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It’s no spoiler to say that this week's “Lost” finale included a surprise twist of the afterlife ... which didn’t sit too well with science-minded types. It's one thing to speculate about the arrow of time, quantum parallel universes and the chronology protection conjecture, but it's quite another to speculate on what happens when you die.
Popular Mechanics has made a regular feature out of dissecting the science behind "Lost," but the final episode offered surprisingly little to go on - as executive producer Carlton Cuse admitted to PM's Erin McCarthy: "We're doing more fiction than science these days. ... We never promised a show that was based entirely and grounded in science. It's nice that it's able to do that, but we reserve the right to go in the direction that the über-plan directs us."
McCarthy's final fact-check had to do more with duct tape than the doom that faces us all. (Bottom line? Miles shouldn't believe quite so much in duct tape.)
The fact and fiction of duct tape wasn't exactly uppermost on the mind of Berkeley physics professor Richard Muller when I chatted with him about "Lost" earlier this week. I had phoned Muller to talk about his textbook, "Physics and Technology for Future Presidents," but we ended up talking about the show because he happened to be a "Lost" über-fan. He even predicted on his website how the show would end. Needless to say, we didn't see Jacob turning into a huge white-smoke monster for a final battle with the island's black-smoke monster.
Muller found Cuse's über-plan to be über-lame. "I could not have been more disappointed," he told me. "They always had a philosophical background and some mysteries, but they threw in a whole set of mysteries that became the focus of discussion. What was the Dharma Initiative for? What were the rules? What was the purpose of the island? ... We were supposed to get answers to these questions. We didn't get any."
For example, why was Ben Linus unable to kill Charles Widmore in his bedroom, but able to shoot him dead on the island? Who set up the rules for the island, and what would have happened if the smoke monster got away? What led Ben and the Original Others to kill off the entire Dharma settlement?
Now Muller suspects that the creators of "Lost" might have been making up most of this stuff as they went along. "The last episode was so disappointing that I don't trust those guys anymore," he told me.
Fortunately, here at Cosmic Log, we don't always restrict ourselves to just the facts. In the past, we've taken on subjects such as alternate afterlives, various theories of heaven (and your reflections on the topic as well), plus out-of-body experiences (and a variety of suggested explanations). If you're a "Lost" fan with a scientific bent, feel free to weigh in with your thoughts on how the show ended ... or how it should have ended.
For a more general discussion of the "Lost" finale, check out the TODAY Television forum on msnbc.com. Join the Cosmic Log corps by signing up as my Facebook friend or hooking up on Twitter. And if you really want to be friendly, ask me about "The Case for Pluto."
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I figured this was the way they would go as they didn't have many options with some of the events of the show's past. There was no way to scientifically explain some of the mysteries without divine intervention, and the purgatory theory seemed to fit well.
They did a good job resolving all of the character situations (I was OK with what sideways world represented) but did it in two episodes and didn't bother addressing any of the mythology which was very disappointing (a little cheap). I think you could have watched season 1 & 6 and been satisfied with the character stories for the most part. If they went the other direction and explained all the myth and did not resolve the characters, we'd probably be disappointed with that too, but you'd have much more to discuss in this article! -Maybe a Lost spinoff about Hurley and Ben ruling the island will explain some of the myth??
Yes, I could easily see a Hurley/Ben spin-off ... Maybe an animated series, like "The Clone Wars." Or a comic-book series. You could even get the polar bear back in there.
I hate to admit that I never watched a single episode. When all the buzz was going on about the finale, I wondered what all the buzz was about. I'd like to watch the re-runs.
Anybody hear where it might show up?
Check your local listings, as they say. Lost is being rerun in syndication on local stations, so you can watch it on those. Here in New York, for example, it's running on weekends on channel 55 and late nights on channel 7. The trick will be finding out when it'll restart at the first episode.
Join Netflix and watch the first four seasons on line at your leisure....
