Sephiroth
Causa Scientiae
- Joined
- Sep 9, 2007
- Messages
- 2,608
Emotionally, and character-wise, I found the ending very satisfying. Moving, even.
Intellectually, logically, and in terms of the external plot, it was a huge let-down.
If you haven't seen the ending, yet, I wouldn't recommend that you read any further. Having said that, if you haven't seen the ending, yet, then why are you reading this thread?
BEWARE, SPOILERS BELOW!
I wouldn't have minded the ending being what it was, if they had given us something in the way of a meaningful conclusion to the external plot, first. If they had at least answered some of our questions about the Island, about what the hell it was really all about.
We are left to guess as to the nature of the Island. What is it; what was its origin; whence came the original 'protector' (the 'midwife', or someone long before her?) and why; what is the significance of the light, etc, etc?
Is it really the case that the light going out meant the end of the world? And thus, by rekindling it, did Jack save the world? Or was this simply something Jacob believed, having been told it by his 'mother', but which was not, in fact, true? Was it only the Island which would cease to exist? Is this what the shot of the Island underwater in the 'flash-sideways' was trying to say?
Was the Smoke Monster really nothing more than Jacob's brother's disembodied 'soul'? Did nothing of the sort exist prior to Jacob 'creating' it by throwing his brother into the light? And if so, what's with the carving of a smoke monster with Anubis, beneath the Temple? How did the Egyptian ruins come to be there? (Since they would seem to hint at a deeper history.)
Alternatively, was time travel involved, so that the Egyptian timeline postdates the appearance of the monster? And what's with all the time travel in the series, anyway? What's the point, if -- as others have pointed out -- the whole 'creating a parallel timeline' was a red herring?
Was the whole time travel thing just a contrived way to show us the heyday of the Dharma Initiative?
And what was really the point of the Dharma Initiative? In fact, what was the point of any of the battles for control of the Island? The entire Widmore thread went nowhere in the end. What was the point in moving the Island, since Widmore seemed to find it again, easily enough?
As for the 'Numbers' -- they were revealed in the The Lost Experience to be 'the core values of an equation that predicts the end of humanity'. The writers even spoke of them in this way, in the past. Then, seemingly, they decided that was too complicated, and they didn't want anything to do with trying to explain them, any more. They would remain an unexplained mystery, adding to the show's mystique. Now, apparently, they've reduced that to, "Jacob just liked them." Way to cop out, guys!
I agree that Richard's episode was disappointing, and that the episode 'Across the Sea', detailing the history of Jacob and the Man In Black, was terrible. Now that it's all they've given us, I can hardly believe they left us with something so lame as the only real exposition of the deeper history and mythology of the Island.
If everything just comes down to the characters being caught in a struggle between two brothers who were once 'normal', but came to have supernatural powers representing 'light' and 'darkness', then surely we deserve some explanation as to the origin and nature of those powers, and the significance of the Island itself in this story?
Right up to the final episode, I was honestly still clinging to the hope that the writers would confound my doubts -- that they'd pull off something uniquely clever that tied up most of the loose ends, answered the most burning questions, and left us in awe of their vision, like, "Wow!"
It didn't happen.
I'm glad I watched the show. It was a great ride. It's very well-made, and it kept me interested all the way to the end. There were certainly bad episodes, but most of it was good, and I really enjoyed it. In the main, it had memorable characters, and interesting storylines which were great at building a sense of mystery and suspense. Most of the writing was good.
Production values, acting quality, musical score, and episode structure were all excellent. Seasons 2 and 3 had a bit of 'filler' in them, but the pacing was very tight through 4 & 5. Season six was disappointing, and a real missed opportunity.
They wasted the potential to create something brilliant. With the right ending, it could have been outstanding. I wouldn't even have minded them ending it the way they did, if they had just given us the answers we craved about the other aspects of it. It's fine to have the characters' stories end the way they did, but not without bringing all (or, at least, most of) the questions about the Island to a satisfying conclusion, too.
