There will undoubtedly be some major complaints concerning Lost that will remain outstanding, in my mind. The entire Light Chamber sequence is sure to piss a large number of viewers off, and while I tend to agree that some more explanation was warranted, by no means will I let it taint my overall view that the show and its finale were a success. That said, let’s talk a little bit about some of the lingering loose ends.
The Chamber of Light
The source of the Island’s energy and “abilities,” perhaps even the source of all life on Earth, if we are to believe Mother’s explanation two episodes ago.
Desmond descends into the ancient cavern to find a water-filled cistern emanating brilliant, warm light chockful of electromagnetic energy. At its center lies a plug-of-sorts topped with a spherical, hieroglyph-laden bulb. The proverbial cork stoppering the wine bottle of malevolence Jacob described earlier this season.
The only man on the Island able to withstand and absorb the intense electromagnetic radiation spilling from the cistern, Desmond enters its waters and removes the plug. The Light is extinguished and it appears all is lost as the warm, golden light turns to angry, red heat emanating from the un-stoppered hole.
I thought back to Olivia Goodspeed’s class of Dharma kids in the 70’s, when she taught them all about the now-dormant volcano that lie somewhere on or beneath the Island, and that there’d been eruptions a “long time ago.” The source of the red-orange glow is most certainly lava, and provides the geothermal energy the Dharma Initiative tapped into during their relatively brief reign on the Island. We don’t truly know the Island’s original origin, and never will, but if I could extrapolate, let’s say there was a titanic volcanic eruption what is now the South Pacific, eons ago. Large enough for whatever ancient race residing nearby to notice it. Over time, the Island was formed by the eruptions, and eventually attracted some attention — perhaps had the eruptions continued unabated, they threatened the rest of the planet. This ancient race was able to combine science and “magic,” for lack of a better word, to prevent all of the seismic and volcanic energy from escaping with the mystical plug.
Whether it was that original group of magi-scientists or some other group, somewhere along the way they found a way to channel the energy captured by the stopper with water. We heard Esau tell Mother in “Across the Sea” that he and his tribemates had found a way to channel water and light in such a way as to transport people off-Island. Similar science seems to be at work in the chamber, as there are four channels leading away from the cistern. Sure, that could be just to contain the run-off, but I’m guessing those channels lead to or, rather, are the sources of the other concentrated pockets of electromagnetic energy all over the Island.
As for the handful of skeletons down there, you could posit those are the bodies of past castaways who attempted to exploit the Light for their own aims and capture as much of it as possible, as Mother suggested.
Maybe they’re former candidates who also tried to stop the cycle of violence and un-stopper the source. Unfortunately, they lack Desmond’s innate ability to absorb massive amounts of electromagnetic energy and perished before even getting close to the cistern.
The Incident
Contrary to Juliet’s “it worked” declaration in the season premiere, I believe all they accomplished by setting off Jughead last season was to ensure whatever crack Dharma opened to release the intense EM energy stayed open. Thus, Dharma had to build around it and create a device capable of releasing the continual build-up of EM energy to ensure every other metal object on the Island got sucked into it. I don’t tend to think that Jughead’s explosion is what created the flash-after world; I think our castaways would have ended up there regardless. Then again, Christian tells Jack the flash-after world is a place they all created so they could find each other again before moving on. Perhaps Jughead served to crystallize that desire in their collective, posthumous conscience. As you can tell, I have no idea.
Terminal Maternity
Why do pregnant women who conceived on the Island never make it to term? I’m guessing this could be tied to one of the rules Mother and/or Jacob created during their reigns as Protectors of the Light, but I’d tend to think it’s something Esau is responsible for, ensuring the pool of candidates is limited only to those Jacob brings to the Island. Hard to kill candidates if they keep multiplying.
Smokey
While we know Esau’s plunge into the chamber was the impetus for Smokey’s emergence, we never get confirmation of what it actually is. Evil, malevolence, chaos, Esau’s tainted soul; who knows. We know Esau’s corporeal form was lifeless. Perhaps those who aren’t pure of heart are transformed into Smokey, a punishment for trying to capture the Light. I dunno; I was expecting this to be answered so I need to give it some more thought.
The Outrigger Gunfight
This is one of those minor plot points they just didn’t have time for. According to Lindelof and Cuse, there apparently is/was a plotted answer to just who was shooting at Sawyer, Juliet and company while they were aboard their outrigger during the time flashes in season 4. Alas.
The Dharma Food Drops
This one kind of pisses me off. I can’t imagine much effort or screentime would have been required to explain this one; I can only hope Lindelof and Cuse have some plans for some Lost storytelling via other media in the coming months. Allusions have been made in recent interviews with the show-runners to something else being in the works; perhaps this’ll be something we may yet get an answer to.
