LOST Revisited: “The End”
Jack stands alone in the creek after the communion, and Jacob is nowhere to be seen. The other Lostaways find him, and Jack clearly is still trying to sort things out. “If he puts it out, that’s it for all of us”. Hurley gives us the last Star Wars reference of the series when he says Jack is “worse than Yoda”. Hee. Sawyer heads to the well to get Desmond. Hey, if the Lostaways didn’t get Desmond out of the well, then who did?
Back in Timeline X, Hurley and Sayid are in Hurley’s Humvee. Hurley tries to jog Sayid’s memory, even showing Sayid a tranquilizer gun. Nothing. I love seeing this side of Hurley, though. He’s very much in control. Hurley even goes all action hero when he goes into Charlie’s motel room to shoot him with a tranquilizer. He tells Charlie that “Playing this show is the most important thing you’ll ever do”. You know, considering all the bourbon and heroin in Charlie’s system, that tranquilizer might not strictly be necessary. For Charlie, the passage of time is a tranquilizer dart.
On the Island, Kate wonders why Jack took Jacob’s job. He answers “Because I was supposed to”, and yes, Jack now believes in destiny. I think I should print up t-shirts that say “Locke Was Right”. Kate reminds him that “Nothing is irreversible”, which is what Jack X told Locke in regards to his spinal injury.
Sawyer gets to the well and sees Look-a-Locke, which is disconcerting. Benry manages to get the drop on him, which has me very worried about Benry and which side he’s on. By the way, Sawyer calls Look-a-Locke “Smokey”, and I think this might be the first time this longtime nickname has actually been spoken in the series. Sawyer decks Benry, because why shouldn’t he have fresh wounds for the finale. Even worse for Benry is his realization that Look-a-Locke wasn’t speaking figuratively about destroying the Island. That guy rarely couches his meaning in allegory when it comes to death and destruction, you know? Sawyer makes a run for it, and tells Look-a-Locke that they aren’t candidates anymore.
So where’s Desmond? Well, he wakes up to see a friendly dog. Vincent! This is the first point where I totally freaked out. I love Vincent and I really want him to come over and play with me. So Rose and Bernard saved him. Yay! They broke their rule against getting involved just to help out Des, and as soon as he’s on his feet, Rose wants him to leave. Bernard heads out to get some food, and there is a great bit where we learn that they don’t even really know what year it is. Well, it was hard to keep track for a while there.
Bernard returns with Look-a-Locke and Benry. Man, those two have no idea what’s going on with Locke. Look-a-Locke gives Desmond the ultimatum – either he comes along peacefully, or Smokey will kill Rose and Bernard and “I’ll make it hurt”. Desmond makes him promise not to hurt them, and agrees to follow along.
Smokey asks Desmond if he knows where they’re taking him. I get the sense that Look-a-Locke really wants to figure out exactly how much Desmond knows. There’s a great bit of comedy when Desmond guesses that it’s something involving a bright light. Between the hatch implosion and Widmore blasting him with electromagnetism, everything weird that happens to Desmond involves bright light. Then the walkie-talkie in Benry’s pocket squeals, and he has to cover it up. Miles is trying to call him – he found Richard! And here’s another moment where I freak out. Not only has nobody died yet in this episode, but we have confirmation that somebody survived. Miles and Richard decide to head back to the plane and finish what they started.
Back in Timeline X, Miles notices Sayid. He calls in Sawyer and says their fugitive is on the loose and asks Sawyer to keep an eye on Sun, since she may be in danger. Meanwhile, we cut to Sun and Jin in the hospital. They have a doctor coming to examine Sun. And yes, it is none other than Juliet. And there’s another freak out. She identifies herself as “Juliet Carlson”, which has been established as her maiden name. So she never married Edmund Burke in this Timeline. There’s a good, logical reason for that, as we’ll later learn.
As Juliet runs the ultrasound, Sun has her moment of awakening. This is really well-done, I think. Sun and Jin absolutely nail the scene as they remember their entire relationship. It’s key that the montage also includes their deaths, by the way. And now, they speak English. It’s like their Island selves ended up in Timeline X. I really love this, because I think the idea of an entire relationship that’s outside their experience just opens up to them in a matter of seconds is really powerful.
