Its about 24 hours since the epic 2 1/2 hour Lost finale began, and I've been thinking about it the whole time. My initial reaction was somewhere between, 'whoa, that was brilliant' and 'what the crap?' After talking to friends and reading interviews and reviews, I'm tending more and more towards the brilliant side.
So basically, the sideways existence was a kind of limbo existence between this life and the next. We see what happens to everyone in their real-life/island existence. We go from seeing Jack on the island, stumbling and dying, to him off the island, recognizing, remembering, rejoicing and meeting up with all these people who have played such a big part in his life. In this timeless, limbo existence, they have all met up to move on together.
All except for Benjamin Linus. Ben is still left in the ambiguous, gray area, which is an incredible move on the writers part. So why doesn't Ben move on with the others? There are two reasons that I like the best. One, he still feels unresolved about his life, and feels that there are things he needs to repent and atone for, in an almost Marley-esque way. The second reason, and the one that I like even better: He's waiting for Alex. And of course, every moment with Ben Linus was a moment of Michael Emerson genius.
I doubt any other TV show has ever been this successfully philosophical and spiritual. Not only that, but with the genius combination of good writing and Michael Emerson, the creators of Lost have created in Benjamin Linus one of the most complex, subtle, deep, genius anti-hero's of all time. If could create a character half as awesome as him, I could die a happy artist.
I am interested in your thoughts about the Lost finale. Ambiguous, yes, but in a good way? What did you think?
Sarah Allen
Monday, May 24, 2010
1 comment:
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I didn't liked the finale as much as I thought I will. But it had to be really crappy to shadow the brilliance of all the six seasons.
ReplyDeleteThe purgatory/limbo idea was somewhat weak to me. Actually I think it came later in the season, no matter what producers say.
Ben staying outside of the church... most probably (and according to some insiders that were nice to blog about it) he's waiting to his own meeting... with Alex and Danielle and who knows who else. But his goodbuys with John and later Hugo were really touching moments.