LOST: All Good Things...

Since this is the last call, let's break with the standard format and jump straight into the goodie-bag. Let's talk about the good, the bad and the ugly.

Like I've said before: Miles was hands down the luckiest character on that damn show. Kate a close second and Lapidus third. I don't count characters like Hurley and Ben because they had established connections.

The Battle for the Island: stretched-out yet still worth watching. Especially because I was trying to get an idea of what Ben was going to do, how Desmond was going to sacrifice himself, the special trick that was going to make Smokey vulnerable, and what role characters like Sawyer and Richard would play. On that note, it's interesting to see that in the end, the Island has been "reset," implying that a lot of things (namely the "rules" that govern the Island) can be changed with the changing of the guard. Really, everything that happened from the unplugging to the re-plugging was awesome.

If Season 6 had dragged on like the first two, I'm guessing that each character's X-World Revelation would have come in their own centric episode. The X-World Flash Revelations that shocked me? Sayid's (so Sharon's his true love? Not Nadia?), Sawyer's and Juliet's (really: before Season 5 I didn't see them as a couple), and Kate's (Claire giving birth? OK; whatever). Otherwise the others were pretty much as I expected (especially Jack being the last one to have one).


Two things I called: Lapidus surviving (everyone, include LOST Untangled, was careful to keep him off of the Dead Roster) and Jack giving Island Guard Duty to someone else (even though I thought is was Kate, but considering who Jacob was, the second pick makes sense).

Character-wise, I guess my biggest disappointments were of Kate and Claire. Every other female character had some kind of big development of change. Claire's turn from Pregnant Australian to Heart & Soul to Crazy Jungle Mom to "She was with us in the beginning, let's take her with us" felt disjointed (in the early seasons) and rushed (Season 6). I'm glad she got the ending she did, because honestly if any of Flight 815 deserved it, it was Claire.

As for Kate: really, what was her purpose? To tease Sawyer and Jack? To give birth to Aaron? I mean, she helped Jack in the end, but let's be honest: everyone but Hurley has shot someone as this point in the series (oh wait, Hurley shot Charlie in the X-World; Welcome to the Gun Club, Hugo!). Everyone seemed to either have a mystical connection to the Island or heart-wrenching love story or intriguing tale of redemption. But the Island never really seemed to need Kate, her love triangle with Jack and Sawyer worn thin after Season 3 and to be honest she was as repentant as Mr. Eko when it came to her actual crime. I really, really wanted...more from Kate, and since Day One it always felt like she was holding back. Don't get me wrong, she made a little hop here and there, but never a full leap. And considering all the strong female characters who died before her, it's kinda sad.

Oh, and considering what this "gathering" in the X-World was all about, it's interesting that Ben, Ana-Lucia, Michael, Walt and the characters from the Freighter were holdouts. My theory? Michael (and possibly characters like Nikki and Paulo) is stuck on the Island (as he told Hurley earlier). Walt and Ana-Lucia aren't really part of this group. Now I understand that this ending had to deal with both life and death and the supernatural but personally I don't think that had to go that route to put a period on the show.

As far as the final moments: I don't think the show would be what it was if it didn't go out like that. But if this world was as Christian claimed, how did Keamy and his goons die (again)? What was the purpose of introducing David? Why wasn't someone like Ilana ready? The X-World was, of course, something other than what we led to believe; very "What Ever Happened To The Capped Crusader?," if you ask me. Nevertheless, I'll take this as a good explanation. Or this one from one of the Slate.com-based fans:

It seems to me that the writers took all the fan-created theories about what the Island is, and used them to explain the alternate time line. For example, most people thought the Island was one of the following
1 ) Purgatory
2 ) A figment of someone's imagination
3 ) Parallel dimension that exists outside time and space

Turns out if you combine these theories you get the alternate time line. It is a form of purgatory, created by the collective conscious of the Lost characters, which exists in a time/space all of its own. This is an interesting explanation, but for it to work you need to accept the fact that a hydrogen bomb, when detonated with a rock, does not kill. It merely teleports you 30 years into the future so you can see your friends.

As for the Island: Full Circle, baby. And that's the point: it was always about the Island. What happened in the flashbacks provided the "why" and "how" for the characters. What happened in the flashforwards showed us how much the Island really meant to them. And this season? Well, whether you had an alternate world, purgatory or a dream sequence somebody would have felt robbed. But in reality, the X-World mattered as much as the flashbacks and the flashforwards did in relation to what was happening on the Island.

Thanks to everyone who played a part in the show. I never thought I would find something to help with my Buffy and Angel withdrawal, and you guys not only did that but you showed everyone that's it's still possible to make a good show with compelling characters and interesting stories. Here's hoping that in 5-to-10 years someone can learn from this and make something just as good.

(I may do a character-by-character grade within the next week or two; so while it's the end of the show it's not the end end)