So here it is, the finale of Lost, a series that has constantly confounded the people watching but kept them riveted to their seats regardless. Will all become clear? Will everyone get the answers they want? Find out here in the final extended play by play of “The End”
(Throughout the play by play paragraphs beginning with (i) are about the on island storyline, while (f) are the flash sideways. As the storylines cross over much more in this episode it is impossible to separate the two.)
The episode opens with a montage of both flash sideways and on Island images, reminding us of the people we have come to know over the last six years as the series draws to its close. Locke is about to undergo surgery in the flash sideways, Ben and others are continuing their lives having had flashes of the Island. We also see Christian Shepard’s coffin arriving at LAX airport.
(f) Coming out of this we find Desmond waiting for the coffin arriving at the church it is being delivered to for the funeral. He leaves Kate in their car and signs for the body. When he returns, Kate questions who he is and why he is doing what he is doing. Desmond tells her to trust him and everything will become clear.
(i) Jack is still by the stream where Jacob left him. Sawyer comes and asks what happened and if Jack intends telling them. Jack returns to the group comprising of Hurley, Sawyer and Kate and tells them that the Man in Black is going to try and put out the light at the heart of the Island and they have to stop him. Sawyer leaves the others to find Desmond.
(f) Hugo arrives at Charlie’s flat with Sayid. Hugo goes inside and after failing to get Charlie to come with him, he shoots him with a tranquilizer and puts him in the car.
(i) Sawyer arrives at the well to find Locke and Ben there. Ben holds him at gunpoint while Locke tells him that he is going to sink the Island and they will all go down with it. Sawyer gets the better of Ben and leaves with the gun, knowing that Locke is also looking for Desmond.
Desmond is in the camp of Bernard and Rose who saved him from the well. Bernard leaves to check their traps for food, but soon returns with Locke and Ben. Locke tells Desmond that unless he does what he is told both Rose and Bernard will be killed. Desmond agrees to go with him. As Locke leads them through the jungle, Ben’s radio crackles as Miles tries to contact him. Locke almost hears it but dismisses it and walks on. Miles finds Richard lying just outside the Dharma camp. The two head off to find and destroy the plane.
(f) Sawyer gets a call from Miles when he sees Sayid with Hugo. Sawyer heads to the hospital to make sure Sun and Jin are safe.
Jin and Sun get a scan of the baby to make sure it is ok following the shooting. Juliette is the midwife who does the scan and as Sun sees the baby on screen she has a flash of the scan Juliette did on the Island. Jin also has a flash of his wife from the Island. Juliette leaves them.
(i) Sawyer returns to the group telling them what he has learned of Locke’s plans. Jack tells him it is what he expected and when all is done, it will be the end.
Richard and Miles head across to the other Island. Before leaving the dock Miles finds a grey hear on Richard’s head, signaling that his agelessness has ended. On the way across the water they find Lapidus floating in the wreckage of the submarine. He asks why they are going to destroy the plane when he is a pilot and could just fly the plane off the Island, leaving Locke behind.
Jack & Locke’s groups meet in a clearing. Jack tells Locke he knows what he’s about to do and wants to go with him. Locke asks why when he knows he is going to destroy the Island. Jack tells him it’s because he’s going to kill him.
(f) Sawyer arrives at the hospital looking for Sun.
(i) The group head to the bamboo clearing. Sawyer asks Jack what his plan is. Jack says that he doesn’t know but he knows that Jacob didn’t have Desmond brought back to the Island to destroy it. At the clearing Locke says he, Jack and Desmond can continue but that is all. They enter the clearing and Locke prepares to lower Desmond into the heart of the Island. Desmond tells Jack that what is happening on the Island is not important as when they lower him into the Island he will go somewhere else where everything is better. He tells Jack that he wants to find a way to bring him along. Jack tells Desmond that the Island does matter and what happened happened.
(f) Hugo takes Sayid to a pub. They sit outside in the car and Sayid asks why they are there. Hugo tells him he can’t tell him, he has to find out for himself. Suddenly the pub doors open and a fighting couple of men come out followed by a woman. Sayid runs to help, beating off one of the men as he goes to attack the woman. As he helps her up he finds it is Shannon and they remember each other from the Island. Boone talks to Hugo about how hard it was getting Shannon to be there.
