Lost answers, Lost questions …and lost credits
Last night's epic Lost finale was played without closing credits by Channel Seven. But fans are still scratching their head over the plot.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
Last night’s epic Lost finale was played without closing credits by Channel Seven.
No sooner had Jack closed his eye for the last time (most seasons had started with an eye opening) were we whisked away to promos for the Yahoo website, a Pacific promo and then straight into the movie, Transporter 2.
For a show that kept us hooked for 6 seasons it was a pretty insulting blow to the creatives behind the show. Are there really no more executives working in television who think it’s respectful to acknowledge the people that actually supply them content?
In the US the Lost credits triggered more debates about hidden meanings, when ABC added shots of the plane crash. In a show where clues have been dropped across the 6 seasons, fans were debating whether the shotes were meant to conclude that no one survived Oceanic 815’s crash landing, and therefore everything we’ve seen over the last six years never really happened.
ABC has since had to quash those theories, insisting it added them to soften the transition from the moving ending of the series to the 11 p.m. News. It never considered that it would confuse viewers about the actual ending of the show. The photographs were really just a nostalgic, transitional touch added by ABC executives — and not executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.
Meanwhile a gamut of questions have now emerged about what was and wasn’t answered in the Finale.
Fans have converged online to debate whether the show delivered in its finale:
– Well we know what the alternate timeline was, and that Hurley was the protector of the island, after jack sacrificed himself.
– I’m not sure how that makes sense: Kate lived longer, so Jack had only been dead a few weeks? Shouldn’t that be the other way around?
– So what was the deal with the numbers, and the pushing the button?
– We learned you can fix a jet with duct tape!
A writer from Bad Robot has supposedly left some explanations of the show online (including with typos).
Or you could just let this clip sum up your feelings.
Source: LA Times,
Share
- Tagged with Lost
36 Responses
if you want a clue about the ending go to the podcast that interviews the writers and producers..about 3 hours of audio in total..find it on creativescreenwriting…use google or itunes. Then you will gain insight to the ending and how and why etc etc ad nauseum…
oh I worked it out…why you didnt get any answers…marketing…buy it now ! The blu-ray 3D HD 1.85 1920i version to get all the answers…yeah right…
just another note by the way,
im curious to find out what David (Knox) thought of the finale 😛
I’m so sick of these networks not showing the credits, their always showing promos. Why can’t they do it after the credits are over? Its annoying as f$%^
@ David S.,
they werent in purgatory the whole time. Everything that happened on the island mattered, and did in fact happen. The flash-sideways world was representative of life after death, and may have taken place many years after Jack’s death for all we know. It is a way to show that the characters had the happiest times of their lives together, and want to go to “whatever is next” together, with all of their memories. It perfectly sums up “live together, die alone”.
As for the other questions, were you a regular viewer of Lost? Because a lot of the questions you are asking were in fact answered at different points in the series.
Paull:
The “church” at the end was not part of an alternate timeline….because there never was an alternate timeline.
It seems that throughout the last season most people assumed this was an alternate reality (me included). I thought the writers explained it fairly clearly when Christian was answering Jack’s questions, and told him this was a place they had all created so they could all get together after they had all died before they “moved on” (this was confirmed when Hurley and Ben chatted about being #1 & #2, and when Kate said she had missed Jack for a long time).
As for the significance of the island being sunk – this was never explained….but there are several interesting interpretations I can think of:
…maybe the island does eventually die – and at that point so does everyone/everything else (like we were told several times throughout the series)
….maybe they could only create the “alternate place” if the island died – this also could neatly tie into what the light on the island was (i.e. same as the light they saw when they opened the doors of the church).
…maybe there was simply no need for the island in the place they created?
And isn’t this an indication of great entertainment, whether it be a novel, movie, or in this case a 6 year long epic journey….that you are still thinking and talking about it after it has finished?
I feel somewhat sorry now for everyone who is upset because they didn’t get every single question answered and every last thread tied up with a nice neat bow and presented to them on a platter.
This was complex, challenging storytelling that entertained me for 6 years.
If you are not prepared to think and search out some of the answers for yourself, maybe you would be better off sticking to safer choices such as two and a half men instead.
Guys please keep comments to a reasonable length.
@David S.
Did you actually watch the show at all?? They did explain the polar bears, they were a Dharma environmental experiment. They did explain Dharma, they were scientists attempting to manipulate the unique properties of the Island the same as the Phoenicians who dug the wells were in Jacobs time. They did explain the hatch, it was caused by the incident which Juliet averted by blowing up the small nuclear device (thereby killing herself). Who built the statue? Ancient Egyptians Jacob brought to the island in his quest to prove man worthy and his brother wrong? Why did she kill their mother? Maybe she wanted the children for herself because she wanted a replacement and she could leave. She looked happy to die. How did she know about the island? Obviously someone made her the Islands protector as she did Jacob. Who knows how long she was there beforehand? Jacob was there hundreds of years. Why did Jacks father appear? Everyone who was moving on needed closure in their life to be able to move. Jacks relationship with his father was always troubled. He got flashes from Locke and Kate, but needed his father for personal closure or as his father put it, to let go.
David S, you can find some of those answers on things such as Lostpedia (google search for ‘lostpedia’), if you haven’t picked up on to it by now.