If you can stand to sit in front of your computer for 100 hours or so, you can watch the first five seasons sequentially via Hulu (as long as you can finish them by Dec. 31).
http://www.hulu.com/lost
By that time Season 6 will be on DVD (I believe that comes out in August).
I believe "Lost" is also syndicated to SyFy: http://www.syfy.com/lost/
But I don't know when or if ABC will rebroadcast the whole darn thing from start to finish, or even whether they will rerun the final season. I'd love it if anyone else has the scoop on this.
Alan,
thanks, but I'll do it the old-fashioned way. I can wait. :)
Every time I think I'm beginning to figure out this thing (newsvine), I forgot what I thought I figured out. And I don't know how they figure that I've been a member for almost a yr. Anyway...
I'm replying to my reply that I should have sent Alan.
I'm going to start catching up on "Lost" even if it's wiki. It just seems so complicated. I thought it was just about a bunch of people trying to escape an island. Maybe it's just complex rather than complicated.
If it has to do with science vs. religion, then it's for me. I hate religion.
I found this link:
http://abc.go.com/shows/lost
sorry off topic but is there any way that the new cosmic log header could be a little less huge?
Heh, I don't know if there's a "reduce logo size" button that would work like the "reduce text size" option. I guess it has to be big enough to accommodate those big showcase ads. I just write this stuff, someone else is in charge of the design. Still, I kinda like it...
It's big, but I like it. And as a web designer, the ad probably does dictate the layout.
How to make cosmiclog readable if you are using IE: Under Tools, select Internet Options. On the General tab, find the Accessability button in the lower right corner. In the dialog box, select "Ignore Font Sizes Specified On Web Pages". Now you can reduce the text using the text size option under "View".
The fun in watching lost, was never knowing which way the twists and turns were going to take you. It included mythology, science, religion, faith and everything else you could think of. I think the finale was a good ending. (Like everyone else, it still left me wondering about a few things - smokey, jacob, etc).
No one here mentioned the special stone in the cave or Locke.
I wasn't a fan and I didn't follow it. I watched some episodes and there was always some problem with that other island with the plane on it. A plane that was actually intact and ready to fly ! But the youtube episode of the original crash clearly shows a plane in pieces and people running around in shock minimumly injured and many, not injured at all. If I had watched that first episode, maybe I would have wondered about that, maybe not. Probably not. But now it is so obvious. A plane that wrecked would yield a horrendous scene of death and injury...not a bunch of people running around fully clothed with minimal injury and some with not so minimal injury. What about the other island? What about Locke? What about the stone? Maybe Locke knew all along they were all dead.
I believe
There were 2 planes, the first from the pilot episode which is the one that crashed and the second one was the one that brought the Oceanic 6 back to the island and it did land. The supposed reason that everyone did not die in the original pilot was that they were brought to the island as candidates to replace Jacob and were thefore protected.
I loved all the characters but was disappointed that the final didn't answer all the questions. I felt just as lost as I did in the beginning. What was the deal with the "polar bear" sighting? And what happened to Michael and his son Walt? Didn't they get off the island?? And what was the whole deal of women unable to have babies on the island yet Claire did. And yes, I questioned the whole point of the Dharma Initiative. Was this possibly the Island of Atlantis?? I have no idea. And I only got confused when the got off the island but chose to go back? And why kill of Locke? I really felt that they were making it up as they went along. And the whole parallel life thing just didn't work for me either. Could be these were "lost" souls that never made it to the next plane of existence? Stick a fork in me - I'm done.
