Lost Season 5 Finale Review & Discussion
May 14, 2009 by Rob KeyesJoin the discussion on the controversial season finale of Lost.
Five seasons of Lost down, one more to go. If you watched tonight’s episode, it was quite a complex ride.
I just got home from a friend’s house where we had about seven or eight people watching the two-hour season 5 finale of Lost. Some have watched all along, some only a few episodes and some had no idea what was going on. It was an interesting dynamic to say the least seeing the reactions and questions coming from the non-fans. It really makes you think how this show, more than any other I can think of, is truly impossible to follow unless you’ve been there all along.
Now, on to the finale… Where do I even start?
First off, if you’ve not seen the finale, you best watch it or catch up in the show and watch it before reading on. Do that and come back to post your thoughts, we’d love to read them. This article and the comments will be discussing spoilers.
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If you’re still here, it’s time to talk Spoilers.
Introduction
As briefly as I possibly can summarize the episode: we finally meet Jacob, we see the four-toed statue in full form, we discovered why the unwilling members of the oceanic six came back, why many of the characters seemed to be destined (chosen) to come to the island in the first place, how Locke “survived” his death (twice?), how Jacob is the key to connecting many (all?) of the characters with the island, we find out why Locke knows everything he knows and who he really is, the losties all come together again annndddd the island gets hydrogen bombed the same year Star Wars came out.
Oh, and how could I forget! Fan-favorites Rose, Bernard and the most important character of all, Vincent the Dog, all make triumphant returns in the finale to explain where they’ve been all this time.
I read in the papers this morning that after tonight’s episode, fans would not know how the show could continue – that it acts as a sort of conclusion. Of course, for us Lost fans, this is no conclusion at all, but the start of a bridge leading to the real conclusion that will come in the form of 17 new episodes starting a full eight months from now.
From the final official Lost podcast of the season, producers and writers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse revealed that this finale would give fans all the tools they need to form together a proper theory of what the show is all about and possibly how it may end. Well, they certainly did do that with the season closer and many theories of old can be officially trashed now.
The Finale
In traditional Lost fashion, the first episode opens mysteriously in the distant past where we get to see the four-toed statue in full form. While that was a cool reveal, the big reveal came moments later when we see two unknown men talking with each other on the beach beside the statue with the Black Rock ship in the ocean background. The conversation of the two strangers hints at them being long-term enemies and it ends with one referring to the other as Jacob and promising that one day he would find a loop-hole to kill him.
Wow. No messing around.The first scene of the show give us Jacob after all this time and speculation – Awesome!
Well, kind of. While Jacob was a cool character throughout the finale, appearing at key points in each character’s lives and seemingly recruiting them with his golden touch, it did feel very haphazard to see it happen all at once in this finale.
In two back-to-back episodes, we met Jacob and his nemesis (his brother Esau?), saw how he was involved with our main Losties, and how he seemingly dies – All in a two-parter out of 103 episodes of the series so far. Why not develop that some more over the last two seasons? It seems a bit much to have all of it in one episode and have it all so convenient, like it was made up in this certain way afterwards to find some way to explain what we’ve seen in past seasons.
That being said, the religious themes and characters were incredibly interesting and we can certainly tell there is a ton of work behind-the-scenes being done to tie everything together. It is creativity at its finest. Looking back on the episode, even the intro where we see Jacob wearing white and Esau wearing dark representing good and evil, mostly everything that occurs over the two hours is very precise and intentional.
Continue to Page 2 of Lost Season 5 Finale Review for Issues, Religious Themes and more!
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I don’t believe ben was ever in the cabin to see jacob he said he got all instructions from richard so when he took locke there it was the first time he was there so it was jacob who said help me and just as ben said I was as surprised as you to see things in the room flying around
the whole how can juliet have survived the fall, is fairly simple to resolve……
the pilot episode how many people crashed down to an island and survived?? a mere 20/30 ft drop and surving is a little bit more likely then a plane ripping apart in 3 sections, landing in different places, yet the losties survive and eventually meet up.
there was a certain man trying to kill him self with high speeds and a gun, yes michael, so therefore with that short statement i believe the island kept juliet alive, or possibly jacob after being killed gave some small life force to juliet so she could change what just happend but in referal to Mr Farradays, “the light doesnt scatter normally” and Saids ” north is not were it is meant to be” gives me the idea that it hasnt changed anything and Mile’s prediction seems to be correct.
but untill 2010 no one will no except Jack who apparetly is the only character to know the ending, could the begining of the pilot be the end of the show??
