More Thoughts on "The End" & Entire LOST Series

NOTE: I seriously started writing the following post when LOST ended A YEAR AGO. I kind of needed to take a break from LOST, and mostly this post because it had gotten pretty long (I also forgot about it.). Life kind of got in the way, and I'm just getting back to it now. Please keep in mind that this is how I felt about everything (mainly the awful fan reaction) when it ended, and I'm much more chill about it now. I listened to Bob Marley, because who doesn't like Bob Marley?

Now that I've had some time to reflect on The End and the series as a whole, I've come away with a lot of realizations in hindsight, and some theories as to what I believe actually happened. But, first, I must give some background.

Why did I get into LOST?
Since September 22, 2004, I've been hooked into the story that has been LOST. I remember that summer, always seeing promos for it, because ABC actually did a good job promoting it, which doesn't happen often with any network anymore. I remember thinking how interesting it looked, so I knew I would check it out, at the very least.

Season 5 Finalé Expectations

This season has left me feeling kind of uneven. While I've liked a lot of things in it, I also haven't liked some things in it. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but this season it's felt as though some thing has been missing. Perhaps it could be that most of my favorite characters were hardly in it, especially for long periods of time. With no Desmond for most of the season, Sayid disappearing into the jungle, Rose and Bernard MIA, John Locke taking a nap in a coffin, I'm left feeling a little empty.

I've enjoyed the time travel and debating what works and what doesn't, what the paradoxes are, and how everything fits within it. I've also extremely enjoyed being back in Dharma times. It's made me learn to appreciate Season 2 so much more than I did the first time. So many questions have been answered from back then. However, this season has felt too predictable to me. A lot of things many people have seen coming from a mile away, and the dramatic reveals when you know something is going to happen is a little cheesy and tiring. It occurs to me that with the heavy mythology this season, which I have enjoyed, the characters have suffered immensely. There have been a lot of things that have seemed very out of character for me.

This season hasn't been exactly what I had thought or hoped for. One of the biggest things that has annoyed me about it is the sloppiness. The writers have been so smart in the past. Cleverly tying things in to something that happened seasons ago. But this year, the continuity has been off for me. While there have been a ton of call-backs to things in the past, even early on in the show, there have also been a lot of inconsistencies.

I have faith though. I have always believed in the creators and writers of this show. I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they're going to make it all worth while in the end, that this season's finalé will allow everything to come together, while giving both a great character and mythological story. With that said, I've been mulling over some of my expectations.

• I want to see Rose and Bernard, and Vincent! Tell me where the hell they've been for the entire season, guys.
• Can someone please mention Claire? I know she got annoying and everyone wants her to die, but can someone just mention the elephant in the room? She's been missing for an entire season, and it would be notice if someone just paid some attention to it, especially considering she left her son motherless.
• If I don't see Jacob, I'm going to be seriously pissed off.
• I want to know Locke's mission and how he's getting so much information, if his fate is going to end up being good or bad.
• Please don't detonate Jughead and stop the plane from crashing to begin with.
• What exactly is going to be the ending to the Desmond and Penny story? If they were going to string their story along needlessly this season, they should've just ended it happily at the end of last season. I would be been satisfied never seeing them again, knowing their story ended appropriately. If you're going to keep it going, make it purposeful.
• Will Desmond go back to the island?
• What is the purpose of Hurley's guitar case? What's in it? Why did he get on the plane?
• Who is the real evil one? Benjamin Linus or Charles Widmore?
• Who are the new people on the island, from the Ajira plane? Are they the new Dharma Initiative?
• How exactly was John Locke resurrected or was he at all? Is he alive or some form of smokey? What exactly happened?
• What exactly was the purpose of them going back to the island?
• I want to know more about Richard Alpert for once. I want to know how he got to the island, if he was born there, if he came on the Black Rock, why he doesn't age, why he looked like a pirate when Ben met him for the first time in the jungle, how exactly he came to be the consiglieré for the leaders on the island.
• Was Desmond's vision real? Why did he see Claire and Aaron leaving the island on a helicopter? Please clear up that inconsistency.
• Was Hurley the voice that broadcasted the numbers?
• Enough with the relationship quadrangle crap.
• Lastly, but most importantly, please kill Radzinsky and Phil already. And don't bring Oldham back. He was lame.

