When JJ Abrams was in San Jose for the Cinequest movie festival, he was asked about the show’s origins. He recounted that ABC had asked him to pitch a TV show about plane crash survivors on a “deserted” island. Hip deep in several of his own projects and not wanting to add another, he quickly fired back a proposal of complicated story arcs that were way outside the networks formulaic norms. He figured ABC would discard the pitch as too big a financial risk and he could get on with his “to do” list. But, the network execs loved it and ordered a pilot that was needed in three months. Abrams decided to go for it even though he only had half the time he needed. They cast characters before there were scripts based on quirks they noticed in the auditions. Abrams also wanted to go with an inter-racial cast. He somehow pulled it all together and then handed it off to Lindelof and Cuse and the rest, as they say, is history.

Now, six seasons later, “Lost” completed an incredible run, in the words of the producers, “on our terms.” For the final episode, advertisers paid an amazing $900,000.00 per 30 second spot and the only place in the country where it wasn’t #1 in the ratings was Chicago who was watching their beloved Blackhawks beat the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference title series (I guess there were other priorities). Now it’s time to blog about “what just happened ???”

A word of warning. If you haven’t seen the final episode, stop reading now. In Hurley’s words, “Didn’t see that one comin’,” the episode once again surprised us all with an ending that really didn’t leave any room for a spin off or a movie sequel because at the end (again, stop reading if you haven’t seen it) everyone was dead. Sigh!

Season five’s cliffhanger was Juliet detonating the nuclear bomb thirty years in the past. The theory was with the island’s electromagnetic energy destroyed, Oceanic flight 815 would safely land in LA and never crash on the island. The timelines of the passengers would continue uninterrupted and everything would be as if the plane never crashed. At the beginning of season six, the plane did land, but many of the stories were different. James Ford was a cop and his partner was Miles Straume. Desmond Hume was on the plane. Jack Shepherd was a surgeon with a teenage son. Jin and Sun were not married. And Hurley was the luckiest man alive.

After the Lost title sequence, we find our characters back on the island, blasted forward to the present, and Juliet dies in Sawyer’s arms. Two timelines are now evident. The present from when the plane lands in LA and the present with the island survivors. Rather than a flashback or a flash forward, this is dubbed a flash sideways. As the two timelines began tracking in the sixth season with colorful memory flashes of the island occurring in the LA characters , there was a hope that somehow the timelines would converge and be reconciled in the series finale. True to form Lindelof and Cuse left even more questions unanswered, but they did leave us with a few clues to help us sort out some of the questions.

Clue #1: At the dinner Eloise Hawking asks Desmond, “Once they know, what then?” Desmond responds, “We’re leaving.” She then asks, “Are you going to take my son?” Desmond answers, “Not with me… No.” In an earlier episode Desmond had asked his driver to get the manifest of Oceanic flight 815 and then he began rounding up, with Hurley’s help, the passengers. Also, Desmond’s flash sideways was different in that he was aware of his presence on the island and in LA.

Clue #2: Outside of the church John Locke, in a wheel chair, meets Ben sitting on a courtyard bench. Ben says, “I’m very sorry for what I did to you John. I was selfish, jealous… I wanted everything you had.” Locke asks, “What did I have?” Ben answers, “You were special John. But I wasn’t.” Locke replies, “Well if it helps Ben, I forgive you.” “Thank you John. That does help. It matters more than I can say.” Locke asks, “What are you going to do now?” “I have some things I still need to work out… I think I’ll stay here a while.” Ben watches as Locke continues moving toward the door in his wheelchair and then says, “You know, I don’t think you need to be in that chair anymore.” Locke looks down, lifts his legs on to the ground, stands up, looks and Ben and says, “Goodbye Ben,” and then walks into the church.

Clue #3: After a flash sideways where Hugo accepts he is now the caretaker for the island and he asks Ben to be his #2, we return to Ben still sitting on the courtyard bench. Hurley comes out the church door and sees Ben and says, “Hey Dude!” Ben responds warmly, “Hello, Hugo.” Hurley tells Ben, “We’re all inside,” expecting him to come with him. “I don’t think I’m coming in,” Ben replies. Hurley nods, understands, and then says, “You know… you were a real good number two.” “And you were a great number one, Hugo.” Hurley says, “Thanks dude. I’ll see ya.”

Clue #4: Kate bring Jack to the church and tells him to go in the back. “Where are you going?” he asks. “Inside… I’ll be waiting for you there, when you are ready.” Jack asks, “Ready for what?” Kate replies, “To leave.”

When Jack enters the back of the church, He sees his father’s casket. Prominently in the scene is a stained glass window with icons for all faiths. I’m not sure what kind of church this is, but a large statue of Jesus is displayed in the courtyard. This window is in almost every shot of this next sequence.

Jack touches his father’s casket and is immediately flooded with memories of leading and helping people from when he was on the island. He then opens the casket and finds it empty. He hears, “Hey Kiddo.” He turns to see his father in the room. “Dad?” Jack is clearly startled. “Hello Jack.” Jack says, “I don’t understand… you died.” “Yeah… Yes, I did.” “Then, how are you here right now?” Jack asks. After a long pause Christian asks Jack, “How are you here?” Jack thinks for a moment and then realizes, “I died too.” He begins to weep.

