I just finished as a first time watcher.

[u/woozymiracle]

The ending had me bawling my eyes out. I waited weeks to watch the finale because everyone told me i would hate it. But I actually loved it. It gave so much closure to everyone after all the pain. And the idea that Hugo and Benjamin looked over the island for a long time made me weirdly happy. Ben got what he wanted, even after all he'd done. All he wanted was to be special and be in the inside group, be the right hand man. When Jack died in the forest I was completely breaking down by then lol. I think the point a lot of people I know missed is that no, they weren't dead the whole show. At least not how I interpreted it. All of that really happened. They were just able to come back together in death. I guess the one thing I was confused about after everything is Kate telling Jack he doesn't have a son. Is that just because he wasn't around his son and never brought him up to the group? Because his son seemed pretty real at the end when he was able to get more closure and be supportive. Such a happy ending. Now I have no idea what to watch next. But anyways. Beautiful ending. I'm kinda upset I let myself be scared away by others opinions. I will say I always thought it should have been Hugo. Out of everyone he was truly the most innocent imo. But I found that I was happy for Jack originally when it was given to him. The fact that he sacrificed himself redeemed any bad qualities in the end. Wow just so much on my mind haha. How did you guys interpret the ending?

[u/throwawaybeats19]

It isn't just the church at the end, the whole flash-sideways is the afterlife.

For example, Locke gets to be with Helen in the afterlife, whereas in his lifetime they separated.

[u/offkilteroctopus]

jack having a son was strictly part of the fake reality! like when they are all dead and have to find each other

[u/Master_Mastermnd]

Yeah, they definitely weren't dead the whole time. That whole idea, aside from dialogue explicitly clarifying isn't the case, is just straight nonsense. Otherwise, there was much to interpret from it. Probably more than I could put in a single post. I really like how it's made truly clear here the Island abides everything. Jacob was an idealist running a flawed experiment, but it was the Island, through the application of this state similar to Bardo, which was actually truly granting in the beyond what Jacob sought to. I also really liked the idea how in fighting the Man in Black they were fighting for the right to have the flash-sideways, fighting for the ability for all humanity not only to continue to exist, but to square the inchoate elements of our existence in the beyond as well. There's something I find very powerful in that, even beyond life fighting for the chance to truly find happiness and peace with ourselves, and to reunite with our loved ones again.

[u/clumsystarfish_]

Now you're like us.

Watch this! It's the epilogue.

[u/Savvyypice → u/clumsystarfish_]

Oh that's cool! I hadn't seen that before. I also just finished my first time watch recently. Why wasn't this in the last episode?

[u/clumsystarfish_ → u/Savvyypice]

Not sure. It was released as one of the extras on the Season 6 DVD set.

[u/Free-IDK-Chicken]

This is my standard season six explanation - which you don't really need, but it's also the nuanced interpretation you're looking for as well as clarity on David. (Also, it was Locke who said that, not Kate.)

The bomb (which did detonate, contributing to the Incident while correcting the chronology of everyone displaced in time) was a red herring to make us think that we were seeing an alternate universe where the plane didn't crash, but there are hints almost immediately that this is not the case. Then we think maybe this is some idealized version of their lives, but we soon see it's not that either - Kate is still on the run, Sawyer is still miserable, Locke is insecure, Hurley is lonely, Jack's kid hates him and so on...

In reality, the flashes in season six and ONLY season six were the afterlife; an artificial environment like a Star Trek holodeck, the place wasn't real, but our characters and their experiences were. They made this place together so they could resolve the issues they still had when they died - each of them tailoring it to their own individual trauma.

• David was an NPC - a projection of Jack's own childhood self to help him overcome his daddy issues. He bonds with David, has a catharsis about his own father and then we never see David again. (Also, Juliet being David's mother gives her the experience of a healthy divorce. This helps her overcome her attachment and abandonment issues.)
• Desmond realizes how meaningless Widmore's approval is with no friends or family.
• Locke learns to love himself and let himself be loved with or without his legs.
• Kate opts not to run and goes back for Claire.
• Sawyer gets to reconcile the opposing parts of himself, cop versus criminal.
• Sayid gets to let Nadia go on his own terms and successfully rescue Shannon.
• Jin and Sun, unmarried in the afterlife, realize it was never their marriage (through which her father abused them both) that mattered - just being together.
• Ben gets another chance to choose Alex over his power and then decides to stay and spend more time with her.
• And Hurley finally gets his beach date with Libby.

