I’m still trying to decide how I feel about the last episode of Lost, what that means for how I interacted with Season Six as an audience member, and how that colors how I feel about the series as a whole. Superficially, I can tell you I still enjoyed my time with it, but as of right this second I feel like my pal John Singh: “it’s beginning to get me really upset that the Lost folks have turned their back on the whole thing. They (the producers) won’t talk about it, won’t admit that they didn’t cover basics (like, ‘Why Tunisia?’) and won’t cop to any sort of acknowledgement of the disappointment some of us feel. So, rather than build my devotion and faith in Lost, they’re losing it by leaving it to the fans to sort this all out with even MORE wild theories, none of which will ever be supported (or disproved) by anything they say, apparently. SIMPLY PUT: I was in love. They changed and became something I couldn’t recognize. I am resentful of this, and I don’t know if I love them anymore.”
So I’m putting off my analysis of the last ep until I can crack through the last season on the DVDs in a couple weeks. But since Jezebel has the full twelve minute epilogue up, I’m going to rock this one out. I’m going to assume you’ve seen it, so I’m not spoiling anything, right? If you haven’t seen it, hit that jezebel link and come back. We’ll be here for you.
1. DON’T NEED A WEATHERMAN TO TELL ME WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS: Man, they answered more questions in the first five minutes of this thing than they did in the last three seasons put together. Wonder why Miles’ dad has so many different names? It’s not parallel universes; it’s people not being able to keep their mouths shut. What’s the deal with the Lamppost Station? Data gathering site to guide Island contact. How come women couldn’t deliver full-term children? It’s not time travel, Mama; it’s just that electro-magnetic anomaly. Hydra Station? They’re running stuff, on-Island. The Hurley bird? Hydra genetic experiments. Honestly, the Dharma Logistics Warehouse on Orote Peninsula, Guam, might as well have been called Exposition Station.
2. TUESDAY’S GONE WITH THE WIND: One of the things that struck me most was that even when Ben is being forthright and no-nonsense, he still has a sharp edge of malevolence to his voice. “My name is Benjamin Linus; I’m from the Home Office,” while reading cold on the page drips with portent the way Michael Emerson delivers it. And I love how lots of infrastructure is hinted at with a few lines of dialogue: “But we’ve been loading pallets onto the drones for, like, twenty years, now.” Sometimes, shit happens.
3. “WAIT! YOU CAN’T JUST WALK OUTTA HERE! WE DESERVE ANSWERS!” I think that one is self-explanatory.
4. ON A LONG AND LONESOME HIGHWAY, EAST OF OMAHA: I love how TK uses his question to ask about the polar bears. me, I really would have rathered an answer about the eye color changes than where’d the polar bear on a tropical island come from but I allow that may be just me. “Sorry about the quality; it’s a transfer from an old Betamax.” Man, Ben is hilarious. He’s eating a Dharma Initiative granola bar, which he later offers Walt as proof of his bona fides. This thing’s pretty tight for twelve minutes.
5. DARKNESS ON THE EDGE OF TOWN: “There is a more secluded test site where we are conducting significantly more sensitive work.” Dr. Chang explains all of Room 23! And yet, maddeningly for perhaps only me, the test-subject mannequin has two different colored eyes. I have to say, though, the crane shot that starts at 7:40, combined with the spooky strings really evokes the warehouse scene at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark… except, you know, with frozen peas and ranch dressing.
6. “ARE YOU HERE TO KIDNAP ME AGAIN?” “I’m genuinely sorry about that.” Remember all that stuff I said up-top about Ben’s malevolence? He’s warm and contrite, here. Dang if Emerson isn’t an excellent actor. Kudos to the man, here.
7. WILD THING; YOU MAKE MY HEART SING: Honestly, I couldn’t come up with a song lyric for this one: Walt is playing Connect Four by himself. Or with Mister Eko, like Hurley was playing chess with him in Santa Rosa; I dunno. Either way, what’s the song lyric or Star Wars quote for this one? “’round Nassau town, we did roam”? That way lies madness.
8. “YOU HAVE WORK TO DO.” Man, I loved that one. Also, “You’re not crazy, dude. Not even close.”
9. “It’s time to go home.” I’ll drink to that.
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