Recap and Analysis: The End of “The End” of #LOST

After watching and re-watching the final two scenes (and crying harder every time), I think we’ve got everything we need to put Season 6 together. The trick is to start at “The End” and look back. [Hindsight is 20/20 after all.]

First, let’s examine Jack’s arrival at the church, his coffin-induced memory upload (or “flash”), his discussion with Christian and finally, his reunion with all our losties who are “ready” and his “death” on the island. Hint: Pay VERY close attention to the transition back and forth from church to island.

Here we go!

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CHURCH PARKING LOT

Jack parks his truck and looks at Kate.

• Kate: Do you know where we are?
• Jack: This is where I was gonna have my father’s funeral. He died in Australia.
• Kate: I’m sorry.
• Jack: Why did you bring me here?
• Kate: Because this is where you were gonna have your father’s funeral. You can go in around back.
• Jack: Wait – where are you going?
• Kate: Inside. I’ll be waiting for you there. Once you’re ready.
• Jack: Ready for what?
• Kate: To leave.

Kate gets out and walks away.

___________________________________________________________

WHOOSH transitional EMF noise. <——TAKE NOTE

___________________________________________________________

THE FLIP SIDE OF SCOOBY-DOO CAVE

A bloody hand on rocks over flowing water. It’s Jack. He’s sprawled out unconscious on the rocks near a large pool of water flowing into a small stream. We see a small dark cave behind him.

His eyes flutter open. He fumbles before weakly and painfully pushing himself up. On his first attempt, his right arm is too weak to carry his weight. He lists over into the water. He finally pushes himself to standing, clutching the stab wound on this right side (where his appendix scar used to be).

He drags himself to the water’s edge. His right side is significantly weak. He exits the water. He leans heavily on the rocks with his left hand. He pauses to catch his breath.

Still clutching his wound, he pulls himself along with his left hand as he leaves.

___________________________________________________________

WHOOSH transitional EMF noise. <——-TAKE NOTE

___________________________________________________________

CHURCH

Jack passes a statue (St. Patrick maybe?) and heads up the stairs.

He enters a room [a familiar room! This was Mrs. Hawking’s office the last time he was here]. The room is filled with symbols of several major religions. He is alone. He spots his father’s coffin. [Check out the way cool stained glass window behind him in this scene! It represents 6 major religions from around the world].

Jack circles the coffin. [This EXACTLY what he did when he first got to Jacob's lighthouse. He circled the dial.] He rubs his face. Finally, he spreads his left hand out on top of the coffin.

Immediately, we see the Pilot’s opening shot of Jack’s eye opening [get it? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!] and a brief shot of his POV into the trees above.

NOTE: This flashback is very brightly lit and fuzzy. We’ve seen other memories brightly lit and a bit fuzzy before, most recently when Jacob remembers Jack and Kate finding the bag of stones in “Across the Sea.” THEN Jacob lays Adam and Mother to rest in the caves, and THEN he puts the bag of stones in Adam’s hand.

Jack flinches. He draws back and catches his breath. He reaches out his other (RIGHT) hand to the coffin. [Dude! It looks like he’s got a halo of light around his arm!] On contact we see flashes of experiences on the island (memories of Jack’s and other losties) [Again VERY over exposed, brightly colored and brightly lit. Notice that there is NO SOUND before, during or after these flashes occur]. In sequence these flashes are:

• Jack streaks through the bamboo [THE WRONG DIRECTION] [“Pilot”]
• He sprints through the burning wreckage of Oceanic 815. [“Pilot”]
• He comforts Claire. [“Pilot’]
• He CPR’s Rose. [“Pilot”]
• He punches Charlie’s chest. Charlie inhales. [After Ethan hangs Charlie]
• He reaches and calls to Hurley [At crash in Pilot]. Hurley turns. [First time we see Hurley]
• He lays a bloodied Boone on some cushions at the caves. [Immediately post plane fall]
• He listens at Boone’s mouth. Locke is barely in the shot.
• He walks through the jungle with Sayid following.
• He comforts Shannon at the caves. [touches her cheek]. [Just before he Jedi Mind Tricks her out of her asthma attack]
• Sun laughs. [At caves] (This STICKS OUT, doesn’t it?)
• Jack laughs. [At caves] (This too. This REALLY sticks out.)
• Locke pulls Jack across and over his body to the ground. [After he pulls Jack to safety. “White Rabbit”]
• Locke smiling. [Big scene from “White Rabbit”]
• Jack staring back. [Big scene from “White Rabbit.”]
• Sawyer nods to Jack. Jack turns and leaves. [Just after Sawyer's "Christian loves you" story]
• Jack holds Naomi’s uberphone to his ear. [first phone call to freighter] (This sticks out too.)
• Kate in the helicopter [pre freighter]. She turns from the window and looks.
• Jack turns and looks back at Kate.
• Kate at the river. She snaps around and aims her gun. [“Lighthouse”]
• Jack raises his arms high. [“Lighthouse”]
• Kate smiles and lowers her gun. [“Lighthouse”]
• Kate and Jack on either side of the glass of his Hydra Station cell. He touches the glass. [“I Do" Remember, Juilet is behind Kate in this scene.]
• Kate ducks out of the jungle. [“Pilot”]
• Jack blinks, smiles and lowers his head. [“Pilot”]
• A crying Kate kisses him. [Earlier this episode when they said goodbye.]
• He holds her body close to his as they kiss. [And despite the doom and gloom, it’s a good kiss!]

