iaria

Overall this episode made me very happy. There were a couple moments here and there that I had issues with, a few things that bugged me or felt off, but there were a lot of moments that made me grin or smile, or squee with happiness or get teary-eyed over. In fact I found myself thinking a couple of times during the episode ‘it’s like the show is doing everything it can to make me happy’ because it really, really was. Honestly right now I’m finding myself a bit overwhelmed. But it’s an overwhelmed where I’m both smiling and teary-eyed when I think over the last two hours so that’s... really good. You know, I am going to miss this show but I think this was a really well done and solid end to the series. I’m pleased with it.

Island

• “I’d ask you along but that’d take all the fun out of me telling you you can’t come.” – Sawyer.
“(smiling) I guess I’ll just have to resist the urge to follow you anyway.” – Kate.

Hee. I loved that.

• “I took it because the Island is all I have left. It’s the only thing I haven’t managed to ruin.” – Jack
“You haven’t ruined anything. Nothing is irreversible.” – Kate
“This would be so sweet if we weren’t all about to die now.” – Hurley

Um, I get what Kate’s saying there, and I was sure the Jack/Kate shippers were very happy, but my first thought when she said that was that I’m pretty sure death is pretty irreversible. Usually. Off Island. Also – hee to Hurley.

• I loved seeing Vincent and Rose and Bernard again so much. Honestly, I’d kind of forgotten about them. I love how they created this nice little life for themselves on the other side of the Island.

• I knew that Richard would survive his encounter with Smokey and I was pretty sure with Jacob gone that he would start aging again but when he told Miles that he ‘just realised that he wanted to live’ I was sure that meant that he was going to die. But then he didn’t, he lived and left the Island, and I was happy to be wrong.

• I was not expecting Frank to have survived and for a second I thought he was the dead body Miles found floating in the water so when they rescued him I was really pleased. He’s not a favourite character but I really do like him and I’m glad he survived. There’s been so much death that when I realised it had to be him and he was alive it was an ‘omg, yay’ moment.

• “You’re sort of the obvious choice don’t you think.” – Not!Locke. See this is what I was thinking too and Jack’s correction that he chose it doesn’t change anything. This did have me thinking though that it would be awesome if it’s not actually Jack who was the new Island Guardian but rather that he was a smokescreen for Claire. It didn’t go that way but it does something similar so there’s that.

• Jack: You’re going to the far side of the bamboo forest, to the place that I’ve sworn to protect, and then you think that you’re going to destroy the Island.
Esau: I think?
Jack: (smiling) That’s right. Because that’s not what’s going to happen.
Esau: And what’s going to happen Jack?
Jack: I’m going to kill you.
Esau: (pause) And how do you plan to do that?
Jack: That’s a surprise.
Esau: Okay. Then lets get on with it.

Wow. That was awesome! I’m pretty sure that it the most I have cheered for Jack in this shows history. This is one of those moments in this episode that made me absolutely gleeful. I loved everything about it – Jack and Esau’s expressions and tone, the reactions of everyone else... I was mentally going ‘awesome’ when watching it and every time I re-watch it I go ‘awesome’ all over again.

• When I saw Claire on Hydra Island with her gun I immediately assumed that Esau had left her there to guard the plane for the two of them to leave in. That made a lot of sense to me and explained why Claire wasn’t with him. Instead we got her being afraid that Esau had sent Richard et al to kill her and suddenly it’s not making any sense. Claire has for the most part been on Esau’s side since her return this season and when we last saw the two of them on the docks I didn’t get any sense that there was any animosity between them. Something had to have happened between them to lead Claire to think he wanted her dead and we should have seen that moment because without it it doesn’t work. It would have worked much more for me if we’d gotten Claire protecting the plane for Esau, Kate talking her back to their side on the walkie-talkie and then Claire refusing to get on the plane and leave without Kate, and her actually waiting on the beach for Kate and Sawyer. And then things playing out the same way they did in the episode. That would make sense to me.

