LOST season 6

[irishpatrick]

patrick,

Not here – just “out there” on the internet, and among some critics?

VC

Perhaps, but I have cruised some other places too and have not seen any huge backlash. In fact, I have seen a lot of people using the term “purgatory” when it is clear they have no idea what purgatory is…

 

[Super_Grover]

Not at all bothered by some of the un-Catholic representations of a “between” existence that is roughly being called “purgatory.” It is just FICTION with religious or spiritual themes, as were Tolkien’s and CS Lewis’ works. As in LOTR or Narnia, evil cannot defeat loving self-sacrifice. Other representations are consistent with many spiritual or religious traditions, including Catholicism. One such representation is the problem of “attachment” to the world. Detaching from those things of the world that inhibit our spiritual progression is one of those truths found even in the spiritual traditions of those who do not have the fullness of truth. Whatever improper attachments we do not rid ourselves of before death, will be purged for those who make it to Purgatory.

It sure beats most of the nihilistic fare that we usually get beaten over the head with. Great ending.

 

[cjbauere]

I think VC helped me reach a conclusion in his summary. But if he’s correct in his explanation to cj that the last scene was just a meditative image - they picked a REAL POOR image. I would’ve prefered credits. And I think it wasn’t just an image. It was footage with waves crashing and stuff. (can you tell I’m still not 100% sure) It seemed almost like a typical LOST moment - it looks like this is the answer, but is it? I HOPE they didn’t do that. That’d be really frustrating to get a final kick the pants and leave us wondering because they didn’t HAVE TO do that.

You are correct, it wasn’t a still image. It seems to me that with all the significance associated with the finest of details in the show that the last scene would be void of any. The last scene, I believe had the most!

 

[Joe_5859]

I took the other skeletons in the cave at the time as other guardians but the builders of the plug is an intriguing idea. While I’m sure there’s some idea in the writer’s heads, I don’t know that we’ll ever find out what they’re thinking because it doesn’t really matter to the story I think.

I took the skeletons to probably be the people to built that plug. It was obviously put there by someone, and since much was made of the fact that Desmond could uniquely survive the electromagnetism down there, I figured that the original crafters of the plug weren’t so gifted.

But you’re right that it doesn’t really matter to the larger story.

 

[Joe_5859]

I want to try to avoid over-generalizations but what is interesting to me is what I perceive as a backlash from viewers regarding the “spiritual” ending of the show. My sense is that even the quasi-purgatory is unintelligible to them.

Interesting – perhaps we are seeing the final chapters of the post-Christian culture, where even religious imagery has lost it’s meaning for some folks. The vocabulary has changed. And anything that uses the old vocabulary (I don’t mean words, I mean ideas) is scoffed at and misunderstood. It might even produce anger or fear?

VC

I think this is a good observation. The religious imagery has been in the show all along, so this ending, while it did surprise me, isn’t entirely surprising.

 

[turtle18]

I want to try to avoid over-generalizations but what is interesting to me is what I perceive as a backlash from viewers regarding the “spiritual” ending of the show. My sense is that even the quasi-purgatory is unintelligible to them.

Interesting – perhaps we are seeing the final chapters of the post-Christian culture, where even religious imagery has lost it’s meaning for some folks. The vocabulary has changed. And anything that uses the old vocabulary (I don’t mean words, I mean ideas) is scoffed at and misunderstood. It might even produce anger or fear?

VC

That is a very astute analysis and spot on. I have been reading other websites and found a lot of people didn’t like the ending. I loved the ending but then again, we are on a spiritual website. I liked it so much I’m willing to overlook the many, many gaping plotholes and unanswered questions. I really think this was one of the finest ensemble casts ever. Kudos to all the actors and I think anyone of them deserves an Emmy–I’m rooting for Sawyer but Hollywood tends to reject the pretty boys for the acting awards.

