Lost (Series Review)

 ***This review will contain spoilers***

Summary: 

The survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 were 1,000 miles off course when they crashed on a lush, mysterious island. Each person possesses a shocking secret, but they've got nothing on the island itself, which harbors a monstrous security system, a series of underground bunkers and a group of violent survivalists hidden in the shadows.

When this show first came out I was a little kid in elementary school and watched the first few episodes. Fast forward to now where I'm 27 and finally finished this damn show. This was a long ass journey that started with a plane crash, throw in some polar bears, a smoke monster and a whole lot of crazy and after all that I'm still lost. 

Jack Shephard:

The show started with Jack and of course ended with him. Spinal surgeon who takes initiative and has got some daddy issues. As a viewer it’s easy to become enamoured with Jack since from the beginning he ran right into action and started helping people. He brought the group together when he realized it would be a while before they got rescued and gave everyone a purpose to help the group collectively. ‘Live together die alone’ a saying coined by Jack but till the very end his first concern was everyone else. 

Prior to the island, Jack was married to a woman who was originally his patient and she was right. Jack will always need something to fix. Whether it be through surgery or through other ways he doesn’t seem fulfilled with his life. However, once on the island he was on a never ending campaign to get rescued. Jack is definitely one of those people that need something to do otherwise their life doesn’t have purpose.

While other people stranded on the island found ways to cope and even take this as a moment of relaxation and escaping from their busy and never ending lives Jack went the complete opposite way and honestly seemed so high strung. He became the groups ‘leader’ and put himself  many times in harms way when he was the only doctor to the group. I found him selfish at times and takes up the mantle of martyr more often than not. 

Kate Austen:

Kate is quite a complicated young woman. She has murdered whether intentionally or unintentionally and seemed to be on the run with no end in sight. I never understood why the show writers paired her up with so many men. Her childhood friend Tom who she ended up killing while in a car chase trying to escape the police, she had a fling with Sawyer which was teased as something more and lastly Jack which seemed to be endgame but was never really confirmed. We’ve got the bad ass chick and then we also have the caring side of her where she helps deliver Aaron and tags right along with Jack whenever there’s a new ‘mission’. Kate feels more like a secondary character or a sidekick than a primary character. More than a few times I felt she was only there to fill the scene instead of adding to the story. 

James Ford aka ‘Sawyer’

Sawyer is an interesting character to say the least. His father killed his mother and then killed himself in the same room as James definitely left a mark on him. Especially, since his mother was conned by a man named Sawyer. James vowed to find the man and kill him for revenge. However, this led him to lead a life of a conman. Conning women the same way ‘Sawyer’ did to his mother and now he carried the same name when he deploys his seductions on women. Coincidentally, that is how his daughter Clementine came to be. He conned her mother Cassidy out of her money. 

Sawyer also was romantically involved with Kate and Juliet. Not sure where the writers were going making a love square with Sawyer, Kate, Juliet and Jack but it weirdly happened. And no awkward confrontations about it either which should have been my first clue something was wrong with this group. 

Despite, seeming like the ‘bad guy’ and seeming selfish he was a good guy and definitely tried helping the group to the best of his abilities. Even when it seems at first that he is being self serving he helped those in need. He was the comedic relief that was needed in my intense scenes. There wouldn’t be a Lost without Sawyer

Sayid Jarrah:

Sayid is easily one of my favourite characters on the show!!! He’s an intellectual, ass kicking man who used to be in the Republican Guard and has quite a dark past about him. What I love though is how he strives to put his best foot forward but doesn’t hesitate to do what others cannot for the overall good of the group. He’s a strategist and damn good with a gun. Exactly, who I would want in my corner if there was a group of hostiles out for my skin. 

It was great having him paired with Shannon it brought some humanity to his character and allowed him to demonstrate the gentler side of him. It’s unfortunate that Shannon was killed off so early on because I would have loved to see just how far their relationship was going to go. Shannon comes off as a vapid rich girl with no problems in life and just coasting off her family’s money. But in reality there is no money for her at least. Her father remarried and that is how she has a step brother named Boone. 

Now I’ve gotta say I have seen and heard of some weird stories of step siblings but Boone and Shannon take the cake. Not only is Boone in love with her but they both slept together before crashing on the island. Makes me wonder why this was included in the story when Shannon ultimately was paired with Sayid.