Flash white screen. <—-TAKE NOTE

Jack draws back, a bit overwhelmed. He opens the coffin. It’s empty. He closes it again.

• Christian: (O.S.) Hey kiddo.

Jack freezes. He slowly turns to see a smiling Christian standing before the window ‘o religions. He is shocked.

• Jack: Dad?
• Christian: Hello, Jack.

[Note how cool Christian’s placement is in reference to the stained glass window. He is centered, and lines from the window seem to radiate from his head.]

Jack, confused, approaches him.

• Jack: I don’t understand. You died.
• Christian: Yeah. Yes I did.
• Jack: Then how are you here right now?
• Christian: How are you here?

Jack’s face is stricken. He lowers his head.

• Jack: I died too.

Jack starts to lose it.

• Christian: It’s okay. It’s okay.

Christian goes to him. They hug tightly.

• Christian: It’s okay son.

[Weirdness alert: Check out the CLOSE UPS of their faces as they HUG. This will be VERY important later. I’m serious. Take a really good look at how terrified Jack's face is, how Christian's face gets all weird, then how Jack's face twists in pain.]

• Jack: [VERY muffled] I love you, Dad.
• Christian: I love you too, son.

They let go. [Notice how Jack looks a LOT happier?]

• Jack: Are you – Are you real?
• Christian: (laughs) I sure hope so!

Jack laughs through his tears.

• Christian: Yeah, I’m real. You’re real. Everything that’s happened to you is real. All those people in the church, they’re all real, too.
• Jack: They’re all – They’re all dead?
• Christian: Everyone dies sometime, kiddo. Some of them before you. Some – long after you.
• Jack: But why are they all here now?
• Christian: Well, there is no now, here.
• Jack makes to leave. He turns back.
• Jack: Where are we, Dad?
• Christian: This is a place that you – that you all made together so you could find one another. The most important part of your life – was the time that you spent with these people. That’s why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone, Jack. You needed all of them, and they needed you.
• Jack: For what?
• Christian: To remember. And to let go.
• Jack: Kate. She said we were leaving.
• Christian: Not leaving. No. Moving on.
• Jack: Where’re we going?
• Christian: Let’s go find out.

OKAY folks, this is it. If you can stop crying long enough (I highly recommend muting the beautiful but gut-wrenching music), take a REALLY close look at the EDITING of the following scene. THE EDITING TELLS US WHAT’S HAPPENING.

[PLEASE NOTE: NO WHOOSH transitional sound between the church and the island. Got that? BEFORE Jack hugs Christian, WHOOSH transitional sound; AFTER NO WHOOSH transitional sound.]

Christian puts his arm around Jack and leads him through the door into the church. Groups of peeps happily hug and greet each other. We see familiar peeps including Libby w/ Hurley. Jack steps toward them.

—- Jack’s bloody shoe. His face is pale, his nose is bloody (that wasn’t there before. Hm.). He trudges through the jungle.

Locke meets Jack in the middle and shakes his hand.

Locke: We’ve been waiting for you.

Jack smiles and moves forward to greet others.

—- Close up on Jack’s face with a still fresh bloody nose as he trudges through the jungle. He seems to stumble and become disoriented for a moment.

Penny and Desmond. Jack shakes hands and man hugs Desmond. He spots Boone. They hug.

—- Jack stumbles through the bamboo. Blood streaks from ears (nose looks better tho). His right arm is limp and useless beside him. He clutches a stick of bamboo (left hand). His hand is covered in blood. [This, by the way, is when Amy starts crying.] He pauses to catch his breath. A tattered white shoe hangs from a tree.

