The final season is separated by alternative-flashbacks
and the reality on the island. On the island, the remainders of the survivors
are fighting the smoke monster, aka the man in black, who is actually is a
bitter ghost-like presence whose only desire is to leave the island. He cannot
leave, however, because the island's electromagnetic containment prevents him
from doing so (This is the most farfetched concept on show but once you
understand it, it gets easier to accept). By releasing the electromagnetism,
the man in black would be able to leave the island as cause havoc somewhere
else. It's as simple as that. In the process of doing so, a few survivors die
but what's a finale without losing a few casualties.
We find out that the flashbacks are actually the island's
way of regrouping the original survivors
in the afterlife. Each survivor was "lost" in some way, or broken. The
island "found" them in a way that none of them ever expected. Instead
of healing their mortal soul, the island felt that is was more important to
give the survivors eternal rest. Every person on the island had a loved one. By
reuniting them in purgatory (which was the alternate flashback), the survivors
could finally be at peace with the one they loved in the afterlife, which I
assume is heaven.
Then there were those people who understood the ending
but didn't like it because it wasn't climactic enough. I thought the ending was
great because the show was about more than just excitement all the time. The
show taught me that these characters were too broken on the island to be
repaired. After all the characters left their mortal bodies, they wandered
around in purgatory looking for their soul mate. When they found that person,
they met at a church and waited until everybody they were close to arrived to
walk to nirvana together.
As long as there is an overlying resolution between all the characters, which there was, then they left me as a satisfied fan.
As long as there is an overlying resolution between all the characters, which there was, then they left me as a satisfied fan.