I want to know what has happened to Claire? Last seen going of into the woods and in Jacob’s cabin with Christian. Any ideas?
the symbols that come up in the hatch when the timer reaches zero roughly translate to the underworld. Also, similar to the idea that jacob is evil what about richard being evil. Some people could see being immortal and living for ever as punishment and a curse
Hey, Lord Garth:
Exactly what I was saying… don’t be too quick to assign “good” to Jacob or “bad” to Black Shirt.
Case in point: in the Hebrew Scriptures (aka Genesis), Esau is the good guy and Jacob is the bad guy. Jacob looks in Esau’s face, asks for forgiveness for the stuff he did to Esau, and then is forgiven by Esau…and only THEN does Jacob say that he’s seen the face of God. And that’s when Jacob stops being called Jacob (“the deceiver”) and starts being called Israel (“the one who struggles with God”)
Similar stories, by the way, with the Egyptian gods and Greek gods…
All the best to all of you!
Interesting that Richard said he visited Locke several times while he was growing up and saw nothing special in Locke… he wasn’t special, if Esau indeed ended up using him for his own purposes then he was only special later, because of Esau.
Why does everyone keep calling that other guy Esau? I don’t believe his name was ever mentioned..
Everyone thinks it’s Esau because Jacob in the Bible had a brother Esau…
So, my name is David and I don’t have brothers named Eliab, Abinadab, Shimea, Nethanel, Raddai or Ozem and a father named Jesse..
Because of his black shirt,he was named and Jacob had a Bro in the Bible.
I unsure where its going,but I just Cant wait AAAAHHHHH
Right from about the middle of season 1, my theroy was they were all dead!
The Island is purgatory, and everyone on it is dead,
spending their time in purgatory until they get it right! and earn their “ticket” and ascend to heaven.
I think Richard is a Devil.
I recon the final for season 5 confirmed that for me.
Hi all> thanks for all the interesting ideas, i’ve enjoyed reading them all. i couldn’t sleep last night and started thinking about the Whitmores and Eloise. What do you think of Eloise possibly being Penny’s mother. Penny is definitly older than Daniel, and he doesn’t seem to be born yet in ’77 but Penny looks like she is in her mid-thirties or older in 2007.Could she have lived on the island as a baby/child? if anyone can recall any talk of her mother that dis-proves this i would appreciate hearing from you.
i am also having a tough time remembering the scene where Charles W. gets kicked off the island by the others. Does Eloise leave with him? Why do they maKe him leave? it must be after ’77 because we know he was there then…or did Charles find her and keep her like Ben did Alex?? He definitly doesnt want Desmond to take her anywhere near The Island. What will his role be in the show down on the island in 2007?
to mimi25: I think Esau is the good guy … coz when they put dead locke near the statue and ask Richard the question .. he says “he who will survive us all” then it’s john (Esau in disguise)that kill Jacob and survive them all… if Jacob is the good guy why he didnt let saied to pass the road with her wife.. then Nadia wouldn’t die and then saied would never help Ben to kill all these people… Then why did he give the pen to sawyer to finish his letter?… and actually he didnt help kate by paying the money … coz if her parents Knew about her action.. maybe they would care about her better…
Nahide: very interesting theory! I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Esau turns out to be the good one. It certainly IS intriguing how each of Jacob’s actions could also be seen from a more negative perspective. I think it’s entirely possible that Jacob did each of those things solely for his own good … to somehow prepare events in whatever timeline in such a way that his death will be circumvented (mostly through his “golden touch” probably).
