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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ok Zendamon, You convinced me
lets have a lost tea party with as many people as we can get together!
I think the bomb does explode and thats why Richard thinks that Jack, Jin, Kate, Hurley, Sawyer and Sayid died. However, I think the explosion causes them to travel back to the present. The bomb could also be the reason Woman can not have children on the island. Remember when Sawyer was convincing Julia to help deliver Ethan, he said maybe what prevents the woman from having babies hasnt happened yet. The bomb explosion could also explain the reason why the statue is broken. I also have a feeling the guitar case that Hurley is carrying is Charlies and might have something to do with bringing Claire back.
Horus = Horace (head of dharma).
Egyptian winged symbol equals captain’s badge – captain is a siginificant part of Jacob’s long term plan.
What about sun finding charlie’s ring in aaron’s cradle?
Rafe: It seems like our the first person to accept our invitation is Zigster.
Zigster: regarding the gods granting all our hearts desires as it says on the loom. and your insightful comment about how can the gods give everyone what they want. I re-post it below so that everyone knows what we are talking about
Zigster said:
ΘΞΟΙ ΤΟΣΑ ΔΟΙΞΝ ΟΣΑ ΦΡΞΣΙ ΣΗΣΙ ΜΞΝΟΙΝΑΖ., “may the gods grant thee all that thy heart desires”.
But if every individual thinks he is entitled to everything his heart desires, true harmony will never be achieved. When two people want the same thing, desires overlap, which causes conflict. I guess it’s the way we resolve these conflicts that is laking. A nice teeparty sounds good. Let’s make it worldwide.
I would add to your comment that the key is to get into what your heart REALLY desires. Yes a nice car and a home and things of this nature are hard to grant to everyone but i think it is possible but even if it is not . . .a true heart’s desire goes to things that EVERYONE CAN have. Peace, Wisdom, Love etc.
For those of you who are saying what does this have to do with the show? I say, this is why watch this show. I watch no other show. For me, This show can be taken on many levels and for me it is about Life’s purpose and questions of destiny etc.
Thank You to Rafe and Zigster for engaging. . . .
“The statue on the island is holding two ankhs. I found no egyptian god holding two of them.”
You can’t see the other symbol the statue is holding. It could be a Sa symbol. Taweret is often depicted with an Ankh, and a Sa.
Also, why did Bernard offer Juliet some tea? It seemed all of the sudden, and it just seemed weird. Thanks to Zendamon for bringing up the water and tea to remind me of this.
I just learned. The Lost website has CONFIRMED, it’s Taweret.
Tosguy:
thank YOu!
that is HUGE news. CONFIRMED BY THE LOST WEBSITE the statue is TAWARET. i am logging onto wikipedia now!
Why did Bernard offer Juliet tea. That did seem a little strange but i took it as being in the whole let’s be mellow and sit down vibe. It was interesting.
I’m working on getting the link from the site that confirms for those that don’t believe or can’t find it.
Hopefully, I’ll have it posted soon.
I got the confirmed official Lost Webiste link confirming Taweret as the statue
It is in the ABC LOST website episode recap section for the finale for Season 5. I quote it here.
The camera pulls back over the ocean, and we see they were sitting on the base of a giant stone foot. And next to the foot is another foot — and both feet have four toes. And as the camera pulls back, we see what we’ve been waiting to see since we first glimpsed that four-toed foot over three years ago… the towering, majestic statue of the Egyptian goddess Taweret. And we clearly know we’re a long time ago, so let’s get the finale of season five started –
For some reason this website blocks the posting of a link . . .
I am trying to post the link but the website won’t let me do it.
http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=recap#t=162212&d=201648
No, you’re wrong, it’s tawaret. We knew this 3 weeks ago.
I think the most telling thing about the future of lost that nobody mentions is in the opening scene. The guy in black says it always ends in corruption, bad stuff, Jacob says “But it just happens once. Everything else is progress.” That says it all.
One thing I don’t like about loving LOST is that what ever happens in the end, I don’t think it’ll be enough. I’ll want more no matter how they tie it up. It makes me dread the future, when I don’t have Wednesday to look forward to.
What will I enjoy when the best show in the history of television has ended?!?!? I don’t even want to think about it.
joe:
who is wrong?
just me, but does Ben’s character seem very Job like from the old testament?.
Yes lately certainly Ben seems like Job. And i think that is the effect they were going for in the Finale.
I think they acheived it with good writing.
just read this before on the lostpedia site about locke’s father. dunno if it’s relevant but thought it was interesting.
