LOST finale = The Phantom Menace

LOST finale = The Phantom Menace OR Why the LOST finale is an epic, colossal fail.

Long post…buckle in.

BOTTOM LINE:  As my wife remarked…”If you are writing any sort of mystery novel/TV show/movie – you need to know the end first”… not get there 2/3rds of the way in.  Cuse and Lindelof painted themselves into a corner and chose an easy “out” rather than a satisfying (and just as easy) ending.

As the credits rolled on the LOST series finale, I felt the same way I did after seeing The Phantom Menace the first time: Shocked in a disappointing way.  It had been overhyped, deflating and extremely disappointing.

My wife and I came late to LOST.  It was nearing it’s 3^rd season and I had heard it was an odd series that you had to see from the beginning to follow the story.   We decided to borrow some friends’ DVDs of Seasons 1 & 2 and dive in.  We were hooked and spent every spare moment trying to get caught up to the weekly episodes, which we did.

The story was a blend of science fiction, action and mystery with philosophical  subplots about the relationship of electromagnetism, time travel, fate, destiny and free will.  It was complicated, but very enjoyable… like a difficult puzzle you are trying to work out without aid of the box top.

Each new episode brought revelations and new questions.  Each season ended with the introduction of a whole new “group” of people:  The Tailies, the Others, Dharma, etc.  All with the allure that one day the questions would be answered. 

About season 4 my wife became disinterested and stopped watching.  Too many characters, too confusing.

Theories and huge online discussion groups popped up.  Interviewers asked Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof whether it all would be a Dallas-like dream or whether it was merely metaphorical for death, hell or purgatory – all of which they emphatically denied.

So six seasons in with a huge, hooked audience, LOST was coming to an end.  TV promos asserted that we would have our questions answered and ABC was devoting four and a half hours to a recap and the finale.  (It should be noted that the finale included more commercials that the super bowl)

Season 6 stumbled at first with the mythos taking a huge turn.  The sole focus seemed to be on two characters introduced formally at the end of the Season 5 finale. Jacob and the Man in Black, whom we would learn to be his twin brother.  Jacob dressed in white, MIB in black.  Jacob whose touch protects the castaways from MIBs schemes.  MIB who impersonates the dead, pulling heartstrings to achieve his ‘nefarious’ goal. Good and evil?  Right and wrong?  Too obvious?

We would learn late in the season that roughly 2000 years ago their shipwrecked mother gave birth to them on the island.  She was then quickly killed by another woman who raised the boys as her own, granting them some sort of immortality and the inability to kill each other directly.  The feud growing up boiled down to this:  Jacob wanted to live on and protect the island from harm/destruction.  MIB merely wanted to leave the island.  Jacob stopped him, MIB was enraged that his murderous step-mother wouldn’t allow them to leave and killed her.  Jacob gets mad at MIB and throws him into the heart of the island where he dies/changes into the smoke monster that has hunted the castaways for 6 seasons.  The castaways came to the island because Jacob who also wanted to leave the island needed to find a replacement ‘protector’ of the island.  So he had previous left the island to ‘touch’ them to protect them from harm by MIB… hey… wait a minute… did you catch that?  Jacob who wants to leave the island but cannot, LEAVES the island to ‘tap’  candidates to replace him.

Who was watching the light cave then?  You see where this is going, right?

It seems the only thing Jacob needed to protect was the heart of the island so that his brother, MIB, couldn’t destroy the island to get off the island.  Yep – the very same brother who just wanted to leave.  No harm, no foul.  So Jacob himself has created the very reason he has to protect the island.  Prior to that the only reason to protect the island was … what?  Remember according to the recap show this is 2000 years ago.  Even in the late 1960's - 70's all the Dharma folks wanted to do was research the island as a possible means for energy.

Oh.. and time travel apparently, but they dropped that subplot.

Or perhaps teleportation….(Ben Linus in the desert anyone? Polar bears?) Which they neither explained or resolved.

Deep breath… not to worry… the finale will cover all that, right?

