Did you see the last episode of…?

As all television watchers know, May is the end of the TV viewing season. Season finales and series finales are upon us and then its repeats for the next three months. Two of my favorite shows said good-bye for good this month, Ugly Betty and Lost.

Ugly Betty went as many televisions shows do, the character(s) decided to do something else. In some cases a major event happens like a wedding (Happy Days) or a war ends (M*A*S*H). Some TV shows just end, period.

Some shows have very memorable or controversial endings. Like the last episode of The Sopranos where Tony and his family are eating in a restaurant and then the screen goes to black, the end. Or Seinfield, where all the characters end up in jail having the same conversation they had in the very first episode (this is after almost every memorable character makes a courtroom appearance). And then there’s the show Newhart where Bob Newhart’s character wakes up in bed with his wife from his previous television show, The Bob Newhart Show, and claims all eight season of Newhart (where Bob runs an inn in New Hampshire – remember Larry and his brother Darryl and his other brother Darryl?) was all a dream.

Last night was the final episode of Lost. I know a lot of people watched this show when it first came on but then lost interest (no pun intended) when things got a little too complicated and convoluted. First there were flash backs, then there were flash forwards and then there were too many questions (what the heck is the Smoke Monster and Dharma Imitative?) and not enough answers (in hindsight I think the writers could haven’t given us more answers without giving away the ending). If you are one of those people who stopped watching, I really don’t blame you.

But I kept going, I had to know what was going on and thank goodness for my friend Nancy, someone who, like me, kept watching. If I didn’t have someone to talk to, my head would explode. We helped each other out, asked each other questions, pointed out things the other might have missed and speculated on how the whole thing would end. The writers of the show kind of made it clear that there would be a lot of unanswered questions (they claimed they couldn’t answer every question, cop-out anyone?) but that character driven questions would be answered. If that was true, I’d be okay. If not, I was going to be one pissed-off viewer.

I really wanted an ending that made me think, “Okay, now I understand,” or “Okay, that makes some sense,” not an ending that was left open to interpretation and speculation. I wanted an ending that we didn't have to debate. And even though that didn't happen, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the last episode, because I did.

SPOILER ALERT: If stopped watching Lost and you plan on watching the rest of it on DVD at some point or you haven’t seen the finale, stop reading NOW.

But even the day after the finale episode and reading other blogs, I’m not sure what it all meant. I get that the last episode was about “letting go” and the relationships that these characters development (I held it together until Claire gave birth to Aaron at the concert at which point I started crying until the very end, even though I realized all the relationships would come together and everyone was heading off to church, heaven’s waiting room?) but was the island purgatory (a popular theory that goes all the way back to first season)? And if so, was it purgatory for everyone who was there before the Oceanic plane crash (Like the Dharma Initiative or the military that originally had the hydrogen bomb)? Was life on the island real or were the sideways real (or limbos between life and death) or were the sideways just a tool used by the creators to get most of the characters together and “go towards the light”? (Michael and Walt were missing from the church and was Richard there? Did Ben not go in because he thought he was going to hell or that he didn’t redeem himself and shouldn’t be part of the group?) Also, who built the big statue and why? Why didn’t all the Oceanic 6 go back in time when they returned to the island on the Aijira flight? What was the deal with the numbers? We know each “candidate” was assigned a number but did those numbers really mean something?

So I watched for six years (mostly just has confused as everyone else) and I’m still confused after it’s all over. But I do know that for six years Lost was totally entertaining and a rare high quality show. It can’t be duplicated but let’s hope we’ll have more shows like this in the future, shows that entertain and make you think.

Oh, and if have any answers to the above questions, please let me know!