# LOST 6.17 "The End" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-17-the-end/540459 "2010-05-23T15:16:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 27
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-17-the-end/540459/521 "2010-06-13T20:47:56Z")
The post from Idle Thoughts makes me sad. I loved this show (and the threads and discussions here) over the years. so well done, such good actors, so fun to watch. I do believe the last episode ruined it all for me. I bought all the other years’ DVDs. I won’t buy this last one. yeah call me immature & bitter. I don’t care. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-17-the-end/540459/522 "2010-06-14T14:11:13Z")
I just got around to watching the finale a couple of days ago. And it seemed to me that the likely explanation for everything is that we just watched years of, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Island”. If you’re not familiar with the Ambrose Bierce short story, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, it starts off with a man about to be hanged during the civil war. They push him off a bridge with a rope around his neck, but the rope breaks and the guy finds himself in the water. The story goes on about his attempts to swim to freedom while soldiers shoot at him. The story goes on and on about his adventures trying to get a away and find his way back home again, but in the end, in the last paragraph, he’s hit with a blinding pain and a white light, and the story ends with the body swinging from the rope. The entire story was a tale of what flashed through his mind in the last moment before death. He never escaped, the rope never broke. The fact that Jack walked back to the exact spot where he ‘woke up’ in the first episode and died there is our clue that all the events in ‘Lost’ were a fever dream of a dying Jack Shepherd, the sole survivor of flight 815. Vincent also survived, and that’s why he came to lie down beside Jack - Jack was the only one who survived the original crash. Going with that premise, the whole cave with the light that you must never enter was Jack’s mind fighting off death. He died when he finally agreed to go into the light. It’s pretty much the only explanation that doesn’t leave a whole bunch of plot holes and hanging threads behind. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-17-the-end/540459/523 "2010-06-14T14:15:04Z")
After writing that, I decided to search for “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge + Lost” to see if anyone else had that theory, and came up with [this article](http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/An_Occurrence_at_Owl_Creek_Bridge) at LostPedia which draws even more parallels between the two. I’m gong to have to go read the story again. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-17-the-end/540459/524 "2010-06-14T14:47:18Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > I just got around to watching the finale a couple of days ago. And it seemed to me that the likely explanation for everything is that we just watched years of, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Island”… Two questions: 1. Why did Jack change clothes as he lay dying? 2. Where did the rather pedestrian Jack we came to know get such an amazing imagination? ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-17-the-end/540459/525 "2010-06-15T01:14:53Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > …all the events in ‘Lost’ were a fever dream of a dying Jack Shepherd, the sole survivor of flight 815. That’s a workable theory although the show’s creators explicitly said at least a couple of seasons ago that everything that happened on the island was real, that it was not in somebody’s head and it was not purgatory. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-17-the-end/540459/526 "2010-06-15T04:31:59Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > Two questions: > > 1. Why did Jack change clothes as he lay dying? Who says he did? He’s wearing different clothes, but that could just be part of his dying hallucination. > [@](#): > > 1. Where did the rather pedestrian Jack we came to know get such an amazing imagination? If it was all an hallucination, maybe the ‘pedestrian Jack’ is part of it. Anyway, from the LostPedia: > [@](#): > > There could be some parallels drawn between the survivors and this book; namely due to the fact that both feature extensive flashbacks. Also, the fact that both stories feature people who are trapped somewhere and only want to go home. This could also be featured with some survivors’ “dreams”. The Union Scout posing as a Confederate Soldier could be seen as the Others who infiltrated the survivors camps. Alternatively, this book could be a reference by the writers of Lost to the hallucination theory. > > Peyton Farquhar’s experience in the woods shortly before death is mirrored in LOST. “The wood on either side was full of singular noises, among which - once, twice, and again - he distinctly heard whispers in an unknown tongue.” > > This reference can also be seen as a “wink” to controversial critiques of the storytelling techniques used by “Lost” writers. From [enotes.com](http://enotes.com). “While An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” has been occasionally faulted for what some critics consider its gimmicky ending, it has nonetheless been lauded as an example of technical brilliance and innovative narration as well as for its examination of such themes as the nature of time and the complexities of human cognition." > The book was seen in “The Long Con”. I find it interesting that the book itself was intentionally shown - and in an episode called “The Long Con.” Maybe we were the ones being conned. If the whole thing wasn’t a pre-death hallucination, at the very least it would seem that the writers knew of the parallels (or wrote them intentionally) and referenced the book to tweak the audience. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-17-the-end/540459/527 "2010-06-15T08:30:26Z")
**Sam** , do you view this interpretation as a defense of the show? Because I’m not sure “haha suckers, 6 years of it was all a dream!” works for me. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-17-the-end/540459/528 "2010-06-15T09:28:06Z")
Since this thread is still alive, I’ll say something I’ve been thinking recently: I liked the final episode when I first saw it, but the more I think about it the more I think the writers chickened out. To me, [“Sundown”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundown_(Lost)) was the point where Lost seemed to be taking a very dark, apocalyptic turn. I really thought that somehow fake Locke was the devil incarnate, and had corrupted the souls of Sayid and Claire. And the creepy voice of Claire singing “Catch a Falling Star” to her boar skull baby as Locke and his new followers march out by torchlight to bring Armageddon to the world . . . that sent chills down my spine. And then they pulled back. Sayid and Claire weren’t really infected with darkness. Locke was just this guy, you know? And Jacob was a bit of a dunce. I didin’t care about the hatches and rabbits and getting answers to all that crap, but I do think Lost was going in a certain direction artistically and then didn’t have the courage to follow through. ---
**Author:** ![rainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@rainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainy)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-17-the-end/540459/529 "2010-06-15T12:13:30Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > …but I do think Lost was going in a certain direction artistically and then didn’t have the courage to follow through. You’re right about that episode, it was chilling in its intensity. But then it all went away. The writers desperately needed to be writing for a show like ‘The Twilight Zone.’ They have a masterful way of setting a mood, posing a situation with lots of promise, and yes…drawing great characters. But they lack the vision, or discipline, or something, to see the first two of those through to a meaningful conclusion. A show whose whole format was just to leave you feeling like you had gotten a glimpse of some other strange place without knowing everything about it would be right down their alley. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-17-the-end/540459/530 "2010-06-15T15:09:14Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > **Sam** , do you view this interpretation as a defense of the show? Because I’m not sure “haha suckers, 6 years of it was all a dream!” works for me. Not at all. I’m just trying to figure out what the hell happened. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-17-the-end/540459/531 "2010-06-16T17:14:10Z")
I agree with [this guy](http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2010/05/25/the-betrayal-of-mystery/) 100%. one excerpt > [@](#): > > What happened at the end of Lost is the betrayal of mystery. Storytelling requires a commitment of trust between author and audience. Lost squandered six years of that trust. None of the plot elements from the first two-thirds of the story had anything to do with its resolution. The end of the story came from out of left field, as if the Harry Potter series had ended with a cop shooting Voldemort dead. Sorry about all the fuss and bother, Harry. Guess that whole “Chosen One” thing was just a dead end. You were still a great character, though! Give our best to Ron and Hermione! sums up my feelings perfectly. ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-17-the-end/540459/532 "2010-06-17T15:19:03Z")
Fenris - thanks for that link. The quote you posted reflects a lot of my feelings. That last episode left a LOT of bad taste in my mouth. The breach of trust is exactly why I feel so angy about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-17-the-end/540459.md?page=26)