From what I’ve seen on Lostpedia, the strongest critics of “The End” are those who were wedded to the sci-fi/ancient civilization themes in Lost and wanted scientific driven answers. A lot of them seem to be very disappointed that the end was spiritual and did not have a strong sci-fi angle they could swallow.

Very true…ironic since one of the major themes of the show is faith vs. reason. Looks like sour grapes since their side lost.

 

[AmberDale]

I agree that people without a religious “belief” of sorts are the ones hating on it. I have seen this with friends, many hated the ending.

 

[turtle18]

I agree that people without a religious “belief” of sorts are the ones hating on it. I have seen this with friends, many hated the ending.

The other thing some viewers are having a hard time grasping is the concept of time outside this earthly life. I’ve talked to many people who don’t understand that Sawyer and Kate died after they left the island and after Jack died. Time can’t exist in heaven the way it does here on Earth (obviously confirmed by Jesus in the Bible). But I think a lot of people who lack a spiritual base just don’t get this even though if they thought about it scientifically, even for a moment, it should make sense to them.

It seems like so many viewers just glossed over the speech by Christian at the end.

 

[Maeglin]

Did anyone else see a very strong parallel to the ending of Lost in the Chronicles of Narnia - The Last Battle? I’m specifically thinking of the scene where Aslan talks to Lucy, Peter, Edmund and their friends at the very end of the book. I had the same stomach churning feeling at the end of both of these stories when I realized the truth.

 

[AnthonytheGreat]

I find it bizarre that people who dislike spirituality would watch the show to begin with, it has always had that theme to it.

 

[AnotherChance]

   I liked it so much I'm willing to overlook the many, many gaping plotholes and unanswered questions.

I felt the same way. Season 6 was really annoying me, but this finale redeemed it for me.

It is funny, because I started watching LOST when I only had one child (now I have four). Now it is pretty much the last show I make time to watch and one of my few remaining connections to popular culture. So it’s over, and I figure TV is pretty much over too for me!

I was wondering if anyone had any particular ideas about how to possibly use the finale to minister to others who need more God in their life? In particular I am thinking about the online forums, etc. I have found it interesting to interact with LOST fans with whom I have almost nothing else in common. It is fascinating to read some of the reactions on secular websites, as mentioned here. Of course, you don’t want to get preachy, but at the same time a window has been opened in that a popular show even hinted at such religious themes (with God’s name of course being absent).

Just wondering how other Catholics deal with this. I have ongoing dialogues with secularists, agnostics, atheists, etc. in relation to LOST.

 

[AnotherChance]

Maybe I’m off the mark, but the last scene (as the credits were rolling), which showed the wreckage on the island led me to believe that everything we watched was part of their purgation…so-to-speak. The island really had no special energy, etc.

Right. The serious secular fans are freaking out today when this idea is mentioned (on Lostpedia forum, for example). The wreckage has no people around it, which means you can’t interpret it as being from the time of Season 1. In Season 1, the people were running around by the wreckage and always right there, until they burned it in a giant bonfire. The wreckage they showed at the end was on an empty beach.

I think your interpretation probably makes the most sense of all.

 

[Maeglin]

It is funny, because I started watching LOST when I only had one child (now I have four). Now it is pretty much the last show I make time to watch and one of my few remaining connections to popular culture. So it’s over, and I figure TV is pretty much over too for me!

As far as TV series go, this is it for me too. I don’t own a TV with working antenna capability and don’t have cable. I had to watch the finale from my apartment’s media room (as well as all of season 5 and 6).

I have no intention of getting addicted to a TV series or starting up cable again. In a way, it will be a relief to get my Tuesday nights back! The feeling of being motivated to watch TV at specific hours for a must-watch-show is what got me to dump it back in college to begin with.

 

[Verbum_Caro]

The wreckage has no people around it, which means you can’t interpret it as being from the time of Season 1.

Hi AC,

That would only be a problem if you think the “footage” of the wreck is part of the story. But it doesn’t have to be.

