here is what it all means (spoilers)
This is how I see the show.
It basically all goes back to Viktor Frankl. He was a Holocaust survivor who wrote a book on how to find meaning in life even in inhuman conditions. While Alan's situation obviously wasn't *as* horrendous, there were actually many parallels to being a prisoner in an extermination camp:
- he knew from the start that he wouldn't get out of there alive
- he knew that he was completely alone and no help was coming
- he realized his suffering did not evoke any sympathy in those around him
- he was forced to dig what would symbolically become his own grave
- when his captor outright announced that he would kill him, he had no way of doing anything to stop it
Now, he could have completely despaired and just fallen into a deep depression. But what did he do instead? He had many epiphanies about himself and his family dynamics, he repaired his broken relationship with his son, and he actually pulled off the most outstanding work of his life! Not only was he able to pinpoint the triggers of this serial killer, but his words and actions had a PERMANENT IMPACT on a psychopath. And he accomplished all that while being a prisoner.
The world did NOT go on entirely unchanged after his death, his death wasn't in vain. His LIFE wasn't in vain, he left a mark. He left the world a better place than it was prior to his kidnapping.
And his being Jewish helped him in this scenario. His people's history was akin to a collective consciousness that gave him direction and propped him up in the most monstrous circumstances of his life.
And I feel that if the show didn't take this slow-burn, contemplative approach, but instead heavy-handedly preached to us about a higher meaning in life, that would have totally defeated the purpose! It worked precisely because everything developed organically and the ideas were only hinted at very subtly. The viewer is really supposed to arrive at any conclusions themselves - the show doesn't spoon-feed you anything.
Honestly I think this is one of the greatest series ever made, and I also think that it's unlike any other series I've seen. I was a bit on the fence up until episode 9, but now all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, and I can understand why actors of this caliber wanted to do it! This couldn't have been a painless experience for them.