Lost
by JS
All the cool kids on the internet are hating on Lost after the series finale, but I actually enjoyed the way the series ended. As far as I could tell, the only outright flaw was Christian Shepard’s monologue on the nature of the flash sideways universe. I would have preferred something more ambiguous and subtle at the end, leaving the audience to deduce from everyone “walking into the light” that the flash sideways universe was not a separate universe but instead a kind of after death limbo. (Show! Don’t tell!)
[Aside: I also think the prop work for the island's heart was a tad careless, but I find people's hatred of the plug sequence sort of odd considering the relatively bizarre and groan inducing prop work we've encountered in earlier and better seasons.]
The writers did a nice job playing with our perceptions of the island as a kind of allegorical or literal purgatory. We find out in the end that the island was, in the confines of the Lost universe, the real and messy world of the ambiguous characters and weird situations, politics and drama and mystery. The “normal” flash sideways world was the dream, the limbo, a staging area for both characters and fans to move on. The best part, I think, is that we’re still free to speculate on the nature of the island, what happened after, and what came before.