It says that when locke’s dad was captured by the others after a car crash and put on the island and left for locke to kill him, when locke took of his gag, he bit him and screamed ‘Don’t you know where we are, John?’ as if he knew of the island and what it could do. He then shared his belief that the island is actually hell. it seems like a big judgment to make for a man who just woke up there without witnessing what it could do, e.g the smoke thing. so yeah maybe it’s hell, that’d fit in with the religious stuff.
i just rewatched that episode recently. To me it seemed that Locke’s father, just didn’t have any idea what was going on . . .
Here’s how I interpreted it:
he was driving on the freeway. Ben Linus minions created the car accident and put him in their ambulance. Locke’s father said that the last thing he remembers was someone giving him some sort of shot and then he woke up at the Island. so i think that he thought he had died because of the severity of the car “accident” but in fact, Ben’s people gave him heavy sedatives and brought him to the island.
I think Esau (evil) cured paralyzed Locke coz he Knew John can help him to kill Jacob. He had the plan since the plane crashed… He needed Ben to believe in John then he could use his body & his background to kill Jacob without asking why…. every one one the Island believed in Locke even Richard… he thought John is reliable and their leader thats why he took him to jacob and also when Richard ask Jack about John , he said trust him… John was Esau’s loophole since beginning…. and jacob didnt cure the paralyzed locke it was Esau.. and he didnt cure Ben coz he didnt him….
Why Eloise asked jack to give his dad shoes to Locke…. on the island christin’s body was used by Esau … Really Why??
interesting, so a giant statue of a goddess who is a deity of protection during pregnancy and child birth ends up missing with only a foot left and the women on the island who get pregnant now die during child birth. Coincidence? hmmmmm
I think the statue is Sobek, and may be Jacob is the reincarnated form of it. Since
“Sobek’s ambiguous nature led some Egyptians to believe that he was a repairer of evil that had been done, rather than a force for good in itself, for example, going to Duat to restore damage done to the dead as a result of their form of death. He was also said to call on suitable gods and goddesses required for protecting people in situation, effectively having a more distant role, nudging things along, rather than taking an active part”
from wiki
Puma:
Official lost website confirms that the statue is Tawaret
http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost/index?pn=recap#t=162212&d=201648
The entire series is a modern-day Allegory of the Cave. The philosophical overtones have been there from the beginning. Many of the major characters share names with historical philosophers (Lock and Hume being the blaring examples). The “cave”, of course, is here represented as the island and all of the subsequent “mysteries” that are witnessed by the survivors are the shadows on the screen (a convenient pun 2400 years in the making). This season finale really tied it all together. The over-arcing theme of good and evil manifests in two personifications. The Devil cannot kill God, both being immortal, theoretically, and therefore finds a way for a mortal to kill Him. In this one can see how Ben represents the highly intelligent human organism that cannot defeat his own selfishness (“What about me?!”) which the Devil utilizes as a tool, ironically manipulating a master manipulator. In this final act I see an allegory for the demise of faith, the death of God in the heart of mankind. The show, to me, seems like an obvious microcosm of the human experience.
Well said Rabullione!
If Esau is the one taking Locke and Christian’s forms doesn’t that mean he’s the one who convinced them to move the island and the one who Claire is with?
AND when Sun knocked Ben out she went off and stumbled upon Christian while Locke was on the other island looking at Ben. So that mean both dead Christian and dead Locke were “existing” at the same time.
Who is Claire with? I thought she was with Christian?
AND
regarding both Christian and Locke “existing at the same time. I wondered the same thing . . . .Is is possible that we that wasn’t happening at the same time? or is “Esau” able to inhabit two forms at once?
in the bible, rachel, wife of jacob (one of his two wives, the one he loved) died while giving birth to thier second son… benjamin… and now we see the statue of a egyptian goddess that protects during child birth and pregnancy.. and ben linus’ mother died while giving birth…
interesting
Wow! That’s really interesting.
Also, i was thinking about how Richard Alpert was questioning Locke’s specialness and that given what we know now it may be that “Esau” concocted the whole “Locke is special scenario to make him seem special.
By the same token, Benjamin, Ben Linus must have been thought to have been special by Richard at one time. At least we have never seen Richard it.
It seems that Jacob must have thought Ben to be special at one time …in REALITY. and yet Ben killed Jacob. hmmmmmmm . . . .
Is Juliet immortal?
I believe the answer is that Juliet hit a pocket of energy and time travelled. When she wakes up she is no longer in 1977 so when she detonates the bomb we have no idea what time line she is on (which is why she didn’t die).
So… she didn’t kill the dharma initiative as we saw in an earlier episode Benjamin gassed everyone.
Let me know your thoughts.