The season finale for Lost began just where last season’s finale ended. The difference is that, having seen this season’s episodes, last season’s finale makes much more sense. The finale also has some similarities to the premier of the series with a crash playing a major role. Instead of the crash of an airplane, we have the crash of a helicopter which sets up the rescue of the Oceanic Six.
Very few of the survivors Oceanic Flight 815 remain alive after this episode, but the exact number is not clear. Besides the Oceanic Six, we know that Sawyer and Locke remain on the island, with Locke to die at a later date. Rose and Bernard were among those who remained at the beach. Jin probably died when the freighter exploded, but it is possible he jumped off at the last moment and survived. Even if he survived the explosion, this still leaves the question of whether he was left in empty ocean or managed to return to the island before it was moved. It is far less likely that Michael remained alive considering how close he was to the explosion. The raft with Faraday and some others presumably was close enough to the island to go along with it, and with the time shifting we can’t be certain as to who was really on the freighter when it exploded. While the number of survivors is unclear, most of them are unknown people from the original flight who don’t really play a role in the story.
Claire’s fate remains unclear. Is she dead or alive? Regardless of whether she is dead she appears to still be interacting with others. Who is Kate to believe? She had a phone call with a message (spoken backwards) saying, “The island needs you…You have to go back before it’s too late.” However in her dream Claire also tells Kate, “Don’t bring him back,” referring to Aaron.
While there are only a handful of people left from the original crash of Oceanic 815, several people added to the cast over the years remain. Juliette has remained behind on the island along Charlotte and Miles from the freighter. The most interesting could be Charlotte now that we learn she might have been born on the island. Incidentally this was the role originally offered to Kristin Bell. Desmond also survived and has been reunited with Penelope Widmore. This could represent the conclusion of Desmond’s role in the story or he might still play a part. Even Walt could conceivably return now that it no longer matters that he looks so much older than he was back on the island.
The key event of the episode was the movement of the island in time, raising the science fiction elements of the series to a new level. As with any good science fiction, there is some basis in actual science. Popular Mechanics recently discussed some of the scientific aspects related to Lost.
We also learn the identity of the body in the casket from last season. To keep secret the fact that it was Locke, alternate endings were filmed showing Desmond and Sawyer in the casket.
One weakness in the episode was the rational for the big lie about the Oceanic Six. There no longer appeared to be a need to lie about the island to protect those who remained behind after the saw the island disappear. The lie would have little bearing on how Widmore responded to their return as he would realize they were lying.
Another aspect of the cover story was revealed Thursday night in the reshowing of the previous episode. There was an extended version of the press conference where they claim that Boone, Libby and Charlie survived the initial crash but later died. There’s no clue yet as to why they would complicate the story in this manner as opposed to saying everyone else died in the initial crash.
This episode changes the nature of the series far more than any other. It is not even clear as to where or when the main focus of the next season will be. I suspect that the main narrative might pick up after Ben tells Jack that they all must return to the island at the funeral home as opposed to immediately after their rescue. This would leave plenty of room for flash backs to fill in the gaps after they returned home, as well as events back on the island. Perhaps we might even see flash forwards to an eventual return to the island. Another possibility is that the main narrative will take place after Jack and the others return to the island with flash backs to explain how it occurs.
Among the gaps to fill in is the favor that Kate performs for Sawyer. Presumably this request was made just before Sawyer jumped from the helicopter. There’s far more to learn about Ben, but least we now know how he wound up in the Tunisian desert after using the Frozen Donkey Wheel to move the island, along with himself, in time. There’s much more to learn about the fight between Ben and Charles Widmore, along with what Sun was really up to when she approached Widmore. Is she really planning to help him, perhaps motivated by hatred for Jack if she still blames him for the death of Jin, or is she misleading Widmore?
Following the start of the series we would have never anticipated how many questions, and how much story would remain, after the survivors of Oceanic Fight 815 were rescued and returned home.
Sun is approaching Widmore to go back for Jin, in my opinion… that would be her only motivation, not to destroy or somehow punish Jack.
I had heard somewhere that the show will end next year, so there’s a lot to finalize, isn’t there? I still want to know about the “smoke” monster and the ability of the “others” to surround someone and babble (those voices) without being seen until they want to be seen. I want to know who are the original discoverers of the Island and, if they have all these abilities to change events in time, why do the things like the slaughter of the Dharma folk happen? It’s a mystery.
But perhaps what is most intriguing to me is the interrelationship of these survivors of flight 815… what is the true story behind Jack, his dad, Claire and Aaron? Between Locke, his dad, and Sawyer? Why do they need these inter-connected stories? Is it just a way to fill in the series or related to why they are the ones “chosen”? I hope the answers come before the end of the series.
Casey,
There are going to be two seasons remaining so there’s a lot more to tell. I certainly hope that we get more on the origins of the island. One problem is that there is no way they can really explain this without resorting to either techno-babble or the equivalent of magic.
Regarding the slaughter of the Dharma people, one aspect I’m curious about is why the others made Ben their leader after he killed them. It would make sense if they rewarded him for helping them in this manner and allowed him to join them. It is a different matter to make him leader.
A clue might be in Ben telling Locke that the others will now follow him. Once we know more about Jacob and the real authority on the island we might have better understanding of the motivation of the others.
I also suspect that Jin is approaching Widmore for her own reasons and not to join him against the other survivors. However there have been so many twists on this show that it is hard to guess how that one will play out.
It will be interested to see how they explain the interconnected stories. There have often been suggestions that the people on the island were there for a reason. However we have a core group with interconnected stories who matter, and an awful lot of “red shirts” on Oceanic 815 who apparently just happened to be on the wrong flight at the wrong time.