On the Island, Sawyer catches up with the Lostaways and fills them in. Jack decides not to try to find Look-a-Locke because they’re all headed to the same place anyway. “Then it ends”. I love that the characters are sort of aware that it’s the series finale. They know that it all has to end, and that they’re not going to be able to go back to their routine. Everything is going to be different for them very soon.
In Timeline X, Jack is getting ready for surgery. Locke’s on the gurney and he’s ready to go. We see that Jack X has the same lousy bedside manner as our Jack, with his joke that “There’s always the chance that I could kill you”. Maybe you want to run your material past some people first, Jack.
Richard and Miles get to Widmore’s outrigger, and Miles notices that Richard has a gray hair. I don’t know if that means he’s going to be aging again or not, but it’s a neat little moment. Especially when Richard says, “I think I just realized that I want to live”. For Richard, that’s the only route to a happy ending. He can’t get back anything that he lost, but for him to finally choose life rather than being trapped with it, that’s a big thing.
Are you ready for something awesome? I’m pretty sure that I heard spunkybuddy Larry Young let loose a big old cheer when Miles and Richard spot the debris of the sub, including one Frank “Chesty” Lapidus who is just bobbing away in a life jacket. Yeah, that might be my favorite moment of the episode. (By the way, Jeff Fahey gave a couple of interviews where he came right out and said that Frank does not appear in the finale. I have never been so happy to be lied to.) And Frank’s had some time to do some thinking. Specifically, there’s no reason to blow up the plane. They can just take it themselves. “If we leave, that think won’t have a plane anymore.”
Look-a-Locke approaches the Lostaways, and Kate starts shooting. Obviously, it’s not going to do anything, so Smokey tells her to save her bullets. That guy is just so smug. Proving that Smokey has Internet access, he complains that Jack was “sort of the obvious choice” to replace Jacob. They bump chests, with Smokey claiming he’s going to destroy the Island, and Jack claiming that he’ll just kill the monster. I like their approach, where they get that Desmond is important, but not quite sure how. So they’ll bring him to the Heart of the Island and see what happens. Everything is going over their heads right now, so they’re basically going to take their chances. There’s this desperation on both sides, where everybody realizes just how close they are to losing it all.
Short little scene where it’s revealed that in Timeline X, Juliet is Jack’s ex. We knew that was coming, but it’s cool to see how well they still get along.
Back on the Island, Jack explains to Kate that Desmond is the plan, but he doesn’t really know the specifics. That’s… comforting. Once they get close, Look-a-Locke decides that it should just be him, Jack, and Desmond heading to the cave. Hurley gets a nice scene with Jack – “I believe in you, dude.” Hurley’s been carrying a lot of emotional weight over the last few episodes, and when Hurley starts to fall apart, it’s hard to take.
Desmond assures Jack that it doesn’t matter what happens – “I’m going to go somewhere else, where we can be with the ones we love”. And with that line, we have to start thinking of Timeline X in a different way. It seems like Desmond’s been trying to awaken people to its unreality, but now we know that’s where he’d rather be. Jack assures him that all of it matters.
In Timeline X, Hurley and Sayid wait in their parked car. Hurley tells Sayid “I think you’re a good guy”, which the recap episode reminded us was a Season One line. No reaction out of Sayid. He only springs into action when a bar fight spill out into the alley. He beats up the aggressor and we see that he saved Boone and Shannon. When Shannon and Sayid touch, they both wake up. For a relationship I wasn’t that into, this was still a cool moment. And it turns out Boone’s been playing along – he’s already on Team Hurley.
As the Lostaways wait, Miles calls Benry to tell him about the new plan. But then they spot Claire on Hydra Island. She shoots the ground near their feet, which is enough to freak out the people on the other end of the call. Claire tells Miles that she’s not going to come with them. Well, after all that shooting, she might not even be invited anymore.
At the cave, Jack asks Desmond if he knows what to do. Desmond says “I go where the light’s brightest”. As they lower Desmond over the edge, Look-a-Locke asks Jack if it seems familiar. He’s referring to when they went into the Hatch for the first time, but that was actually Locke, and not Smokey. Jack says what I’ve been waiting for, “Turns out (Locke) was right about most everything.” Yeah, when I make those t-shirts I’ve got at least one guaranteed sale.
