Hard to believe after all this time that this was the last meeting of our little group. In attendence today were Phyllis, Carol, Melissa and your humble reporter. Much to my surprise, all LOVED The End. OK, Melissa REALLY loved it, she's watched it 3 times already.
Granted, we got reports of those of the opposite reaction - Hated It. Phyllis' daughter and the now gone to greener pastures (job that is) Kristina. As they were not present I can't give their point of view.
In general, for us, we found the emotions wonderful, we didn't feel or expect every question to be answered. Of course we were thrilled that Desmond didn't die. Phyllis observed that when we saw him on the plane in Sideways World wearing a wedding band it meant that he WAS married to Penny...just after the time on the Island. Excellent.
Big Moment: One of the most moving scenes for me was the goodbye between Jack and Sawyer. Jack: "Good luck to you, James." Sawyer: "Thanks, Doc, for everything." All animosity and jealousy gone, each now recognizing the strengths of the other. Mega hankie moment.
Much to my surprise, everyone had stayed up to watch Jimmy Kimmel Live...even Phyllis who usually gets up at the crack of dawn. But it seemed everyone was too wound up post-show to sleep. Carol felt it was almost disappointing to see the real actors, and I agree that Alan Dale, aka Charles Widmore, seemed less than comfortable. But some of the banter was cute and the 3 "alternate endings" were a hoot. Kudos to Bob Newhart!!!
Carol reported that she spotted Kate wearing different clothes outside the church and inside the church at the end. I completely missed that.
Phyllis noted Doc Jensen's excellent recap http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20313460_20388269,00.html
(he really did well at the end... thanks, Doc!) and his theory on why Ben did not go into the church - saying he still had some things to do. [This is in his Part Two, from May 25th] Doc speculates that the group inside was connected by being on Flight 815 and the crash "belonged" to Desmond as he caused the crash. Ben "will become another Desmond...and gather his own spiritual clan" including, maybe, Alex, Roger Linus, Miles, and others. We all really liked that. Also may be why they weren't in the church at the end...
I commented (if I can read my scribbled notes correctly) that we will keep thinking about things...like Walt. Why was all that effort made to get him to the Island only to let him leave with Michael? I speculated that, if Ben was really being guided by MIB rather than Jacob, perhaps MIB found out about Walt's powers and thought he might be able to trump Jacob's powers...only to find out that he would not be able to be controlled by MIB, either. Or the producers realized the folly of hiring a young actor for a long running series that will cross time just before his growth spurts start ! Like I said in an earlier post...sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Big Moment: Sun and Jin's awakening. BIG TIME . Mega, Mega hankies
Big Moment: Carol liked Juliet and Sawyer reunion - Juliet said the exact same thing from the Island World: "It worked" but now we know she meant her candy machine trick, not the bomb!
Phyllis quoted a comment at the Doc recap #2 from Big Walt, Tue 5/25/10, 05:03PM: "My theory is that the sideways world was a gift from the island for what they did for it. It's not something that happens for everyone." We liked it!
Carol felt vindicated by her long time belief that Vincent would have a Lassie moment, a la "Lassie, Timmy fell down a well, go get help." As soon as Smocke spotted a dog at the well, she thought "ah ha!" and sure enough, we found out Rose, Vincent and Bernard rescued Desmond. It was reported that a partner at the firm stated that, of course Vincent was not in the church - he's a dog and has nothing to atone for. Sounds right.
Big Moment: Hurley asking Ben for help. I thought Ben's journey of "letting go" was just amazing... I was so struck by the look on his face when Jack chose Hurley; he looked so knocked down by disappointment yet again. But it was Ben who showed a doubting Hurley the way: "just do what you do best, take care of people"... he was finally able to let go of his jealousy, his longing to belong. In doing so, he finally found his place, his family.
It was actually at this point that Melissa joined us exclaiming that she loved it because "it hit the hightlights of all the relationships"... (It was here that Carol reported that Kristina didn't like it because she wanted the answers, not the relationships. This is why Baskin and Robbins has 37 flavors.)
BIG BIG Moment: even though Jack died, he got to see the plane fly overhead and got to be with Vincent. That ending, Vincent snuggling up to Jack as he dies... Melissa said she was crying so hard during that scene and Oh my goodness we were all crying. Note the first photo in the Doc Recap #1: our answer, no we will never be able to think of that and not cry.
