawyer—blaming himself for the deaths of Sayid and Kwon on the sub for not trusting him regarding the bomb (in The Candidate)—that it wasn’t his fault what happened. That it was the fault of The Man in Black. In What They Died For, there was little time to dwell on what had happened. Sawyer, Kate, and Jack mourned for a bit before having to once again move towards either getting off the island or confronting The Man in Black during one final mission. Because these two have often been at odds so many times, to see Jack serve as a source of ease to Sawyer, too often his competitor in adversarial situations on the island, was welcome by me. And them later handshaking as the end drew near and the island’s very future was at stake was the comforting conclusion to their rivalry I could applaud and support. It needed to see a positive outcome. They fought it out in 1977, got it out of their system, and eventually in order for them to finally overcome all the tumult of The End, putting aside their rivalry needed to eventually occur. It was in both of their best interests. Sawyer gets off the island and Jack gets to save the day: it ends as it should really. Jack always felt that something wasn’t right when he left the island and while away, the tugging to return was there. Kate tried to convince him otherwise, but nevertheless Jack does hold off The Man in Black long enough for Kate to shoot him, kicking him off the cliff. Jack does reverse Desmond’s mistake, resulting in the light’s resurgence. Jack allows Desmond (unconscious but alive) to be pulled up from the cavern where the heart of the island was disturbed in his place. And Sawyer was able to get off the island that had imprisoned him through many eras of time, enduring the loss of Juliet, torture of Sayid, on/off flings with Kate, debates/arguments/fights with Jack, struggles for control, barters for items that he could use for advantage, and trips to and from the main island and Hydra Island.

I was thinking about Ben when something hit—an epiphany firing on all cylinders with loud pistons popping. Ben as a child was taken to the remains of the temple by Alpert at Sawyer and Kate’s urging in 1977, after being shot by Sayid (in his attempt to rid the future of an older Ben’s misdeeds/malevolence). Perhaps, just perhaps, Ben was taken to the resurrection pool, the water was dirty and when he emerged the Ben that behaves often very badly is the result. Similar to Sayid, when shot by Dharma gunmen, taken to the temple resurrection pool, emerging with darkness; Ben could have been in a similar condition. It would explain his history afterward of bad deeds including the purge and plenty of actions towards Locke and the Oceanic survivors. Alpert does say that Ben will never be the same, making sure Sawyer and Kate understand what they are asking. Just a thought.

In an email to another friend who was a bit disenchanted with the series finale (one of those who felt “they have all been dead all this time!”), this is what I personally felt (and admitted could be wrong):

See I think the activities on the island were in fact real. I think The Sideways introduced in the sixth season (not the on-island but alternate lives of the characters) was a limbo and Desmond was key to getting them to realize they were then (at that point) dead.

 There is a scene where Hugo is looking at Ben from outside the church (in the Sideways) where he mentions how he was a good “number two” and Ben tells Hugo he was a good “number one” on the island. This was in past tense. That means that prior to the Sideways they were both alive on the island making sure to protect it. At some point they died, as did Sawyer, Kate, and Claire who all made it off the island safely in the plane with Lapidus, Richard, and Miles. I firmly believe that Hugo and Ben made sure to protect the island’s life source yet allowed travel to and fro, doing things different than Jacob, assuring us that Desmond would indeed return to his family. But at some point even Desmond and Penny died because they were also at the church in the Sideways.

So I believe the Sideways, at the conclusion, was a type of middle othersphere between life and that afterlife where those on the island who eventually died (were near it, on it, or once on it and now off it) could live for a time being until someone, that being Desmond, could direct them to their next “plane of existence”.

 I admit that this could very well be further conjecture, but I considered the above all throughout the day today. This made sense to me. However, I also must say that I had my own share of bothersome problems with the show like Jacob’s selection process of the candidates, the lighthouse, Jacob’s own abilities allowing him to be god-like, and Jacob’s toiling as those he selected went through numerous challenges without even attempting to offer guidance to them. Yes, they needed to work through the different difficulties faced on the island day to day, but Jacob did even less than The Man in Black, who assumed forms and caused plenty of mischief. But we all nitpick and look for the plot holes, trying to grasp everything and never quite able. Sometimes we must come up with our own conclusions,whether right or wrong. Because if you felt Bernard and Rose were the skeletons in the cavern with the water, it was later confirmed this conclusion was indeed in error. But it wasn’t a bad suggestion. It wouldn’t be confirmed until the very end of the sixth season in one of the final episodes.

Ben shooting nemesis, Widmore

Kate and Jack with one last kiss before...

...before seeing each other again before they "leave"

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I will conclude that Ben apologizing to Locke who is not only receptive and willing to accept but with a smile assures him there are no further animosity between them, Hurley telling Sayid he is a good man despite his feelings opposite of it, Jin and Sun seeing a sonogram of their baby, Sawyer and Juliet reuniting with a hug of love and joy, Kate and Jack going into the church together and sitting together, Desmond understanding his success in getting them to the church, Sayid and Shannon getting to kiss and romantically embrace, Boone and Hurley letting them have some time, Ben getting to dine with Danielle and Alex, and Locke walking from his wheelchair; the Sideways did, if anything, give us these moments after we experienced their suffering and loss. That in itself could be appreciated.