The Velvet StraitJacket

Well, we all saw it didn’t we? Are you satisfied or still wanting more? I think I’m good with the ending. I think I’ve had every question I needed answers to, answered. I would like to know why the kids were stolen in the 1st season or if the list of names the “Others” had was Jacob’s candidate list. But the rest? We know. We know what the island was, we know why they were brought to the island, we know why Jacob picked them. We even know why Widmore wanted to get back to the island the last time(to bring Desmond), but we don’t if he was truly evil or just a pawn like Ben was. But you know what? I don’t need to know any of that.

There is a lot to say about what we saw last night and here are my thoughts on it, I hope that maybe they help you find your slice of peace with the ending.

Most importantly, I do not think they were dead when we 1st met them on the island, although babies couldn’t be born so maybe they were, but I just I don’t want to think of it that way. That way does make it too “Newhart” and I don’t like that. So I believe when we came across them, immediately after the crash of Oceanic 815, they were living.

I think the end of the ‘real’ that we were allowed to see was after Juliet made the bomb go off. That set everything ‘right’  and the Losties went on to live their lives until _____.   Some died before others, but eventually they all died.We just never saw how they went on because it was only the island that mattered. I think the lives we saw of the O6 was real and some probably went back to those lives after they left the island. But once against the only thing that mattered was the island.

It could also be that the ‘real’ we never saw was after that last flight off the island. Kate,Sawyer,Miles, Frank, Claire.. they were it, what was left of the true survivors and we never saw their lives after they got back home. This is what I am leaning towards more and more. It just feels more ‘right’.   I know Frank and Miles weren’t on the island for the original crash, but they were on it when Juliet blew it up. They were just as much a part of the show as any of the others at that point. When they left, they left Jack alive (barely), Hurley,Ben,Desmond,Rose, Benard and Vincent all alive on the island where they wanted to be. We know there was ways off the island, so I’m sure that Ben showed Hurley how to send Desmond home.

The ‘when they lived/when they died’ will be left open to any and all interpretations.. That’s the legacy Abrams and Carlton have left us. But the ‘alt’ lives has been answered and given to us in a neat little, but powerfully emotional package. What we saw were each ones own journey to fix what they felt needed to be fixed, or pay what needed to be paid  and when they had achieved their goal, they were finally touched by someone who had innocuously been in their life all along only until that moment, that moment when they were ‘ready’… and while it seemed to us that it was all in ‘real time’ and all at once, it was really spread out over each of their varying lifetimes, but since they were all connected, each other was in each others life..

This season was their quest to ‘pass on’ because all had died at sometime and that time is not relevant; it could have been 1 month after getting off the island or 50 years, but ‘heaven’ (figuratively speaking) is where you were happiest in your life  and until they could feel they deserved that happiness they were ‘damned’ to live in the ‘alt’ world. Once they finally finished whatever it was they felt they needed to do, ahhh once they were redeemed in their own eyes.. well, then they were able to meet up with the rest of friends, who had been waiting for them the whole time.

Kate needed to reunite Claire and Aaron.
Claire needed to be reunited with Aaron/Charlie.
Lock needed to get over his dad and walking again.
Ben needed to help Alex because he didn’t help her before.
Sayid needed to save Nadia and make sure she stayed safe.
Jack needed to find peace with his dad.
Jin/Sun needed to really find each other
Hurley needed to help Libby.

I’m not sure what Sawyer’s was or Juliet’s. Maybe it was him finding her because she ‘really’ died on the island that day and was already at peace or redeemed and she was the one waiting for him to realize he could move on. This feels right to me.

All the  ‘alt’ worlds were of each persons own creations. They weren’t necessarily all going on at the same time. Kate’s could have been 15 years before Sayid’s death and 3 years after Sawyer’s,but they were a part of her ‘happiness’ so they still showed up in her world.  It wasn’t until Desmond, call him ‘God’s bellhop’ showed her the way that she realized she was dead and then she went to the meeting place to wait for the others… the last one who showed up, was Jack. That didn’t mean he was the last to die though, it just meant it took him longer to redeem himself in his own eyes.

