MovieChat Forums > Lost (2004) Discussion > For the last time... (SPOILERS)

For the last time... (SPOILERS)

posted 6 years ago by AdamWaldron96-2 (178)
15 replies | jump to latest

I'm sorry for getting upset about this shit, but THEY WEREN'T DEAD THE ENTIRE TIME, AND THE ENTIRE SHOW WASN'T THEM IN PURGATORY! For some reason, everyone I talk to who has heard of this show or seen this show is for some reason under impression that the last 10 minutes of the show revealed that everything we have seen since the very beginning was after the plane crashed. That they all died in the crash, and everything occurred in Purgatory. I'm sorry, but I don't know why so many people believe this when Christian Shepherd made it abundantly clear to Jack at the church what had happened. And if it wasn't clear enough for you, then let me try to simplify that more for you.

Everything really happened except for the flash-sideways of Season 6. The flashbacks of Seasons 1 through 3 happened. The main events happened throughout all 6 seasons happened. The flash-forwards in Season 4 happened. The time travel of Season 5 happened. The only thing that didn't really happen was the flash-sideways of Season 6. The finale of Season 5 didn't create an alternate timeline or change anything. They got transported back to the island from 1977 to present day in the Season 6 premiere and that's it. They tried to alter events, but instead closed a time loop. The whole flash-sideways segments were the only events of the show that occurred in Purgatory after everyone has died. I know to some it still counts in their argument that everyone was dead and in purgatory the whole time, but the flash-sideways segments in total contributed to probably 5, 6 maybe 7 hours out of 121 hours the show provided. So, if you want to get technical, about 4-6% of the show was set in Purgatory. The other 94-96% HAPPENED.

[–] beavis (3249) 6 years ago

I did pretty well and rewatched this but in the flashbacks I was like, oh crap I got to get invested in all these characters backstories now. fastforwarded through the ones I didn't like, like gon and his wife and charlies heroin band troubles with his brother.

[–] AngularTurnip (3333) 6 years ago

Whether the ending was purgatory or not it was still, for me anyway, uninspired, dull, obvious, silly, and painfully unsatisfying. I would have preferred something out of left field -- like the ending of "St. Elsewhere" where we discover the whole show took place inside an autistic kid's snow globe. At least that ending had balls. "Lost"'s ending pandered to those who loved its soapy trappings -- which I absolutely loathed. The time travelling was admittedly fascinating and the ending should have played that up more. Instead, they went with the safest, Hallmark ending they could dream up. Yuck.

[–] AdamWaldron96-2 (178) 6 years ago

I have never seen St. Elsewhere, but I know of it’s ending, and how it’s more confusing when you take the crossovers that show did with other shows, and the crossovers those shows did with other shows, and it’s like all of these shows are inside this kid’s head.

I think the “it was all just a Dream” ending can work for certain pieces of work. The original Phantasm movie used it well I think. Roseanne’s ending I was fine with, but I’d have to rewatch that again. But for this show, personally, I would have been pissed if it was either purgatory or a big dream. 6 years in, and it turns out Jack was in a coma from plane crash? Or turns out Kate had a dream where she had the flashbacks of multiple characters and side characters?

Admittedly, a lot of the show is pointless and stupid once you get into the final season and a plot starts to form after 5 years of bullshit, but it can’t be denied that these guys at ABC and the creators pulled this shit off for 6 years. Quality aside, I’m more annoyed with the people who hate it for the wrong reason, and more than that, how many there are that do.

There are some who I have to explain it to, and then they’re like “oh that makes better sense, I love it now, and it’s not as pointless.” To that I say “No, this show is actually pointless for other reasons. You hated it because you somehow misinterpreted an ending that was not supposed to be interpreted in the first place.” I’ve misinterpreted things that were meant to be interpreted before, but not things that were not meant to be interpreted.

[–] leader (1682) 6 years ago

You said i t! Charlie has the worst backstory ever

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

Nope.

There have been essays and blog posts up the wazoo about this. There is a boatload of evidence that suggests the island and everything that happens is all a dream or an illusion. (See below for one example...)