• “If there was a button down there we could fight about whether or not to push it. It’d be just like old times.” – Esau. That felt very John Locke-ish to me and it had me wondering again if we were going to have John still around and fighting Esau for control of his form. That could have been really interesting. Oh, well.

• “You’re not John Locke. You disrespect his memory by wearing his face but you’re nothing like him. Turns out that he was right about most everything. I just wish I could have told him that while he was still alive.” – Jack. Oh, Jack, so do I, so do I. Jack defending Locke so fiercely made me equally fiercely happy. One of the main reasons I’m unhappy we didn’t get John fighting Esau from the inside is because we didn’t get to have a Locke/Jack moment, didn’t get to have them make up and give Jack the opportunity to say that to John himself. That John never got to hear it which would have meant so much to him.

• “Well we’ll just have to see which one of us is right then.” – Jack. What I love about this is that this argument is framed over John and whether he was right or not – with Jack taking John’s side (trusting and believing in him like John believed in the Island) and Esau taking the other (that Locke was always wrong). It makes me happy too.

• Not!John aka Man in Black aka Esau (and damn it we never did get a name!), well, for me his death felt very anticlimactic and I’m not really sure how I feel about it. On the one hand I love that Kate is the one who killed him. But I didn’t really get the feel of – perfect – that so many moments gave me in the episode. I’ve been trying to think of who I think would have been more fitting to kill Esau (and save Jack)... Ben? Maybe. Not Sawyer or Hurley. I feel like Claire would have worked better for me considering that she has history with both Jack and Esau. Jack is her brother, Esau is the reason she was separated from Aaron and went crazy. Her getting to save her brother, getting to take a stand against Esau and take back her power from him – that would have felt more perfect to me. But, Kate still makes me happy.

Although... I am a little confused about why Esau could now be killed. When Jack first hit him outside the cave it made sense because it was Jacob who couldn’t hurt Esau, not the Guardian of the Island. But why did uncorking the hole make Esau vulnerable to anyone?

• I really would have preferred for Esau’s last words to be “Thank you.” a la Mother instead of the gloating “You’re too late.” He made many statements that indicated that he missed being human, and that this life was a burden, and it would have worked far better for me for his end to echo his mothers. If Mother and Jacob’s lives became burdens I would certainly think Esau’s ‘life’ would be as well.

• “Don’t bother me!” – Frank
“... sounds like they’re making progress.” – Ben

Hee. That really amused me. It was definitely Ben’s deadpan response. I’ve missed those this season when he’s been so off balance and uncertain and lost.

• “If the Island’s going down I’m going down with it.” – Ben. Oh, Ben. And the thing is that if Locke were still alive I’m absolutely sure that that is what he would have said too.

• I have never been a Jack/Kate shipper. Back in season two I found myself preferring Kate/Sawyer (though I never really shipped them) and then when I fell for Sawyer/Juliet I found myself wanting Kate/Jack to happen just so it wouldn’t get in the way of my ship. But all that said – the Jack/Kate in this episode worked for me so much for them. Not because of my Sawyer/Juliet shippiness but because it just felt right for it to be them. I loved the kiss and the exchange of “I love you.” I loved that it wasn’t at all about the triangle but rather about two people who loved each other.

• I liked that it was Sawyer’s idea to jump but that Kate did it first.

• “It needs you. It needs to be you, Hugo. ... It was only supposed to be me so I could do this. But if someone has to take care of the Island, if someone has to protect it, then it should be you. Hurley, I believe in you.” – Jack. And that is right. That’s how it should be. In a way that Jack being Guardian felt obvious but not right, Hurley being Guardian feels so right to me. This was another moment that made me teary. I had been wondering why Jack was so accepting Hurley staying behind instead of trying to escape the Island. I also like the repeat of Hurley’s line to Jack about believing in him.