We saw everyone’s ‘purgatory’ (I don’t like that word, it cheapens the idea.. but it’s the only word that works for right now) through their eyes and also saw how they finally realized what was going on. We assume that it was all in order and immediately after the island when the truth is, some had been there longer than others and some were not ready to be there at all yet.. (Ben, Ana Lucia)

It was a good ending, apropos to the series, and a great ‘combining’ of the two worlds. It was sad as hell, I cried so many times my eyes are still puffy and yet, I am not totally satisfied. I’ll watch it again in the next few weeks after I’ve had time to digest it all and see if I can get to 100% satisfied though. It’s not that the answers I needed were left open, it’s not that people I needed to be redeemed weren’t,  I think it’s just because that was simply The End and that is what I am unsatisfied with, I don’t want it to be The End.

But maybe that was the whole point.

As Howie’s said.. The end is upon us. Lost is ending. 3 words have never elicited such expectation,sadness and fear in so many.

I admit, when Lost first started, I was not a fan. In fact, I didn’t even watch the 1st season. It just wasn’t something that seemed like I would get into. C’mon guys, a bunch of people get stranded on a desert island after a plane crash? Ugh, I’ve seen Cast away and I’ve read Lord of the flies.. why do I need to watch a mediocre version of either? It wasn’t until the second season was starting up that I started to get interested in what I was hearing. The buzz about the island was such that any ‘X-files’ fan was sure to get their curiosity pique in some way, and I did.  So I went down to Blockbuster and rented the entire 1st season. I think it was the 3rd episode that I was so far hooked on to the crack-like drama/mystery that I was forever damned to lose my Wednesday nights. (I know, this changed to Tuesday). I gave them up happily though because the shared experience was something that will stay with me forever.

It’s been a fan-fucking-tastic journey and one that I will deeply miss. I will miss it not just because of the show, but what the show gave me. It gave me  extraordinary and unforgettable moments with my daughters. Each and every episode we watched together and OHHHHH,AHHHHH, OhMyGOD!!! at together. It was the only show were we all got together to sit down an watch.  That wasn’t as difficult in the beginning as is got to be at the end. The girls were  younger then but as the show grew up, so did they. Now, one has graduated high school, is 18 and wanting to have her own life. The other is 13 and wanting to explore her teenage life.  A lot of things have gone the way of the dodo while they find their lives, but when the question of “Hey mom, can I  go out for awhile” comes up, I only have to say “It’s Tuesday” and there isn’t a single argument or hard feeling about missing that night out with friends.

Lost was able to give me more than just an exciting night, it was able to give me time with two kids who are growing up and wanting to break away from ‘mommy and daddy’. It’s special to me because of the hours of shared time it gave and great conversations it produced with them.  We ‘ooo’d’ and ‘aaaahh’d’ together. We’re red-blooded American women, how couldn’t we?

It was because of people like Howie and Andy from DarkUfo I was able to get spoilers,information and back-stories so I could share them before and during each episode. It truly was a great experience and  so it’s not just sadness that the story is ending that has me blue, it’s the end of a family gathering that was special in a way that  cannot be reproduced.

My children are growing up, the oldest has graduated high school and will be starting college, the days of having both my girls home at the same time, interested in the same thing, sitting quietly without fights and arguments watching the same thing and sharing in it’s moments  also ends tonight at 11:30pm. Tonight is more than just an end to an amazing TV show, it is the end of that ‘link’.

OK, I know there will other special moments with my girls in the days and years to come, but this was extra- special …My girls were 13 and 8 when this started, and that is something I will never get back. I look forward in the years to come, when my daughters  have their own family,  are making their own special memories and stopping for a minute to call me and say “Hey Mom, freakin’ polar bears!!”

I want to thank J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof for giving my family something we’ll never forget and will always return to and revisit for the rest of our lives. Thank you Andy from DarkUfo for taking time out before the start of highly anticipated last season to give me such a great interview, thank you Howie for all the patience with my “who is that?” and “when did that happen” questions, thank you also for the great conversations and speculation.. you and MYBig were awesome to bounce ideas off of no matter how crazy they were all these seasons. It’s really been a great ride..

“I’m not a big believer in… magic. But this place is different. It’s special.

The others don’t wanna talk about it because it scares them,

but we all know it, we all feel it.”

You’re right, Locke… You are absolutely right.

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