The Lost blog

Originally posted 5-23-10

So tonight is the last episode of Lost. Ever. Most of my friends on Twitter are all obviously NOT in the central or eastern time zone, and are begging for people to not give spoilers away, and the others don't care at all, so I decided to blog my experience.
It's still an hour before the 2 hour recap/interview program starts. I am watching a Mythbusters marathon until "it is time" (in my best Rafiki voice).
4:53pm (central time)

Just saw this...now I am excited...


6:00pm
They just began the 2 hour show recap and interviews. I think I just may wet myself.
Oh, and I HATE HATE Charter Communications!! The HD ABC will not play at all, it's skipping and freezing. Standard ABC is snowy.

I love it! Even the commercials have Lost clips in them...

I remember the days when I was #teamhateBen....I am sure that tonight he may prove to be the biggest bastard of all, but you come to see where the weird little dude is coming from...

I am still hoping, that despite a bomb blowing up, a gigantic hole in a sinking sub, that Sayid will show up somehow.

This is my prediction..6:52pm
How Desmond in the sideways, is trying to round everyone up together, he will be how Jacob "touched" everyone before, as Locke is the Man in Black. Something will happen in "island" time, they will die, or the island will get destroyed, and then in the sideways, they will all arrive on the island. Or something of the nature. I am just so worried Saywer or Kate will die. Maybe Juliet will be Jack's ex wife in the sideways, since that ex wife has never been seen. I think Ben will die.
~~

I was so glad when Widmore and Tina Fey clone died. I am so sorry I was never a Juliet fan. I still don't fully understand Richard. I understood the flashbacks, flash forwards, and sideways, and the time travel. Richard still confuses me.

I love it! A fan wrote in:
'Roses are red, violets are blue, 4 8 15 16 23 42".

7;36pm..I am ready for this thing to start already.

I haven't anticipated a television event like this since the last episode of MacGyver.

Okay..here it comes. 7:51pm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Hurley has a bad feeling about Sawyer going to get Desmond. This is not good.
I am so glad Charlie is here. Even though he is wearing guyliner.
Well I answered my own question about Vincent. And YAY for Rose and Bernard.
I like Miles. He rocks. Well my Juliet theory is semi right so far. So Since Jacob is dead, maybe Richard will start aging. I got happy for a sec when I saw Lapidus, I am still pro Sayid not being blown up.
I WAS RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Juliet is Jack's ex wife!!!!!!!!!! Fookin a!! I don't want Ben to die, but in a way I do. I have no idea how this thing is going to end!! 45 minutes in...
(on a non related Lost note, the movie Killers is a rip off, and Katherine Heigl is a bitch)
No worries, Sayid, I am still your number one fan...SHANNON!!!! OMG!! I just yelled OMG it's Boone and Shannon!!!! Oh crap it's crazy Claire. One thing I never understood was, Desmond said he saw Claire and Aaron getting on a helicopter, right before Charlie died, but it never happened. Maybe he just said it to get Charlie to go to unjam the signal.
Okay, one hour in. I've been somewhat right so far, and very surprised! I had to just sign off of Twitter, there were some people being so retarded, it was ruining my day. None of my friends, of course.
Yay!! Faraday! I am a huge Jeremy Davies fan, I am so glad he is a part of this show. Oh no...Desmond in the dark..I think I am going to count just how many times on this show that some one gets knocked unconscious.
I am assuming the Man in Black/Locke is human now?
So in all 3 versions of Claire giving birth, Kate has been there. That has to mean something...
So when Desmond took that thing out of the water, that was the "cork" right? How Jacob referred to the island as the cork?
Jack just dove at Locke Leonidas style...
Kate=badass.
Island lives are affecting sideways lives now....
I always figured Aaron would end up having some sort of pivotal role.

Oh crap I think Jack is going to die. This I did not anticipate. This won't do.
Hurley and Ben staying behind with Jack. Jack and Kate kissing goodbye. Kind of sad.

I haven't smoked in a long time, but I feel I am going to need a cigarette after this.

One of my favorite Lost moments, was when the boar peed on Sawyer's stuff.

I just laughed out loud like for real!!! The Smoke Monster v/s the smoke detector Target commercial!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I never thought I would be happy for a Sawyer/Juliet reunion, but that was damn sweet.
Enough with the commercials, ABC.

Hurley for island mayor!! Poor Ben, he just wants the island for himself. He better not hurt Hurley.
Will we find out what happens with Penny and baby Charlie? In island AND sideways time...
Maybe Claire can go home now and get some deep leave in conditioner....
Is Jack going to become the Black Smoke now?
Now this I would've never guessed. Hurley became Jacob.
Aw, yay for Ben.
10 minutes left...
ok, there is dead dad...
Everyone on the plane died? Is that's what going to happen in the Sideways?
Well the sideways ending was odd.
Island Jack and Vincent right where they were in the beginning.

Well that was pretty good. I didn't cry, which is rare for a series finale. Now I want to go and watch every episode again. I am glad most every question was answered, and it didn't end with me going WHA???

And the only prediction I got right was the Juliet thing. Island Sayid never showed up, but Sideways Sayid is happy.

It wasn't a bad finale, but I didn't care too much for the Sideways ending, even though everyone was reunited with the ones they love. That part made me smile. Kinda sad about Jack. Not a whole lot, but some.

Still waiting for Sayid to come out of the water in like a floatie or something...

