Now this doesn't make ANY sense.
May. 24th, 2010 08:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sinesofinsanityWhile I will be the first to admit that I stopped watching LOST when a) they were killing people on what seemed like the whim of the writer's sandwich maker and b) it became increasingly obvious that there was no way to save my favourite character (Guess which one!!!!), and while I will also admit that I haven't seen very many series finales, the LOST series finale this Sunday was the most frustrating episode ever. In addition to leaving more mysteries unsolved than otherwise, new mysteries were introduced and several seeming "solutions" either contradicted previous events or involved some dangerous leaps of faith, even for LOST, a show that is often so steeped in faith it's choking on it.
The two biggest mysteries are obvious:
Who are Jacob and the Man In Black (Let's call him Smokey)? And what is the power/light/electromagnetoradioisophotoentroposociopsycholotto thing inside the island?
The obvious trope here is that they represent Good and Evil. One is dressed in white, the other in black. One talks in a soft voice and offers you a choice, the other turns into clicking smoke and takes the form of your dead friends before throwing you into the jungle. One is trying to protect the light at the centre of the island, the other is trying to destroy the island in order to escape it. One is trying to kill the other, the other... is too. One frees a trapped slave from the belly of a shipwrecked boat, the other crashes planes and shipwrecks boats in order to bring people to the island. Wait, what?
The two men, even when Jacob passes the job to Jack and Titus Welliver turns into Smokey-Locke, become more and more ambiguous. Which may or may not be a metaphor or just a comment on life, that you never know who is the "Good guy". This is a bit of a repeated them in LOST from Ben's chill inducing line to Michael about The Others during the season 2 finale: "We're the good guys". In the case of Jacob and Smokey however, we never find out why each of them is even playing the role they are set. What would be so wrong with Smokey leaving the island. It may be too late now, but why was it a problem before he became Smokey? Back when he was just Guy-with-no-name? Add to that, why must the light be protected? If it's the source of all good, why not release it? If it's the source of all evil, Desmond seemed to kill it, isn't that a good thing? If it's the power of the island (the source of the mysterious electromagnetism, time travel, etc) wouldn't it become more trapped once the island crashes around it? If it's "magic" why does it need protecting? For that matter, if it would kill anyone except Desmond who went in after it and then bring the island crashing down on anyone who went in, why does it need protecting? Perhaps the light is alive, and the island crashing down was it's version of a raging fever. Perhaps it's the source of life and releasing it would kill everyone not just the island. Even better, maybe that hieroglyph rock is the belly button ring of the world's largest carebear. I wouldn't be surprised.
Then there are the smaller mysteries, some of which might be me thinking too hard, however LOST was and is one of the smartest shows on television. If it was a book, English majors would right their Master's theses on it. I veto any "thinking too hard" claims.
-What is Desmond? This question comes up when he's just crazy guy in the hatch, then comes back when he has his own flash forwards and co-ordinates everyone in the flash sideways. The short answer is that there's something not-quite-normal about him, to the point where he's never quite comfortable in his own skin unless he's doing something psychic or existential. Seriously, how many comfortable existentialists have you met? The other question: is his non-normality a non-humanity? Even Jack refers to him as a "weapon", that's after being Jacobified though.
-What happened to everyone else on the island? I always feel for the nobody characters, and I hate cannon fodder. So I had a real problem with the fact that only the most "important" people from the island were in the church. Even if you stick to the characters with names, where are Richard, Myles, Michael, Walt, Ana Lucia, Mr. Eko, Danielle, Alexandre, (I can keep going)? Michael was in more episodes than Juliet, and Vincent was in more episodes than Bernard. I guess just the sight of a sparsely filled church makes me uncomfortable.
-If Jacob was controlling who came to the island, how did the heroin smugglers get there, considering they both died on impact? Yea! And if you say "To help Eko's journey" I'll say that's a cop-out. Eko wasn't a candidate.
- Why did flash-sideways Charlie need to have the "Island Flash" twice? Once when he almost died, and once with Claire. Although, I'm not going to complain too loudly about that one. I liked that scene.
-Why wasn't Crazy!Claire mad at Kate? One of the main reasons she was crazy was because she was out for revenge against the person who stole her son. Kate stole her son. Yet Claire just sits there and repeats her lines from season one about not being a good mother. For that matter, why did Crazy!Claire suddenly become notcrazy?
-How did Jack survive so long? Abdominal wounds are a lot more deadly than people realize. Intestines are filled with all kinds of bacteria and nasty things that should not be in the rest of your body. Improperly treated, they will kill you. Plus it's all well supplied with blood which is now leaking out of you. That's of course assuming the stab misses the kidneys which are very well supplied with blood as Jack was able to threaten Ben's life by a tiny cut. Finally, breaking the abdominal wall is pretty much giving an easy route for an external hernia, which won't necessarily kill you, but makes lifting things hard. Yay. Jack should know this. He's a freaking doctor. Yet he stands around chatting, hikes to cave of wonders, is lowered down by a rope, lifts up the giant rock plug, is somehow transported out where he lands on his stomach, then stumbles away to die in his chosen location of symbolism.
-Is sideways baby Aaron real or Claire's imagination? If everyone in sideways-land is dead, why is Aaron still a baby? We know he lives at least to the age of three...
-How did Jack always manage to have his hair combed? Seriously.
