Lost: Series Finale "The End" Review

 "I don't believe in a lot of things, but I do believe in duct tape."

-Miles Straume

On the Island, Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Sawyer (Josh Holloway), and Hurley (Jorge Garcia) start making their way towards the Heart of the Island, while the Man in Black (Terry O'Quinn) and Ben (Michael Emerson) track Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) to Rose (L. Scott Caldwell) and Bernard's (Sam Anderson) camp.  The Man in Black threatens to kill Rose and Bernard unless Desmond goes with him and he agrees.

The two groups converge near the Heart of the Island and Kate tries to shoot the Man in Black, but the bullets have no effects.  Jack agrees to go with the Man in Black and Desmond to the Heart of the Island, but informs the Man in Black that he will kill him afterwards.  They go to the Heart and lower Desmond down the waterfall.  Desmond finds a pool of water filled with electromagnetic energy.  He removes the stone from the center, which causes the light to go out and the Island to start to collapse.

Miles (Ken Leung) and Richard (Nestor Carbonell), who discovers he has started to age again, start paddling to Hydra Island and rescue Frank (Jeff Fahey) on the way.  He suggests they fly the plane away rather than blow it up.  They find Claire (Emilie de Ravin) on Hydra Island and ask her to join them, but she refuses.  They start to fix up the plane with the intention of leaving as soon as it's ready.  They call Ben on a walkie-talkie to let him and the others know their window of escape is closing.

Jack attacks the Man in Black and they both discover they can bleed and are mortal again.  The Man in Black knocks Jack out and begins running for his boat.  Jack goes after him and they fight on the cliffside.  The Man in Black mortally stabs Jack, but before he can kill the doctor, Kate arrives and shoots him.  Jack then kicks the Man in Black off the cliff to his death.  Sawyer, Hurley, and Ben arrive with Jack planning to stay behind to try to save the Island by going down into the Heart.  Hurley and Ben decide to stay as well.  After a tearful final kiss between Jack and Kate, she and Sawyer dive into the water to sail the boat to Hydra Island.  Kate convinces Claire to join them and the trio make it to the plane just before takeoff.  Frank successfully flies the plane off the Island.

Knowing he is going to die, Jack makes Hurley the new leader of the Island and makes him immortal before being lowered into the Heart.  He has Hurley and Ben pull Desmond to safety before placing the stone back in the center of the pool, which reignites the light.  Hurley asks Ben to help him rule the Island with a focus on helping people.  Their first order of business is to get Desmond home.

Jack is washed out of the Heart and finds himself near the bamboo forest where he first woke up on the Island.  He collapses, but Vincent finds him and lies down next to him to make sure he doesn't die alone.  Jack sees the plane fly overhead before finally dying.

In the flash-sideways, the body of Christian Shephard (John Terry) arrives in Los Angels and is delivered to a church, where Desmond signs for it.  He and Kate then head off for the benefit concert where Daniel (Jeremy Davies) and Drive Shaft are perfroming.

Hurley tracks down Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) to his motel and shoots him with a tranquilizer to bring him to the concert.  Then he takes Sayid (Naveen Andrews) to outside a bar, where they see a fight break out.  Sayid steps in and discovers Boone (Ian Somerhalder) and Shannon (Maggie Grace) are involved.  Sayid and Shannon experience the memories of the Island flooding over them and remember each other.  Boone is revealed to already remember and was working with Hurley.

Juliet (Elizabeth Mitcheel) gives Sun (Yunjin Kim) an ultrasound, which causes Sun and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) to remember everything.  When Sawyer shows up to protect them from the escaped Sayid, they decline.  Sawyer and Juliet meet at a vending machine and their memories come back.

At the concert, Claire, Kate, and Desmond end up at the same table.  When Charlie and Claire see each other, it triggers Claire into going into labor.  Charlie and Kate help her deliver her baby, which gives them their memories.