In Timeline X, we’re starting to arrive at the benefit concert. Juliet, David, and Claire arrive together, and I’m just now noticing how tiny Claire is. She’s significantly shorter than David. Maybe it wasn’t always apparent when they were standing on uneven Island ground, but Claire is like a miniature version of a person. Backstage, Charlotte wakes up Charlie – she’s just following instructions. Those instructions? A note sitting on Charlie that says “Bass Player. Wake up for show.” HA! It’s like a hilarious version of a Jacob note. The Shephards end up at Table 23, of course. Kate’s a little freaked out that Claire is there. And me? I’m freaking out that the host for the event is Dr. Marvin Candle. I mean, it seemed likely, but I’m so happy to see him. Faraday is finally playing with Drive Shaft, but unfortunately, we are not treated to a full length version of “You All Everybody”. In fact, Charlie is totally thrown off by the sight of Claire. Claire leaves – not because a Hobbit is staring at her, but because Baby Aaron is kicking away.
In the cave, we see several skeletons. More than a few people have tried to get down there. And as my sister points out, at the Heart of the Island is both science (the electromagnetic forces) and faith (the runes and magic water). Desmond steps into the pool and is immediately blasted with energy. He heads to the center of the pool and pulls a rock out of a hole. And you know what? That’s kind of a phallic rock there. This is not the kind of symbolism that we often see in Lost, but it turns out that at the Heart of the Island, a column of rock is plugging a hole. Once Desmond removes the… rock, the pool drains and the light goes out. The cave starts to shake. Heck, the whole Island starts to shake. Outside, Jack takes a swing at Look-a-Locke, and to everybody’s surprise, he bleeds. No more smoke powers for him! Jack just pounds on him until Look-a-Locke swats him with a rock and runs off.
In Timeline X, Claire is looking for a bathroom in the museum. She runs underneath a shark model hanging from the ceiling. Let’s just call that the final appearance of the Dharma Shark. Kate finds Claire, who is clearly going into labor.
Outside, White Oracle approaches Desmond. Man, everybody is in this episode. I love it. Eloise is mad, and she lectures Desmond that she “made it clear that you were to stop this”. Desmond tells her that they’re leaving, and she asks “Are you going to take my son?”, and Desmond assures her that he isn’t. Well, now we know why she was so upset with Des before. Wherever Desmond is taking everybody, she doesn’t want Daniel to go with them.
Charlie finds Kate and Claire, just as Kate is helping Claire with the delivery. This is Kate’s big wake-up moment, and Claire’s comes right after when she sees Aaron for the first time. Kate, Claire, and Charlie all know one another now and it’s this moment of authentic affection before Desmond shows up and asks if they understand now.
On the Island, thinks are starting to fall apart. A tree falls on Benry, which worries me unduly. Jack calls down the cave for Desmond, while everybody else tries to pull Benry free. Miles contacts them on the walkie-talkie and lets them know they’re working on the plane, so anybody who’s leaving had better get there soon. Benry knows where Look-a-Locke keeps his boat, so suddenly it’s much more important that they get that tree off of him.
Jack follows Look-a-Locke to what I believe is Jacob’s Ladder. The boat is waiting below. And now, it’s time for a good old-fashioned fight. I love how Jack jumps down on him like he’s Wolverine or something. They grapple, but finally Smokey stabs Jack in the side. Soon he’s on top and sinks his blade into Jack’s neck. OK, this looks bad. But there’s a shot, and Smokey falls. It’s Kate, who is very happy that he advised her to save her bullets. Jack kicks him over the edge, and he falls to the rocks below. You know what? It is hard to watch Locke die, even if it’s not really him.
In Timeline X, Jack is ready to wash up after surgery when he sees that neck wound again. You know, the one that matches exactly where Smokey sunk his knife. And then Jack’s plans take a hit when Locke wakes up. He tells Jack that “It worked”, just like Juliet’s last thoughts. He can already feel his legs, and can even move his toes. It shouldn’t have worked that fast. But this is what wakes Locke up. Jack has a quick flash of memory, but he’s not willing to embrace it. He says he’s leaving to see his son, and Locke tells him that he doesn’t have a son. Now Locke is the one telling Jack to let go.