Lost is a story about people making good or bad decisions. It is a story of how people are divided by faith oriented beliefs and scientific oriented beliefs. It is a story of how two opposing bodies of prinicples seek resolution and order between each other. We see this in the beginning of the series as Jack and John become more and more divided in how they wish to lead; or live life day by day in peace and achieving their goals. The DI and Jacob's followers were simply an extension of the debate between Jack and John. We see how Jacob's followers can fall from grace and how the DI people fell from grace. In the end it wasn't about good people vs bad people. It was about good intentions (selflessness) vs bad intentions (selfish). Ultimately there needs to be a balance with the element of compassion and love for the survivors of this unrelenting world. Jacob and the MiB were the physical manifestations of what is in the capacity of man. They were essentially the same person: Jacob the light or good and the MiB the darkness or bad. They were both Jacob but the MiB sought answers and could not rely on faith in the woman who raised and took care of him (sure she murdered his birth mother, but in the end she had good intentions and it is impossible to see this from the MiB's perspective). Jacob on the otherhand knew that he couldn't get answers to those tough questions so he relied on what he saw before him and what he believed in his heart: that this woman though she killed my birth mother HAS taken care of me and yada yada. It was never easy for Jacob but he made a decision on faith and compassion. Some things are simply out of our sphere of comprehension.
Lost was never about science. It was a story about life and living life. We can't all be Daniel Faradays. We are more often Jack, John, Kate, Sawyer, Sayid, Hurley etc. We can't understand what Faraday talks about so how can we begin to make deicions within that realm? They had to have FAITH in him and do what he planned and HOPED that it worked. The MiB would stir the pot by tempting people with selfish promises. That's always how the devil gets us no? No matter what we have intended to do... when we get power, position or pride we can be corrupted whether you are a man of science or a man of faith. Both Jack and Locke on their own could not achieve what was needed of them, but with Locke's unwavering faith he influnced Jack: the man of science, to operate with both. Jack buried his good intent and purpose into his heart and used him mind to achieve his goals; never allowing his own interests to obstruct him because that's just the way he is.
Let's lay off the science of it. So many people like us would only misquote and misunderstand it if we tried to learn it from a television show like Lost. If you want to criticize a show for not being scientific enough and following up on the scientific ideas then watch Fringe. Fringe departed on a scientific backdrop and should therefore follow through in a similar manner, but fringe isn't really a story of life as we can see as easily as we can in Lost. Anyone can identify with a character in Lost but it might be a little harder to do so in Fringe (which isn't to say that it is impossible).
Lost was a fanastic story and it ended as appropriately. Bob Dylan says the highest form of art is inspiration. That is what Lost did. If everyone can identify themselves with Lost it can be no easily done than with Hurley. The passive viewer with goodness in his heart. The one character who would say, "Dude this is like that time in Star Wars when..." Hurley is one of us! The Island is the world! We are the next Jacobs! We make the rules! Maybe we can do it a little better than Jacob did. Let's not get caught up in judging Lost for not following up on this theory or that and applying it to a life situation. That is the job for the scientific mind and anyone who judges Lost for not doing it is because you saw the potential and insight that they had to offer and your just mad that they didn't give you the answers that you had always asked yourself. It is up to us.
That is what it means to get LOST!
So well said.
Lost wouldn't have been true to itself if it hadn't left us with some questions.
For me, the whole science vs faith thing was overhyped. Locke was paralyzed when the plane crashed. Suddenly he could walk again. Isn't that hard proof that something special is going on? If I had been on the island, there were times when I honestly don't know what I would have done if I had to choose between Jack and John, and I'm an agnostic atheist who doesn't much stock in blind faith. Maybe I've come to terms with the fact that you just can't know some things. Maybe that's why I liked the finale because it did what was important for me, which was wrap up the characters' stories and give me a happy ending for the characters I cared so much about. (except I would rather John's finance have been there... among a few other small things.)
It was a good story. It wasn't supposed to be the Truth. Just a really good story.
I was able to watch the finale; the first time I had ever seen Lost. Maybe if I had watched it from the beginning, it would have been more interesting.
Does anybody remember Terry O'Quinn (Locke) from the Millennium series? That was a great one.
Also, Naveen Andrews, hotty that he is-- if I had realized he was on Lost, I would have made an app. with ABC every wk. Can you believe it girls (and some guys?) He dated the actress Barbara Hershey since he was about ten. Hate her, love him...but they broke up:
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20390065,00.html
try hulu.com don't know how long they'll keep the series up for tho.