(i) Miles contacts Ben and tells him about the plane. Before he can say anymore, Claire comes out of the jungle and threatens to shoot him. Richard manages to talk her out of it but she refuses to go with them. Locke and Jack lower Desmond into the Island. Locke asks Jack if it seems familiar a'” Desmond going down into a shaft. Jack tells the Man in Black to remember he is not Locke and is simply wearing his face. He tells him that when Locke was alive he knew all the answers and was right about most of them. The Man in Black tells him that soon they will know who is right and who is wrong.
(f) At the concert, Charlie is wakened up by Charlotte who has been told to make sure he gets on stage. She also meets Daniel Widmore and they share a moment, although not a flash of the Island. Desmond, Kate and Claire end up on the same table at the Concert. Dr Chang, formerly the head of the Dharma Company, introduces Daniel and Charlie to the stage. While on stage Charlie notices Claire but doesn’t quite remember everything. Claire leaves the table and Kate follows her.
(i) Desmond finds a pool in the centre of the cavern below the surface, the origin of the light. He finds a large rock wedged in a hole in the centre of the pool and against the electromagnetism he manages to remove it. The water drains from the pool and room goes dark before filling with a dangerous red glow. Desmond realises that something has gone wrong and the Island is about to destroy itself. Above Locke hears Desmond’s cries and tells Jack that he was wrong. The Island shakes and Locke leaves the opening in the rocks. Jack runs behind him and knocks him to the ground. He punches him, drawing blood. Having extinguished the light, Desmond has done his job and caused the Man in Black and Jack to become mortal again and capable of killing each other a'” which the Island otherwise prevented them doing. Jack tells him that maybe he was wrong too. Locke hits him with a rock and runs off into the Jungle leaving Jack unconscious.
(f) At the concert, Claire goes into labour. Elouise Widmore tells Desmond that she told him not to bring the people back together and asks if he is going to take Daniel. Desmond says he isn’t. Kate delivers Claire’s baby, mirroring the events on the Island and leading to all of them remembering. Desmond comes to them and asks Kate if she understands now. She tells him she does and asks what now.
(i) The Island begins to shake more violently. Ben is trapped by a falling tree. Jack comes to and returns briefly to the cave and shouts for Desmond but gets no reply, then he heads off to find Locke. Sawyer, Kate and Hugo try to free Ben. Miles contacts Kate and the group telling them they have an hour to get to the plane or they will leave without them. Locke arrives at the clifftop, looking out to the boat that he intends to use to get off the Island. Jack appears behind him and they fight on the cliff. attack each other. Locke stabs Jack, mortally wounding him, and holds the knife to Jack’s throat. Locke tells Jack he will die for nothing. Kate shoots Locke before he can finish off Jack. Locke tells Jack he is too late. Jack pauses a moment then kicks Locke off the cliff to his death.
(f) Jack notices blood on his neck in exactly the same place that Locke cut him on the Island. He enters Locke’s room following surgery. Despite anaesthetic, Locke comes around, telling Jack that it worked. Jack goes to tell him that they won’t know for some time if the surgery worked when Locke wiggles his toes causing him to remember the Island, when he wiggled his toes after the plane crash. Jack has a very brief flash of looking into the Hatch with Locke on the Island but fights it. Locke tells him that he has to remember and when Jack tells him he has to go to be with his son, Locke tells him he doesn’t have a son and that he hopes someone does for Jack what Jack has just done for him.
(i) The rest of the group arrive at the cliff to discover Jack wounded and Locke dead.
(f) Sawyer enters Jin and Sun’s room to find out if they are alright. He tells them that Sayid escaped custody and could be a danger to them. Sun tells him not to worry and she and Jin leave.
(i) Jack tells them that he has to fix the Island. He tells the others they have to get on the plane and leave. Hugo and Ben tell him they are going with him, while Sawyer and Kate say their goodbyes.
(f) Sawyer goes into the hospital canteen and meets Juliette. When their hands briefly touch they recall their time on the Island.
(f) Jack arrives at the concert too late. Kate is waiting for him. He says he remembers her from somewhere, and she tells him it was on the Oceanic flight but she says there is another reason he knows her. She touches him and he has another flash of being on the Island but again fights it. He asks who she is and what is happening. Kate tells him to go with her and he will understand everything.
(i) Hugo, Jack and Ben arrive at the cave to the light. Jack tells the others he is going down alone. Hugo asks how he thinks he is going to survive and Jack says he won’t. Hugo tells him that he can’t die because the Island needs him. Jack tells him that it doesn’t because Hugo has to take over. He performs the same ceremony that Jacob performed with him. Hugo and Ben then lower Jack into the heart of the Island. He pulls Desmond around and ties him to the rope Hugo lowered him down on.