Jack hugs Hurley. Hurley lifts him up and spins him.

—– POV bamboo streaking by as if we are spinning. Jack leans against bamboo staring as we “pass by” him. His face is much cleaner. [Hm.] He blinks and looks around.

Hurley lets Jack go.

Charlie holds Aaron. Claire strokes Aaron’s head as Shannon, Sun and Sayid smile at the baby.

Jack leaves Libby and hugs Sawyer/James.

Kate. She smiles. She and Jack trade looks and smiles. She reaches for his hand.

—- Jack, blood streaming from his nose and ears wobbles as he stumbles by. He turns the corner. We see a clear spot of ground just ahead.

Jack smiles down at Kate. She grins up at him. They hold hands and trade happy looks. She turns as they move to the pews.

—- Jack turns as he wobbles into place. His face is pale and sweaty.

Jack and Kate move to the front pew. Jack starts to sit.

—- Jack starts to lower himself to the ground.

Jack nearly makes contact with the pew. Kate’s right arm stretches out behind him.

—- Jack clutches his side (left arm) as he hangs by his right arm.

Jack finishes sitting. He adjusts his jacket.

—- Jack slowly rests his shoulders and head on the ground.

Kate takes Jack’s hand.

—- Jack’s right hand covers his left. Both hands are covered with blood. He weakly lifts his head.

Kate says something. Jack grins. Sayid and Shannon, John Locke, Penny and Desmond, Rose and Bernard, Sun and Jin, Hurley and Libby in the pews. Juliet kisses James.

[WATCH CAREFULLY]

Christian at Jack’s side. He puts his right hand on Jack’s right shoulder.

—- Jack stares up. A LOT less blood on his face – just touches of blood at his nose. A dog barks. Jack turns. POV as he stares into the bamboo. Vincent comes running out of the jungle. Jack smiles. Jack looks up as Vincent touches noses with him and nuzzles his left hand.

—- He turns to look as Vincent lies down beside him.

—- Relieved and more relaxed. Jack looks up. He’s ready.

Christian still has his hand on Jack’s shoulder. He pats it and heads down the aisle.

Kate checks Jacks face. He looks around like he can’t believe it.

Christian approaches the doors at the back of the church. He swings both doors open. A warm, bright light enters and fills the church. Christian leaves. Our losties marvel at the golden light above them.

Kate looks at Jack. He turns to her. They smile at each other as the light gets brighter and brighter around them.

—- We hover over a dying Jack. Vincent lies unmoving next to him.

[I can’t even describe the look on Jack's face! Maybe it’s because by now I'm uncontrollably weeping. This is just wretched! Look was Team LOST has done to me! ACK!]

—- We float higher and higher. Sound of an airplane. POV Jack: A patch of blue sky above. [Although there’s ZERO breeze near Jack] the treetops swirl and sway. An airplane flies by overhead.

—- Jack chuckles to himself. He starts to tremble.

Jack half smiles as he stares forward. He takes deep breaths, in and out. The light grows brighter and brighter around him. He smiles softly as it fades him away.

A white screen. <——–TAKE NOTE

—- Jack’s eye stares at us. Slowly, it closes.

THE END

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*sniff*

Okay, now that we have recovered from the emotional beating that is this final scene, let’s look at Jack’s death/moving on transition VERY closely. In particular, let’s carefully pick through the way EDITING (visual and audio) is used to tell us EVERYTHING ABOUT Jack’s final moments.

1. WHOOSH Transitional EMF noise

PRIOR to chatting with and hugging Christian, we’ve heard the WHOOSH noise each time we’ve cut between the locations. We know it signifies EMF because we were able to identify that sound when Desmond got his CT scan (“Happily Ever After”).

This EMF sound has been used in Season 6 every time we switch back and forth between the island and the flashsideways. And, as far as I’m aware, it has NOT been used when we’ve switched back and forth between the island and anywhere else In Season 1-5. Remember, this flashsideways world is CUT OFF from the influence of the island. Our losties do NOT remember anything from the island (except Dr. Linus, but he’s special. We’ll talk about him later).

In fact, when we are first introduced to the flash world of Season 6, the island is underwater. SYMBOLICALLY underwater. Mock Locke, Jacob or any other weirdness that could seep into our sideways losties is blocked somehow. Whatever the incident/Jacob’s death did, it sealed the barrier between these worlds.