On the Island, Sawyer and Hurley catch up with Jack and Kate. The rain has stopped, but the Island’s still shaking and a huge section of cliff drops into the ocean. It is not looking good for our guys.
Sawyer X arrives at the hospital for a funny scene, because Sun and Jin know everything so it seems to Sawyer like they’re acting crazy. It’s pretty cute, actually.
Back at Hydra Island, Frank’s just about ready, but he needs Miles to check the hydraulics, and it’s awesome. He gives Miles one page of the manual, pliers, and duct tape and tells him to fix it. Dude, Frank is ready to go. Meanwhile, Jack realizes he has to turn the light back on again. He tells everybody else to leave. Benry decides to stay, because the Island is all he ever wanted anyway. Hurley’s staying because he doesn’t even want to try and get to that boat. Kate and Jack have a nice moment as they say goodbye, and profess their love. OK, that worked for me.
On Hydra, Miles has dutifully fixed the hydraulics with duct tape. Kate and Sawyer jump off the cliff to get to the boat, and I think Sawyer’s crazy for diving. Do you know for sure how deep the water is, bro?
Here’s a good scene. Sawyer X and Jack pass in the hall, and Sawyer asks for directions to the vending machine. Note that Sawyer calls Jack “Doc”, even though Jack isn’t in scrubs. Of course the vending machine doesn’t drop the Apollo Bar (and of course it’s an Apollo Bar). Juliet finds him and offers her expertise – unplug the machine so it resets. Guess what? “It worked”. Hey, we’ve heard Juliet say that before. Well, we’ve heard Miles tell us that she though that it worked. Same difference. And then, they both wake up to the other world. Kate finds Jack and he gets another flash of memory and she convinces him to take her somewhere.
Jack, Hurley, and Benry return to the cave. Jack is ready to die, but Hurley just won’t let him. He offers to go down there in his stead, but Jack says that the Island needs Hurley. “It needs to be you”. Hurley finally accepts the responsibility, and Jack offers him communion from a beat up bottle filled with muddy river water. (I tell you, Protestant Communion!) As Benry and Hurley lower Jack into the pit, Frank gets the plane started. Oh, yeah.
Jack finds Desmond, who’s horrified that “it didn’t work”. Desmond says he’s going to go bring back the light, but Jack tells him that he’s done enough. He wants Desmond to go home to his wife and child.
Sawyer and Kate arrive on Hydra and find Claire. She won’t come back because “I can’t let Aaron see me like this”. Kate convinces her that she’ll have help – she won’t have to raise him alone. Claire finally agrees. Aww – she might be salvageable after all.
Jack moves the, you know, stone column back into the hole, but nothing happens. Sawyer and the rest flag Frank down – he lets them on board, and Frank gets that bird into the air. Frank, Richard, Miles, Sawyer, Kate and Claire are on their way home. Yay! Since I thought two of them were dead, this is really a happy turn of events. And I never even imagined circumstances in which Richard would be leaving the Island. Very cool.
As Jack lays at the bottom of the pool, clearly dying, the water very slowly starts to flow again and finally the light comes back on. The rumbling stops – Jack saved the Island! The guy who wanted off more than anybody else, the man who refused to even entertain the notion that there was anything special about the Island, he gave up everything to save it. When the shaking stops, Hurley and Benry pull the rope up, but it’s not Jack they brought to safety – it’s Desmond.
In Timeline X, a taxi arrives at the big fancy church. The driver helps Locke into his wheelchair, and we see Benry waiting for him. Benry apologizes to Locke for what he did, and it’s becoming more and more clear what’s happening here. Benry admits that he was jealous because “You were special, John. And I wasn’t.” Locke forgives him, and it’s great to see the Locke we know and love back again. Locke climbs out of the wheelchair to enter the church, but Benry says he needs to work some things out.
