IF I DON'T SEE YOU ON THE OTHER SIDE...

"If I don't see you on the other side, I won't blame you."
~"Follow the Leader," by Paul Zbyszewski and Elizabeth Sarnoff

The more I ponder the end of Lost, the more I believe it was a cover up. Think about the Dharma Initiative content and Room 23. Consider that so many characters have amnesia or confused memories on Lost. Watch the extra content even up to season six--"Mysteries of the Universe," Paul's search for the truth that ends in zombie Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse & Paul Scheer all happy with no follow through on the storyline about threats from above, and even the bizarre behavior of fans in the wake of the finale. It's actually embarrassing that we're accepting the Lost ending that we received as a straightforward ending, because it seems to me like the puzzle doesn't fit together in a cohesive way. We can make it work from a metaphorical standpoint, but all of the details say that something else is going on.

If we give up, if we accept this ending without questioning it, we're doing the very story that we love a disservice. I enjoyed "The End." I think it was brilliant writing, maybe because the Lost writers just can't help but tell a good yarn no matter how cheesy they try to be. However, I also think that the writers want us to question what happened to their original story--you know, that character driven, mysterious, sexy, weird storyline we first met. This post isn't motivated because I'm some bitter shipper who thinks seeing Evangeline Lilly and Matthew Fox snuggling up as the final romantic pairing was bizarre (although quite frankly, much as I love all of the characters, I did find that weird because there were actually only a handful of moments when I believed that the two of them had any romantic chemistry, and most of them existed in the earlier seasons of Lost or sideways in the flash-world). It also isn't motivated because I'm anti-faith. On the contrary, I have a lot of faith. I still believe in this show despite the (apparent) lack of follow through on all the clues that they have been carefully seeding into the show for years.

In the first season, the first episode we see is Pilot, Part 1, and it is followed by Pilot, Part 2. Doesn't that mean that there should be an episode called The End, Part 2? I'm not talking about the epilogue that has apparently been released, I'm talking about another ending.

Damon Lindelof states in commentary in season five:
"This--this is the other theme of the show. Take the science fiction element out of it, and I think what we're really going for here is the idea of free will, of giving our characters choices. The idea that if our character, if our characters believe they can't change the future, and, and--will they, will they even try? And I think Faraday is very convincing here, so that, for the next three years, Sawyer doesn't try--he knows, from the moment that he sees, um, Kate and Claire giving birth to Aaron, um, he doesn't try to intervene. So he, he basically buys it. It isn't until Faraday returns and basically says, "I think I might have been wrong about this--um, let's actually try to change the future in a very profound and large way by detonating a hydrogen bomb, that, that people start to sort of change their tune--but we always think it's interesting to let the characters decide, "Oh my god, if I went back to the past, and I was told I couldn't change it, would that affect my--even if it were a lie--would it affect my decision to not try anything?"

Do you understand? It is possible that we can change things. This time people can end up together that won't make us squirm in our seats or wonder what this ending has to do with the first couple of seasons. This time the villains can be redeemed. This time we can even out that good vs. bad balance so that good wins in the final round.

Also, as we saw in these last few seasons, the rules are arbitrary. Some guy made them up; another guy changes them. There's no rule that says that we can't collaborate. There's no rule that says we can't find each other and agree together what would be the best path. Are you looking for me? My life has plenty of clues, and I will share them with you if you want to share what you have discovered with me.

You can email me: maskeddevera @ gmail dot com .