• “Now you’re like me.” – Jack. Except both the other times we’ve seen the guardianship pass before there were words spoken over the water before it was drunk – where were the words? Are they actually unnecessary? A ritual down to convince the future Guardian that something happens in drinking the water more than it actually doing anything?

• Sawyer and Miles greeting each other with ribbing and ‘Ennis’ made me go aww. I love their friendship. I loved Claire and Kate sitting beside each other on the plane and Kate taking Claire’s hand as the plane starts to move – something that we’ve seen multiple times throughout the series. It’s been an overarching image and it fits that it would be repeated a final time here in the final episode. Then to end that scene with the two of them tightly holding hands and smiling at each other as the plane takes off from the Island – that was really wonderful. More teary-eyes.

• “I think you do what you do best – take care of people. You can start by helping Desmond get home. ... That’s how Jacob ran things. Maybe there’s another way. A better way.” – Ben. You know I actually think that at this point Ben would be a good choice to help Hurley. Certainly after this advice, after Ben laid his allegiance with the Island, after Ben saved Hurley’s life and imperiled his own in the process.

Elsewhere

• Hurley’s oh so happy smile when he saw Charlie for the first time made me so happy. I couldn’t help grinning along with him. Awww.

• Hurley tranqing Charlie (even though I saw it coming) = hee. Sayid’s expression when Hurley carried Charlie out and dropped him into the back of the hummer = hee. “What was that?” / “That was Charlie.” = hee. I loved that scene.

• As soon as they said that a doctor was going to come in to look at the baby I was going ‘it has to be Juliet’... and then Juliet walked in the door! ♥ Oh, I was so happy to see her.

 Our first remembering of the episode is Sun and Jin’s. Juliet giving Sun the ultrasound makes Sun remember and very shortly after Jin seeing the baby on the ultrasound makes Jin remember, and then they remember it all, including their deaths, together. And that is just so appropriate because it was always Jin and Sun, together, like they always should be. Aww. I just want to hug them. And of course now they can speak English.

• As with the above ‘Juliet being Sun’s doctor’ moment as soon as I saw Jack and Juliet at the nurses desk I was all ‘they’re going to make them exs like I thought and make me die of glee aren’t they?’ ... and then they did! That reveal, that I’ve speculated and hoped so much for, actually happening... I think there was some actually verbal squeeing there it made me so ridiculously happy. This is one of a handful of moments that would have left me feeling satisfied even if I hadn’t like the rest of it. Of course, having finished the episode I am left wondering why exactly Jack and Juliet decided that they should be ex’s with a son? Interesting.

• “I think you’re a good guy, Sayid.” – Hurley. Oh, Hurley. I think it is very... right for Hurley to be the one to say this to Sayid.

• When the fight started I had no idea who was involved just that Sayid was clearly supposed to be involved. When I heard and saw Shannon – I squeed again and in fact my notes say: ‘Shannon! EEEEEE! It’s like this show is doing everything it can to make me happy! And they’re kissing. And gleeeeeeee.’ So, yeah, it made me happy. I even made a mention in my last review that I wanted to see Shannon again and have her and Sayid connecting but I wasn’t actually expecting it but the show didn’t only give me what I wanted they went above and beyond. It was awesome.

 The second remembering is Shannon and Sayid, who remember together when Sayid touches her arm to help her up. Plus we get a bonus – Boone has totally remembered and is now working with Hurley and Desmond to get others to remember. Awesome.

• Wow but Claire is so tiny against Juliet. Did Emilie shrink? I never noticed how tiny she was before.

• Daniel and Charlotte meet for the first time, and I was totally expecting memories, and yet... nothing. Why are they not ready yet?

• I loved Kate and Claire’s reactions when they saw each other at the concert.

• Kate having to help deliver Aaron again was perfect. That it happened like that again, and how it played out – perfect. When Claire said “It’s Aaron.” and they both cried together it made me cry too. I loved it. I also loved that among so many remembering via romantic relationship these two, especially Kate who was so defined by her romantic relationships on the Island, remembered the Island together. Perfect. I loved their clasped hands and smiling at each other.