Obviously I know that all of these won't be answered, but hopefully the most important ones will be, and the final episode of this season will be as amazing as it always is.

The Season So Far

I've been having some thoughts on this season as a whole, so I decided to do a blog about the season so far, my thoughts, and what my expectations are for the rest of this season, with a little less than half way to go.

First off, this season has gone somewhat differently than I had originally expected. I had initially thought that it would be all about getting back to the island, and then, that next season would be all about the reunion and what happens next (i.e. will they stay on the island, destroy it, etc.). I really didn't expect to see a close-up of Jack's eye and him on the jungle floor, surrounded by bamboo again until, at least, the end of this season, but more likely next season. I was quite surprised and befuddled to see the Oceanic 6 back on the island in episode 6, 316.

I've also felt somewhat disappointed and with something left to be desired this season. Although, I have enjoyed many parts of the story, I'm missing my favorite characters. The show just feels kind of empty to me without much of Desmond, Sayid and John Locke. The stories that I find myself enjoying the most are the tragic ones. And although I am a huge fan of Michael Emerson (he's probably my favorite actor on the show), and Benjamin Linus' story because I think it is probably one of the most interesting, well-thought-out, well-written, well-acted and most cunning stories to ever brace the television screen, I'm still feeling a bit empty. Not to mention that I kind of hate Ben now for one, killing John Locke even if he is, to our knowledge, alive again, and two, possibly killing, or harming in some way, Penny and Charlie or Desmond. I will just completely despise him for that. It's a good thing that Sayid shot that little bastard in the chest.

I'm also feeling a bit restless with some of the storylines. The Oceanic 6 bored me to death the whole time. I just wanted to get back to the island. And now that we're back on the island, I'm bored to death with the campy relationship crap. I just want to know where Rose and Bernard are already, or what the hell happened to Desmond and Penny. And speaking of Desmond and Penny, if there is one relationship, one love-story on the show that I actually want to see, it's that one. Because I believe that it is the most realistic, most believable and relatable, relationship arc on the show. Because Desmond and Penny deserve a true happy ending, of which I am growing more and more weary and disappointed by because I fear that is in jeopardy, and instead I'm going to end up seeing Kate with whomever the hell she chooses this week. Ugh, just sickens me. Desmond and Penny FTW.

The time-travel business has been a bit confusing, to say the least. If there are rules that are set-in-stone, as Daniel stated, that whatever happened, happens, that you can't change the past, then it makes me wonder if that is actually true, or if they're broaching some paradox here.

Questions:

• Are they allowed to change things or are they not?
• Is Sayid shooting Ben a paradox?
• Does he stop the purge and hostile take-over by Ben from happening?
• Why is Desmond special?
• Where the hell are Rose and Bernard?
• Did they land in a different time?
• Are they with the hostiles, in the caves, in another Dharma station?
• Where is Daniel? Is he working with Pierre Chang?
• Is there really course-correction?
• Where the hell is Claire?
• Is Christian Shephard dead or alive already?
• Is Richard Alpert a time-traveler?
• Did he turn the frozen donkey wheel? Is that why he stopped aging?
• Who are the original inhabitants of the island?
• What happened to Aaron?

My expectations for the rest of this season are to find out more about the Dharma Initiative, possibly the DeGroots and Pierre Change, about Charles Widmore, if he was born on the island and how he became leader, Richard Alpert and why he doesn't age, how he got to the island, Rose and Bernard, what happened to Aaron and why Kate is back on the island, who or what convinced Hurley to go back, Desmond and Penny, what Ben did to them, and if Desmond will return to the island, to see Walt again, Daniel Faraday and his work on the island, and finally, the incident.

