It’s hard to believe Lost will be ending on Sunday. I’ve been blogging the books that have appeared on the show and their connections with Lost for four years so I figured I should post a final theory of what might happen when the show ends.
I predict people will throw their TV’s away. I mean, what will be the point of owning one after Sunday night? Sure Longhorns football will still be on, but you can catch the games at a bar.
As far as my predictions for the show, it all comes down to two books shown this season, Shusaku Endo’s Deep River and Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories (follow the links for my posts on them), which form the basis of my half-baked, out-of-my-arse prediction, which is by no means a logical well-thought out theory. It’s just me brainstorming. I’m probably wrong. I hope so. One of the best things about Lost is how consistently I’ve been surprised.
I still think the sideways reality is going to end, but I think it’s going to have to hurt. It’s a manifestation of anti-Jacob/Locke’s power triggered by the detonation of the jughead. It’s a big bang (see my post on Brief History of Time) that suggests echoes between Lost and Gnostic Christianity. I can’t help but think Desmond will emerge as a savior of sorts, the Christ who will show everyone in the sideways reality that it is an illusion (or a “black iron prison” as Philip K Dick put it in VALIS—see my post). This is how jack will know to kill Locke. Of course, for Jin and Sun and others it’s a pretty happy illusion. It probably will be for Sawyer when he meets Juliet (who I think will be making a final appearance) and they make a date for coffee.
This illusion will have to be destroyed to defeat Locke, and it will probably be done by Jack who will in effect be killing nearly everyone he knows to save the world in the crash reality. It’s a burden he’ll likely have to live with for the rest of a very long life. My guess is that Jack will do it when he operates on Locke. He will let him die on the table or kill him in a scene that will echo what he did to blackmail Ben in season 3. When Locke dies in the LAX reality, this will end it. This will also end any chance for happy endings for those characters whose lives are good in the LAX world. This is the sacrifice Jack will make, the sacrifice the island will demand to save the world, and to paraphrase Ben in season 5, dead will be dead.
Once the sideways reality is gone, Locke will be defeated, though I doubt he will be dead. Lost has always suggested a need for balance between opposing forces (see Deep River and VALIS again), thus Locke will not be killed. He and Jack will be stuck on the island, playing backgammon for all eternity while Locke cooks up another 1000 year loophole to kill Jack. Look for a sequel to Lost sometime around the year 3004.
So many of the Lost books suggest endless loops of cause and effect, death and rebirth, that I can’t help but feeling Lost will end circular in some way. It could end at the beginning or perhaps the LAX reality is actually happening after all of this, though I hope those aren’t the answers as either would feel like a cheat of sacrifices made by the characters. I suspect, we’ll see Jack as the island’s new protector largely escaping that cycle only to watch it all come back around.
And, I still say Ben’s a good guy, putting the long con on dark Locke.
Here’s the list all the Lost books I’ve read along with links to my posts about them. Here’s a link to the LA Times article in which I was interviewed. Here are links to EYE M SICK and Lost…and Gone Forever, true Lost blogs, and the best ones around. Not having them to read each week is almost as sad as Lost ending.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
I was pretty surprised by the ending. Let me state outright that I’m an atheist, but none of the religious imagery near the end bothered me.
What I take from this great show is that LOST, ingeniously, can be understood from whatever worldview you bring to it. For me, it’s easy to see the entire show as Jack after the crash, awakening on a log by the river, stumbling into the field of bamboo as he clutches his wounds, bleeding, and finally collapsing on his back while another weary crash survivor–Vincent–curls up next to him for comfort.
Everything that happens in the series is a product of Jack’s dying brain. The fantasies about people he met or saw on the plane or in the airport in Sydney, the flashbacks, the flash-forwards, the flash-sideways, all are products of a dying brain increasingly desperate for oxygen–to hold on to life, to give it some meaning… until Jack’s eyes finally close in death.
Did it all really happen? Did Alice really fall down that rabbit hole?
I think a Christian, a Buddhist, etc. can interpret the show equally well. Even adherents of old-time Egyptian mystery religions (if there still are any) might find something of value here. The point is, this is part of LOST’s genius.
It’s great literature, only on television.
It’s great literature, only on television.
Yes. I couldn’t agree more.
Thanks for your comment, Lance. I think you touched on the beauty of LOST—it’s openness to a wide range of interpretations, much like anything in life where belief is concerned. The version you describe is actually much like “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” a book shown in season 2 (my post on it is here).
I hope you’ll check out my reflections on “The End.”
[…] was wrong in the details of my predictions for the end of Lost. I’m glad to be wrong. I was too cynical. I was right that the […]