It is Monday. I am tired. There's your Haiku for the month. Indeed, I am tired; I ended up falling asleep around three thirty this morning. Can't blame the late bed time entirely on the final episode of Lost, but watching it contributed mightily to the situation, to be sure. When it ended at eleven thirty, I promptly scoured the web for fan opinion (uniformly unfavorable and reactionary) and word from the people involved with the show (nowhere to be found except on The Jimmy Kimmel show, which was, not surprisingly, more about the funny than extrapolating on plot points, etc.).
I think I trolled the Internet the way I did primarily because I wasn't sure I how I felt about the episode. I'm still not entirely sure. It affected me, it stayed in my head all day. Isn't that the true service of art, though - to shake us up, to stir the blood? Sure, a lot of the show's mysteries were not solved - for example, we still have no idea what the island, arguably the show's main character, was - but the the episode was so well rendered, so poetic, that I wasn't, and still am not, too bothered by that fact.
Initially, I thought the lack of revelations, the lack of a big payoff, was a kind of slap in the face to the hardcore fans, the ones who devoted many an hour theorizing and hypothesizing about the show. Those fans, probably the majority of the show's viewers, were less attracted to characterization than they were to speculating about the supernatural/scientific labyrinthine elements. Each new puzzle lobbed at them was a nugget of gold. They were devoted, they clamored to the last episode with gleeful zeal; they wanted answers, son! They didn't get them, at least not the ones they wanted.
As I say, I initially felt as if that was a slap in the face to these devotees. I bet they had no problem with the the ending itself, but the lack of closure in other key areas of the show, well, I bet that hurt them deep. I imagine they slept less than I did, and less comfortably. Did the the writers sell them short intentionally? Were they just a bunch of dicks fucking with the heads of their loyal fans?
No, I don't think so. I've come to the conclusion that the writers, rather than deprive their fans, actually did them a great service. By leaving a lot of questions unanswered, they've enabled the die-hards to keep theorizing, their bread and butter, long after the show has aired. Ten years from now, people will still be wondering why Miles wasn't at the church at the end and why the man in black was never named.
I'll miss the show, I already do. I plan on eventually, perhaps soon, watching the show from start to finish. I don't think there will be another show like it for a long while.
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Yes, I am tired. I've got a busy day tomorrow. I predict two things: it will fly by and the heat of it will be stifling. We'll see. In the meantime, it's the Celtics game for me.
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I never watched Lost but the show sounds interesting to me. However, traditionally I don't tend to get interested in a show until it's been on for a while or it is completely over. The first thing that came to mind when you said that there were still some things left unresolved after the finale is that they are planning on some sort of continuation of the show perhaps in movie form or a spin off show. (I'm surprised that you didn't address the possibility of more Lost in your blog?)
On the subject of TV show finales and the inevitable disappointment I think that it has more to do with the idea that we can get so attached to the show, the plot and the characters that we never want it to end. Therefore, when the last show arrives we are set up to be disappointed because the show has become such a part of our lives. Instead of a movie that only lasts a couple of hours, we have been with the characters for several years. Not to mention the fact that we don't get to choose when we say goodbye we are simply at the mercy of the producers. That is my take on it.
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