Television & Reality TV - Lost #2 - We All Miss Charlie - Page 14

**MsPerfectionist** · 08-24-2020, 10:36 PM

yeah making the sideways purgatory was so-so.

hmm it's been so long, i forgot about the closing eyes.

**stlavin95** · 08-25-2020, 01:17 AM

Yeah, I wasn't a big fan of that either

Elle · 08-25-2020, 04:53 AM

atwoodsmariano · 08-25-2020, 08:32 AM

I’m glad they got off/made it off the island together like Sawyer said they would

atwoodsmariano · 08-26-2020, 11:30 AM

did you guys find the whole way that the characters remembered their lives on the island to be melodramatic?

I’m still processing the finale

was looking up stuff on Google and found this interesting interpretation/analysis on a blog from when the finale first came out

Quote:

A lot of people online seem to be pretty annoyed about the supposed narrative misdirection going on this season with regards to the flash sideways timeline. For example many are complaining about the shot in the premier of the island underwater and even Jason above talks about Daniels remarks about having created an alternate timeline as more misdirection to fool the viewer into thinking the flashsideways was one thing rather than another.

But I think that rather than being deliberate red herrings these narrative elements are actually solid clues as to what the flashsideways is, that is a literal ‘sideways’ timeline created in the wake of the Jughead explosion. For me the flashsideways is not the kind of afterlife creation of the characters that many interpret it as. In my interpretation it does not come long after the events on the island once everyone is dead, rather it exists alongside the island timeline, which is why particular characters can exist in both at the same time and share a conciousness there.

The way I read it is that both timelines are equally real and equally valid. One is the timeline we’ve been following for 6 seasons while the other is a tangential one created by the events of The Incident. This is why the island is at the bottom of the sea, because the detonation of Jughead created a situation similar to the one we see happening to the island in The End, thus sinking it. Ben and his father after all remember a time when they lived on the island prior to Ben’s becoming a history teacher.

My main point I suppose in that the flashsideways is not purgatory, the afterlife or the subconcious manifestation of all their deepest desires. Rather I would suggest it is a ‘gift’ from the island, a timeline in which the characters get to live out their lives had the island never existed for them, and thus the lives they all thought they wanted to live in the first place. However owing to the mysterious circumstances of this timelines creation, eg. in the wake of a huge electromagnetic event, the characters experience ‘bleed-through’ from one universe to the next, thus allowing them to experience memories of both.

The significance for me of the final scene in the church is that the characters have made a choice between one life or the other. Most of them realize that the lives they thought they wanted were in fact not what they wanted at all, and that really, as Christian states, ‘the most important time in your life is the time you spent with these people.” Significantly perhaps not everyone chooses the island timeline over the flashsideways. Both Ben and Daniel choose to stay despite experiencing their own awakenings, suggesting, at least for me that both universes are real and valid and that the choice is up to the characters to make regarding where they want to be. Regarding where the characters ‘move on’ to in the final flash of light, i would say the answer is…nowhere. Or maybe ‘the island’ is a better answer. These characters have chosen their island lives over their idealised ones, so at the end they just simply dissapear as they don’t want that life anymore.

Of course this is just my interpretation, what a think is the beautiful thing about the finale is that it leaves so much open to different readings of what actually happened. My reading of the finale and of the flashsideways timeline is the one which works best for me and which enriches my reading not just of the sixth season, but of Lost as a whole, because for me it is consistent with the themes which the show has explored over the past 121 episodes.

Quote:

a timeline in which the characters get to live out their lives had the island never existed for them

I actually originally interpreted/saw the flash sideways timeline as this - what it would be like if they never were on the island

**MsPerfectionist** · 08-26-2020, 08:29 PM

that's a good interpretation.

it makes sense.

i never gave it that many thoughts when it ended. people thought it was purgatory, i was like sure why not

.

Elle · 08-27-2020, 05:07 AM

**stlavin95** · 08-29-2020, 04:19 AM

Thanks for that, that is a good analysis

Elle · 08-29-2020, 05:33 AM

**stlavin95** · 08-30-2020, 03:26 AM

Nice gif

Elle · 08-30-2020, 06:11 AM

**stlavin95** · 08-31-2020, 11:31 PM

Great character

Elle · 09-01-2020, 05:45 AM

**stlavin95** · 09-07-2020, 03:20 AM

I would too, got some great material over the years

Elle · 09-07-2020, 05:33 AM

Des was such a good character

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