Though I was hooked on the show from the start, I’ve been purposefully refraining from writing about Lost for the duration of its six-year run. In my mind, the world didn’t need yet another voice to publicly join the vast chorus of crazy theories attempting to explain its mysteries. Of course, that was part of the fun with Lost, and I certainly shared my ideas with friends and family. But much like reading a great book, I simply wanted to sit back and enjoy the ride, trusting the quality of the storytelling and waiting to see how it would all play out.

 

Now it’s over and you’d think the theorizing would be done as well. Wrong! Think everything was answered? Not by a long shot. But that’s Lost for you, a show that answered questions with more questions. Just as it should be for a show that inspired so many deep conversations.

Here’s one more question for you: Did you really expect everything to be fully explained with a tidy bow wrapped around it? (If so, then what show were you watching?) Your answer is an indicator of why you primarily watched Lost: the story or the conclusion.

 

Don’t get me wrong. I craved answers and explanations from Lost’s creators, holding out some hope that they’d find a clever way to make everything make sense. However, the creators have always maintained that this was a show about characters first and foremost, followed by mysteries. Answers were welcome and sometimes necessary, but not always required.

 

With that perspective in mind, the aptly titled Lost finale “The End” provided what we should have expected all along: lots of character exploration, excitement, and humor, not to mention an abundance of tearjerker moments. More importantly, we got some closure to the show’s nebulous story (albeit vague closure), and we found some answers too despite some unanswered questions and scenes best left to viewer interpretation.

 

Having said that, I knew I would need a good day or so to process all that I had seen in the finale. Need some perspective to process “The End” (which I’m assuming you’ve seen, so beware of spoilers)? Allow me to share some thoughts on “The End,” both storylines. 

Let’s focus first on the “real” story on the island, knowing from what we’re told at the end of the show that “everything happened.” It was no dream or alternate reality. What happened on the Island happened to the characters—sorry, those of you hoping Jin and Sun didn’t really die on the sub.

 

Skipping the details to focus on the meat of the story, we know from the penultimate episode that Jack was appointed by Jacob as the new Island guardian. He and his small band (Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley) make way for their final stand and bump into “Locke” (aka the Smoke Monster, the Man in Black) with Ben and Desmond along the way. After some posturing, Jack and “Locke” agree to take Desmond to the heart of the island—the cave with the source of light that is in all of us.

Interesting that the hero and villain were so amicable with this decision; both believed they were doing the right thing. “Locke” believes lowering Desmond (and his unique ability to withstand electromagnetic energy) into the source will destroy the island and lead to his freedom. Jack believes it will somehow lead to the death of “Locke.”

 

Turns out both were right. Desmond removes a sort of cork/plug from a shimmering pool of light and the things immediately start going to hell. The light becomes crimson red. Parts of the island shave off into the ocean due to earthquakes. A massive storm builds outside. Things look bad for the castaways (and everyone), until Jack punches “Locke” in the mouth … and draws blood. With the Island’s magic turned off, “Locke” is now mortal.

 

This leads to a final smackdown on the side of the cliff near Jacob’s cave of names. Jack is pierced in the side with Locke’s knife and wounded in the neck. (Now we know why Jack has a neck nick and a supposed appendix scar in the Sideways world—more in a bit.) But before “Locke” can finish Jack off, Kate shoots him with a rifle (“I saved a bullet for you.” Woo!), and Jack literally boots him off the Island.

 

The Island is still falling apart, though, so Jack heads back to the cave of light with Hurley and Ben. Meanwhile, Kate and Sawyer rush to the Ajira airplane, where Frank, Richard, and Miles are preparing for takeoff. Picking up Claire along the way, the six of them apparently escape the Island just in the nick of time.

 

At this point, I must note how interesting it is that one third of the survivors (Frank and Richard) are people we assumed were dead as of last week, and Claire seemed very expendable too. We never learn what happens in this life to the survivors once they escape. I imagine Kate helps Claire out with her son Aaron, and possibly even looks into adopting Jin and Sun’s infant daughter. Could there be hope for a Kate and Sawyer romance? Perhaps, but we never find out. Of the six, I’d most love to see a spinoff for Richard, newly mortal now that Jacob’s magic has left him, and free to live out the rest of his life as he sees fit. I know he’s been off the Island at least a couple times, but can’t you just imagine him walking down the street in New York City—“This ‘hot dog’ you have here is amazing! And tell me more about this Internet that I’ve heard so much about.”

 

Meanwhile, a mortally wounded Jack appoints Hurley the new island guardian before descending into the cave. (Hurley in turn appoints Ben as his “number two” assistant, and there again I’d love to know what stories they have for the remainder of their days.) Jack revives Desmond and sends him back up, then “re-corks” the pool and thus restores light to the Island. (Again, it’s unclear, though implied, that Hurley and Ben somehow reunite Desmond with his wife Penny.)

 

Later, Jack is seemingly spit out from the source, but fortunately not a Smoke Monster. He wanders over to where he originally woke up in the series pilot after the Oceanic plane crash. Collapsing to the ground, he looks up to see his friends leaving on the Ajira flight. In what was arguably the episode’s biggest tearjerker, Vincent the dog wanders in (like the pilot episode) and nuzzles alongside Jack, who then closes his eyes for the last time. “The End.” 

Well, almost "The End". The biggest mystery of the season has been the concurrent series of Flash-sideways segments that suggested a world where our heroes never crashed on the Island.