On the Island, Benry thinks that Desmond is going to be OK, but Hurley’s just crushed with grief. Benry convinces Hurley that now he has to do what he does best – help people. Like, help Desmond get back home. Hurley says that people can’t leave the Island, but Benry reminds him that he doesn’t have to run things the way Jacob did. And in another fantastic moment, Hurley asks Benry if he’ll help out – almost like the Richard to his Jacob. And with that, Benry is finally special. The only thing he ever wanted.
In Timeline X, Hurley arrives at the church and sees Benry. Hurley tells him that he was “a real great number two”. Man, I would love to see a show about Hurley and Benry running the Island. Kate and Jack also arrive, and Kate tells him that he’s here for his father’s funeral.
On the Island, Jack wakes up outside the cave. He’s still badly injured though, and he staggers through the jungle.
In a small room in the church, we see icons from every major religious faith. A cross, a menorah, a Buddha statue, Muslim prayer beads. And there’s a coffin. It’s a great callback to Locke’s coffin at the end of Season Three. When Jack touches it, that’s when the memory flows in. He wakes up, but opens the coffin to see that it’s empty. And that’s because Christian Shephard is standing right behind him. They hug and it’s wonderful. Christian explains that they’re both dead – everybody there is dead. But there’s no “now” – some of them died before Jack, and some long after. It’s a place outside time.
Since they shared the most important time in their lives, they’ve been waiting to be reunited in the place that they made together. And this is key, I think, Christian says that “Everything that’s ever happened to you is real”. The events on the Island were not the dream of a dying man – this isn’t Ambrose Bierce. It happened. In fact, whatever happened, happened. He leads Jack out into the church, where the Lostaways are waiting. We see Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sawyer, Juliet, Locke, Boone, Charlie, Shannon, Rose, Bernard, Claire, Sun, Jin, Desmond, Penny, and Libby. There’s at least one baby there who could be Aaron, Baby Charlie, or Ji Yeon. They’re all together again. And as Christian explains, they can all move on to what’s next together. And note that they’re all in the forms that would be most familiar to one another. Since presumably at least Sawyer and Kate could have lived to a ripe old age, they still look the way they did on the Island.
We don’t know what it is that they’re moving to, but it’s presumably some sort of Heaven. It’s interesting that this makes Timeline X a form of purgatory – a place where they wait to move on. (Not the traditional purgatory since there isn’t further judgment awaiting, though.) And note who isn’t there. Miles, Frank, Richard, Charlotte, and Faraday are all absent. Presumably because they had their own afterlife to get to. Michael isn’t there because his spirit is trapped on the Island. And Walt’s not there because, well, maybe this wasn’t the most important time in his life. It was a big deal, but fate had something else for Walt.
What’s deeply sad is that Benry sits it out. He presumably redeemed himself in his service to Hurley and he’s genuinely repentant. But he doesn’t enter the church. Whether he’s too haunted by his guilt (like Jacob) or whether he’s afraid of what awaits him (like Richard), it’s depressing either way.
Also, spunkybuddy Jennifer was really darn close when she suggested that Timeline X was Heaven. I’m in awe.
Now, you can choose to write off all of Timeline X. You can call it Jack’s dream as he staggers out of the cave. You can think of it as a vision he had while bombarded by the light. But I’m going to take it as presented. There’s something a little Muppet Show about everybody showing up in the last act for a big number, but I like it. It’s a nice evocation of Lost’s spiritual themes without being specifically religious. I’ll have more to say upon further reflection I think.
As all this happens, we see Jack limp back to the very spot where the series began. Christian’s white sneaker is hanging from a tree, just the way it did in the first scene of the first episode, and there, Jack lays down to die. Vincent, the one who woke him up in that first scene, lies down beside him. One of the last things Jack sees is a plane passing over safely. It doesn’t need to crash or bring anybody to the Island – that’s how Jacob did things, not Hurley. The cycle continues, but this time with real change. It’s beautifully done.
Rest in peace, Jack. You and I may have had our differences, but you did what you thought was right and you ended up saving the world.
Honestly, I’m pretty wrecked right now, and it is 5 AM. I’ll wrap this up for now and put some final thoughts together after I get some rest.
Good-bye, Lost.
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