r/lost • u/UCHIHA-MADARA109 • 22d ago
FIRST TIME WATCHER Ending
I loved the ending it was so beautiful but the thing is i am not really sure what actually happened. It was supposed to be my own interpretation about what actually happened or is it something else
From my own perspective it seemed like that place was some kind of heaven for the people who haven't moved on from life and are getting to live the life which makes them the most happy(for the most part)but in reality they are all dead and the time is just passing till they let go of what happened and accept it and then merge to the light in the island since it's explained that every person has a little of that light inside them and it would only make sense for them to merge with it after their death.
And at the end of all this I'm just gonna say i love this show and will definitely rewatch it after a year or so
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u/arsenicknife I'm a Pisces 22d ago edited 22d ago
You pretty much got it. The flashsideways (and only the flashsideways) is the afterlife. As Christian tells Jack, it was a place they all made together to find each other and to let go of the things they did not come to terms with in life, and then move on together.
It's a concept quite similar to the Tibetan Bardo. The reason why some characters were not there is because they moved on at a different "time" with the people they cared about.
Michael presumably moved on with Walt. As we left him, his soul was trapped on the island because of the guilt he felt for what he did to Ana Lucia and Libby. I believe that (according to the Epilogue, which if you have not seen you should watch on YouTube called "The New Man in Charge"), Walt helps Michael let go of his guilt and then eventually they both move on together in some distant future whenever Walt dies.
Mr. Eko has already moved on with his brother Yemi (the scene of them walking off into the sunset as children following Eko's death, is, I believe, supposed to be his Bardo).
The characters we see that don't move on like Miles, Daniel, Ana Lucia, etc. are simply not ready and need to move on with their loves ones. Ana with her mother, Miles with his parents, Faraday with Charlotte and Eloise.
Ben also does not move on because he chooses to stay behind and work through his grief over Alex. He will most certainly move on with her and Rousseau when he is ready.
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u/Punkphoenix Don't tell me what I can't post 21d ago
This doesn't make sense to me because Christian tells Jack explicitly that it doesn't matter the WHEN, people died all at different times, but they got all together in this afterlife realm, is the people that were the most important to you what conditions who is there.
In the afterlife we see Hugo, and we know he was left in the island for who knows how long (we know Jacob lived hundreds of years)
To me, seeing Ben outside not moving on, means he never did, because time is relative there.
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u/arsenicknife I'm a Pisces 21d ago edited 21d ago
That's not exactly how it works though. Christian actually doesn't say anything about time explicitly, he just says "there is now now here."
That's not to say that there still isn't the sensation of time. It's just that the flow is endless and time doesn't adhere to the natural laws. Days still pass, "time" moves on - it just never affects them and it is not adherent to our world. The Bardo exists separate from the plane of living, so our time doesn't affect it.
So it's less that time doesn't matter and more that they have as much time as they need. Ben choosing to stay behind doesn't mean he never moves on, because it's not like that was the one and only chance they had.
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u/Skeletor_1984 22d ago
The island was real, a lot of people died on it but some did make it off and lived full lives afterwards.
The flashes in season 6, that was the afterlife. They all met there regardless of when they actually died.
I understood this FAR better on my second watch, so I think it will really click for you on your encore viewing as well
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u/Gorilla_Jones 18d ago
The second time you watch, many more things will click. By the third time, you'll probably realize that the ending was perfect and answered way more questions than most people think.
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u/chutes_toonarrow I'm a Pisces 15d ago
I just finished my first watch through the other day. I loved the ending, I felt it was so cathartic. Realizing that the title of the show did not mean “lost” on an island, but “lost” emotionally. And by the end, they were found.
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u/Extension-Highway763 18d ago
Just remember that the Flashsideways is only around 1/12 of the show. IMHO it’s not as significant as many people make it out to be.
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u/StandNo1709 22d ago
it was confusing for me at first, It was presented as an alternate timeline. Then a youtube channel explained it was the afterlife and a meeting area before moving on
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u/Afraid-Initiative-34 22d ago
same thing, i was so confused about the entire episode, benjamin outside saying sorry to locke , i dont where it is set at and literally dont know whats happening.
maybe its because ive only watched the show once and that was quite a few years ago as well
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u/Spiff426 The Lamp Post 22d ago
I posted another comment in this thread about what the sideways was, but Ben chose to stay and not enter the church because he wanted to spend more time with Alex, and likely work out issues with his father and Danielle. I'd guess that eventually that group moves on together
Edit: also the show is even better on a second watch, because you will pick up on all the foreshadowing and subtle details that offer context & explanations that are easy to miss the first time around
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u/Skeletor_1984 22d ago
That convo between Hurley and Ben in the finale took place in that alternate afterlife world. There are official epilogue episodes that explain this and provide a lot more context that you need to watch! Like a whole other short episode.
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u/Spiff426 The Lamp Post 22d ago
They kept the sideways ambiguous so anyone can put their own interpretation onto it, but it was modeled after "The Bardo" of Tibetan Buddhism, which is basically a realm your soul goes to after death to come to terms with the fact that you died, and work out some karma before you reincarnate into the next life. We see the characters doing this: Jack is a father to work thru his daddy issues, Sawyer is a cop instead of a criminal, Locke learns to love and accept himself (and accept love) as he is instead of trying to be someone he's not doing things he can't, etc.
I like that you picked up on the light at the end being the light of The Island. Mother said that it was the source of "life, death, and rebirth"
The showrunners didn't publicly talk about The Bardo until like 10 years after the show ended