Everything seemed to be rather on track for a fantastic ending and I had renewed hope. About an hour in I thought, “This is really cool in seeing the cast reunited in the ‘flash-sideways’ story, but they’re not really answering any questions.  This seems to be more of an emotional pull than closure to the story.”

I was tracking fans’ responses on the Official LOST fan page on Facebook.  When the credits rolled, people fell into three distinct camps:

1.     I cried the whole way through – thanks LOST!

2.     Huh?  I don’t get it (aka I am still LOST)

3.     EXPLETIVES in all caps and extreme anger and a feeling of betrayal

As a friend on Facebook would comment when it was all over: “emotionally stirring, intellectually failing.”

I was really disappointed… but it’s just a TV show.

These are the reasons I explained to my wife why I thought it was a terrible finale:

1.     The ‘resolution’ mainly tied into season 6… and not really the other seasons

2.     Unanswered story questions… and there are a LOT.

a.     If Dharma was shut down in the 80’s who did the food drops to the Oceanic survivors in 2004?  What type of aircraft did they have access to?

b.     Where did the polar bears come from in Season 1?

c.      Did it really take Jacob roughly 1900 years to come up with, or make this plan work?  Um – Ben Linus sure wanted the job of being Protector of the Island – just let him!  None of the other Dharma folks, or Others qualified?

d.     How can the Dharma folks come and go to this ‘un-find-able’ island whenever they want?

e.     Why can’t women get pregnant on the island?

f.      Why was Walt so ‘psychically special’ that the Others wanted him off the island pronto?  What ever happened to him?

g.     Why and how could certain Others leave the island whenever they wanted but it was anathama for MIB to even want to leave?  If MIB was just a human wanting live a normal life OFF the island WHO CARES if he leaves???  Why will his leaving destroy the world??  If he is really Satan, or the embodiment of ALL evil in the universe, you need to tell us plainly.  We are left thinking that Jacob was just lying.

h.     Why were the children abducted?  What happened to them?

i.       Who built the massive Egyptian god idol?

j.       Why was there a temple?  Who built it?  Why?

k.     How did the “others” in roughly 20s-30s AD know they could harness the power of the glowing core of the island?

l.       If Jacob really looks like this: 

http://www.amoeba.com/dynamic-images/blog/Charles/lost-jacob.jpg

Then who was this guy in the cabin http://interlost.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/jacob.jpg
identified as Jacob and why was he asking Locke to help him?

A bunch more are listed here:
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2010/05/23/2010-05-23_abcs_unanswered_lost_questions_from_the_end_finale_to_be_resolved_in_season_six_.html

http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Unanswered_question

The good news here though is that Cuse and Lindelof claim that anything unanswered at the series finale will be answered on the Season 6 DVDs.
Marketing genius.  Storytelling extortion.

I’m not even going to mention rabbit trail plotlines that seemed to be of major significance, but really just helped fill episodes for the bulk of a season.

3.     The Season 6 sideways story:  Turns out in this storyline they were all dead and created their own ‘purgatory’ like reality until they could all find each other again, remember what they experienced and then ‘move on’ to heaven? 

WHAT?! Give me a break!
This is the EASY out:  They all died, waited for one another in limbo and then once reconciled to each other they all went to heaven.

That would be like if Star Wars said one of it’s main protagonists was born of a virgin… oh wait… nevermind.

It’s just too easy for the writers… and what about all those assurances they gave us?  So everything that happened on the island was real – but the sideways story – there it’s OK to cheat?

Even if that’s the case – where are Walt, Michael and Ecko?  You know – Ecko – the major character who embodied a genuine faith and a soul that repented of a previous life of evil.  The guy who wanted to build a church on the island, baptized some characters and was gracious, strong and self-sacrificing?  He doesn’t get to go to heaven in the LOST universe? Major characters don’t get to ‘move on’ too?  But minor ‘fan faves’ like Shannon & Boone do?  What about Nikki & Paolo????  Why is Rose the only African American cast member that gets to “move on”?

Why did Walt and Michael still make miraculous appearances on the island after they left?

The whole “all faiths” church was unnecessary.  If you’re going to be that pluralistic, don’t use a church.