 

I’ve been engaging in a friendly debate with a couple friends all season about this storytelling device. They felt that something was decidedly “off” about the Sideways World, as if the characters were living in The Matrix—some sort of illusion where they didn’t really belong. I acknowledged that, yet also felt everything was “working together for good” in the lives of the characters. Surely it wasn’t all a dream just to tease us, right?

 

Turns out were both right to some extent. How ironic that after all the years speculating that the Island was some sort of purgatory for the characters to find redemption, it was actually the Sideways World that filled that role—a sort of spiritual way-station where these friends and loved ones could gather together after death (since time has no meaning) before “moving on” to the next world, presumably Heaven.

 

I won’t go into all the details here, but one by one, the castaways were reminded of their lives on the Island ... and they remembered with joy! The last one to come to grips with his past, however, was Jack, who finally awakened from his living sleep when he arrived at the church (Eloise Hawking’s church from two seasons ago?) for his father’s funeral. There we learned the truth through a conversation between Jack and his father, Christian, before entering the sanctuary where all of Jack’s friends from the Island were gathered. After a slow-motion montage of reunion, Christian opened the doors to the church, and light poured in. “The End” for sure this time.

 

So after all of the speculation about this season, I have to ask in hindsight: Was the Sideways component really necessary? I’m not saying I didn’t find the end result beautiful and meaningful, but after months of speculation about the implications of this alternate reality, did it really teach us anything new about the characters and their journey? Couldn’t it have been simplified to some sort of reunion in Heaven?

 

And what of the sunken Island shown at the beginning of this season? It was an intriguing sight at the time, but in the end it only seemed to mislead us. As evidenced by the familiar buildings shown underwater, if the Dharma Initiative was responsible for sinking the Island after “The Incident” with the bomb in the ‘70s, then who detonated it (since Jack and his friends did not)? And what did it matter to know the Island still existed in this fake reality constructed for the castaways to reacquaint with one another?

 

These are the sort of questions that I’m sure drive some viewers mad. They nag at my thoughts, for sure, but ultimately they’re not the focus of the show.

My dad and I have been talking about Lost for years. He enjoys the show, but gets a little “lost” in the storytelling, relying on me to remind him of details while filling in the blanks with my background in literature, pop culture, and all things geek-related. One question he returned to a number of times: “Is Lost a Christian show?”

 

How do you answer? In the strictest sense, of course it wasn’t a “Christian program.” The show always took a broader approach to spirituality. I found it very telling that the series ended in a sort of Unitarian church with Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim iconography all around. Obviously the creators of Lost wanted to avoid specifying one religion and leave things open to interpretation.

 

I’m also sure many Christians were put off by the misrepresentation of Christianity in the series, continually focusing on the need to do good instead of evil in order to find redemption and salvation. The focus is on our own actions rather than what Jesus has done for us—a key element that distinguishes Christianity from all other religions. For sure, Lost is at least intentionally murky, if not misguided at times.

 

But I’m not one who feels art needs to spell everything out for us. That’s our job when we gather around the water cooler to talk about last night’s episode of Lost (or whatever it is we’ll be watching from this point forward). We can look for the “common pulpit to preach from” as I heard one pastor put it, getting the details right in our everyday conversation.

 

I remember asking my mom when I was little if the Force in Star Wars was like God. She gently explained to me that they’re not the same thing, though they have some similarities. So while some strict Christians would love to say that Star Wars is damaging to the Christian faith, it proved to be a teachable moment for me at a young age.

 

The same is true of shows like Lost. This was a program rich with examples of faith, hope, and love. Grace, forgiveness, and redemption were also prevalent themes. I especially loved Ben’s confession to Ilana midway through season 6 when he was considering joining “Locke” (“I’ll have you.” Excellent!) Also, Locke’s reluctant agreement to accept Jack’s help and leave his painful past behind. And what was the entire Sideways storyline if not Jack’s journey toward spiritual healing and redemption.

 

By the way, did you catch all the Christ-like parallels with Jack’s character? There was always his name, which the creators of Lost said was not a coincidence. Though Jack questioned his father, he ultimately obeyed his will. In the end, Jack was pierced in his side and descended into “Hell” to save mankind before finally ascending to Heaven. And maybe my memory is off, but didn’t Jack recline in a sort of “crucifix pose” in the fountain once he restored the light?

 

Granted, these details only hint at Christianity. And yet we unquestionably accept The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis as pure Christian fiction, even though it’s not a 100 percent literal depiction of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. It certainly conjures themes of faith, especially in those of us who best know and understand the gospels, and it helps that it was written by one of the greatest Christian scholars in the 20^th century. Lost may not have the solid Christian foundation of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, but it certainly parallels many other themes and elements in another beloved C.S. Lewis story: The Great Divorce.

 

As with most art, you take from Lost what you bring to it. No, we didn’t get all the answers to the mysteries of the Island and the spiritual implications associated with it. But we did learn a lot about the core characters who, like all of us, are flawed and in need of redemption that cannot be earned alone. We need forgiveness and love through relationship. “No man is an island.”

 

Was “The End” a successful finale for Lost? Largely, yes, though it was also imperfect. But at least it wasn’t a letdown, nor did it leave us hanging. The show concluded on its own terms and gave us plenty to think about long after.

 

Did you watch Lost for answers or for storytelling—for the destination or for the journey? Your answer to that will tell you how much you enjoyed the series. But it also reveals whether the show was about Heaven or the life we live before we get there.