Man of Faith Part Two

I know the first part was all about the season finale of Lost, but I won't go into that in too much detail because I know there are people who still haven't seen it and don't want spoilers.

However, I will say this:

I was satisfied with the ending on the island. I felt that after six years the right characters got the right endings for them. Except for a few a couple of episodes before the finale. That was just sad. The island ending had the real full circle approach with some beautifuls twists and touches, in particular the slightly cheesy but exactly correct use of Vincent the Dog in the final scene. The show, with all its "eye-open" starts in the series, needed an "eye-close" in the final scene just to say we've gone full circle and I was impressed.

I was less impressed with the ending of the flash-sideways. I guess it's all it ever could have been, but in retrospect we were told that it wasn't that (we, we were told the Island wasn't that, so I guess the producers didn't lie, more divert the truth). The scenes in the flash-sideways though were well written and, again, the nice touch with Ben remaining outside still not showing his hand to us whether he's truly good, bad or misunderstood was good. It was a truly bittersweet resolution for the storyline, and, in fact for the whole series.

If you want to know the whole story ehind Lost, here is someone with some postits (credit to @sequinedhat on Twitter for finding this just as I was writing this entry)
Beware of spoilers:


I was extremely not impressed with Sky and their "internal error" which blacked out the whole of the second part of the finale from 6am when I'd already watch the first hour from 5. That fucked me right off, although they put it on demand for us very quickly, which was nice. I guess.

So that's it. All the TV I watch is coming to an end. House must be approaching its final season soon. 24's all but over. Dollhouse only got as far as a second season. I need some new TV for my two weeks off work.

Man of Science Part One

So after six seasons and all but two of 121 episodes aired, the rollercoaster ride of "OMGQWHATTHEFUCK??!!!?!!?!?!!?" that is "Lost" comes to an abrupt end at the ungodly hour of 5am tomorrow morning. That means if I'm to get any sleep tonight I have to go to bed like, now.

However, I do feel like I have to sum up the last six years of TV heaven that Lost is before it lands in the Pacific Ocean never to be seen again. So here goes:

I'm not even going to bother coming up with a theory behind what's actually been happening and why for the last six years tsince the survivors of Oceanic 815 started pitching up home, waiting for the helicopters or boats that would never come and rescue them. In fact the people that do come to the island have a history of having their modes of transport blown up, the people on them being murderers, or (usually) both.

When Season One started way back in 2004, the creators mostly treated us to one-off episodes featuring certain members of the cast wandering into the jungle to get attacked by polar bears, running away from the Smoke Monster and being heavily pregnant until the story REALLY kicked in in season two when the mysterious hatch appeared and it was revealed that the islanders weren't alone.

After that, and some convoluted storylines about two timelines, flash-sideways, and the whole thing being a hoax we've come down to this final 150-mintue episode where all, some or none of the whole thing will be explained.

Of course, many people want an "explanation", but I feel that one of those rare beasts will be a disappointment. I don't want some shitty magic-trick ending where someone lays it all out and says "this is how we did it", but what I do want is a suitable conclusion to the main characters storys.

I've suddenly discovered that it's difficult to write a blog entry about Lost without spoilers for people who haven't seen all of it yet but are still interested by the finale, but I'll soldier on, I promise.

I'll tell you what I do want explained though, if nothing else, and that is why polar bears appeared on the island, thousands of miles from their original habitat way back in season one in the first place. They've not been seen and barely mentioned since, and it's just one thing that never made any kind of sense to me. That said, I guess it's just some red herring distraction tactic to keep us away from the big picture.

I always loved the character of John Locke. I never liked Jack Shephard as much, but you could almost tell even right back to episode one that the whole story would boil down to them two. The "Man of Science" and "Man of Faith". It's only fitting that the situation between their characters would prove to be the fuel to the season ending fire. It's going to be one hell of a battle when they lock horns.

Various websites I've seen have said that the producers have warned that every single Lost fan should prepare to cry their eyes out too. What that means I can only guess. I'm normally one to get mushy over TV (It's only really happened to any real extent at the season five finale of Six Feet Under - the greatest ending to any TV series ever...closely followed by Angel, but that's another story entirely), but I'm ready to be tested). Come on JJ Abrams...do your worst!

At the end of the day, it's just a TV series, but it's another one of my all time favorites coming to an end. With 24 following suit in the imminent future as well, I'll have to find myself an alternative form of TV-based entertainment and another drama to fall in love with. But until then, we still have to put the full stop at the end of the story of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815.

At 5am, on a Monday morning. Bastards.

Light Relief

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/7798194.stm