The color of Jacob and Esau’s shirts at the beginning of the episode raises an interesting point, though: I find it unlikely that Jacob being dressed in light clothing, and Esau in darker clothing was merely just coincidental happenstance on the part of the writers – I suspect there’s some intentional symbology there … perhaps Jacob is the good one and Esau is the bad one, after all. Also, the fact that Esau seems to be the one obsessed with killing and murder (“you know how badly I want to kill you, right?”) doesn’t paint his character in a very favorable light.
in finale Ben said to jacob “Richard would bring me ur instructions, all those slips of paper, all those list..” then in season 3 “the man behind the curtain ” when Ben and Richard killed them all (Dahrma people)… was that massive murdering one of Jacob’s instruction???? I think it was becoz Richard was in there too and he helped Ben
David:
EXACTLY!!! EXACTLY!!! The writers have not told us Black Shirt’s name. To call him Esau is to confuse ourselves!
Nahide:
EXACTLY!!! EXACTLY!!! Since the first season, the issue of who is “good” and who is “bad” has had to do with your point of view. Jacob is not the exclusive “good” guy…neither is Black Shirt the exclusive “bad” guy.
From the moment the Losties began to call the people who weren’t in their group “Others” it told us…if you’re not with “us” you are “other”, and therefore “bad”.
As to the color of the shirts. Black and white are opposites, but not necessarily good and bad. In eastern cultures, white is the color of sorrow and death…not black. I’m convinced that the colors are McGuffins…
The plot line of Lost definitely borrows many allusions from mythology around the world! To say that the writers actually incorporated all of that in just the season finale is utterly baseless and stupid.
The character names and their actions throughout the story have revovled around mythic situations.I think ‘Louis’ has summed up the major characters pretty well. I had like to add to it.
My opinion is that theme of Good v Evil and Destiny v Choice are essentially interconnected. We define ourselves as good or bad through our action and choices. Also the time travel bit is connected to it. It proves that ‘indviduals’ are the ‘variables’! We can make our own choices that will in the end define us!
The biggest mystery is now Jack! He is as the tattoo on his arm says ‘One who walks amongst us but is not one of us’! He has been the non- believer(therefore an advocate of free-will ergo Jacob and his nephew Aaron is mythically the direct descendent of Jacob).This leads to questions about Christian Shepherd and Claire. As is evident names are of utmost importance and ‘Christian Shepherd’ reveals several biblical allusions{could it possibly denote the Old Testament and New Testament}.The departure from Hebrew life towards Christianity(‘One who walks amongst us but is not one of us’)! Anyway, Jack and his ‘family’ should play an imporant role in the series finale.
The people who brought the body of Locke and referred to as candidates could have been talking about themselves as possible replacements on the ‘list’ of Jacob(therefore calling themselves as the good guys)!!!
On the statue. I think its more likely to be tawaret
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_B-eIPQ70kFo/SbPh7dVQjtI/AAAAAAAABAk/EQ_aLVOFAzE/s400/lost+statue.jpg
The same hat and 4 toes and the same ears are pretty convincing
You are correct, d/rew: Lost’s website confirms that the statue is indeed Tawaret.
Some thoughts: What was the only island with a highly advanced culture to disappear from the face of the earth? Could we have spent the last 5 seasons on Atlantis? Atlantis is a legendary island. The principal sources for the legend are two of Plato’s dialogues, Timaeus and Critias. In the former, Plato describes how Egyptian priests, in conversation with the Athenian lawgiver Solon, described Atlantis. About 9,000 years before the birth of Solon, the priests said, Atlantis was a rich island with “powerful” princes. The Atlantians eventually disappeared, and their island was allegedly swallowed up by the sea as a result of earthquakes. Maybe one of the Atlantians just moved the island.