(As for Michael and Walt, I look at the group in the church as being part of what Vonnegut would call a 'karass.' Michael and Walt were always outsiders. I believe that when Walt returned to the Island to take over as protector he patched things up with his dad so that when Walt was ready to pass the job to the next person (IMO, Ji Yeon who is also absent from the church) he and Michael were able to move on together. The afterlife exists outside of space time, so when Michael managed to atone is irrelevant - he and Walt simply weren't part of that karass. This goes for Eko too, whose afterlife we see in season three when he and Yemi reunite and walk off into the sunset as children.)

For everyone else: once their issues are resolved, they have their final catharsis (which completes their character arcs), remember their real lives, find each other again (because the most important part of their lives was the time they spent together) and move on. Move on where? That's left intentionally ambiguous - it's up to you.

Everything that happened, happened. It was all real.

[u/lavendermoors → u/Free-IDK-Chicken]

Excellent comment, I just wrote something similar. I always love seeing that other people understood it exactly as I did.

[u/Savings-Ask-1275]

Jack does not have a son. He imagined it in afterlife, i can't remember the actual term for it, NPC or something. But yeah, he made up his son to get over the trauma with his father. Kate doesn't tell him that he doesn't have a son, Locke does. You can see the pain in his eyes when he hears that, cause he knows it's true.

[u/Taddy92204 → u/Savings-Ask-1275]

Locke would have zero idea whether Jack had one or dozen kids with Kate or not after he was murdered by Ben. Locke spoke those words after he “woke” from Jack’s successful surgery on the paraplegic. The dead have no awareness of the continuing lives they’ve left behind after they enter the Bardo: The basis for flash–forward and found in the Tibetan Book of the Dead.

This pales in light of the beauty of the entire series. The community and family forged from a group of strangers, struggling to survive, then thrive together on the mystery Island. Because “Nobody does it alone…”

There are so many truths found in Lost. Humor. Sorrow. Anger. Love. Hate. And everything in between teaching us we’re more alike than not, regardless of religion, race or background. No tv show has ever plumbed the depths of humanity the way that Lost has and none ever will.

[u/Taddy92204]

It’s hard to find a show like Lost. There’s many shows that copied the formatting. Some were successful.

TWD started one year later and is similar.

The only real cure for missing Lost is “We have to go back!” 🧔🏻‍♂️ you’ll find new details every time you rewatch the series.

Also, if you haven’t watched them, ABC and Rich the series by making YouTube videos as it aired. One is a series of mobisodes a friend of mine produced. They’re called “Missing Pieces” - new scenes enhancing our understanding of characters and situations. I can think of at least one that’s ha-ha funny. There’s another called “Oceanic Conspiracy Theory,” a longer video produced from Lost’s outside world’s perspective when the Oceanic 6 are rescued.

Lost has more great ABC – produced materials that answer questions. They were published when aired. Some are available on eBay. Let me know if you are interested in the info. 😊🏝️

[u/Available_Share_7244]

People didnt like the finale? i think it's near perfect.

[u/lavendermoors]

The flash sideways universe was a “waiting room” that allowed the characters to a) either live out the “perfect” life they thought they wanted (so they could realise their reality was what they truly needed) or experience something they needed to that they missed while alive, and b) find each other. After they woke up, they then passed on to the afterlife in the church - an afterlife that we didn’t get to see. Some characters weren’t there, didn’t wake up, or didn’t choose to pass on, for various reasons:

Ben: he chose to stay in the fake flash sideways world even after having woken up, because he wanted to wait for Alex and Danielle, and perhaps live happily with them for a while in the life they should have had. The survivors weren’t the most important people in his life, so he had no reason to move on with them.

Walt: he possibly became the Protector of the Island after Hurley died, so was still alive.

Michael: we know, from transcripts of the whispers, that he stayed on the Island as a whisper, either because he was trapped by guilt or because he wanted to stay close to Walt.

Ana: she hadn’t yet woken up, because she still needed time to redeem herself or forgive herself and heal.

So, basically, Jack never had a son. He just needed to experience what having one was like, so he could know for certain that he wouldn’t be like Christian was as a father. That was the final thing he needed to know.