The whole "it was all real" argument hinges on Christian's one line and Lindeloff's after-the-series comments.

I would suggest that you re-watch the conversation between Christian and Jack again... it's on youtube. The island is never mentioned and the rest of it is deliberately obtuse. Christian explains that while they are both dead at that moment, they are equally real. "Everything that ever happened to you is real" = You were dead for six seasons, but it was as real as you and I right now.

I personally don't care which way people see it... either way, that ending sucked badly.

Personally, I think Lindeloff was full of s**t...

By this point in the series, the mysteries and unresolved side plots had piled up to the point where they couldn't be resolved. I think the showrunners kept the finale as vague as possible so that after the fact they could have it either way. The other writer, Cuse, admitted in an interview that the ending is open to interpretation. (I think it's on youtube somewhere too.) So, even the writers weren't on the same page.

As a sidebar, the post-series epilogue teased everyone when Ben is asked by the Dharma warehouse flunkies how an island can move. Ben, of course, doesn't answer the question. Was he mocking the fans who didn't through the idea that an island that moves through space/time is impossible? Or was he mocking the fans who wanted logical, consistent answers to all the show's mysteries?

You have to decide for yourself...

[–] McQualude (4231) 6 years ago

I just rewatched the show, the explanation that everything actually happened is stupid and doesn't jive with what happened on screen. Doesn't matter what the showrunners said, doesn't matter what the writers said, doesn't matter what you say; it ONLY makes any kind of sense if they were dead the entire time.

[–] gregg325 (215) 6 years ago

"Doesn't matter what the showrunners said"

Yeah why would the people who created the show and know EVERYTHING about it matter? I mean they're only the creators. They know nothing!

[–] McQualude (4231) 6 years ago

Good question but there are actually many reasons. First, a tv show isn't a creative work by a single mind; it's a collaborative effort by thousands of people where many influences work themselves into the show from set design, director decisions, studio interference, nuances in how the actor plays the character, subconscious bias in thousands of little decisions by showrunners and writers, various writer contributions; basically it's a thousand interpretations of an idea over years combined with economic and business concerns combined with studio politics ... it's more like the Bible than a singular work like Dune or LOTR. It also assumes the showrunners actually had a concrete idea and didn't just willy-nilly makes things up season by season (which they did). So when it comes to the finished product, the showrunner's opinion of what it is, means very little.

[–] gregg325 (215) 6 years ago

Just because a lot of people are working on it doesn't mean they all have different ideas of what the show is. They all work towards the same goal and in Lost that goal was the characters didn't die in the crash. You can spin it how you want but it never happened. Just listen to what Christian Shephard says. He literally explains that everything happened in Jacks life actually happened. This is just the meeting place (purgatory) with the most important people in his life. So if you don't want to trust the writers then trust what happens in the show.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

who cares what did or didnt happen . or why . The writers obviously didnt. They should have finished with "....and it was all a dream" with one of the cast (or better still a little lap-dog in a hand bag ) waking up on the not-crashing plane and looking around to see some of the other cast members.
just to really annoy the audience.

I managed to bail at the start of the last season when i got a whisper of the purgatiry thing . no point watching after that.

[–] AdamWaldron96-2 (178) 6 years ago

I got roped into the hype of the show during its 4th or 5th season. Binge watched all the way up til midway through season 5, and watched it live from then to the very last episode of season 6. I, like everyone else, would very much like my time back.

[–] Moonglum9 (10702) 6 years ago

Not many who watched the show actually believes they were dead the whole time, but I have noticed that there are some people who like to post that they were just to get others riled up.

[–] McQualude (4231) 6 years ago

The idea that it was all "real" didn't become dominant until a decade after the show ended when the showrunners made that claim. Prior to that, there were a number of theories but purgatory was one of the most popular.

[–] Moonglum9 (10702) 6 years ago

The show ended in 2010, so it hasn't even been a decade since it ended. I do remember during the show's run about the purgatory and all being dead being popular theories though. But they did say it straight out during the finale what had happened was real.

[–] [deleted] 6 years ago

" The other 94-96% HAPPENED."

oh , so not bullshit purgatory get-out wrap up - but no explanation of anything then? :p