Here’s an idea:  What about – Jack sacrifices himself in the “glowing cave” heart of the island by putting the stone back which causes a massive EMP destroying the island.  A time shift is caused by this event which allows the characters to land safely this time at LAX (the sideways story) and go on with life.  Once Desmond ‘remembers’ he starts the quest to find each member  of the Oceanic flight so they can all remember their time on the island and finally reconciled.  They then move ahead in life, fully aware of their time on the island and have now been given a second chance at life, and the island is destroyed.  Or don’t destroy the island – but don’t kill off your entire cast and make us sit through some New Age mumbo jumbo, cast party ending.

Roger Ebert's review for "the Village" is appropriate for the LOST finale:

"To call it an anticlimax would be an insult not only to climaxes but to prefixes. It's a crummy secret, about one step up the ladder of narrative originality from It Was All a Dream. It's so witless, in fact, that when we do discover the secret, we want to rewind the film so we don't know the secret anymore.

And then keep on rewinding, and rewinding, until we're back at the beginning, and can get up from our seats and walk backward out of the theater and go down the up escalator and watch the money spring from the cash register into our pockets."

I think I hear the Dallas theme playing.

“I Swallowed the Tomb”

Wisdom from my 5 year old. 

In recent years I have become more uncomfortable at how the time we set aside to celebrate Christ’s resurrection has been usurped by commercialism and symbols of Ishtar/Eoster.  The Baskets, the fertility eggs and rabbits – really find no identity based in Jesus rising from the grave.  I’ve looked in all four Gospels.  And interestingly enough I have heard from more than one person that they disbelieve the resurrection the same way they disbelieve the Easter bunny. 

On the flip side companies have marketed chocolate crosses. Some filled with caramel.  What? I can think of nothing more repulsive than a chocolate cross.  An instrument of humiliation and excruciating torture and death...yum! Do we market chocolate handguns?  Chocolate nooses?  Electric chairs?  But I digest...digress...whatever.

I will admit however, that I love the taste of those chocolate rodents.  Especially if Dove makes them.

This year I decided to get my kids chocolate bunnies and give them these treats today – a full 2 weeks before what’s commonly called “Easter.”

“Kids,” I said, “you know how at Christmastime we have eggnog?  It has nothing to do with Jesus, but we enjoy it as a treat?  Same thing with these bunnies.  They’re yummy and remind us of springtime – but they have nothing to do with Jesus’ resurrection.”  They nodded, wide-eyed and salivating.  

note to self: one more reason chocolate crosses are a bad idea.

As my daughter was 'nom nom'-ing her way through the bunny, she said, “it’s dark in there.”

“Yep” I said.  “What else?  Is there anything in there?

"It's empty" she quipped.

"Like the tomb on the day Jesus rose from the dead: dark and empty,” said I.

Make the most of every opportunity, I thought.

A few moments passed.

“I just swallowed the tomb.” My daughter piped up – unprompted.

“Yeah,” I said chuckling.  “That’s what the Bible tells us that God did when Jesus rose from the dead,” trying to simplify from 1 Cor. 15:50-57 which speaks of the reality of what Jesus accomplished and will one day be fully realized.

In the NIV it says:
“I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 

                      "Death has been swallowed up in victory."
                      "Where, O death, is your victory? 

                       Where, O death, is your sting?"   (from Isa. 25:8 & Hosea 13:14)

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

What a neat way for God to interrupt her treat with a reminder of amazing Hope and profound Truth;  empty, dark and profoundly sweet.

Does this mean I will go ‘back’ to buying these bunnies and plopping them into a basket on ‘Easter’ morning? 

Nope.  I’d rather have my kids thrill to the knowledge that Jesus is real and that He is really alive – not anxious to be ‘done’ with church to race home for candy, eggs, trinkets and that horrid ‘Easter’ grass – all mysteriously left in a basket by some mythical representation of an equally mythical deity.

I am, however, thankful for a chance to once again let an unplanned moment direct my daughter to Jesus.  One more Deut. 6 moment.  Thankful that when Resurrection Sunday rolls around she may remember this brief lesson… but that it will point her to Jesus, not vainly trying to steal her affections away from Him.

