It’s true, Inception has “basically supplanted ‘Lost’ for all your theorizing needs.” You don’t need anyone to tell you that. What you do need is to enjoy this wonderful movie as much or as little as you like.

The problem with Lost was that everyone wanted everyone else to care about the same things. In my mind the Island and the rules attached to it (time/space travel, religious analogies, etc) were, and will always be the most important character of Lost. Jack had daddy issues… so what? Tell me why the Island cares about Jack’s daddy issues. Don’t bring Jack to the island simply so that he can reconcile with his father. That’s what therapy is for.

You know who agrees with me? A lot of people. And you know who disagrees with me? A lot of people. You know how much I used to care about that fact? A lot. Now? Not so much. Lost was a TV show… Just a TV show. Kids in Africa are dying of starvation, people in North Korea are oppressed, and I have a wife to take care of, and a life to live, and someone’s geeky concept about a magical island that moves at the tug of a ship’s helm can’t and shouldn’t become anyone’s obsession. Period.

As I was leaving the theater, convinced I’d just watched one of the greatest Sci-Fi movies (maybe of the best movies) ever, I overheard a snotty 20-something female say: “I thought it was completely stupid. It made absolutely no sense. I didn’t enjoy it one bit.” Now, let’s assume for argument sake that she’s right (even though she’s not). Why should I care? Better yet, if she loved the movie and hated the final scene (I love the movie and LOVED the final scene), again, why should I care?

Enjoy Inception in the way you want to enjoy it. Don’t try to hard to put as much effort into caring about a 2 1/2 hour movie as you did for Lost, which ran 120+ hours. Heck, try to find other movies with Inception may have opened the door to. Ever seen Momento? What? No? You were too busy crafting Lost theories? Watch it. I won’t spoil anything, but what i will say is this: if you even so much as kinda liked Inception, Momento will not disappoint.

Anyhow, if you need answers to Inception like we all needed them to Lost, New York Magazine has a great, aptly titled Inception’s Dileep Rao Answers All Your Questions About Inception article which answers and helps to clarify many of the questions we’ve had since watching the movie. Yeah, that’s right, the people behind Inception are actually answering the questions that their creation prompted people to ask… something the people behind Lost quite never seemed to grasp.

A humorous GIF: How Lost should have ended.

I’ll quit with the whole “They didn’t answer my questions! Blarg!” thing with Lost soon, but it still bothers me a bit that ABC was running promos which told us “…your questions will be answered…”, because they weren’t.

Kottke said it best:

I am glad that someone compiled a list of all of the unanswered questions that the Lost producers/writers left when the show ended.

I don’t really care about the answers to most of these but watching it irritates me that they jerked us around with the Dharma/Others/Walt/4-toed statue crap when it didn’t matter at all. Oh, and the f***ing numbers and the whole ARG thing. “All of this matters”, Jack? Uh, no.

Now that Lost is over, I’m starting a list of all the questions I wanted to be answered, whose answer I may have missed, or wasn’t answered altogether by the show.

Don’t mistake this for poutintg of any sort. Simply a way of coping with the loss of my favoorite show.

The Man In Black
What was his name?
Why did he take the form of smoke?
What did the smoke symbolize?

The Island
Once the Smoke Monster was dead, what was the purpose of the Island?

Jacob
Where’s Jacob now?
Since he’s dead, did he (does he) pass through The Light as well?

The further I get from the series finale, the more sad I get about the fact that Lost is over. Granted, I was already pretty upset prior to the last airing Sunday night. Chelsea teared up multiple times during the last episode, and as my eye toggled between the clock and the TV during the last 30 minutes, my eyes watered if only due to high activity.

Lost was (is) the greatest television show of all time not because of what it was, but because of what it did between us. Borrowing and merging some quotes from today’s emails with friends, “Lost allowed us to have conversations with people we might not otherwise speak to, and in actuality really don’t really like. That’s the thing I’ll miss the most…the ongoing discussion that this show created amongst its followers.”

I’ve got alot more Lost talk in me, but this will do for now.

Watch With Krisitn

[The writers] gave us exactly what they promised—resolution on the things that mattered most to the characters.

