Monday, May 24
“You can only do it through community…” (A LOST Finale review)
I spent last evening with about 20 other folks, in front of the big screen in the conference room at our offices, watching the 2½ hour final of LOST.In between my wife’s enchiladas, some great hummus and something called ‘fruit pizza’, we all sit in our big leather desk chairs, munching on food and moaning every time another commercial came on. (It seemed like there was a commercial ever 3 minutes)
I love a good story. I love good characters in a good story. I feel like for the last 6 years of watching LOST, we’ve got to experience both those things. I didn’t necessarily watch all these episodes for the last few years just trying to figure out the ‘answers to the questions’ it created as much as I watched because it was a really good story. (And by the way, one of the things I’ll miss the most is the fact that our family of five watched about 95% of the episodes sitting around our little ‘square TV’ in our living room, watching the show together. We started watching on VCR tapes and ended on DVR. Thank God for DVR. Great memories)
I read something this morning about the questions of LOST that, to some, was all they cared about: S. Brent Plate wrote that “the LOST phenomenon casts the show as ‘the ultimate reality show’ in that it doesn’t offer all the answers much like… well… life.” I think I’m good with that statement.
I also read in that same article, (here’s the link. Thanks Jim Schmotzer), that “the secret of LOST was already summed up in the mantra of the second season finale: “Live together, die alone.”
“Such a great contrast to the existentialist view of life that tells us we are born alone and die alone. Contrast Thomas Merton: “We learn to live by living together with others.” Even one of the main writers of LOST, Damon Lindelof, says “in order to redeem yourself, you can only do it through a community.” That is the secret that is revealed, unveiled. This is the apocalypse of the story.”
Even as we cleaned up our mess last night after the show, and took out the trash, moved tables and chairs back, unplugged the extra speakers Michael Sawyer brought to hook up to the TV (Mike’s the biggest LOST junkie I know), I think there was a sense, in the midst of our sleepiness, that it was incredibly important that we watched this finale together, in community.
That’s how all great stories are to be lived.
Mark Nelson at 7:50 AM 0comments