Rey's A Point

Lost: The Dénouement (with Spoilers)

Television and movies have a tough time going about the long-foregone literary device of the dénouement. If you recall, the dénouement is that point of the story where the dust settles for the characters and readers—not necessarily where plot lines are tied. It is that point after the crisis (which television and movies have trained us to be The Ending) but before the ending which makes the impending ending appropriate.

Lost has figured out a unique, and singular use, of that literary feature by tying it into the story line of the entire final season.

Unfortunately, some people came to the last episode awaiting another Climax with answers to all types of question (Walt’s powers, the origin of the Light, the identity of the Twins’ Foster Mother, Vincent, the Dharma Initiative’s real goal, the stopper at the bottom, why Jack didn’t change, etc.) and stopped looking at what the writers were doing. They were giving a goodbye to the characters for the characters’ and the viewers’ sake.

Questions that came up that the viewers should have known the answers to if they were looking at it as a whole instead of expecting more answers:

  • Was the Island fake? No, of course not—it was all real. That plot line had its openings, climax and ending in the finale. A defender was established. A sacrifice made. It was continued to be protected because it could not not-exist.
  • Did everyone die? Yes, eventually—but not immediately. That’s the point of the closing. Jack died for the Island, and for everyone, pierced on the side and looking up towards those he had rescued; those he rescued go off to live lives where they’re always grateful for his provision; and the Island continues to be protected by a new and different Warden—one who cares about people and one who did anything for his own: a better pairing could not be found.
  • Was Vincent God? I think it’s more likely that he was the shade of the mother of the Twins, or, he was just an old dog.
  • Does that mean they had unfulfilled lives? Not necessarily. It means that the importance of what happened on the Island was so great that they were forever tied together.

Yeah, the ending had a tinge of bitterness—they were all dead in the unified creation of a holding house before moving on to some other destination. Judeo-Christian categories are set aside as a more Graeco-Roman afterlife is reflected: the characters, affected by Lethos are on the edge of the Elysium Fields or the Hall of Heroes, but they must first remember their connection to one another before advancing to any other stage of the afterlife. It explains why Michael isn’t there (he’s stuck on the Island) and why Ben is waiting (his connection was to his ‘daughter’) and why Faraday’s mom knows and still remains.

But that’s all good for an dénouement;, it allowed not only the viewers to say goodbye, but the characters were given that loosening of the ties that held them down in life—they were all allowed to let go, and move on to the ultimate End. The fact that the writers figured out how to start introducing the goodbye while the climax was occurring just adds to the uniqueness of the show. It was a great ending, and it left just the right amount of stuff unexplained, resulting in one of the greatest series television has ever known.

Note: here’s Michael Patton thinking he didn’t get any answers. People, why do you need a better explanation than Jacob’s when finding out what the Island is?

Rey

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9 responses to “Lost: The Dénouement (with Spoilers)”

  1. Rey:

    I thought the ending was pretty straightforward and (to me) obvious: everything that occurred during the last six years was a creation of Jack’s dying brain (the first show began with Jack lying in the bamboo field with his eyes open; when he closes his eyes at the end of last night’s show, the series ends). The shots of the beach with the wreckage, devoid of any survivors, seems to validate this.

    Apparently – if neurology is correct – that’s what our brains do as we are dying, i.e., it flashes our life before our eyes. Nothing in the brain says it stops being creative or seeking to assuage cognitive dissonance at that time. I think the show was about Jack as reflected in his death thoughts.

    Everything is explained if the 121 episodes were constructs of Jack’s dying brain trying to come to peace with itself: search for meaning and purpose, love, companionship, forgiveness, etc.

    Did I miss something?

  2. yeah, I didn’t take it as a dream ala that twilight zone episode at all. I really think those things happened to those people and they really did get their somewhat happy endings. Christian’s explanation seems dead on to me.

    Unless that’s part of Jack’s brain too, lol.

  3. Let’s deconstruct a little, eh?

    We have two or three guys responsible for the show – which, as has been admitted, has a lot of similarities with the game Myst (which I loved, played, and ended) – the three of whom are reasonably successful but trying to come to grips with their own sense of futility or meaninglessness; alas, they end in despair.

    Jack, who symbolizes their angst, is also reasonably successful but feels an emptiness and a sense of existential isolation. He is now lying in a field dying, apparently the random victim of a impersonal and at-times malevolent universe. As he lays there dying, his brain begins to try to make some sort of order to an otherwise meaningless and accidental existence.

    Needing love – who doesn’t? – he constructs an imaginary world rich in symbolism, from names of characters to significant events and objects. (With a wonderful sense of irony, Jack argues for empiricism against a faith-based John Locke! Faraday (as in Michael) seems to know more about electromagnetism than just about anyone else on the island. And Sawyer is the embodiment of Huck Finn if anyone ever was.) All, perhaps, distillations of readings Jack had done at some point in life.

    Plus, I think I can explain almost everything from my point of view. That, of course, does not mean it was the intent of the show but that’s the beauty of postmodernism: I can claim to understand their creation better than they!

  4. I forgot, of course, the obvious link between Charlotte Staples Lewis and Clive Staples Lewis, both being C.S. Lewis. Influence?

  7. unfortunately this is like a zen koan. if i am a man dreaming that i am a butterfly how do i not know that i am a butterfly dreaming that i am a man. things like lost reflect the attitude that you can avoid the reality of the god who is there and the universe as he created it, creating your own reality, like the statement of the serpent in gen 3. compare to dave hunt and the four lies of the new age mvmt.