Walt & Eko
Unfortunate circumstances out of the show’s control dictated these two never truly completed their arcs. With Walt, it was puberty. Six years of accelerated growth didn’t quite fit with the three years elapsed in Island time. So we’ll never know why he had his powers. For Eko, it was his desire to move on from the show and Hawai’i. His character had a lot of potential, and I have to imagine he would have figured into the final battle tonight somehow.
Tremendous as always Jeff. It’s been a pleasure to read your recaps over the past 5 years and I’m sad that it is at and end.
Thanks for all the recaps.
Thank you for the years of explanations and analyzing. Your blog has been amazing and something I’ve looked forward to reading every week.
I have a tad bit different theory on why Ben didn’t enter the church at the end of the episode. Do you think it’s possible that Hurley eventually made Ben the protector of the Island? And thus allowing Hurley to be in the church at the end while Ben (still living on the Island) did not enter because he is now suspended in time like Jacob was when he was the protector of the Island. I don’t know, just one of my ideas about a possible ending.
Nolan, I’d tend to say no b/c only the dead appear in the flash-afters, and Hurley referred to Ben as his number 2 before heading back inside the church.
Jeff – Thanks for the years of fantastic recaps. My wife and I love waking up the morning after LOST and reading your page. Great stuff! Thanks! Now what the heck are we going to look forward to???
Part 1 of Doc Jensen’s recap has posted: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20313460_20387946,00.html
Jeff, absolutely fantastic recap! There are no words! Thank you for your dedication to all of us true LOSTIES…..I would feel dead inside, except that I know that there are many rehashes and thoughts to work out in my head!! And, I can’t wait to go back and re see all of the past episodes now that we know “the end”. Put me down for that August date….I think my birthday is around that time……:)
btw, I am no longer a skater, because I penned that name before I knew about Juliette and Sawyer! That, truly was my most favorite scene – the Sawette reunion after their dramatic separation in last season’s finale! And, yes, the “jaters” got what they wanted, too!
Just got done reading this, and your LOST recap finale was at least if not better than the actual finale. Thanks for your dedication and analysis over the years – it is truly the end of an era. “See you in another life, Brotha!”
So sad it is over. Thanks for your recaps, Jeff. My Wednesday mornings will never be the same.
I suppose I could recap Two and a Half Men each week.
ESPN’s Bill Simmons chats with Alan Sepinwall, Chuck Klosterman and a buddy about the finale: click here.
To celebrate “The End” Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have answered Lostpedia user’s fan-submitted questions about their careers and their futures. Read our Q&A with the men behind Lost.
Jeff – echoing what others have said: Thanks for the thougt and insight you put into the recaps each week. It’s been a pleasure. Thanks from Kentucky. – les
I would love to know if the writers truly had an answer for everything or toyed with the viewers! I stopped watching a year ago but enjoyed the ending more than I expected. The scene on the ocean bluff was great TV and the kiss was possibly “a record breaker” for open mouth lol! Love EL! Thanks Jeff for your interesting and intense comments!
Sweet: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1807667/
Jeff, this was a great recap. I only wish I would have found you 6 seasons ago. Would have been great to hear your thoughts along the way. Maybe I’ll buy the box set dvd’s and read your recaps after every episode. alas, I’ll need to let go of this great show. For those who still want answers and everything spelled out, did you manage to understand any of the underlining theme here. Just Let Go.
-Regards
Matt
Can’t thank you enough for your efforts. I’ve absolutely enjoyed your perspective every week and always looked forward to it. You’re a class act House.
Take care.
Great recap as always meng, thanks for helping me make sense of this awesome show over the years.
Can I suggest you do in depth recaps just like these for each bills game?
Haha — if I do them immediately after the game, I imagine they’d go something like this:
I’m a HUGE lost fan and I love the show. But I could have sworn that years ago there was a special lost recap (after season 3?) with the producers where they said that the characters were NOT dead caught between heaven and hell or living in an after life. Were they lying to us? Beacuse clearly that was the case all along. I’m a bit confused and had a really hard time following the last 2 seasons. Another question: how dud the Darma inishitive know that this island ever existed before they came to the island?
The only time they were dead on the show was during the flash-sideways(/afters) during season 6. Everything on the Island DID happen and they were alive.
I don’t think we ever found out how Dharma discovered the Island, but recall they had the ability to calculate its location via The Lamp Post station in L.A. (under a church).
In the end we discovered Ben and Charles Widmore were both on team Jacob, even though Charles had been banished from the island by Darma. So why were Ben and Charles against each other all of season 5?
Widmore (vis a vis Keamy) killed Alex.
Vincent’s story:
That is definitely my favorite video of all-time.
The flash sideways wasn’t real life. It was somewhere between death and the after life, but everything else was real life. So…. What was with that last scene?!? Where we see the plane on the beach and no people? That suggests that they all died in the crash, but that’s not the message the producers were giving.
The shots of the plane were added by the network and not the writers/showrunners. So the shots are meaningless. I thought it was cool, but there’s no extra meaning to assign to them.