John Locke:

John has easily become one of my favourite characters of the entire series. From the get go you could see that John had a connection with the island and was appreciative of the change since due to the crash he was able to regain the ability to walk again. From the second he stated there’s boar on the island and showcased his knife throwing skills I knew he would quickly become one of my favourite characters. John is very spiritual and often times seems like he is following what the island is guiding him towards. If it wasn’t for John we would be missing out on so many discoveries pertaining to the island. He was the reason why the group had meat to survive and he also found the hatch. Prior to the island he was thrown out of a window and became paralyzed from the waist down. 

He let the island guide him to where he needed to be. While he was quite independent in his discoveries he was always there to help others. Jack and John felt like the leaders of the group. While most times they would be at a stall mate they always tried to do what was right. Even if it meant putting themselves in harms way. Being the reason why Boone becomes injured and later passes from his injuries left John feeling stuck and full of guilt. All he wanted was to discover what the island had to offer. 

Sun and Jin Kwon:

Sun and Jin had such an amazing growth individually and to their relationship. When we are first introduced to them we see Jin being quite harsh, cold and standoffish while Sun caters to his every need. He doesn’t let her unbutton her blouse even though they are on a freaking island. However, he is a provider and was able to fish and take care of her. We later find out that Sun was learning English in secret to eventually leave Jin and disappear in the states where she could live alone without the constraints of her family and husband. 

I have loved seeing their relationship blossom and there is no happiness without the Kwons being together! From Jin learning English himself to the both of them falling in love all over again, Sun becoming pregnant while on the island, Jin getting lost in time and them finally reuniting in the most heart breaking way. It’s been such a rollercoaster with these two. 

Hugo ‘Hurley’ Reyes: 

Hugo is one of those loveable characters that you can’t help but like and hope nothing bad happens to them. Unfortunately, for him all there is around him is disaster and death. It all started when he played the lottery with the cursed numbers of 4,8,15,16, 23 and 42. He won the lottery and ever since there has been nothing but bad luck around him. An asteroid hits Mr. Clucks restaurant, his uncle Tito died of a heart attack and just little things that are happening that Hugo believes is bad luck but in reality is the island trying to bring him. If anything as soon as he was on the island it seemed all the bad luck turned around (aside from almost everyone dying) 

Hugo is one of those characters that doesn’t really have much of an arc but that he adapts to the situation at hand. Like many of the others, he was always there to help out for the good of the group. The island aside from all the craziness gave him a sense of peace that his normal life could never provide. Seemed like he was meant to be on the island…

After finishing this show I am a ball of emotions. I’m frustrated, angry and overall majorly confused because the final season kinda threw everything into a loop. The show made it seem that the island was real since Oceanic 6 got rescued and then went back to the island, Ben and the ‘others’ were able to arrive and leave via submarine. And yet I’m supposed to believe that the island is some weird afterlife creation made by the plane crash survivors to find each other and I don’t know…resolve their issues?!?!?! 

The fact they went that route makes absolutely no sense. What is real? What is the afterlife? How come people died on the island? Were they sent to heaven or hell? For a long while I truly believed that the island was a representation of hell because there never was peace for long. There were a long line of people dying or going missing. I’m so mad that this is the ending of this series. All these rollercoaster of chaos and emotions just for it not to be real?!?! Was baby Aaron even real or was he an abortion baby since he was born on the island? I hate that with this ending we don’t know what was actually real to them and what was the ‘afterlife’. 

I hated the concept of the fraternal twins with one being the protector of the island and the other being evil because he wanted to leave. It’s been said multiple times that the mist was a security system used by the others…but then he’s not anymore?! And he didn’t even have a name! Why is a protector needed for the island if in the last scene they all move on to the island? 

Rating:

3.5 stars

I just wanted some damn closer and in all honesty I would’ve  preferred if the island was actually hell because it seemed almost everyone did something bad in their life to end up there. The mist would have been passing judgement on those he came across to see if they were worthy of finally moving to heaven or if they went to the next level of hell. Jacob gave off the vibe of being the devil more than a protector. Especially, since he visited the candidates in their everyday life. This whole bullshit of the island being created by the crash victims doesn’t make any sense! Seems to me like the writers didn’t have a way to close out the show and gave this whole positive kumbaya moment of everyone going to heaven. After 6 seasons I’m honestly still lost…