“It’s OK… it’s ok, son.” They embrace while saying, “I love you,” to each other. Jack asks, “Are you real?” Christian replies, “I sure hope so. Yeah, I’m real. You’re real. Everything that’s happened to you is real. All those people in the church, they’re all real too.”

“They’re all dead?” Jack asks. Christian replies, “Everyone dies sometime Kiddo. Some of them before you, some of them long after you.” “But, why are they all here now?” Jack asks. “Well, there is no NOW… here.” Jack looks around the room and then looks at his father and asks, “Where are we Dad?”

“Well, this is a place that you all made together so you could find one another. The most important part of your life was the time that you spent with these people. That’s why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone, Jack. You needed all of them, and they needed you.” Jack asks, “For what?”

“To remember, and to let go.” Jack replies, “Kate, she said we were leaving.” Christian responds, “Not leaving… No, moving on.” Jack asks, “Where we goin’?” Christian smiles and says, “Let’s go find out.”

They enter the church and see everyone smiling, greeting, and embracing each other like in a reunion. The island couples have been reunited and inter-cut with the scene is Jack staggering back into the bamboo forest where he was at the beginning of the series. Jack greets everyone and they take their places in the church pews. In the bamboo forest Jack slowly lays down on his back and is joined by Vincent. He is there to be with Jack in his death, so that Jack won’t die alone.

After everyone is seated, Christian squeezes Jack’s shoulder and walks to the back of the church. Jack is seated with Kate and looks forward in expectation of what will happen next. Christian opens the church doors and the sanctuary is flooded with white light. The next scene show Jack on his back in the bamboo forest watching the survivors flying away as his eyes close and he dies.

SO WHAT JUST HAPPENED???

I believe all of the flashes sideways were episodes of their next life. A kind of a purgatory life where the lessons that were not learned in the island life could be now be learned through a bio-reset. While this reincarnational take on a story doesn’t sit well with Christian theology, the producers made it clear from the stained glass icons that a mix of world faiths was what they were about. Given the chance, everyone would like a “do-over.” But, what if the first time through there were significant people that were with you through your learning and your mistakes. Wouldn’t you want them with you the second time? And then after you had learned what you needed to know, went together with you to the next place.

So much of “Lost” was how lost each character was in their lives and how their experiences together made a place where they could be found. Some say that Desmond was the Christ figure who brought everyone together for their next life. Others say that Jack was, as he gave his life for the remaining survivors to leave. While the theological definition of heaven may be quite different, the practical definition of heaven when we talk about it at funerals or in a sense of moving forward with life, is heaven is about being with the people you love and letting go through forgiveness.

I had to watch it though a second time to finally be satisfied with a story I had been following for the past six years. I even watched all six seasons through in a month in anticipation of the finale. I was disappointed at first viewing, wanting a more traditional resolution to the dual story lines, but after I watched it though a second time, I realized the writers and producers were true to their vision and ended on their own terms.

It’s interesting… Ben was invited to go with the group to the next destination, but he chose to stay and work through a few things. From Hurley’s conversation with Ben, we are led to believe there was a period of time that he and Hurley worked together managing the island. Maybe that had something to do with Ben’s invite. But, to know that he was included after all of the awful things he had done just shows how deep the forgiveness was.

We have learned from an ABC junior staffer how the popular TV show LOST will end with its season finale in May.

A camera assistant working on the set in Oahu -- she asked to remain anonymous, giving us only her initials, A.F. -- secretly obtained a copy of the script for the show's last episode and shared it with us.

In the finale, in a bizarre twist on the whole "flash-sideways" concept, 10-year-old Aaron returns to the island where he is not only reunited with Claire, but apparently has a miracle touch as well. He finds the dead John Locke, lays his hands on the body, utters what seems to be a prayer in a combination of Latin and Egyptian, and Locke slowly rises, Lazarus-like, from his coffin. The risen Locke's first words are, "Where is the imposter?"

When told how to find "Fake Locke," the real Locke grabs a knife and strolls away from the beach. When he finds his "evil twin," Locke stabs him in the heart, killing him instantly. Locke then finds Richard and asks him to round up everyone on the island and bring them to Charles Widmore's submarine by Hydra Island. They all climb on board the sub and leave the island, which Widmore blows up with an atomic bomb -- and this time, it really disappears for good. They then head to Los Angeles, where they will be reunited with their "parallel universe" selves and somehow resolve that ongoing tension. But we don't know how that happens, unfortunately; our source tells us that the final six pages of the copy of her script were accidentally charred in a fire, and are thus illegible. So, some mystery remains intact.

Even though we don't know how it ultimately ends, we do know this much:

A powerful redemption is looming for oodles of LOST supporters!

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I pulled this from a Lost fan blog. Is it really true? I guess we'll find out. -- wf