Jack successfully performs surgery on Locke (Terry O'Quinn) who recovers his ability to walk and his memories.  Jack also gets a brief flash of memory, but tries to deny it.  Locke goes to the church, where he finds Ben sitting outside.  Ben apologizes to him and Locke forgives Ben before walking into the church.  Ben decides he isn't ready to join them.

Jack goes to the concert to find it over.  He runs into Kate, which triggers another memory.  Confused, Kate takes Jack to the church.  Jack goes inside to see his father's coffin is empty, but finds Christian up and walking around.  Christian reveals that they are all dead and that the flash-sideways is a place they all made together to find each other after they died, but everything that happened to them on the Island was real.  Jack and Christian enter the main area of the church and move on with Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, Sayid, Shannon, Boone, Locke, Hurley, Libby (Cynthia Watros), Sun, Jin, Charlie, Claire, Aaron, Desmond, Penny (Sonya Walger), Rose, and Bernard.

What Works:

The flash-sideways storyline wraps up incredibly well and I hope people appreciate it more in hindsight, especially after we got the show The Good Place.  It just hits the emotional beats for all of the characters very nicely.  Watching Sun, Jin, Locke, Sawyer, and Juliet get their memories back is especially powerful. 

I think Jack's talk with Christian is in the running for my favorite scene of the series and I cry like a baby every time I watch it.  Jack finally gets some closure with his father and him realizing the truth is beyond powerful.  Fox and Terry are just amazing and it's so nice to see Jack finally let go.

On the Island, I love the final confrontation between Jack and the Man in Black.  It's an epic fight and the music really helps to give it the weight it deserves.  Seeing Jack kick his foe off a cliff is incredibly satisfying.

Jack's passing of the torch to Hurley is also really well done.  You hate to see Hurley crying, but I love that he gives Ben the chance for redemption by bringing him on as his second in command.  Who would have though Ben would get redeemed by the end of the show, let alone survive.  Jack's final sacrifice and death also makes me cry, especially when Vincent shows up to make sure Jack doesn't have to die alone.  It's the perfect way to end the series.

Finally, when "The Candidate" first aired, there was a lot of discussion on if my boy, Frank Lapidus, was dead or not.  I said that he wasn't and that he was going to come back in the finale and save the day.  He had been criminally underused all season, so I needed him to survive.  Lapidus not only makes it, but successfully saves Sawyer, Claire, Kate, Richard, and Miles.  I love that Frank finally gets his spotlight moment this season and I really liked watching him, Miles, and Richard fix the plane.

What Sucks:

I got nothing for you.

Platinum Polar Bear:

The Platinum Polar Bear goes to the most competent character of the episode.  Since this was an extended episode, I'll give out two awards.  The first one goes to Jack for stopping the Man in Black's plan, killing him, saving the Island, and passing on his duties to Hurley.

The second award goes to Frank Lapidus for fixing the plane and getting himself and five other people off the Island.

The final results:

Jack: 17

Sayid: 13

Locke: 10

Sawyer: 10

The Man in Black: 10

Hurley: 9

Mr. Eko: 5

Desmond: 5

Kate: 5

Juliet: 4

Sun: 3

Charlie: 3

Jin: 3

Michael: 3

Lapidus: 3

Rose: 2

Ana Lucia: 2

Ben: 2

Daniel: 2

Jacob: 2

Boone: 1

Libby: 1

Bernard: 1

Alex: 1

Richard: 1

Tom: 1

Eloise: 1

Mother: 1

Verdict:

Season 6 has some problems, but it nails the most important part; the finale.  I love both the on and off-Island storylines, both of which had me in tears.  It has one of my favorite scenes of the entire series, an epic final showdown, and Frank Lapidus saving the day.  You couldn't ask for much more.  They were not dead the entire time and this finale and show have absolutely got it going on.

 10/10: Amazing 

That's it!  I'm done!  This project took me over 4 years to complete and it's finally over!  Lost is my favorite show of all time and I've really enjoyed writing all of my thoughts about it down.  I think I'll tackle another of my favorite shows next, Twin Peaks, so if you've liked what I've written, I hope you'll check those out.