First Reaction

Well, the third season of Lost is over and my first reaction is.... we did not get any answers! I suppose I went into this episode not expecting much in terms of resolutions and with a sneaking suspicion that we would get a pseudo rescue. I approached this as the penultimate season finale, which would leave us wanting more for what I think will be the final season next year. Now I know many have said that there will be three more seasons or what have you but this is what my expectations were.

As a quick disclaimer: for those of you that have TIVO'd®, DVR'd, taped, or otherwise have not yet seen the episode, there may be spoilers in my posts, so continue with that knowledge in mind. This is designed to be post-viewing commentary and not vice versa.

So anyway, it was nice to see our Plane-surviving heroes win over the others but we were hardly given anything to answer the mysteries of the island. We did not learn much more about the main characters personality or history and we really do not get to know much of what happens to anyone. In fact, the whole thing about Jack's actions after the rescue is questionable because we really are not sure if the rescue ever happened or it is some dream, theoretical reality, alternative vision (Desmond or maybe even Charlie).

I plan on going into each of the components of this episode and opening a discussion on where they may be going in the next few days but I just wanted to give my initial reaction here. Suffice it to say there is plenty to discuss and/or gripe about.

Interestingly, I think the producers of the show missed their mark a bit. As with any show, you have to give the viewers something, especially in a season finale, to satisfy them while leaving some mystery to build the desire to come back for more. Lost, however, plays a fine line between maintaining a mystery and alienating an audience so desperate for answers. The producers decided to resolve a major plot element, the quest to get off the island, at least in theory, but did so without giving any tangible answers. My guess is that viewers want answers to questions such as, what the heck is that black smoke thingy, much more than they wanted to see the whole lot of them rescued. With the decision to limit resolution to an apparent rescue of sorts along with eliminating a few others I bet that more than a few viewers will abandon the show out of frustration. Don’t get me wrong, I will not be one of them, but I would have liked to gain a bit more insight on the big picture. Oh well, I guess there is next season for that. For now, we will have plenty discuss on the mysteries of this episode alone.


-- J