Why I actually liked the Lost finale

Lost bait-and-switched us around a bit, imparting such a stentorian importance to the little things and then telling us that they didn’t matter.
[...]
But where “The End” didn’t provide the long-sought narrative resolution, it came through with an emotional resolution that, in the end, proved satisfying.

Lost mega-podcast. This is 90 minutes, but worth every minute.
(h/t Ernest Myers)

Alan Sepinwall from the podcast above posts his own review.

A pretty good breakdown of the last episode, plus this interesting note:

Visually, It was appropriate that Jack made his way back to the exact place he awoke on the Island, passing one of the tennis shoes his father was wearing in the casket, and even had Vincent by his side when we had our closing shot of his eye closing, rather than opening. While there are a lot of unanswered questions, we are supposedly promised additional scenes (about 20 minutes of them) on the DVD set that will answer yet more of them, as well as other answers given by the creators.

Chelsea made a great point last night when she said, “It’s so funny how we talk about Lost as a historical event. ‘Where were you when you first watched Lost?’”

In September 2005, I drove from Jasper to Gardendale to hang out with John Byars, his wife Amy, Stephanie Hannah. They put on this TV show called Lost. I’d seen the previews, though felt less than intrigued. But they were into it, and so I watched. It was Season 2: Episode 2: Adrift.

I was hooked.

My poor friends… they were incredibly gracious. They sat there and answered every question I had throughout the episode. I immediately drove home and (not having a full time job other than blogging) downloaded every episode on iTunes and sat on the couch for 3 days catching up.

To top it all off… Jasper, Alabama is the home of one of the characters.

It’s incredibly cliche to say, but there will never be another show like Lost. At best, there will bill another show like Lost right when we are on our deathbeds.

Granted, there will be many “Lost replacements” pitched by networks (see: Flash Forward), though as entertaining as they may be, they will certainly always fall short.

All told, I’m satisfied with the outcome. Yes, there are many question unanswered, and theories will still abound… but that’s what this show was all about: everybody watches the same show and ends up with a different opinion.

It’s sounds overly-dramatic, but I’m thoroughly depressed today. There’s a Lost-shaped hole in me.

Tons. Tons of LOST props are up for auction. View the entire (long) list here.

…approximately 100 props from Lost will soon be up for auction, such as Locke’s hunting knife, Hurley’s lottery ticket, Sawyer’s glasses, Dharma beer, and fish biscuits.

i.want. Mr. Eko’s. stick.

This is brilliant and perfect for any LOST party you might be hosting. My favorite are the Pringles cans.

I was going to do a post on the Biblical references in last night’s episode, but that would take too long.

Oh, brother. It’s going to be a fun finish.

Should have uploaded this a long time ago.

[Click for larger image.]

Good Lord, I was on pins and needles Tuesday night waiting for Jasper to get another shout out on LOST. The episode was about Sawyer (whose character is from Jasper) and whole time Chelsea’s telling me, “They’re not going to mention Jasper. Better not get your hopes up.” But I’m as ignorant as can be. I just KNEW they were going to mention Jasper. But they didn’t. But they did.

Want to call your attention to the newspaper clipping that I can assume is supposed to be the Daily Mountain Eagle. Notice the first sentence which, as my 20/20 vision sees: “Jasper police…”

How in the world is this TV going to completely wrap-up in 9 episodes?

Anyone have a theory that you’re still confident about?

Any other LOST fans agree?

Should have posted this last week, but it’s always awesome to see people from your favorite shows cross over.

We all know Sawyer is from Jasper. All of America knows Sawyer is from Jasper. But will ABC remind us of that once more before the series ends?

People who are “so confused” about last night’s episode of LOST are tiring. The fact that we never truly know what’s going on in this show is what makes it special. Besides, if you were easily confused, you would have lost track of the storyline a long time ago.

Four years ago I visited John Byars’ house in Gardendale, Alabama to hangout with friends. They were watching this show called LOST. It was the episode right after they found the hatch and we are first introduced to Desmond.

I was hooked.

I drove straight home, downloaded every episode on iTunes, and watched them (minus sleep) for 2 days.

LOST is the most entertaining and involving show I’ve ever watched. The fact that Sawyer is from Jasper only adds to the coolness.

The end is near. Let’s hope the trip finishes well.

[credit: Ernest Myers]