Thoughts on Lost (10 Years Later)
I’m literally just writing this for me and Poppy because nobody else cares and I’m never using Tumblr again.
Season 6 of Lost is one of the weakest. Watching it years later I experienced very mixed feelings- mostly see-sawing between utter joy (the flash-sideways scenes) and a kind of confused boredom (most of what happened on the island). There was clearly not enough plot to last 18 episodes, so this last season is wrought with back-stepping and repetition. The team go one way, they go another way, they join Locke, they leave Locke, they join Jack, they leave Jack. In between a few people die and some action happens, which is exciting. Things that could have been much more cool, impactful, or well-designed were left vague, which would be forgivable if, you know, there was too much happening. But there wasn’t. Widmore and most of his people are killed arbitrarily, rendering a lot of what they did all season meaningless. The latter half of the season is mostly the 6 or 7 remaining main characters walking around, standing, and talking, as the myriad threats and mysteries motivating them to do so dwindle down to zero.
That said, the finale is still excellent. I believe now, just as I did when I first saw it, that it is brilliant, sincere, and wonderful. People who don’t like the finale should have got off the boat a long time ago. I will not debate it. If you don’t like the finale you don’t like Lost and/or Lindelof’s style of storytelling and that’s ok. Just shut up about it though.
The Richard flashback episode fucking SLAPS but the ancient Jacob childhood one is, sadly, very bad on the rewatch. It doesn’t hold a torch (HA) to the caveman season opener of The Leftovers.
Speaking of Leftovers, one of the coolest things about rewatching Lost was seeing it in the context of Lindelof and co’s later accomplishments. You can draw a perfect line from the last episode of Lost to the last season of The Leftovers. The themes of human connectedness, spirituality, storytelling, lies, choices, and belief are all there but he’s got better at conveying them.
Anyway yeah I’m done now.
RIP JULIET
I LOVE YOU JULIET
X JULIET AND SAWYER 4EVER X