For example the Polar Bears were brought there by Dharma. Then kept in the cages, and were let out/escaped during the Purge.
Anyway.. the final was good and sad for me. The kind of answers I am interested in knowing are things like did Hurley/Ben/Desmond/Rose/Bernard find Jack. Did Hurley/Ben/Desmond ever see others such as Kate/Sawyer again. How long did Hurley and Ben live for, how did they and everyone else die, etc.
An absolute disappointment. They lied when they said it wouldn’t use magic, miracles or religion to plug the plot holes and back story, they pretty much lied when they said the island wasn’t purgatory, heaven or hell and the characters weren’t dead. They lied when they said they’d give us *any* answers! Six years down the toilet for this junky ending? Boo!
No explanation for the polar bear(s), no explanation for what the hell the Dharma guys were up to, no explanation for the hatch and the numbers Hurley used to win the lottery, no explanation for who built the temple or the statue, when or why. Who was Jacob and Smokey’s adoptive mother and why did she knowingly kill their real mother? How did she know about the island and it’s powers? WTH did Jack’s father have to do with anything at the end? No one else’s dead parents put in an appearance. Absolutely no explanations at all for anything we’ve been wondering about all this time!
It was worse than the ending of BSG (and that was pretty bad). Still not as bad as the ending of The Prisoner all those years ago, but a strong contender however.
Seven cutting the credits was the final insult.
Err Jezza, people who have watched Lost from start to finish care, if your not one of them then buzz off.
Yeah after seven botched the credits (thankfully they included the ending L O S T card though – thyey’ve normally skipped that) I started recording the 7TWO version just to see if they’d be included – glad to find out they were.
The ending was brilliant, I started welling up when I realised Jack was walking back to the same spot where he woke up in the pilot.
And yes there are hundred of questions big and small which have been unanswered or only partially answered, but I’m OK with that – because they’ll be debated over the internets for years to come.
I think the dismal viewing figures rightly sum up just how dull this show became. In the end, very few people really cared.
The numbers were the candidates from 815. Pressing the button reset the build up of electro-magnetic energy, thus saving the world.
I’d like to know the significance of the island being sunk in the alternate timeline- which would presumably mean the ‘source’ would no longer exist.
Also, in the “church” at the end, were they in the alternate timeline, or all dead?
It wasn’t the most satisfying ending, but it was still engaging and well written.
The answered what the numbers were
Total and utter crrraaapppp. Six seasons and they pull the ending from something that was only introduced 2 weeks ago thus negating the past 5 seasons. The last five seasons had no bearing whatsoever on the finale as the creators only resolved character issues and casually ignored the “story” of lost. Probably case they made it up as they went only and never actually had any answers.
Worse than Sopranos ending. All those that were invested more so in the “story” and “mysteries” of lost have been cheated and been made fools of.
Phew glad I recorded the 7TWO version, as the version I saw earlier in the week did not include the credits either. So I recorded the end just so I could see them. It still had the jarring yahoo7 ad though.
The Numbers were Jacob’s doing, part of how he manipulated getting the Candidates to the Island. His influence infused them with power and widespread appearances.
7two seemed to have the above beach shot (channel surfing due to restless toddler)
a lot of the questions in that video have been answered.
Channel 7 always treats viewers badly. I don’t watch movies with them anymore, as i know they won’t show the credits.
So with a movie you are transported to another place, another time, often on a emotional rollercoaster. What does channel 7 do? They run the credits really fast and put a ad on 3/4 of the screen. Then start the next show. They don’t give you time to grieve\think it over. They don’t respect their viewers, so why should i respect them?
I taped the SevenTwo version and they showed ABC credits.
My head hurts after seeing that clip.
7TWO ended up showing the end credits later last night. Who knows, maybe the wreckage was from the Ajira plane taking off and Kate, Sawyer and all the others never made it off the island either!!! I’m happy to take ABC’s word for what the shots were for. I’d rather believe some of the Losties made it off the island, led their lives, eventually died and waited in the church for everyone else to make their next move into the great beyond. Touching and beautiful ending, even if a million questions weren’t answered – and honestly, who ever thought they would be???
yes the final left a lot of questions hanging, it was always going too, but a lot a had been answered in small amounts over the seasons. like the button/numbers, although never 100% given if you piece together the information from the end of season two (when the hatch blew up) combined with the end of season five (the dharma insinuative getting to close to the electromagnetism-and saying they need to relive the pressure) you can come up with a fitting explanation. is it ever going to be concrete? no. was anything ever concrete? no. it was always a show about interpretation and debate and i don’t think the producers were ever going to spell it out and ruin the fun…
also that is a great little video but i do feel a number of questions raised were answered over the last six years (claire had to be on 815 because she had to raise Aaron-the new question answered the last) also some probably don’t need to be answered…but funny all the same!
such a brilliant show. i would say i’d miss it terribly but i feel i will be watching the dvds for years to come so it will never really be lost to me…
Wonder if the credits were in tact on 7two?
I’m glad i didn’t get all the answers to all the questions but I am seriously dirty on 7 for cutting the ending. There we were all a little numb, the final Lost slide popped up and Bang straight into crappy promos for other shows.
Boooooo 7 Boooooo
There was no explanation about the numbers because the makers of the show ran out of time in providing one as if six seasons wasn’t enough already.