Accept in Sun’s case. Her FEAR seems to have pulled memories (and English) through to flash Sun, who, in fear, recognizes John Locke on the way to the ER. FEAR is a strong, primal emotion. Benry Gale and Mock Locke both use fear to mess with our losties. [See FEAR and IDENTITY for more information.]

After Jack replaces the plug, the water returns. [Notice how quick Jack puts his hand in the water when it comes back] and the water focuses the light again. HOWEVER, , it’s not until AFTER Jack chats with CHRISTIAN that the WHOOSH EMF transitional sound between scenes disappears (This would be when Jack starts sporting a fresh bloody nose and bloody ears. Hm. When have we seen that before?).

Why would this plug thingy make a difference? I dunno. However, I do know that when Desmond walked through the water and the light, it looked a LOT like the EMF Box Blasting Moment. Remember what Widmore says? Desmond has an immunity to eletromagnetic radiation [EMR]. If he is exposed to a deadly level of EMR after he pulls the plug, then the EMR could be the light we see. After he pulls the plug, the water disappears and the EMR is changed, or, more specifically, diffused and amplified.

Now, remember what MIB/Adam told Mother/Eve? He and his peeps dig a well and find a place “where the water focuses the light.” This is not completely off the mark. EMF’s or electromagnetic fields (created by eletromagnetic radiation) can be stablized, even neutralized when they come in contact with negative ions.

Do you know where the highest concentration of negative ions can be found in nature? Any place with moving air and water and/or concentrated sunlight — like a BEACH or a WATERFALL (SOURCE HERE).

The most important thing to remember for our discussion here is:  during the pre-”leaving” festivities, while Jack is marching to his deathbed, there are NO WHOOSH SOUNDS as we jump between the flash and the island.

Whether the island is plugged in or not, our losties experience their memories of the island.  Notice how these memories are triggered by contact with another lostie and focus on a “constant,” the lostie in front of them. (Kinda works like Penny did for Desmond). Once those memories are transferred or uploaded into our losties’ minds (however they get there), they quicky revert to their island personalities, but those personalities are focused on the relationships they had on the island, and since none of our losties (except Jack) seem to mind “waking up” in this world, I’m guessing whatever happens, their memories are integrated easily into who they are in the flash world.

2. Seemless intercut between Jack and Jack and Kate.

This one you have to PAY ATTENTION. If you go back to my transcript of this scene, you’ll notice that I marked in BOLD the ways Jack is moving in the church and on the island. Jack takes a step toward the church peeps, Jack’s bloody shoe hits the ground. Hurley spins Jack in a hug, the bamboo (and the camera) spins around Jack on the island. Kate’s hand covers his left hand with hers. Jack’s bloody right hand covers his left.

These two Jacks are DIRECTLY connected in the first half of this scene — to the point that Jack sitting down in the pew exactly matches Jack lowering himself to the ground. By the end of this scene, however, Jack’s moments are directly tied with Kate’s. The visuals of their matching positions (outstretched right arm) and hand movements demonstrate how they are connected as well.  We are watching very careful and meticulous intercuts in this scene.  Question is, why?

The answer: This scene shows us that events on the ISLAND and events in the FLASH are concurrent — they are both happening at the same time.

If that’s true, it means that events in the flash world and the island world HAVE ALWAYS BEEN HAPPENING AT THE SAME TIME.  That means these two worlds are not disconnected by death or time (present/past/future).  They are two parts of ONE world.

These two worlds are joined together inside ONE unified world, or what I like to call, The System [It's the only word I could think of that works]. The flash and island worlds are like yin-yang:  symbiotic, coexisting, integrated and concurrent.  Yin and yang are distinctly separate, but they seamlessly combine to make ONE UNIT — The System. Opposite, but equal, yin-yang must be in balance for The System to function.

Think of the scale. Think of the stones. You can’t toss out the white stone;  it’ll cause imbalance. That’s why the TWO stones are in the bag in Adam’s hand. The stones do NOT represent good and evil any more the black and white pieces of a chess or backgammon set do.  This is not a story of good and evil or the battle between good and evil. This is a struggle to restore balance to The System.

Think of the world of LOST as a coin.  You can NEVER see both sides of a coin at once (not without a MIRROR, anyway).   If you try, you’ll only see the edge — neither side. If we say heads is the island world and tails is the flash world and put that coin on a table, we can only see heads/the island if tails/flash is hidden. Same thing if we turn it over. Once we see the flash side of the coin, we can’t see the island.

THAT’S HOW IT WORKS on the show. We are NEVER watching the past OR the future in the flashes. And we are NEVER watching the past or the future on the island. The only timeline that matters is the timeline of events our losties experience — in a straight line (the zipcord) — as the coin is turned over and over again (in the green screen around them).