I have to disagree with Howard's comment. That ending sucked bone. I'm a science guy but I wouldn't have had a problem with a non-science explanation for some of the major mysteries of the island. But give me something! I would have accepted that this was Atlantis, or that their mom was the last greek god, or whatever, but please, have something to say.
And as far as the "it wouldn't be LOST if they explained it" idea, that is sort of a self-fulfilling prophecy, isn't it? You can only say that becasue in the end, they didn't explain it.
I think they really had the opportunity to make the most amazing TV story ever. If they had fleshed out the backstory of the island and gave real motivation to the characters' actions, it could have been HUGE. Instead, for a lot of people, the producers dropped the ball. We got the corny happily ever after, dripping with emotion stuff, without fully resolving many of the plot premises.
I did not care for many of the characters, but what kept me coming back was the mystery. Leaving the mystery unanswered makes me look back at all the missed opportunities, all the episodes where I would snap off the Tv thinking "gee, not much happened on that episode, just a setup for next week," and it was all for nothing.
I knew something was up when I started hearing the producers go on at every opportunity at the start of season 6 that this was "primarily a character driven show." Yeah, so are all good dramas. How unfortunate that you chose to set yours in an island full of mysteries that you made up and have the responsibility of unravelling.
The final clue was in "Across the Sea" when the backstory of Jacob & Bro had no explanatory power. And it continued through the finale. In the end, it was just a dopey tv show that I am now really disappointed that I spent time watching. I feel like Ralphie in "A Christmas Story" when he finally decodes the secret message with his decoder ring. "Drink Your Ovaltine."
One word springs to mind - CRAP. It is like they decided to throw out the entire story line this season just to finish it off in time. There was no reason to end the series, other than they had written themselves in to a corner and couldn't write their way out except by providing this crap ending.
Damon Lindelof always came across to me as smug like "I'm screwing with your heads and your lives for 6 years. Thanks for the paycheck."
Don't let this guy write for TV or film anymore!
OK, it's time to put our heads together and make a correct Season Six.
If we can get permission and rights and and get the actors to cooperate, let's do a TV mini-series and Answer the Questions once and for all.
I was highly dissapointed with the "Ghost Whispers" ending. Everyone was gathered together to be led towards the "LIGHT"!!! Why not because they were "special" in that they all survived an ordeal based on surviving a (1) scientifically engineered island capable of (2) time travel/teleportation. Also (3) the rip that allowed the airplane to both crash and not crash as it flew over the island. The gathering was sound but not because they were all dead but because they all survived a scientific and mystical ordeal.
Lost is not broken. Though that was a @!$%#ty climax for a most unusual action/adventure/Sci-fi. They did not need to go to the light. They found each other and for the most part were remembering their past and ordeals. The show ended as a Zero. Someone has to remain or it's all for nothing. I say get the cast and crew together for a rewrite and give the show a proper Sci-fi ending of survival.
This is a story though, not a science text book. Even the science of the show has always been pretty far out there. Stories aren't about answers, not even Lost. Stories are about emotions. They shed light on who we are and the world we live.
There's this metaphor for the debate about art that always stuck in my mind. It's basically that you have two camps. One sees art as being a mirror for the world and the other sees art as being like a light illuminating a dark room.
Well for me, I've always preferred the later. I don't need a mirror. I live in the real world, I see it every day of my life. I want something that make's sense of that world that struggles with how we should live in it.
Lost was a show about a group of broken people struggling to overcome incredible odds and in the process becoming better people. And the ending captured that beautifully. Whether there is or isn't a real after life doesn't matter. Who dropped the food supplies doesn't matter. The polar bear...nope. The light...nope. These things were just setting, they were the hook to draw us into the story, but the story itself was never about them.
I cried during the finale, because it tied up the story of this group of people. It said that there is hope for all of us, even when horrible things happen to us and even when we make horrible mistakes.
And that's a much better thing for a story to be about then a light.