So here goes, hope I tick some people off....if you didn't like the finale of LOST, then you didn't understand the show, or at least really missed the point. For those of you that are now mad at me...here's your wakeup call. They didn't call it LOST b/c they were all lost on an island, they called it LOST because the survivors of the crash were all LOST in life. The show was about their search, finding one another, finding answers, finding themselves, and ultimately, their redemption.
If you could bear with me for a moment to call the writing of this show "literature", then I make the case that once again that literature relies heavily on our most precious story in all the world, the story of what Christ did, and thus our faith that lives out from that.
Jack in this final episode, plays the role of Christ. Don't take me wrong here, I get that it's a TV show, I'm not likening it to great theology. I'm just making the point that when great writers need a great ending, they are over and over inspired by the most beautiful and precious of all stories, that of true self-sacrifice, laying down one's life for those loved, doing the thing none other could do for the benefit of all. It's been done for centuries, but in modern times in hundreds of stories from The Grapes of Wrath to the recent Harry Potter. It gets us every time, because every human created by God, knows that feeling deep in his heart as the truest of all stories, the story of our own creator, thus of our own redemption. Even those who never acknowledge Christ as a their Savior, know this story because He has placed it in us. And though many would not acknowledge it as true, they do acknowledge it as a beautiful idea, the truest sense of how we should all love one another, which again, comes from our inherent desire to have the relationships with one another that God wants us to desire, and most specifically with Him.
And so, brilliant writers know that this will get 'em every time. Sacrifice the hero, by their own choosing. Jack chooses the role because his loved ones have put their faith in him. As I watched the last few weeks, the minute he chose to be the final candidate for himself, I knew he was going to die. I saw it coming, the beautiful Christ imagery in the end. And when it happened, I cried, and I loved it and thought it was beautiful.
And then to further the idea of our faith values in the show, the redemption of so many in the end was also equally beautiful. Ben, so deserving and equally undeserving, was given an instant moment of grace by Hugo, and therefore redeemed. And we could go, character by character, but I won't here, and talk about their redemptions in this ending season, but I will mention probably the strongest, Jin, who at the end was unwilling to leave Sun behind.
Ok, but so away from the strong themes of faith that wove so deeply into this show, let's return to the fact that was just TV, and let's just address it more superficially. If you wanted all your questions answered, then you didn't get it. Here's a hint: LIFE DOESN'T ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS! In my short 35 years, I've asked God "why" more times than I can count. 4 of them were yesterday. There are things I don't understand, people I don't understand but love anyway or dislike anyway.
There was no way they were going to answer all our questions, and there are questions we have that weren't worth their time to answer. Some of that was just what made the show so stinkin' cool. The Dharma shark?? Who cares now, we all freaked when we saw it! Who was Dharma, who were the others? Does it really matter? They did answer an amazing amount of questions, and they took us to the heart of the matter...I mean, island.
And again, they took care of the relationships, of the characters who had become our friends, of the ones who were LOST. And that's what mattered. And for that I applaud Damon & Carlton. I applaud them for their bravery NOT to answer too many mundane questions, for their brilliance as writers, for their passion for being creative and unique, and for their openness to being inspired by the most brilliant writer of stories of all time.
I loved it. I loved my time with this show over the past 6 seasons, I will probably watch it again from beginning to end sometime in the future (I keep saying that about Lord of the Rings too). If you didn't like it, perhaps you should re-evaluate your love for the show, and then go back and take a second look.
Posts