The best analogy I have is the video-game one. In some games, when you’ve completed it, you are treated to images of the places you’ve been in the game. Sometime they are in continuity, meaning changes that were made to those places in game are part of the credit scene. But sometimes they are out of continuity, and are just important and evocative locations from the game. I’m trying to come up with something similar from a movie, someone help me out?

The wreckage was the “knot” that all the threads coalesced around. Without that wreck there would be no connection between the people in the Church at the end. I think that was all there was to it. A poor choice, though, given the confusion or uncertainty it has generated.

VC

 

[Maeglin]

Maybe I’m off the mark, but the last scene (as the credits were rolling), which showed the wreckage on the island led me to believe that everything we watched was part of their purgation…so-to-speak. The island really had no special energy, etc.

For me, the story officially ended with the final LOST smash-cut. Everything after, was just background meditation for the credits.

 

[Joe_5859]

It seems like so many viewers just glossed over the speech by Christian at the end.

I think that’s probably true. People were still reeling from the revelation that they were all dead already that it was easy to miss the finer points of exposition. I know I want to go back and hear that explanation again.

Did anyone else see a very strong parallel to the ending of Lost in the Chronicles of Narnia - The Last Battle? I’m specifically thinking of the scene where Aslan talks to Lucy, Peter, Edmund and their friends at the very end of the book. I had the same stomach churning feeling at the end of both of these stories when I realized the truth.

Hmmm… That is an interesting parallel. It never occurred to me, but now that you mention it, the two are pretty comparable. You’re right about the reaction, too. I did have virtually the same reaction to both endings: not wanting it to be true, but at the same time realizing that it must be true. Good call.

 

[Joe_5859]

For me, the story officially ended with the final LOST smash-cut. Everything after, was just background meditation for the credits.

That’s how I took it, too.

I’ll have to rewatch it, but I wonder if it looks like the crash just happened or not. For me, I took it as a look at the crash site at the present time (i.e. years after the actual crash). Everyone is gone now. All of the Oceanic passengers have either died or left the island, save Hurley. Thus, there is no one left at the site. They have all “moved on” and left the wreckage of their past behind.

Maybe that’s just me.

 

[PatriceA]

I agree that people without a religious “belief” of sorts are the ones hating on it. I have seen this with friends, many hated the ending.

Not for me, I’m angry at the producers that denied that the ending was going to have a purgatory theme when people started to guess the ending a few seasons ago. Then again, I probably should have stopped listening to them when one of the producers claimed they would never kill off Charlie and then they turned around and did exactly that.

 

[Maeglin]

That’s how I took it, too.

I’ll have to rewatch it, but I wonder if it looks like the crash just happened or not. For me, I took it as a look at the crash site at the present time (i.e. years after the actual crash). Everyone is gone now. All of the Oceanic passengers have either died or left the island, save Hurley. Thus, there is no one left at the site. They have all “moved on” and left the wreckage of their past behind.

Maybe that’s just me.

I like your interpretation. I remember back in Season 1, someone (maybe Jack) commented that the seasonal tides were swallowing the wreckage and that everyone would have to move further inland as the beach changed. There was suitcases strewn everywhere and the beach camp was partially submerged. Since then, it’s possible the island moved and brought the empty and abandoned wreckage back from the depths.

I wouldn’t read too deeply into it though; I think it was just there to evoke a feeling of nostalgia.

 

[Maeglin]

Not for me, I’m angry at the producers that denied that the ending was going to have a purgatory theme when people started to guess the ending a few seasons ago. Then again, I probably should have stopped listening to them when one of the producers claimed they would never kill off Charlie and then they turned around and did exactly that.

Actually, I believe they stated that the Island was not purgatory in response to a popular fan theory in Season 1. This is technically true. The Island story really did happen in the living world; it is the alt universe that is a purgatory-like concept.