REVIEW THE END

It is still hard to reconcile Season 6 with the previous 5 season.

The sideways parallel story arc was such a diversion that the island events really did not matter.

Renew, release, let go. Yesterday's gone. There's nothing you can do to bring it back. You can't "should've" done something. You can only DO something. Renew yourself. Release that attachment. Today is a new day! — Steve Maraboli

The above life-coach speech is about as close as we can come to trying to figure out what the heck was so important about the sideways purgatory.

Was the island a place where the main characters went to get "renewed?" All of them had personal issues, secrets and personal angst about their lives. None of the characters went to Australia on "vacation," as their were missions to accomplish like Bernard trying to find a Hail Mary cancer cure for Rose, or Boone rescuing Shannon from another bad boyfriend. People get away from it all to relax, re-think their life goals, and recharge their mental batteries. It is supposed to release the build up stress, confusion and anger that dwells inside us all.  But a plane crash and dangerous island is no Club Med.

Was the island a place where the main characters went to "release" something? Initially, they all wanted to go home, be rescued. Then it was a means of survival as a group. But slowly, some like Locke, decided that the island was their new "home" and they did not want to leave. To abandon one's old life for the uncertainty of an island existence is not very logical. It merely shifts the stress, anger and angst from the old life to the new one.

Was the island a place where the main characters went to "let go" of their personal baggage? Apparently not, since Jack was still haunted by the ghost of dead father. He only "resolved" his father issues in the sideways church scene with a simple hug. It was in the sideways world where light bulbs went off in character's heads - - -  to let go of something, to "awaken" to their own mortality.

So the lesson is not clear. How did the island adventures prepare the main characters to accept and acknowledge their own deaths? There was no simple revelation in the sideways fantasy world to show that significant change. In fact, one could argue that the harmony of the sideways world was much better on the main characters egos and mental stability than the island time.  If the sideways world was a more calm and orderly place, was that their true heaven?

When we review the ending of the series, there is no clear message. There is no life-coach takeaway speech. It is just a gathering of people. People who were connected before Flight 815 but in the sideways world not connected at all. What is disturbing in the ending is that none of the characters were upset, shocked or nervous about the fact that their blissful sideways lives were allegedly fake. Considering the complex sideways world was the world which would have happened if the crash did not happen, we assume that all the sideways people lived out this life for many, many years before awakening at the church. All the connections those souls made in the sideways world had no value - - - such as Jack to his son, David. Why was not David at the church with his dad?

It was a matter of convenience not to address these clear concerns. And this is what still bothers many fans of the show. When Season 6 took a U-turn to create the sideways world, the writers needed to clearly explain why they needed to do so in order to wrap up the island adventure. Instead, the island time is completely separate. The sideways story is also completely separate. One did not need the other to exist to tell the story. And once this sideways arc was introduced, should have been a way to better integrate its meaning into the island story arc than fabricating a happy ending.

In researching the post-Season 6 theories, I found one commentator's viewpoint of the series as it reached its halfway point:

LOST is actually a TV show with a simple storyline that becomes increasingly absurdly complex, like a Rube Goldberg machine. The purpose is to suck viewers in with a mysterious plot by never giving away a sensible storyline.

So this is not theory, but a criticism of the show.

Despite the shows allusions to philosophers and religions, LOST actually has the intellectual content of a sitcom, and its success is the result of expensive special effects, competent acting, and well paid writers.

It would be a fallacy to actually have a logical theory or truth to the show, because this is not the point of the show, rather the point is for viewers to trying to find the plot, which is half of the entertainment, but the actual "truth" behind LOST is meaningless.

Perhaps the actual truth is guarded so well because it does not exist because it is so empty.

Think about the episodes. Although the show tries to move fast to avoid it, the fact is, if anyone was trapped in a place with mysterious goings on occurring all the time, the one question people would ask the most is WHY. Why is there a monster, why are we here, why are the others kidnapping us? Unfortunately the question WHY almost never turns up. Instead, in an unrealistic way, characters appear constantly driven in the episodes to respond to various emergencies and events without much thought, as if they have no agency or ability to decide for themselves. Any intelligent person who experienced the island like the characters on the show would observe that it appeared that their actions were futile, because it appeared something else has power over them (the monster, "hallucinations", "sailing in circles") and then would stop performing because they more or less realize their actions are useless, and instead start asking questions such as WHY and refusing to cooperate.

This becomes increasingly absurd as the third season progresses, because now the main characters are in direct contact with the others. A few WHY questions from the characters, "Why are you here, why do you want us, etc," would be the obvious logical thing to say, but this never seems to come up. This is because the premise is so thin that the plot could not withstand any satisfactory answers to a WHY question, and these questions are always avoided.

 It is still a valid criticism of the show. Even Jacob's answer to why he chose his candidates was a hollow throwaway line. And Jacob never stated why the island needed to be protected in the first place. Or how to defeat the smoke monster/MIB. Or why, as an immortal being, he washes his hands of everything. Or why does Ben, of all people, deserve a second chance. Or why most of the people in the sideways church had none of their family members present to help them along in the after life.


Many fans were looking for "how" things were related in the series story lines, but "why" things happened is just as important. Both were not addressed in the end.