Taweret became seen, very early in Egyptian history, as a deity of protection in pregnancy and childbirth. Pregnant women wore amulets with her name or likeness to protect their pregnancies. In their art, Taweret was depicted as a composite of all the things the Egyptians feared, the major part of her being hippopotamus, since this is what the constellation most resembled, with the arms and legs of a lioness, and with the back of a crocodile. So here’s the question: the statue on the island has the hands and feet of a human, not a lioness; and the statue carries an ankh in both hands; The ankh was the Egyptian hieroglyphic character that read “eternal life”. Egyptian gods are often portrayed carrying it by its loop, or bearing one in each hand. It is also known as the key of life. Is the alleged revelation that this is not Sobek, some sort of slight of hand? Sobek is portrayed with the hands and feet of a human, and he carries the ankh, Taweret does not. So, what gives.
Jacob is seen weaving a tapestry by hand in tribute to the Sun, a diety-symbol that preceded all organized religion. He is then joined by his antagonist, the black shirt, who shows disdain for the humans that approach the island on the ship. He refers to them as “They”, an interesting pronoun. “They come, they fight, they destroy. It always ends the same.” Jacob replies that there can only be one apocalypse, and that everything else is some form of progress. This leads to the death threat. Oviously there is a higher power than these two, who is enforcing a rule. It said that Satan looked upon Man as undeserving of any Omnipotent love, and therefore rebeled. This attitude certainly fits the profile, but is it evil? Also, the smoke monster is the same color as the antagonist, and there is evidence that it inhabited the cabin from the trail of black ash, and the comment “someone else has been using it”. Jacob and the antagonist are not human, but some form of being (angels, forwant of a better word) that fit somewhere in the celestial hierarchy.
Further, in the middle of the book that Jacob is reading, there is a story called “Revelation”, a story I read long ago. I remember that the female protagonist in the story gets on the nerves of a young girl by saying that she should be paddled. The girl throws a book at her, striking her aove the eye. The name of the book is “Human Development.” At home, the protagonist wonders if this wasn’t a message from God. As she contemplates the “message” He has sent her, she has a vision of the souls of the characters from the story walking up to Heaven, and her soul last of all.
My last comment is also a question: If Locke is possessed, then why doesn’t he recognize the foot??? May your day be filled with bliss, love, Dino
Dino, I really like the Atlantis theory! It fits very well with the “historical” accounts of a powerful island civilization that suddenly vanished.
Regarding your last comment: I’m sure you understand that Locke is not “possessed” (remember that we are shown the real Locke as a dead corpse), but rather being mimicked by Black-Shirted Esau. I know that’s probably what you meant, but just to make sure that’s understood.
Dear Dan,
If Locke is Jacob’s antagonist (I’m not ready to call him Esau), then why didn’t he recognize the site of the statue, where he made the loophole threat?
You raise an excellent point there, Dino. The only plausible reason that I can come up with is that he was “acting” for the sake of Ben, Richard, and co., so as not to blow his Locke cover. If they at any point began to suspect that he wasn’t actually John Locke (i.e. if he demonstrated too much knowledge regarding Jacob and/or his whereabouts), he could have totally busted his cover and ruined his chance at the loophole … so he needed Richard to be a pretend guide to lead him to the Foot, and of course, he had to “play dumb” as he approached the Foot, only exhibiting such knowledge as the real Locke would have had.
It’s obvious that he needed at LEAST Ben and Richard for this loophole, and pretending to be the genuine Locke in EVERY capacity was the only method whereby he could manipulate them into cooperating with his sinister plans and bring about the supposed downfall of Jacob.
But I don’t know, that just my two cents.
Could any1 explain why richard is seen in 1977 and 2007 during the finale? in 1977 he aids sayed, jack and faraday’s mom (forgot her name) in acquiring the h-bomb. and in 2007 he’s with locke, ben and a bunch of other people that apparently will be killed as locke told richard he wld do to them after he’s done with jacob. and who are those people that show up out of nowhere proclaiming the significance of the shadow behind the statue and blah blah blah. a lil too much to be digested in a finale.
why is richard in 1977 and 2007 during the finale?
You have an interesting point mark..yes i wonder why richard is in 1977 and in 2007 too. Why jacob was killed. I can’t understand why he was killed like that in the fire thing…..
The Richard Question–”I am this way because of Jacob.”
no he wears eye-liner because of jacob.
but why is he in two places during two different time periods. hmmmm