Why I loved and hated the Lost finale

Warning: This blog post contains spoilers on the final season of Lost.

I don't have a lot to say about the Lost finale - surprising after having so much to say about the show during the six year duration - so I'll keep this brief. Mainly I just want to vent without spoiling people on Twitter or Facebook.

I loved, loved, loved the first two hours of the Lost finale. It was so great seeing my favorite Losties reunite with their loved ones in the sideways world. It was both gut-wrenching and uplifting, and the anticipation of what lie ahead was thrilling.

The final scenes were beautiful and poignant, with Jack finding out that they were dead, and were brought together in that moment to help each other move on. It really was lovely.

Now to explain why at that moment I yelled obscenities at my television and burst into tears of frustration -

Six years.

It's been six years of smoke monsters, dead people walking, horses, polar bears, hurley birds, numbers, hatches, orientation films with numbered bunnies, immortality, statue feet, kidnapped kids, mothers dying during birth, time travel, donkey wheels, magic-mirrored lighthouses, and oodles more of ridiculous mysteries that remain ridiculous mysteries. I took each new easter egg or supernatural occurrence as they came, expecting that this would ultimately make some kind of sense because the writers stated that they had a plan, and no, this isn't purgatory.

I love the idea of the Losties finding each other in death, and Hurley giving them this gift as the new protector of the island. If the point of the show is the characters, then why the hell all of the mysteries? Do you not think your show is capable of retaining viewers with just well-written characters, with interesting flashbacks and beautifully interwoven stories?

The fact is Lost could have been a wonderful drama without all of that nonsense, on its true merits: the characters, the desert-island-crash, and the interesting connections. They could have even kept this beautiful death-limbo-scenario, and it would have worked.

So, yes, I feel cheated. I guess if you're tuning in to a show that is set up to be this fascinating series of mysteries, then yes, you're going to feel cheated if none of those are paid off. If you're tuning in for a show about fascinating characters stranded on a deserted island, last night's finale would have been absolutely phenomenal and satisfying. I'm sure that's why the writers continued to stress that Lost was more than anything about the characters. If that were true, they wouldn't have had to throw in all of that extraneous supernatural mystery and easter egg stuff.

In my humble opinion, as an ardent Lost fan and former Lost apologist, they would have done better to either leave all that other stuff out, or attempt to actually explain it. Some might say not doing so is an example of lazy writing.

Now that I got that off my chest, I'm going to go watch the finale for a second time, desperately looking for any reason to prove that I'm entirely wrong about all of this. Namaste.