I would still recommend it to people. It will still go down as a great TV show. It does so many things so well that it's definitely worth watching.
But it isn't what I hoped it would be.
Intellectually, logically, and in terms of the external plot, it was a huge let-down.
If you haven't seen the ending, yet, I wouldn't recommend that you read any further. Having said that, if you haven't seen the ending, yet, then why are you reading this thread?
BEWARE, SPOILERS BELOW!
I wouldn't have minded the ending being what it was, if they had given us something in the way of a meaningful conclusion to the external plot, first. If they had at least answered some of our questions about the Island, about what the hell it was really all about.
We are left to guess as to the nature of the Island. What is it; what was its origin; whence came the original 'protector' (the 'midwife', or someone long before her?) and why; what is the significance of the light, etc, etc?
Is it really the case that the light going out meant the end of the world? And thus, by rekindling it, did Jack save the world? Or was this simply something Jacob believed, having been told it by his 'mother', but which was not, in fact, true? Was it only the Island which would cease to exist? Is this what the shot of the Island underwater in the 'flash-sideways' was trying to say?
Was the Smoke Monster really nothing more than Jacob's brother's disembodied 'soul'? Did nothing of the sort exist prior to Jacob 'creating' it by throwing his brother into the light? And if so, what's with the carving of a smoke monster with Anubis, beneath the Temple? How did the Egyptian ruins come to be there? (Since they would seem to hint at a deeper history.)
Alternatively, was time travel involved, so that the Egyptian timeline postdates the appearance of the monster? And what's with all the time travel in the series, anyway? What's the point, if -- as others have pointed out -- the whole 'creating a parallel timeline' was a red herring?
Was the whole time travel thing just a contrived way to show us the heyday of the Dharma Initiative?
And what was really the point of the Dharma Initiative? In fact, what was the point of any of the battles for control of the Island? The entire Widmore thread went nowhere in the end. What was the point in moving the Island, since Widmore seemed to find it again, easily enough?
As for the 'Numbers' -- they were revealed in the The Lost Experience to be 'the core values of an equation that predicts the end of humanity'. The writers even spoke of them in this way, in the past. Then, seemingly, they decided that was too complicated, and they didn't want anything to do with trying to explain them, any more. They would remain an unexplained mystery, adding to the show's mystique. Now, apparently, they've reduced that to, "Jacob just liked them." Way to cop out, guys!
I agree that Richard's episode was disappointing, and that the episode 'Across the Sea', detailing the history of Jacob and the Man In Black, was terrible. Now that it's all they've given us, I can hardly believe they left us with something so lame as the only real exposition of the deeper history and mythology of the Island.
If everything just comes down to the characters being caught in a struggle between two brothers who were once 'normal', but came to have supernatural powers representing 'light' and 'darkness', then surely we deserve some explanation as to the origin and nature of those powers, and the significance of the Island itself in this story?
Right up to the final episode, I was honestly still clinging to the hope that the writers would confound my doubts -- that they'd pull off something uniquely clever that tied up most of the loose ends, answered the most burning questions, and left us in awe of their vision, like, "Wow!"
It didn't happen.
I'm glad I watched the show. It was a great ride. It's very well-made, and it kept me interested all the way to the end. There were certainly bad episodes, but most of it was good, and I really enjoyed it. In the main, it had memorable characters, and interesting storylines which were great at building a sense of mystery and suspense. Most of the writing was good.
Production values, acting quality, musical score, and episode structure were all excellent. Seasons 2 and 3 had a bit of 'filler' in them, but the pacing was very tight through 4 & 5. Season six was disappointing, and a real missed opportunity.
They wasted the potential to create something brilliant. With the right ending, it could have been outstanding. I wouldn't even have minded them ending it the way they did, if they had just given us the answers we craved about the other aspects of it. It's fine to have the characters' stories end the way they did, but not without bringing all (or, at least, most of) the questions about the Island to a satisfying conclusion, too.
I would still recommend it to people. It will still go down as a great TV show. It does so many things so well that it's definitely worth watching.
But it isn't what I hoped it would be.
