“And, in the end, the love you take/Is equal to the love you make.”

The answers don’t matter. Walt was special; I don’t need to know why. Babies couldn’t be conceived and born on the Island; maybe it was one of Jacob’s rules. All that matters are these characters, and that’s why 12 hours later, I am still very, very sad, but satisfied.

I read that Matthew Fox described the finale as “beautiful,” and that’s exactly what it was. It was a celebration of the show that some many had come to love and obsess over and it proved that it was worthy of all that adoration. The final sequence on the Island with Jack and Vincent is something that’s going to stick with me for quite sometime. The decision to end the show on Jack’s smile and then his closed eye was beautiful poetry.

I look forward to rewatching the whole series knowing what it all leads to and puzzling out the mysteries again. Right now, I can’t think of any answers that I need to know, maybe because there aren’t any, maybe because I was so moved by the finale that my emotions are clouding my intellect. And that makes me think that it was a perfect finale. What I really think though, is that over the length of the series, we got enough clues to interpret all the mysteries in a logical manner. And I kinda think that’s better than outright answers.

I think this is a show that will lead to days and weeks and months and years of discussion. I don’t know if I am able to come up with any definitive conclusions right now, but I will try.

The sideways world = purgatory: I suppose that is the easiest understanding of that world, but Christian did say that Jack and his friends created this world. My initial reaction was that it was Hurley’s doing as Island protector, and after sitting with that, I think that’s an interpretation I could get behind.

Ben noted that the old rules were Jacob’s rules and now that Hurley is protector, he can make his own rules. So what if this sideways world was a Hurley construct? Knowing that all the people brought to the Island were broken and needed “fixing,” he created a place where their souls could go to find peace before moving on. The Island is a metaphor for God (or whatever you want to call it) and Hurley and Ben are its protectors/mouthpieces/agents. They do not exploit the Island as has been done in the past (even by Jacob), but they use its powers to completely heal and cure those that they care so much about.

And really, could there be a better protector of the Island than Hurley? Presumably, he was eventually replaced on the Island, but I imagine in his time there, he did not just protect, but used (not abused) the Island for the good of mankind. I’d like to think that Desmond eventually went home to Penny and Charlie, that Rose and Bernard lived peacefully on the Island until they died, and Ben who never really had anyone, helped Hurley as he moved toward redemption that he (still) does not feel he has reached.

When the show began, we learned about a group of flawed, “lost” individuals who were in need of healing, in both the literal and figurative sense. The Island was able to do that for them because they all played a part in doing the same for the Island. Beginning from Mother’s reign as protector, the Island was heading for disaster. Her philosophy destroyed her children and the Island became a place to be protected, rather than shared. With Hurley’s ascendance, the dark era of the Island has ended, and it is finally able to be treated as a gift and a part of humanity, rather than the forbidden fruit that Mother and Jacob treated it as.

But those are just my initial thoughts. I think as I have more space from it, I’ll be able to better articulate my understanding of the show. My favorite thing about the finale though was that so much was left undefined and open it interpretation, so I will always have MY understanding of the show. Even if Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse told me that I was way off base, I’d still be happy with my understanding and experience watching the show. And that makes for a great finale.

And I’ve gotten this far without even looking at the three pages of notes that I took last night, so let’s see if I can make sense of those:

Desmond’s role? I think that Island Desmond thought that he was already dead, and if he did what he did, he could finally move on and be at peace. (Which would explain why he was so unbothered by everything and always so smirky, which I have to say I LOVED.) I wonder if when he got hit with that electromagnetism from Widmore, if Island Desmond and Sideways Desmond were actually of the same mind. I also think that Jack really didn’t know what was going to happen if he sent Des down to the heart of the Island – I think that the only thing that he knew is that it would make MIB mortal again.

A list of nods/winks:
- Kate laughing at Christian’s name.
- Sawyer noting Kate’s tendency to follow.
- Sawyer calling Hurley “Bigfoot” – one more for old-times sake?
- “I think you’re a good guy, Sayid” – Hurley
- “Nothing is irreversible” – Kate
- Table 23
- “See you in another life, brother.” – Jack’s last on-Island line, in another bit of perfect poetry.

