a little less LOST

4 years ago a friend accidentally left his binder of DVD's in our home. Matt and I noticed the first 2 seasons of a show commonly referred to as "extremely addicting" and plugged it into the xbox.



That is where we LOST our social lives. We stayed up until early hours of the morning cramming episode after episode into any waking hour we could. We were addicts with an accessible fix at our remote-glued-fingertips.



Last night, the 6 year run of LOST ended with touching moments, a bit of sadness and TONS of unanswered questions. But, Ill ask the questions later and give a short synopsis of what I think the island was really about.



In my opinion (which is really nothing to value considering I am just like all the other "Losties") everything really happened. It was not a dream conjured up by Hurley, or a type of purgatory meant to allow the survivors to redeem their mistake filled lives. The Man in Black and Jacob were really born on the island. The DHARMA initiative was built and destroyed by The Others. Flight 815 really did crash on the island and brought with it the people that we became so attached to. They lived and died on the island.



After a confusing chain of events leaves the island with the ability to time travel, we have what are referred to as "flash sideways." This is where we start to see what would have happened had the plane made it to LA, or even further back, had curtain things not happened with the DHARMA Initiative in the 1970's. We see our survivors living lives that only slightly mirror the lives they lived pre-crash. These views are the one thing I don't believe are really happening.



My thought is that these are the "dream" lives that the survivors have always wished for.



Jack is a successful surgeon with a more positive take on life.

Kate is innocent and free.

James is in law enforcement where he can put men like the con man "Sawyer" behind bars.

Hurley is rich, lucky and happy.

Locke is engaged to Helen and is able to walk again.



The list goes on.


So, while the Oceanic Six try and keep the island from being destroyed by the smoke monster, their "fantasy lives" live on as happy, successful people. Its only when they meet familiar faces that they realize and remember who they really are. "Lost" souls making their way through unfortunate events.



When Jack is finally convinced to come to the church, he encounters his dead father who tells him that he himself has passed on, and that everyone who is waiting for him in the church has either died or is going to die (as we all do) as well. This is when he reunites with all of the people he lived and loved on the island. Christian explains that they are all finally "ready" to move on.



Only when Jack excepts his fate do we see him content and ready to die in the place where he started his life on the island. Then, next to Vincent in the bamboo fields, he passes on.



From here we are left to wonder so many things that will now, never be answered. What is Hurley left to protect? Why was it necessary for Desmond to type the numbers 4 8 15 16 23 42 into a computer? Why did Richard Alpert only age once the island was being demolished? Who is Charles Widmor, and why did he want to destroy the island? And of course, WHAT IS the island?



According to Jacob in the episode called "Ab Aeterno", the island is like a cork in a jug of wine. The wine inside of the bottle represents the evil that without the cork, would be spilling out into the world. When we see Jack in the last minutes of his life on the island, he is placing a cork-like structure into a hole of glowing red light. Could he be closing off the "gates of hell"?



This is my only guess as to what the island is. The "mouth" or entry way to Hell. A place where only the Smoke Monster/Man in Black was able to escape before the rock was removed. This doesn't explain the magnetic powers, or the mysterious ability to disappear. Again, so many things we will never know.



Last night I fully expected the finale to leave me completely confused and frustrated. And it did. However, it also left me with some satisfaction, love and respect for the series. There was so much left unanswered and plenty of pointless episodes and side-stories, but I don't regret becoming totally enveloped in the drama and completely LOST for 6 years.



But, like our friends Kate, James, Jack, Locke and so many others, its time to move on.