Lost — Now Found (a review of the series finale)

Spoiler alert: If you haven’t watched the finale of the television series “Lost” but plan to, stop reading this blog NOW!

Also, if you haven’t followed this show and don’t plan to, you may as well stop reading now since you won’t have a clue what I’m talking about.

But, if you were a fan of “Lost” and have already watched the finale, wouldn’t you agree that this was about as good an ending as anyone could have ever hoped for? Personally, I felt it brilliantly brought together all the themes that made this series such an exceptional television experience. Deep down, don’t you feel as if you’re “lost” on a forgotten island? Doesn’t every answer lead to a dozen more questions? And don’t we all have occasional experiences in which a scene or a sound or a smell triggers a sort of longing for a distant “something” we can’t quite seem to remember?

I felt that, on an allegorical level, the ending resonated deeply with the New Testament’s view of life as well. In fact, I was quite surprised with how much Christian symbolism permeated the last several episodes and especially the finale. Perhaps most profoundly, it seems to me a fundamental point to our journey on this bizarre “island” is, as Jack’s father (Christian Shepard) put it, to lovingly help one another “remember” and “let go.” As we in love touch one another, we wake up to that memory/dream that beckons us. And we move toward that which we yearn for as we learn we must “lose our life to find it.”

And so, with that knowing smile they all wore to their final reunion, I bid a bittersweet farewell to my weekly companions from Oceanic 815.