Lost Finale

[sdelmonte]

Overall, a gripping and surprising two hours, but not as good as the last two finales, and with some serious flaws.

Let's get to the one really stupid thing first: the sudden retcon of Juliet having commitment issues because her parents divorced. Clumsy flashback, clumsy change to her personality. It's a good thing that the rest of the show is good enough to absorb something bad once in a while. And I think we are used to Juliet being an inconsistently written character, even if Elizabeth Mitchell does a good job with the role. Never mind that Juliet gets the big moment at the end.

The addition of Jacob to the lives of virtually everyone else is odd. Not bad, just odd. Is it necessary? I can't say yet, but I am not sure we need one more element added to what has become such a complex tree of connections between Ben, Widmore, Richard, Dharma, the Oceanic Six, and so on. Clearly, the tale of Jacob and the person labeled by ABC "Man #2" will be the last piece in play, though.

I also had trouble with everyone lining up behind Jack. It was too easy, and I wonder why Miles' objection was pretty much ignored. The fight between Jack and Sawyer was great. Sawyer in general was great. Since "LaFleur," Josh Holloway has been at the top of his game and as dominant an actor as Terry O'Quinn or Michael Emerson.

Indeed, the bulk of the episode was well acted, well paced, gripping, and I didn't see a lot coming. I surely didn't see that Locke was not Locke, though I think the clues were there. I loved finding Rose and Bernard (and Vincent), happy and mature. I loved seeing Miles save his dad, and seeing his dad being a lot more sensible than poor Radzinsky, destined to make up for his mistake by pushing that button for the next 25 years. I liked Frank being the voice of reason. I liked Richard in both 1977 and 2007. I was on the edge of my seat as the incident began. I felt for Sawyer as he couldn't let go of Juliet, and for Ben as 35 years of dedication and frustration came to a head.

And of course I am now on tenterhooks about what happened at the end. Will everything be rewritten and the last season turns into something else (again)? Did everyone in 1977 die? What this what was supposed to happen? Why do we have to wait till January for any answers? Who is Man #2, and is he also the voice of the Island and of all those dead people? What's up with Jacob? Will Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn be nominated for Emmy Awards again? Who is Ilana, and were we supposed to be reminded of Mikhail? How will it end?

Bottom line: I still love this show, and think that the chances it can finish up well are still very good. So much can still go off-kilter, but the overall success of this season tells me that I should probably just trust Damon and Carlton and BKV and the rest.

ETA: I suggest that Lostaholics head over to Entertainment Weekly's website and read the extensive and thought-provoking analysis of the finale by Jeff "Doc" Jensen. He usually does a good job with this, but I think he tops himself, and he points out a few things I should have picked up on.

Comments

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I think I'm pretty much with you on everything, although I didn't mind the Juliet flashback.

Paul Levinson claimed that the fake Locke is a shape-shifting Man #2 from the beginning of the episode. I'm not sure where he got that from, so I asked him on his blog.

[buongiornodaisy.livejournal.com]

At the beginning of the episode the other man (some are calling him Esau) asked Jacob if he knew how much he wanted to kill him, and Jacob, I think, mentioned something about a loophole. Presumably "Esau"/Man #2 inhabiting Locke's body and manipulating Ben to kill Jacob is the loophole.

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

That's certainly possible, and evidence points to it, but it doesn't seem like enough proof to make the statement a certainty.

I suspect Esau will end up being his name, yes.

[buongiornodaisy.livejournal.com]

Well, Jacob did say to "Locke" in the last scene something along the lines of "I guess you found your loophole."

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

Aha! That would be the proof, then. But given the two hours that passed between, no wonder I missed it. I suspect I'm not the only one.

[buongiornodaisy.livejournal.com]

No worries. I missed bits of Jacob and "Esau"'s conversation at the beginning and only pieced together what I missed by reading post-episode discussion.

[sdelmonte]

Batya and I immediately shot down calling him Esau. Too obvious.

We also tried "the Other" (as in Books of Magic) but that would be confusing. I suggested "The First" since he seems to have the same "become dead people" thing that The First on Buffy did, only more so. And since he is officially called "Man #2" I tried out "Number 2" as on The Prisoner.

For now, we are sticking with Man #2, but fandom will come up with something, I am sure.

[buongiornodaisy.livejournal.com]

I think fandom's sticking with Esau (and the name used for this character on the casting call: Samuel).

[sdelmonte]

I might go with the Man in Black if only because of the Stephen King reference.

[buongiornodaisy.livejournal.com]

I want this year to be Ben/Juliet year at the Emmys. Elizabeth Mitchell knocked that out of the ballpark.