I've been thinking about it for a few days now, like you. I'll miss what it was in the first four seasons, but I just didn't enjoy it in the same way in the last two seasons. I thought the finale was okay. Some of it I liked a lot: Kate exhibited all the qualities that made me like her in the first place and Evangeline Lilly sold it well (although I admit I liked better before she had her "awakening" in limboland and got all cryptic like the rest), the on-island ending of Jack bringing him literally full circle, Desmond being involved in the on-island storyline, Rose and Bernard and Vincent, people presumably getting off the island in the end (I was shocked), Richard becoming mortal and making it off the island (I was shocked by that, too), Hurley as island protector (not that I wouldn't have preferred everybody getting to flip destiny off and truly make their own kind of music rather than just singing their own words to the tune provided) and being simultaneously scared and brave enough to ask Ben to help him.
Some of it I really didn't like, though. I've read a lot of reviews, curious as to what made it work or fail to work for other people and hoping to better pinpoint what exactly made me so dissatisfied with it, and there are a few things I've read that I agree with. The first is that while I absolutely cared more about the characters than anything else, the answers they actually gave for the mysteries of the island had a poor execution. Plus I didn't particularly want or need for everybody to be happy in the end. I was turned off by the soulmate vibe in the alt and find the majority of alt stuff more palatable by thinking of it specifically as Jack's limbo or dying fantasy even though I feel sure it wasn't supposed to be just his. But otherwise I don't find enough rhyme or reason in the people who got admission to the Church of Love and Realization in the end.
The second is that the alt and afterlife story line are generic enough that with minimal adjustments they could've easily fit for any old show's big thrilling finale. There was a real wealth of possibilities open to the writers -- and so many ways to tie things into the story of the island that they'd been selling all along with the stories of the characters -- but there was nothing iconically Lost about the alt other than the fact that it was told in flashes. And... nothing especially clever, either, even if they did keep the reveal for the last episode. I could've done without the alt entirely or maybe even just as an epilogue restricted to the end of the finale rather than half of the entire last season.
The third is that a lot of the things about the show that drew me other than the individual character stories seem shockingly pointless now. I can't help thinking episodes from previous seasons, while certainly enjoyable on a case-by-case basis, will seem hollow on rewatch when thinking about the bigger picture.
Fourth is that I want to believe those who took off on the Ajira plane really did make it and live lives beyond the island, but the limbo-based implication that only their island experiences carried enough weight to matter doesn't quite sit right with me. But that's somewhat related to my problems with who was in the church and who wasn't and who was in limbo and who wasn't.
Not a bad episode and without question one of the best of the last two seasons, but also pretty far from a wholly satisfying show conclusion in my eyes.
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Date: 2010-05-26 03:30 pm (UTC)Some of it I really didn't like, though. I've read a lot of reviews, curious as to what made it work or fail to work for other people and hoping to better pinpoint what exactly made me so dissatisfied with it, and there are a few things I've read that I agree with. The first is that while I absolutely cared more about the characters than anything else, the answers they actually gave for the mysteries of the island had a poor execution. Plus I didn't particularly want or need for everybody to be happy in the end. I was turned off by the soulmate vibe in the alt and find the majority of alt stuff more palatable by thinking of it specifically as Jack's limbo or dying fantasy even though I feel sure it wasn't supposed to be just his. But otherwise I don't find enough rhyme or reason in the people who got admission to the Church of Love and Realization in the end.
The second is that the alt and afterlife story line are generic enough that with minimal adjustments they could've easily fit for any old show's big thrilling finale. There was a real wealth of possibilities open to the writers -- and so many ways to tie things into the story of the island that they'd been selling all along with the stories of the characters -- but there was nothing iconically Lost about the alt other than the fact that it was told in flashes. And... nothing especially clever, either, even if they did keep the reveal for the last episode. I could've done without the alt entirely or maybe even just as an epilogue restricted to the end of the finale rather than half of the entire last season.
The third is that a lot of the things about the show that drew me other than the individual character stories seem shockingly pointless now. I can't help thinking episodes from previous seasons, while certainly enjoyable on a case-by-case basis, will seem hollow on rewatch when thinking about the bigger picture.
Fourth is that I want to believe those who took off on the Ajira plane really did make it and live lives beyond the island, but the limbo-based implication that only their island experiences carried enough weight to matter doesn't quite sit right with me. But that's somewhat related to my problems with who was in the church and who wasn't and who was in limbo and who wasn't.
Not a bad episode and without question one of the best of the last two seasons, but also pretty far from a wholly satisfying show conclusion in my eyes.