 The third remembering is Kate and Claire, and then shortly followed by Charlie. Kate remembers as she helps Claire give birth and Claire remembers when Kate hands Aaron to her. And then both of them see Charlie, and they know him, and when Claire takes his hand Charlie remembers too. I think this remembering was the one that affected me the most.

 The fourth remembering is John. After his surgery he can feel his legs and when he watches himself move his toes he flashes back to the Island. This is also the first time Jack flashes (to the hatch which is what Esau mentions to Jack on the Island earlier in the episode.)

• Sun and Jin’s smiles when they saw Ford made me instantly teary-eyed. They were so happy to see him, and their smiles were so ... soft and loving. Jin’s growing smile after Ford introduces himself as ‘detective’ made me go ‘awwww’ and grin. God, I really, really loved this scene. One of my favourite moments of the entire episode. ...“I have to keep you safe.” Oh, god, I missed that the first time I watched and now it’s making me cry. Another moment that would have made this episode worthwhile even if I’d disliked the rest of it.

• Ford bumps into Jack, and there’s a flicker, a moment of déjà vu for Sawyer, but no flashes from either of them. I’m very curious about the whole Apollo chocolate bar thing which mirrored the first time Jack met Jacob and was made a Candidate – was there some reason for it to be mirrored by James and Juliet of was it just a nice little coincidence?

 The fifth remembering is Sawyer and Juliet. She hands him a chocolate bar and when he takes it, hand touching hers, they both flash on the Island. They back away, still not having remembered but instead we get the full conversation that Juliet had when she died (“We could go dutch.”) and when Juliet touches his hand again they remember. And they cry and hug each other. “Juliet? Juliet. It’s me. It’s me. I gotcha. I gotcha baby.” ...And then they kiss. Sniff. They make me so happy.

• Jack has that moment of déjà vu with Kate, that he didn’t with Sawyer, and then she touches him so tenderly and he flashes on her. “I’ve missed you so much.” Oh, Kate.

• I’m very happy that we got a final Ben/John scene. I loved Ben apologising for everything he did to John, and that he explained why (jealousy). I loved that John got to hear “You were special, John.” John wanted that for so long but life kept hitting him down again and again and while he was alive he never got this acknowledgement. So for him to hear it now made me happy.

- “Well, if it helps Ben, I forgive you.” – John
“Thank you John that does help. It matters more than I can say.” – Ben

And of course John forgives him because he is John and the only person as forgiving as him is Hurley. But I loved this moment too.

• “You know, you were a real good number two.” – Hurley
“And you were a great number one, Hugo.” – Ben

Awww. And they both clearly really meant it. It makes me want to see how life on the Island was with the two of them in charge. Did Hurley make Ben immortal like Jacob did for Richard? I’m suddenly flashing back to that scene where Hurley offers Ben a piece of chocolate, even thought Ben was still the enemy and their prisoner.

 The sixth, and final, remembering is Jack. Jack touches his father’s coffin and flashes again. But this time he doesn’t pull away from the flashes – he puts his hand back and holds it and then he remembers. Remembers the Island, and all the others and then finally he remembers Kate. It feels fitting that he’s the last to remember. Also something interesting – this finale has six groupings of people remembering the past and in the stained-glass behind Jack (and Christian) throughout this scene are the symbols of six religious faiths. I noticed the window the first time I watched but only made the number connection while writing this review.

The End

• The ending both did and didn’t work for me. But mostly it worked. I loved that TPTB threw in one last twist – that this alternate reality we’ve been watching all along isn’t actually an alternate reality but rather actually death. The last shot of the final episode being Jack closing his eye was perfect. I knew it was coming as soon as Jack began stumbling through the bamboo and if that wasn’t how it ended I would have been disappointed.