Someone speculated that Hurley's self description in Sideways World of being The Luckiest Man Alive was NOT about the Lottery, but about getting to take care of the Island! Cool...
Doc felt that the final 10 minutes were close to perfect...again, we agreed.
Why were Sun and Jin so happy in their "awakening" - because they knew they would always be together.
Carol said she laughed out loud when Claire said she couldn't get on the plane - "look at me" - referring to her crazy Rousseau appearance. I understood, and thought it was a signal, though that Claire had regained her sanity...she cared about how she looked! (I started crying here, just thinking about Claire and Kate clutching hands as the plane takes off...) Aaron will NOT have a crazy Mom.
Melissa and I were big fans of the Sayid and Shannon BIG MOMENT, and I loved the little aside between Boone and Hurley.
Which led to a discussion of how great Hurley was in Sideways World, his confidence. This was Hurley's true nature...it came out in the episode Everybody Hates Hugo (when Jack gave him the job of being in charge of the Dharma food) and he did a great job. He just always had self doubt. He was always so concerned about others... he came up with the golf tournement to cheer people up. So, we sort of wanted it to be Hurley, the most pure spirit, to inherit the Island Protector role...and he did!
Hurley embodies the shows ability to be combine humor and drama, danger and highjinks.
In discussing NOT getting a lot of answers - and I admit I wish I had gotten more information on Dharma - I shared something I was told by my Rabbi many years ago at a Passover Seder. He noted that in a traditional haggadah (guide to the Seder) there are 4 questions but not 4 answers. He said that this was because in life, there are always more questions than answers. That has always resonated with me as the way life truly is, and LOST reflected that reality and how people struggle to cope and live in that reality. This got a thumbs up from the group - I really should let my Rabbi know.
Many posters on various sites seem to think the show's ending meant all the characters were all dead, they had died on the Island, all that Purgatory talk. But we noted that at the end, when Jack asks Christian if they had all died, Christian answers yes, "but everyone dies sometime, but not all at the same time....there is no NOW here." It seems clear that time is not a factor... and clear that many of the characters had a lot of life ahead of them. If what Christian said wasn't enough, you have Hurley and Ben's exchange outside: Hurley comes out for Ben and invites him in. Ben declines (he has some things to do); Hurley tells him "you were a great #2" and Ben replies "You were a great #1." So, they had their time on the Island!!!!!!
I should note here the confusion caused by the shots of the plane debris under the credits at the end. many took it to mean that the Ajira plane never made it off the Island. I thought it was just shots from the set of the crash, what brought all the people together. Well, it turns out I was right!!! There are a lot of reports like this one http://www.aceshowbiz.com/news/view/00032758.html - ABC really blew it with this, I bet the producers are not happy.
In addition to being another "Desmond" in Sideways world, Carol put forth the theory that Ben also was working on his need to be special...he wasn't quite ready to let that go.
Melissa said she had never been a huge Jack fan until the finale; Carol conceded only that she didn't despise him anymore. We all (guilty pleasure!) LOVED it when Jack shoved Smocke off the cliff...sorry Doc Jensen, sometimes evil does need a push!
We decided not to worry about understanding everything; Smocke/Locke and Jack didn't, they got a lot wrong in their assumptions about what would happen...so why should we figure it all out?
I hated how many commercials there were but most of the comments were how much people loved the clever Target spots. Everyone was pleasantly surprised by how good the 2 hour pre-show turned out - not what we expected...a lot of fun to see Josh Holloway and Daniel Dae Kim kibbitzing as themselves, hearing the actors thoughts on the show and their characters journeys.
ALERT: The finale and the Jimmy Kimmel show will be repeated on Saturday night!!!!! Interesting that they will trim the time for the finale down to 2 hours...I hope they cut commercials and not show!
Well, that pretty much wraps it up. We had a lot of fun sharing LOST over the years. I would love to get your comments on your insights, reactions.
I hope to put up some more thoughts over the weekend as I have time to digest more recaps and thoughts...and I have some ideas for what to do next!!!! Life without LOST... what a concept!
Namaste, Yinz
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