The manner in which a television series completes its final act is rarely satisfactory. Most shows don't make it to a final episode. Many end on cliffhangers or in the middle of their run preventing the creation of a final act. So when the creators of a series, especially an enduring series like "Lost", have the opportunity to give a series proper closure, it's an exciting time. Will the program go out in a blaze of glory or will the fire run out of fuel and fizzle quietly? A series finale is a glorious success when it satisfies the expectations of the audience, provides a sense of closure and nostalgia for the journey, and stays true to the series as a whole. I've seen lots of polarized reviews of "The End". Some people love it, calling it a brilliant closure. Some hate it, saying the series has failed miserably due to lazy writing. I'm going to take the middle road and say the ending was adequate. STAYING TRUE TO THE SERIES - "The End" is very true to "Lost" as a series. It provides great character drama with wonderful performances by most of the main cast. It has some great emotional scenes, a slew of twists and turns, a bit of violence, mystery, intrigue, and confusion. This episode is like any other episode of the series, which is a positive and a negative. It is entertaining, like any other episode, because it keeps you guessing what will happen next with characters you can relate to. And for a series that is "about the characters", it does stay true to its characters. All the actions are true to the story arcs of the people involved. CLOSURE AND NOSTALGIA - On the other side of this, the episode is frustrating, like any other episode, because it gives you enough to want to see what will happen next, but it doesn't really explain anything. So many times in this series, we've seen the explanation that is no explanation ("Across the Sea" for example); or we get an explanation that either raises 50 more questions or leads to a situation that leads to 50 more questions. Now this is all well and good for a normal episode, especially when you have several seasons to go, but to follow the same formula at the end, doesn't really give a total sense of closure to the series. The characters have closure, but the show doesn't because we are left with so many loose threads, so much unresolved material that it's impossible to be totally satisfied by seeing the characters, literally, at the end of their journey. But, back to a positive, as far as nostalgia goes I think they succeeded in giving us enough material to remind us of what a great journey it's been without giving us a clip show, which is always cause for kudos. AUDIENCE EXPECTATIONS - Ultimately though, any form of entertainment is about satisfying an audience. And in the case of "Lost", while it provides excellent nostalgia, character drama, and gives a sense of character closure, it doesn't really give a huge chunk of the audience what they really want... to know what the heck is going on! We know Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have said that the show is about the characters. And they seem to have gotten caught up in that mentality during the last season. But the characters are really only as important as the story... as the journey they're thrust into. What would Kirk or Spock be without the Enterprise, without the missions, the stories, the fun, the adventure that came from following them on their 5-year mission and beyond? In the same vein... what would any of these characters be without the island? Without the mystery? Without the suspense? Without the polar bears? The best part of a mystery is seeing how it all comes together, and a lot of people wouldn't have tuned into the program without the mystery of the island. So you have a large chunk of your audience wanting to see how the mystery comes together, and the creators basically say the mystery is meaningless. The island is meaningless. None of it matters. If none of it matters, then why should we care about these characters? Yes, they're nice, well-rounded characters, but they'd be nothing without the island, without the journey they went on. It would've been nice to see this episode, and heck, the entire last season deal with the characters AND the mysteries. See how it all starts to come together, the island, the surroundings, all the themes, the character arcs, weaved into one and closing with a total sense of finality, satisfying the audience and the creators by ending the mysteries and the character arcs together. Instead we just get the characters. I guess they just gave up and tried to at least give the characters some closure because they didn't know how to close the story. Or maybe they were afraid we wouldn't accept their solution to the mystery and decided to leave it open-ended. I don't know. But it was disappointing to see huge elements of the show carelessly brushed aside in its final act. OVERALL - It's not bad. It succeeds where a lot of other shows fail in at least giving us character closure. But it doesn't deliver what a chunk of the audience really wanted. The marketing department of ABC gave us advertisements saying "The time for questions is over." I think the creators should have paid a little more attention to them, because they seemed to have a much clearer idea of what the audience really wanted than the makers of the show. 6/10 - It has its good moments, but it feels incomplete and shallow to an audience expecting something incredible. If you just want character closure, you'll love it. If you want more... well...
Review of The End: Part 1