Sawyer and Kate arrive on the other Island as Lapidus is firing up the plane to take off. Kate persudes Claire to go with them and they hurry to catch the plane before it takes off, making it just in time.
Jack puts the stone back into the core of the Island. With Miles, Richard, Kate, Sawyer and Claire on board, Lapidus flies the plane off the Island.
Jack lies in the heart of the pool as water begins to flow wound him. Hugo and Ben pull up the rope thinking it is Jack but finding Desmond on the end instead. Jack lies in the pool laughing as the light of the Island encloses him and the heart is repaired.
(f) Locke arrives at the church in his wheelchair. He passes Ben sitting outside the church. Ben tells him he is sorry for killing him, and tells him he doesn’t need the chair anymore. Locke gets out the chair, tells Ben he forgives him and enters the Church.
(i) Ben tells Hugo he thinks Desmond will be ok. Hugo says he knows Jack is gone. Ben says he did his job, and as the job is now Hugo’s he has to do what he does best and help people and can start with helping Desmond get home. Hugo asks how when no one can leave the Island. Ben says that was a Jacob thing, maybe there is a better way to run the Island. Hugo asks if Ben wants to help him run the Island and Ben agrees.
(f) Hugo comes out and asks Ben if he’s coming inside, Ben tell him he is going to stay out a little longer to sort things out. Hugo tells Ben that he was a great number 2, and Ben tells Hugo he was a great number 1 in reference to their partnership on the Island. Jack and Kate arrive at the church where Desmond left Christian’s coffin. Kate tells Jack they are here for the funeral and tells him to go in around the back.
(i) Jack awakens on the rocks where the Man in Black’s body was found by Jacob after he became the smoke monster, and he walks into the jungle bleeding.
(f) Jack finds Christian’s coffin in the back room. As he touches it he has his flash of the Island. He then opens the coffin to find it empty. Christian is behind him. Jack says he doesn’t understand and he thought his dad was dead. Christian tells him he is, at which Jack realises he is too. Christian tells Jack that the time he spent on the Island with the people now gathered in the church was the most important time of his life and the flash sideways reality was actually an afterlife they created to live in until they were all dead and could move on to heaven together.
Jack and Christian join the rest in the church. Christian walks to the back of the church and opens to the doors to reveal a blinding light that bathes them all.
(i) Jack lies in the same clearing he awakened in after the crash. Walt’s dog appears from the bamboo and lies down beside him. The last image of the series is Jack’s eye closing as he dies.
As a fan of the series, I promised myself to take the ending as it came. What some fans of series’ forget is that the writers behind every book and tv series are no different to you or me. They can only come up with the same ideas as any other person could have, and in most cases do not have a magic pot that contains the perfect solution to every puzzle they create. Lost is possibly one of the best examples of this. Over six years the writers have woven a story around the same characters and their lives in a way that has made millions feel as though they know them. Yet after the last reel is done, there are many still asking why the polar bears were on the Island, or how the Man in Black actually became the Smoke Monster after being thrown into the light. What these people miss is that Lost was never about the Island, it was always about the passengers of Oceanic 815. Lost was their story and if you watch the series with this in mind then the final result is a beautifully woven tapestry of human faith and spirit. In the final act, Christian tells Jack that he had to remember the Island because the time he spent with the people there was the most important of his life. That statement could apply to anyone, anywhere and defines in simple terms what Lost was all about.
In the end, the basic questions and resolutions all played out. Desmond’s role became clear in that he was brought back to the Island to enter its heart. He believed it would flash him away to the place he saw earlier in the season, but it turned out he was seeing a vision of his afterlife. Locke believed it would destroy the Island. It was likely that Jacob knew what Locke would try and do, but would also know that it would leave Locke vulnerable and end it a'” as some with remember at the beginning of Season 5, Jacob told the Man in Black “It only ends once, my friend.”
The future of the Island was put in the hands of Hugo and Ben who made the decision that the Island would no longer be a prison where people could never leave or never return.
The flash sideways being revealed as an afterlife created by the Oceanic passengers so that when they died, whenever that was and however long it took, they would all be together again for one final journey into the light.
All in all, this was a fitting finale to one of the most ambitious and groundbreaking shows to grace the screens in the last decade and the longer you think about it, the more fitting an ending it becomes until you can’t think of it ending any other way.
Thanks to all who have read these Lost play by plays, and you can find all previous posts in the Newsblaze archives.
