The End of LOST

The finale is here, and after months of debating what happens, we will finally get all (well, most) of the answers and the story will offically come to a close. “What They Died For” gave us some insight over how the show will end. We know it will involve Flocke trying to destroy the island using Desmond as a fail safe, much like Desmond using the fail safe key to implode the hatch and release all the electromagnetic energy. To make this an SAT type question: The key is to the hatch as Desmond is to the island. At the same time in the flash sideways timeline, Desmond is trying to collect all the Oceanic members (well, the important ones) to bring them to a concert, but we have yet to see how they will react and what effect this will have on the island timeline.

I think that Desmond being a fail safe applies to the light and the source. The way for M.I.B. to destroy the island is to throw Desmond in there, and because of his resistance to electromagnetism, it will cause a catastrophic event that will lead to the island sinking, much like we saw happen in the beginning of LA X. I don’t think he will be successful though, as that would create a cluttered ending to the show, although it would certainly be definitive. If that were the ultimate ending to the show, my guess is that we would actually be transported to the beginning of this season, with Jack on the plane looking confused and the island under water. Well, this actually makes more sense now that I think about it. With the island destroyed and the people in the flash sideways discovering the island timeline, one will have to win out, or the two will converge, but I still can’t see how the island timeline will then be transported back in time to the flash sideways timeline which we saw at the beginning of this season.

When I first heard the name of the finale as “The End”, I thought it was boring and incredly vague, but then I think back to the conversation between Jacob and his brother/Smokie on the beach. “It only ends once, anything that happens before that... is just progress”. That makes the finale title so much more meaningful. The title is “The End”, and I see the show ending with the end to a game that’s been going on for 2,000 years involving Jacob and his brother but who knows how much longer than that involving Fake Mother and other island protectors. This whole show has shown us a never ending game and in the finale, we’ll finally see the end of this game, the cycle broken, and the need for an island protector come to an end.

Jack is annointed the new Jacob, protector of the island and the source, and tasked to defend it against the Smoke Monster. I don’t think for a second though that we should take this as the conclusion and I also don’t think that Jack will have to defend the island, because that would be too obvious and would only keep this game going on longer. With Jack drinking Jacob’s magic water Flocke can no longer leave the island, so he will definitely try to kill Jack and the remaining candidates, that much I know. What I don’t even have a clue about is to how the cycle will be broken, but the game will come to an end, whether it’s the island being destroyed, much like the hatch was at the end of season 2, or the death and destruction of the Smoke Monster, meaning there is nothing left to protect.

We don’t know what M.I.B.’s intended end game has been this entire time. I feel like throughout the show he’s been changing his course of attack to follow what’s going on. Now that there is a new Jacob (Jack), Smokie doesn’t have time to kill him, but with the appearance of Desmond he can now use this as his new end game: Destroy the island and escape that way, which meets all his needs. I do feel that originally though, he has always intended to leave the island. I think if destroying the source meant he could leave, that seems likely to have always been his means for getting off the island.

LOST is over, and it will be very sad. This show has given us fans something to wrap our brains around and become invested in. I hope everyone enjoys the finale because we’ve earned it! There will never be another show like LOST ever again. NAMASTE!