Since these two Jacks and Kate are directly connected, and these two worlds are happening at the same time, then we are NOT watching Jack’s death.  Remember, when you die on the ISLAND you aren’t GONE. You’re just shifted to somewhere else. Since the island is not any more or less real than the sideways and neither world is a physical world, Jack’s “death” seen here is not a physical death.

We’re gonna get back to Christian’s “Everybody dies” speech (don’t worry). But for right now, the most important thing to pull from this concurrent world business is that: Jack’s “death” and Jack’s “moving on” happen SIMULTANEOUSLY.  Jack’s death IS Jack moving on. Jack “leaves” with everyone else. That’s why he’s so closely connected with Jack and Kate  in the church at the end. That’s also why he is IN THE SAME EXACT SPOT HE WAS WHEN HE OPENED HIS EYES IN THE PILOT  — when he “entered” the system.

If that “enter The System” business bothers you, ask yourself, HOW did Jacob know where Jack woke up in the pilot?  Why was Jack so close to Scooby-Doo Cave, and why was he the only one who woke up alone in the bamboo? [I need to check and see if we ever encounter bamboo like that again.]

I think when Jack replugged the island and woke up on the flip side of Scooby-Doo Cave, somehow he was kicked over to where he needed to be to “leave” safely. “He walks among them, but is not one of them.”  So the question is: how does he leave?

3. THE GIRL, THE SHOE AND THE DOG

We don’t realize where Jack is headed until he stumbles past the shoe.   It’s a shoe we’ve seen exactly ONCE before in “Pilot,” right after he opens his eyes and runs to the beach.  Now that Jack is LEAVING, the shoe pops up again. NOTE:  He wanders around in the jungle until Jack sees Kate at the church.  At the same time she leads Jack to the pew, Jack finds his “spot” in the bamboo.  In the end, both Jacks are “in position” to “move on.”  Only difference is, Jack is all alone on the island, and we know “you can’t do it alone.”

Back to the shoe:  Can you think of another “marker” in the wilderness in literature that indicates a nearby door to another reality?

How ’bout a LAMPPOST.  (Can I get an Amen, brutha?!)

Luckily, Vincent shows up, touches noses with him, sniffs his hand and lies still on the ground beside him.  [And now Amy is openly weeping again. Damn you, Darlton!]  Funny that Vincent shows up, right?  I mean, we see Christian send Vincent to “wake up my son” in Missing Piece # “And So It Begins.” Hm.

That’s when VINCENT clinched it for me. That’s when I figured out what was happening to Jack.

I know right now your head is spinning, and maybe you’re even a little mad, and that’s okay. I completely understand.  However, this next part is really, really important to cover because it shows how Jack “transfers” [instead of dying] on the island.   I don’t know about you, but I hated Jack crawling into the woods to “die alone!” And I didn’t get why he had to “die” there.  Why?  Why not die near the nice little stream? And where in the hell did Vincent come from? What’s that about?  Now, on top of crying my eyes out, I’m starting to think Jack died for nothing. That is not cool!

Let’s keep in mind:

• Our losties regain their memories and become “themselves” – the losties we remember from the island.  [I call it a transfer because those memories have to come from somewhere, and if this isn’t a physical world, they don’t have physical brains with which to repress their memories. I also call it a transfer because I remembered Hurley discussing TRANSFERRENCE with Jack way back in Season 2]
• They do this by connecting with one or more other losties that share very emotionally charged memories with them.
• There’s no EMF noise, no transition time, no anything when this memory transfer happens.  Our losties just “see” flashes of memories (as we recognizes them) and then they “wake up.” [And they are unnaturally happy for a group of dead peeps, aren’t they?]
• Desmond and Hurley are hustling to connect our losties as quickly as possible without forcing them to do anything.
• When our losties wake up, they “understand.” They wait at the church for Jack.
• They can’t “leave” until all of them “wake up,” and they can’t leave without Jack.

Problem:  Jack is not doing so great with this memory thing.  He receives flashes from John Locke at the hospital, and then again from Kate at the now deserted charity ball/concert.  He’s confused and upset. NOTE: When he becomes confused and upset at the hospital, he wants to see David.  I think David was “keeping tabs” on him.

Jack responds differently to the flashes than everyone else does. They don’t really take.  Question is why? I think the answer is: he’s not like all the other losties.  He requires some outside help.

TO BE CONTINUED in:  CHRISTIAN’S TRANSFERENCE

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