All the Sideways World was really rocking, both on the emotional catharses and many, many laughs.

Hurley trying to use the tranq gun to “wake up” Sayid was rather amusing.

I was so, so happy to see Rose, Bernard and Vincent, and that they all seemed to be happy. And I know that Darlton said that MIB proved he was the bad guy when he pulled his submarine trick, but I think that he really proved his jerkiness by threatening Rose & Bernard. That actually made me angry and I would have been so pissed if he had killed either or both of them. That said, that standoff scene between him and Des was pretty intense.

The first sideways scene that wrecked me was Sun/Jin/Juliet scene. That alone was worth the price of admission and set the template for the tears/laughter that was to follow in nearly every Sideways scene.

I’m glad that Richard wasn’t dead and that he gets to have some sort of life off-Island.

In other news, Lapidus is alive too! (And Sawyer called him “Chesty” again!) When Miles and Richard found him, whose body was that floating nearby? Jin?

“That’s a helluva long con, Doc.” – Sawyer. Yes indeed, especially since it seemed that he really didn’t know what he was doing. I guess that some with being a man of faith.

“It was a pain in the ass getting her here from Australia” – Boone “Yeah, but it was worth it” – Hurley. Truth be told, I do prefer Sayid with Nadia, but as a way to connect Sayid to the Island, I think Shannon is appropriate.

“I was shot by a fat man.” – Charlie

From the moment Charlie noticed Claire from the stage, I felt like I was fighting the tears, and then Aaron’s (second) birth scene really got me. Claire and Charlie never ranked very high on my couples list, but that scene was very well done.

Jack’s neck cut: Now that was a nice answer to a question I wasn’t even asking. I’m also guessing that the appendix scar wasn’t just an appendix scar, but foreshadowing to his stab in the gut.

That Sawyer/Jin/Sun scene was a laugh riot. The knowing glances that Jin and Sun shared, the smirks and hysterical line readings (“Detective”).

“I saved you a bullet.” – Kate. Good to see Kate really ending the show on a high note in both worlds. Her takedown of MIB and then her jumping off the cliff were nice reminders of the strong character she used to be (actually is?)

I was even moved by Jack and Kate stuff. Like I said a great episode for Kate, and Evangeline Lilly really did great work, but Matthew Fox was fantastic as well. I’m mourning Jack today and still getting teary remembering his last scene with Vincent, and that’s due to both the writers “fixing” Jack this season and the great season-long work Fox did this year.

“I don’t believe in a lot of things, but I do believe in duct tape.” - Miles

But, of course, the show saved two of its best scenes (ever?) for the last portion of the episode. That Sawyer/Juliet scene messed me up something fierce and it was so, so well-played by Josh Holloway and Elizabeth Mitchell – makes me realize even more so how wasted she has been on “V.” Sawyer had a few quick lines that were at the same time heart-breaking and funny. Him repeating “I gotcha” still hurts today and his reply “You got it, Blondie” was a happy callback to the very best thing about season 5.

And then there was the Sideways Ben/Locke scene outside of the church: one last hurrah for two of the best actors that the show featured. In an episode filled with many, many moments of catharsis, Ben apologizing to Locke and being as open and honest as we’ve ever seen him, may have been the most freeing. And that smile on Terry O’Quinn is just pure happiness and relief. Another one of the very many things I will miss.

Something I will never quite understand about Lost fandom is the reaction to the finale that “I’m just glad it’s over.” I understand that the show is not for everyone, but why if it was such a chore, would you watch 120 hours (or however many it was) just because you felt you had to? I went into the finale knowing that love, like or hate it, it wasn’t going to retroactively destroy the 100+ hours of a show that I did love. I’m very happy that I loved the finale, and I absolutely can see how someone could hate it, but why would you watch something and invest so much time to something that you were never really going to enjoy anyway? It’s seems like some people did it so they could say, “Lost sucked and I know because I watched the whole thing!” That just seems counter-intuitive.

Time to stop; maybe I’ll post more after I have more time to digest, maybe I won’t. I just know that I’m glad they ended on their own terms. I’ll miss Lost and all those characters a whole lot, but I’m happy that they didn’t overstay their welcome and went out on a really high note.