In the end though, it was a good and definite ending. There were plenty of opportunities for them to end the series on a cliff-hanger (which also would have been so LOST) that I (and probably the rest of the fandom) am glad they didn't take. Plus it was good to see Charlie, Boon, and Shannon again. Okay I lied. It was good to see Charlie again. :P
Here Be Spoilers!! Argh!
The two biggest mysteries are obvious:
Who are Jacob and the Man In Black (Let's call him Smokey)? And what is the power/light/electromagnetoradioisophotoentroposociopsycholotto thing inside the island?
The obvious trope here is that they represent Good and Evil. One is dressed in white, the other in black. One talks in a soft voice and offers you a choice, the other turns into clicking smoke and takes the form of your dead friends before throwing you into the jungle. One is trying to protect the light at the centre of the island, the other is trying to destroy the island in order to escape it. One is trying to kill the other, the other... is too. One frees a trapped slave from the belly of a shipwrecked boat, the other crashes planes and shipwrecks boats in order to bring people to the island. Wait, what?
The two men, even when Jacob passes the job to Jack and Titus Welliver turns into Smokey-Locke, become more and more ambiguous. Which may or may not be a metaphor or just a comment on life, that you never know who is the "Good guy". This is a bit of a repeated them in LOST from Ben's chill inducing line to Michael about The Others during the season 2 finale: "We're the good guys". In the case of Jacob and Smokey however, we never find out why each of them is even playing the role they are set. What would be so wrong with Smokey leaving the island. It may be too late now, but why was it a problem before he became Smokey? Back when he was just Guy-with-no-name? Add to that, why must the light be protected? If it's the source of all good, why not release it? If it's the source of all evil, Desmond seemed to kill it, isn't that a good thing? If it's the power of the island (the source of the mysterious electromagnetism, time travel, etc) wouldn't it become more trapped once the island crashes around it? If it's "magic" why does it need protecting? For that matter, if it would kill anyone except Desmond who went in after it and then bring the island crashing down on anyone who went in, why does it need protecting? Perhaps the light is alive, and the island crashing down was it's version of a raging fever. Perhaps it's the source of life and releasing it would kill everyone not just the island. Even better, maybe that hieroglyph rock is the belly button ring of the world's largest carebear. I wouldn't be surprised.
Then there are the smaller mysteries, some of which might be me thinking too hard, however LOST was and is one of the smartest shows on television. If it was a book, English majors would right their Master's theses on it. I veto any "thinking too hard" claims.
-What is Desmond? This question comes up when he's just crazy guy in the hatch, then comes back when he has his own flash forwards and co-ordinates everyone in the flash sideways. The short answer is that there's something not-quite-normal about him, to the point where he's never quite comfortable in his own skin unless he's doing something psychic or existential. Seriously, how many comfortable existentialists have you met? The other question: is his non-normality a non-humanity? Even Jack refers to him as a "weapon", that's after being Jacobified though.
-What happened to everyone else on the island? I always feel for the nobody characters, and I hate cannon fodder. So I had a real problem with the fact that only the most "important" people from the island were in the church. Even if you stick to the characters with names, where are Richard, Myles, Michael, Walt, Ana Lucia, Mr. Eko, Danielle, Alexandre, (I can keep going)? Michael was in more episodes than Juliet, and Vincent was in more episodes than Bernard. I guess just the sight of a sparsely filled church makes me uncomfortable.
-If Jacob was controlling who came to the island, how did the heroin smugglers get there, considering they both died on impact? Yea! And if you say "To help Eko's journey" I'll say that's a cop-out. Eko wasn't a candidate.
- Why did flash-sideways Charlie need to have the "Island Flash" twice? Once when he almost died, and once with Claire. Although, I'm not going to complain too loudly about that one. I liked that scene.
-Why wasn't Crazy!Claire mad at Kate? One of the main reasons she was crazy was because she was out for revenge against the person who stole her son. Kate stole her son. Yet Claire just sits there and repeats her lines from season one about not being a good mother. For that matter, why did Crazy!Claire suddenly become notcrazy?
-How did Jack survive so long? Abdominal wounds are a lot more deadly than people realize. Intestines are filled with all kinds of bacteria and nasty things that should not be in the rest of your body. Improperly treated, they will kill you. Plus it's all well supplied with blood which is now leaking out of you. That's of course assuming the stab misses the kidneys which are very well supplied with blood as Jack was able to threaten Ben's life by a tiny cut. Finally, breaking the abdominal wall is pretty much giving an easy route for an external hernia, which won't necessarily kill you, but makes lifting things hard. Yay. Jack should know this. He's a freaking doctor. Yet he stands around chatting, hikes to cave of wonders, is lowered down by a rope, lifts up the giant rock plug, is somehow transported out where he lands on his stomach, then stumbles away to die in his chosen location of symbolism.
-Is sideways baby Aaron real or Claire's imagination? If everyone in sideways-land is dead, why is Aaron still a baby? We know he lives at least to the age of three...
-How did Jack always manage to have his hair combed? Seriously.
In the end though, it was a good and definite ending. There were plenty of opportunities for them to end the series on a cliff-hanger (which also would have been so LOST) that I (and probably the rest of the fandom) am glad they didn't take. Plus it was good to see Charlie, Boon, and Shannon again. Okay I lied. It was good to see Charlie again. :P
Here Be Spoilers!! Argh!