• I loved the returns we got in this episode but at the end that church looked and felt far too empty. Even discounting characters like Mr. Eko and Ana-Lucia where was Miles? Where were Frank and Charlotte and Daniel and others like them? What about Walt (who was special) and Michael? Why was it okay to leave Ben and all the rest of them behind? Why wouldn’t they wait until everyone was ready to go?

I mean Christian tells Jack – “This is a place you all made together so you could find one another. The most important part of your life is the time you spent with these people. That’s why you’re all here. No one does it alone Jack. You needed all of them and they needed you. ... To remember. And to let go.” – and that’s wonderful except that they aren’t all there and so them choosing to leave feels very premature.

I am really curious about everyone wanting to leave. That part feels a little off to me. They all created this reality so they could find each other again. They made both good and bad things in their lives, like a real life in that way, and they made a real life for themselves. If them ‘moving on’ isn’t about returning to the lives we’ve been watching for six years, and it’s clearly not, then why even bother? Or at least what’s the rush? Most of them have just found each other again – including people whose loved ones who died (Claire/Charlie, Sayid/Shannon, Shannon/Boone, Jack/Kate, Sawyer/Juliet) – Aaron was just born, and in the end they aren’t all there. So why leave? Why not stay and live their lives and continue to help everyone to remember.

Jack and Juliet created a son together and yet we get nothing from either of them about him. It’s like once both remember/start to remember he doesn’t matter anymore. What was his purpose? Just to help Jack through his daddy issues? But then what did Juliet get out of it, why did she need David?

Then there’s John who in this world they created has Helen back... and her absence at the end was definitely felt. She wasn’t an Oceanic person or even an Island person and so she didn’t belong there but are we suppose to take from it that she was created simply for Locke, or was she the real Helen? If she was the real Helen why would John be so ready to move on now that he had her back? All of the people in that church had found someone in their own group, even Boone had Shannon, except for John who only had friendships. His love is in this created world. I don’t understand his being so happy to leave it.

It just doesn’t make any sense that at that time they would all be ‘yay, let’s move on!’ They all have a lot of reason to stay in this world they created. I think it would have worked better if as a group they had decided that it wasn’t time to go yet – they weren’t complete yet, others still had to be ready, and so instead they decide to stay in this life they created, and finally get to be happy and whole, surrounded by each other and their love for one another as they wait and help the others to remember and be ready too. That would have worked better for me.

• Why did we not get a John/Boone moment? I’m going to have to watch over it again to see if I missed it but that is far more important than a Jack/Boone hug. I also didn’t see a Jack/Claire hug and there definitely should have been one of those.

• I also didn’t like John sitting alone on the front bench. There should have been someone there. Ben? Is that where Ben was supposed to be? Of those there it should have been Boone sitting beside John which would have made far more sense than him sitting beside Juliet with Sawyer. I mean he never even met Juliet. If not with Locke, than at least beside Shannon.

• There are a lot of questions left unanswered at the end, and really I was kind of expecting it, but the two that stick most out in my mind are: Why was it so important that Claire raise Aaron? Why and how is Walt so special? It bothers me that we didn’t get more resolution for those.

• So in the end of our originals Kate, Claire and Sawyer survived and made it off the Island to live their lives, and later additions Miles, Richard and Frank also made it off alive. On Island Hurley and Ben survived to protect the Island, along with Desmond (who’ll undoubtedly be shortly leaving it) and Rose and Bernard (and Vincent).

• In my post Island world I see Claire and Kate picking up Aaron and then the two of them living with Sawyer and all of them trying to move on with their lives. Miles hangs out with them. Maybe Sawyer is actually a father to Clementine. They visit Ji Yeon a lot. Desmond returns to Penny. All of them keep in contact. And perhaps they even return to the Island – return to visit Hurley (and Ben/Rose/Bernard) sometimes. Perhaps Walt returns to the Island and becomes Hurley’s successor or maybe one of the other kids (Aaron, Ji Yeon, Charlie) becomes Guardian after Hurley.