So there you go folks. Not that eventful, blog wise, but now Lost is over. I know many people don't watch, but for me, it was a good ride. :)

*edit*
I found this the day after I originally posted:
Lost questions

*edit*


*edit*
'Lost' Star Michael Emerson Puts A Creepy Spin On Everyday Phrases

*edit*
I am not sure who wrote this, but it's my favorite Lost theory so far..
"I keep reading that this last season was about character development, blah, blah, blah. That’s NOT what this season was since the Flash Sideways were not who the character really were. Character development was happening throughout the series from the beginning with the FlashBACKS. That’s what the Flashbacks were for — for character development — so that we could see why the characters were the way they were. We didn’t need the Flash Sideways or Purgatory for that. The whole Purgatory thing was ridiculous. I love that they showed them all together and happy at the end, but find it sad that it took them dying and going through all the hell they went through on the island just to find happiness in death.

They should have used this final season to give us the answers we so deserve for sticking with the show for six years. They still could have ended the show by showing them dead and happy."

*edit*
LESSONS FROM LOST
Trevin Wax
Pastor, Author

In this age of fragmentation with regard to entertainment choices, it is increasingly rare for a single television show to stir up as much conversation as has Lost. Likewise, when most television shows specialize in serving up a great big dish of fluff, it is rare to see a show address the philosophical and spiritual dimensions of life's biggest questions.

Lost was groundbreaking in many ways, and it will certainly take its place in history as one of the most thought-provoking dramas to grace the airwaves. It was not perfect (remember the sluggish pace of Season 3 or the introduction of Nikki and Paulo?), but I'm confident that it will be remembered for setting a new standard for television drama.
Click Here

What are some lessons that Christians can take away from this pop culture phenomenon?

1. People are interested in the big questions of life.

Though many strategies for growing the church have recommended that preachers shy away from deep questions in favor of practical advice for daily living, Lost demonstrates that a large segment of the American population (particularly in the age range 18-39) hungers for answers to deep philosophical and spiritual questions.

* Is there good and evil?
* How do human free will and divine sovereignty work together?
* Are people basically good or evil?
* Is there hope for redemption?
* What happens when someone dies?
* Do our present choices affect our future decisions?
* Is there an afterlife?

Lost didn't answer these questions well, and often, the answers given were contradictory. Nevertheless, the show was bold enough to ask these questions and expect the audience to think. Surely the church must not sit back and allow the convoluted worldviews of Hollywood to be the primary formative influence regarding these questions.

2. People are looking for the purpose behind pain and suffering.

One of the central questions posed by Lost was whether there was a reason for the plane crash and for these particular people to be placed on this particular island. Ironically, though the show was quite postmodern in its sensibilities (especially in the way it was often difficult to decipher who was good and evil), Lost continued to appeal to audiences by offering "answers" to questions about the purpose behind the main characters' travails.

Can what is intended for evil be turned to good? Lost tried to demonstrate how multiple "bad events" could bring about good consequences. The church, however, has the incomparable cross of Christ, where - within the greatest evil ever committed - God the Son provides the sacrifice for human sin and becomes the catalyst for cosmic restoration.

3. There is a crisis of fatherhood today that has caused immeasurable pain, sorrow and anger.

Lost often centered on the "daddy issues" in the back stories of many of the characters.

* Jack and Claire's father was a perfectionist who drilled inferiority into his son and eventually became a philandering drunk.
* Kate's drunken father abused and terrorized her mother.
* Locke's father was absent for most of his life, reappearing only to take advantage of him in a sickening way.
* Hurley's father was absentee.
* Ben's father blamed him for his wife's death.
* Sun's father was a hard-working tyrant

Most disturbing was that, in some cases, the main characters' anger toward their dads led them to patricide (Kate, Locke, Ben). Lost presents a frightening picture of what takes place when the biblical vision of manhood and fatherhood is abandoned. Suffering, anger, pain and violence are left in the wake of a father's abdication of responsibility.

4. People long to be part of a story bigger than their personal story, but which is able to incorporate and add meaning to their individual experiences.

Lost was known for including hundreds of seemingly insignificant details, which merely encouraged fans to try and put the pieces together to see how they might fit into the big picture. Even when our favorite characters died or the show's plotlines turned bizarre, fans believed that there was a purpose behind all the pain and suffering.

Lost didn't always succeed in this area. As the seasons progressed, the complexity of the storyline often dwarfed the individual plotlines. Character development suffered. Yet fans continued to watch, hoping that the characters' stories would make sense within the overall picture that the Lost writers were creating.

Why did Lost strike such a chord? Because this desire for meaning and purpose behind our individual stories is very much wired into us as humans. Lost never fully succeeded at satisfactorily tying the stories together into the show's meta-narrative. But there is one Story that will.

The Christian faith teaches that we are part of a Story that is about Jesus Christ, the King of the universe. The slain Lamb is the conquering king - through whom and for whom our world exists.

Ironically, when we live as if our personal story is at the center of our universe, we struggle to find meaning and significance. But when Christ is at the center and we are pushed to the periphery, it is then - in that place of seeming obscurity and insignificance - that we find true worth and value, by giving glory to the King with whom we can become united through faith.

At the great finale of the history of this world, when the King returns and subdues everything under his feet, when God becomes all in all and sums up everything in Christ, all of this world's suffering and pain, all of our unanswered questions will be resolved in light of the God who comes to dwell with man and wipe every tear from every eye.

Now that is a finale worth waiting for!

Trevin Wax is a pastor, author and avid blogger at "Kingdom People." His recent book published by Crossway is entitled: Holy Subversion: Allegiance to Christ in an Age of Rivals. Read our excerpt here. Visit his site for further information about his writing and ministry.

Also, for more great discussion about LOST, visit Crosswalk.com Editor Shawn McEvoy's blog here.