Now, let’s see if she notices the few nibbles I’ve taken out of her confectionary rabbit while she’s been away from the table.

Jesus is alive!

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Death has been swallowed up in victory!

“So this is Christmas… what have we done?”

I’ve becoming increasingly frustrated with how we in America go about Christmastime.  When I say ‘we’ I mean the country as a whole, but also the willingness of the followers of Christ to not stand out and be any different.

Since I am part of His Body, the Church, I’m going to use the word ‘we.’  I also use ‘we’ because I am frustrated that my heart has not changed in this area as quickly as I would like.

We rail against communities and schools for not allowing ‘Merry Christmas’ or Christmas songs at the school concerts and bristle at words like ‘Happy Holidays’ and ‘Seasons Greetings’.

Yet apart from our meager activity of attending our half hearted services, there can be little discernable difference that we are, in fact, followers of Christ.

I realize that is a very wide brush I am painting with and many churches are doing great things to be Incarnational at this time of year, but I think we can say that when those outside the faith think of Christians at Christmas they don’t see us as Incarnational, but as faith-based consumers.

The consumerism aspect has become way out of line in association with Christmas.

This has been driven home to me by a few notable things: 

-         our just-finished church sermon series detailing the plight of the least resourced, least esteemed and least protected around the world

-       the over-the-top, but sobering documentary “What Would Jesus Buy?”

-      


and the work of Advent Conspiracy

I am convinced that a joyful, Biblical celebration of the Incarnation has nothing to do with ‘Early Bird specials beginning at 3 AM’ – or crowds that trample one another in the name of getting a hot deal on a ”Christmas” gift.

We spend inordinate amounts of money on useless items while the plight and misery of the poor increases.  If you didn’t watch the Youtube clip please do – the numbers are astounding.

We often say things like this:

“We give gifts to remember that God gave His greatest gift – His Son”

But really if that is the lesson we want to teach our kids – then shouldn’t the gifts we give, be ones that we give away to those who are not a part of our family?

“We’re remembering that St. Nicholas gave gifts…”

Yes – Nicholas gave gifts – to poor children. 

“Well, it helps the economy – there’s a reason it’s called ‘Black Friday’”

Yes, it does help the economy – in fact when we were in China to adopt our daughter we learned (from our Chinese guide) that the Chinese government has allowed ‘Christmas’ to be something of a national ‘shopping’ holiday to spur the economy.  The banners across the streets we visited read “Merry Christmas” (ironic that such banners are outlawed in our democratic country).  The government of China saw how America celebrated ‘Christmas’ and decided it could work for their economy too.  And it has…

Here’s my take on the economy angle:

Christmas in the U.S. has been celebrated since about the Civil War.  From that time until the early 20^th century it was a celebration marked by family, charity, worship and a few gifts given.  The economy chugged along just fine without Black Friday – and gifts were not the focus.  If Black Friday & Christmas gifts bought are necessary to the health of our economy there is much more wrong then we are willing to admit.

Side note:  my 10 year old and I were talking after church last week and noted that it was interesting that the day we remember Jesus’ crucifixion is called ‘Good Friday’ and the day that promises the best deals on merchandise is called ‘Black Friday’.

These are my wrestlings; my frustrations with myself and others in the US who are followers of Christ with how we can obfuscate a demonstration of  the power and wonder of Christmas with shallow times of bathing each other in our comparative wealth.  And I will be the first to say that I do not have this conquered… but I want to.

 Please, this year and next and the next and the one after that, join me and others to pause to consider Christmas afresh.  Let’s pray that God would make us less self-centered and more incarnational.  Let’s find ways to reflect the heart of God by giving away instead of hoarding.  Make a difference rather than just consuming.

Instead of a Wii system, $200 could be multiplied by 5x from grants to provide $1000 in food and aid to Africa.

That 42” high def TV could be turned into $7000 to help with medicines around the world or even to help the desperately poor right here in the US!

We have an incredible chance to make an impact to help people live right now, but also for eternity.

 Are our neighbors seeing us dive into the gluttonous shopping fray and saying, “So this is Christmas?”

I know my heart needs to be changed more…