LOST Answers Few Questions

There are those who haven’t watched an episode, others who’ve viewed the odd show from time to time but weren’t hooked and then there are folks like me who have been devoted fans of the television show LOST which wrapped up its 6th and final season Sunday night with a two and a half hour finale.

Since the very first episode I’ve never missed one installment of this amazing television experience. The story, although confusing and misleading at times has been compelling and I don’t regret watching it for a minute.

The characters and their story lines are what powered the show plus always being left with questions at the end of each episode. We all wondered “what was in the hatch”, “what was the smoke monster”, “how come Richard never aged” and “where the hell did the island disappear to?”

Of course the biggest question was how did these people survive a plane crash after the aircraft broke up in midair and then find themselves on this mysterious island? Well, as we found out on Sunday night, they didn’t survive after all and have been dead the whole time.

Here’s my take on what happened. The plane crashed and killed everyone on board. But for the passengers we’ve followed all along, they weren’t ready to pass on into heaven and they needed a common experience to prepare themselves for the journey into the white light of Heaven. Does that make any sense? Ya, I’m still confused as well.

There’s no denying that LOST was an amazing television drama with amazing characters, plot lines, action, adventure and it kept me captivated and craving more for six full seasons. But my feelings are mixed on how the whole thing came to an end. In fact, I said about four years ago that if in the end we find out everyone died and they’re in purgatory or limbo waiting to pass on to heaven, I would be pissed off. Well, that’s pretty much what happened and while I’m disappointed, I’m not exactly pissed off because the finale was still well done.

Despite the fact the finale was fun to watch, I think the producers and writers for LOST took an unimaginative and predictable way out to end the show. The only way they could have made it worse was to have Jack wake up in his bed at home and say, “Hmm, it was all just a dream.”

Having said all of that, I know millions of LOST fans are now left with unanswered questions. Here are a few of mine.

1. If the smoke monster was created by going into the cave where the light source was located, how come Desmond and Jack never turned into a smoke monster when they went in?

2. Why did Ben not go in the church at the end and move on like the rest of the survivors did?

3. Why weren’t Michael, Walt and some of the other survivors who were on the island at the church? Were they not real to begin with?

4. Desmond and Penny weren’t on the plane so why were they there? Were they in limbo from some other accident?

5. What exactly was Richard’s role in all of this? Were he and Lepidus there only to help the survivors come to terms with their deaths and assist them into heaven?

6. When the plane took off, what happened to it?

7. Did Hurley actually take on the role of Jacob and Jack for any length of time but we just didn’t see it? Sounded like it when he talked to Ben.

8. How did Desmond figure it all out?

9. When Jin and Sun were in the hospital and had the flashback to their time on the island, how did they know to attend the concert?

I have a lot more questions and like a lot of other fans, I’ll be searching the web for possible answers.

LOST was a great show and those who didn’t watch it missed out on some excellent television viewing. But I understand that some people need their entertainment spoon fed to them and must have everything wrapped up and making sense at the end of each episode. Some people don’t enjoy having to think when they watch television. Lord knows there are plenty of crap shows on TV.

I’m going to miss LOST and the entertainment it provided. There are other shows on television which try and live up to LOST’s high standards but so far none of them have grabbed hold of my attention enough to keep me hooked like Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Hugo, Locke, Ben and the rest of the Survivors / Deceased of Oceanic Flight 815 did.

Rest in Peace

Survivor Finale Flops

I’ve been a fan of the “Reality TV” show Survivor since season one. Some seasons are better than others and some casts can be more interesting and entertaining but I have enjoyed each and every show. Plus I won’t lie, watching some sexy young women in barely there bikini’s bouncing around on a beach is quite enjoyable as well.

When I think back to the first season of Survivor, it was groundbreaking entertainment and something fresh and new. The first winner was Richard Hatch who of course went on to enjoy fame and jail time for tax evasion after winning the 1-million dollar prize. Of course, had the show really been about survival, I have no doubt that in that first season Rudy Boesch the ex Navy Seal would have easily won. He could have killed them all on the first night. But of course the game isn't really about that.

The game of Survivor is set up so that in order to succeed and ultimately win the game, you need to avoid being voted out by your fellow tribe members and in the end receive votes from the jury.

Up until recent seasons I have been mostly satisfied with the chosen winners. Those who schemed, lied, cheated, outwitted and outplayed usually were rewarded for doing what they had to do to win. A few times the odd person skated through by doing nothing and won and that has bothered me a little.

Nowhere in the rules of Survivor does it state you must play the game with honesty and integrity to win and as witnessed in numerous past seasons, the person who schemed the most was given the title as sole survivor and the million dollar prize to go with it.

Jury members were able to put aside their bitter feelings of being outplayed and outwitted and realized that the game play of someone who might have taken a less honourable route should be rewarded because they played the best game to get them to the end. You may not like how they did it but they got the job done.

Sadly, during the last two seasons, the Juries have wimped out as Russell Hantz has clearly been the better player and made it to the end in both of his seasons. He lied, schemed, bullied and basically ran the show by getting people to do what he wanted, yet despite being what I would consider the best Survivor player ever, he has never won.

After the worst jury ever on Season 19 failed to award the top prize to Russell because they couldn’t get past their bruised egos, I thought for sure when Russell made it to the end during this Heroes vs. Villains finale he was a lock to finally win. I was wrong.

I figured with a group of Survivor veterans casting the votes on the Jury, surely they would be able to recognize the nominate play of Hantz and give him the victory he not only deserved but earned.

Boy was I wrong and so were they. Neither Parvati Shallow nor Sandra Diaz-Twine (the winner of season 20) deserved to win. And among those two, Sandra was the least deserving of all. She never won a challenge, was physically inferior to everyone else and had no social game at all. Parvati was at least a strong competitor in the challenges.

Quite simply, Russell got screwed again because he had a hand in almost every person on the jury being voted out and rather than applaud his superior game play, they gave the money to a much less worthy individual.

For the record, who wins and who loses only ruins the end of the game and show for me. Sure I’d like to see the most deserving person win but as long as I enjoy the season as a whole then I’m satisfied. I just think this season they had a chance to get it right and they blew it. Sandra gets her million and I’m sure she can use it and Parvati gets her 100-thousand dollar prize for finishing second.

Russell is left sitting there shaking his head having played the game perfectly but knowing that the one part of the competition he can’t control did him in once again. The consolation for Russell is the knowledge that for the second season in a row he was awarded the 100-thousand dollar prize voted by the fans as Player of the Game. At least the fans knew who the best player in the game was.