Lost finale: Was it the right ending?

Well, since the (supposedly) complete Lost collection comes out on DVD today, I thought this was as good a time as any to once again discuss the finale!

A few weeks ago I caught up with a couple friends of mine – both avid Lost viewers – and we realized we hadn’t yet talked to each other about how the show ended. We have fairly different ideologies, so I had a feeling we weren’t going to see eye to eye on the show’s conclusion. I figured it would be because of the perceived lack of conclusive answers. Well, I was half right: They didn’t enjoy the finale, but it had nothing to do with any lingering issues (they didn’t mind that). Instead, they felt like the show didn’t warrant a happy ending and that the way it did conclude made the series as a whole seem inconsequential.

Since you’ve all read my blog and reviews, you’ll of course know that I don’t agree with that assessment. But let me explain what they meant. They felt that the ending, which essentially takes place after all of the characters have died, left them feeling like there were no consequences to the characters’ actions. It didn’t matter that Jack died, because EVERYONE eventually died. And for that matter, we didn’t even have to cope with his death, because we immediately saw him in the afterlife. And even looking further back, there was no consequence to, say, Boone dying because he ended up living happily in the same afterlife. Ditto for Shannon, Charlie, and everyone else who suffered an abrupt, tragic, or heroic death.

It’s not that I think they’re wrong, that viewpoint is just a little too cynical and bleak for me. I personally appreciated the fact that we got a happy ending. It set me at ease knowing that these characters that I have spent the last six years watching and caring for – who have endured so much – ultimately found the happiness that they so richly deserve. It’s actually one of the reasons why I found the Lost finale so much more fulfilling and entertaining than 24’s. The writers and producers of 24 felt that a happy ending didn’t do the series justice, and that it would have been an effective cop-out. I disagree. I think part of the reason why we were able to watch Jack constantly struggle and fail to hold onto the things he cares about is because, implicitly, we believed that, as a reward, Jack’s selflessness and sacrifices would pay off. But instead, we would come to discover that the very nation and government Jack lost his wife, girlfriend, job, and pretty much everything else in his life to would chase him out of the country.

Yes, happy endings CAN be sappy, inappropriate, and cheap at times. But there are times that it’s the right ending as well.

What I found curious, though, was their alternate ending. They believe the show should have ended the way many people predicted it would, with Locke as the Man in Black and Jack (or Hurley) as the new Jacob reciting the conversation from the prior season’s finale. In my view, THAT ending would have rendered the series insignificant and inconsequential. It would have shown that there was nothing special about this band of castaways. They were merely one rotation of a never ending cycle between two petty demigods. I think it’s far more satisfying knowing that there was something different about this crew – that they possessed some extraordinary attribute that allowed them to break the cycle altogether.

So, what do you think? Disregarding any qualms you might have with unresolved questions and issues, do you think this was the “right” ending to the series? Would you have preferred something less happy? Do you wish the ending focused more on the island, and not the afterlife of the characters? Or do you think the ending worked as the proper conclusion to the story they decided to tell?

Oh, yeah, and if you’re going to buy the DVD collection, use the link below!