For the past handful of episodes, I've certainly felt as though we are building up to something big. It seems as though all of the stories that I'm looking for them to get back to (i.e. Desmond and Penny, Rose and Bernard, Daniel) will be returning by the end of the season in some sort of dramatic fashion, and I'm excited about that happening, though I'm not certain it will happen.

I don't read any spoilers whatsoever, not since I got impatient and spoiled myself during Season 2 (Desmond in the hatch, Shannon's death). I don't even like knowing the episode titles or watching the previews for next week. Even the Official LOST Podcast gets a bit too spoilery for me sometimes (the title of the season finale episode was recently given). So, I really don't know what will happen.

Regardless of what happens, within some reason, I'm along for the ride. I haven't speculated nearly as much this season as I have in season past. Mainly because it's season 5 now, the show is almost over, and I just want to sit back and enjoy it until the end.

Almost Finished; Time For New LOST!

Well, I finally finished watching and recapping all the episodes. It's just a matter of blogging my notes for the dozen I have left, of which I have started to do, back dated, but haven't published yet. That should be done shortly, probably within the next week. What a relief to get it over with, although it's my own fault I had to rush to get them all in at the end because I slacked for a few months there. It made the hiatus go a lot quicker though. I can't believe it's been 8 months already.

My plans for the future of this blog are to start writing about past theories, favorite episodes, characters, maybe some top 10 lists, art and such, while writing about the new episodes, characters, and theories. I will probably post some initial reactions to the Season 5 Premiere that actually airs TODAY! I'm so excited!

I'm so glad the wait is over, although, I'm a little bit sad that after this year, there's only one more season left, one more premiere left to watch.

I've been thinking a little today about my hopes for this Season 5 of LOST.

• I would like to see the four-toed statue again, perhaps the rest of it, learn more about it.
• I want to know what the hell Libby's deal is, if she was lying, who she was working for, why she was in Santa Rosa to begin with.
• Who exactly "has to go back?" Does that include Desmond, Walt, Aaron, Ji Yeon? Why John Locke/Jeremy Bentham?
• What is this game that Benjamin Linus and Charles Widmore are playing?
• I want to know more about the beginnings of the Dharma Inititaive.
• What is the nature of Sun's business (i.e. taking over Paik Industries, contacting Charles Widmore, saying they have common interests)?
• How did the island move? Through time and through space? What happens when it does?
• Will Ben kill Penelope Widmore? Will he ask Sayid to do it? Will Sayid decline because of his friendship with Desmond and having lost loved ones before?
• Who was Radzinski? Did he really kill himself?
• Are Micheal and/or Jin alive?
• I want a Danielle Rousseau flashback. I don't care how they do it.
• Has Charles Widmore been on the island before? Was he once the leader, before Ben?
• Why was Frank Lapidus supposed to fly Oceanic Flight 815 on September 22 instead of Seth Norris? Why didn't he?

I've also been thinking about what I don't expect to find out, or would be okay with holding out until Season 6 to learn more about.

• What are the whispers? Does it have to do with time travel?
• What is the monster? How is it controlled? Why does it kill certain people and not others?
• Who are Adam and Eve?
• What happened to Claire? Is she still alive? Will she find out that Jack is her brother?
• Will Desmond's flash of Claire and Aaron getting on a helicopter ever come true?
• I would like to see the ring lady, Ms. Hawking, again, and find out why she knows so much, and why she was in a badly photoshopped photograph with Brother Campbell.
• Who or what is Jacob? Why can Christian Shephard speak on his behalf?
• Were the plane crash survivors meant to go to the island? Were they hand-picked?
• What is the nature of all the island connections? Is it fate?
• What are the numbers? What do they really mean?
• What happened to Annie? Have we seen her before?
• Why can't anyone find the island?
• What is the sickness? Why do some get sick and not others?
• I want to know about the island's healing powers, and why Richard Alpert doesn't age.

Also, I'm sure that I will have more questions once the season is over.