It's hard to explain without watching it. Every season had a "flash" gimmick. For seasons 1-3 it was a "flashback." We saw the castaways present on the island, and we saw flashbacks to their lives before the crash.

Season 6 initiated what was called the "flash-sideways." We saw their present lives on the island, and we saw flashes of their lives off the island. These flashes were different than before. Things had changed in each person's life. Jack had a kid, for example, in the flash-sideways. He never had a kid in the real flashbacks.

Everyone speculated on the reality of the flash-sideways. Many thought it was an alternate reality created by the bomb going off at the end of S5. The idea was that by blowing up the bomb, all the castaways would get a reset. They would erase their original pasts and have new lives, free of their original choices and the island.

It was revealed that the flash-sideways was actually an afterlife. It was metaphysical world created for the survivors as a meeting place.

Eventually, everyone on the show did die. As all human beings do, of course. But they all died at different times. The only one (IIRC) that actually dies in the finale is Jack. We see him close his eyes and die on screen.

This lead many to speculate that the whole show had been some sort of dream, or that the whole thing was a purgatory or afterlife. In fact, all the action on the island happened. It's all real. Not a dream. Not purgatory.

The flash-sideways was a sort of purgatory, but that's it. I get why that pissed people off, too. Because they sort of wasted a good chunk of season six making us thing what happened in the flashes mattered. It mattered in a spiritual sense, but not in a plot sense.

Yes, Jack died in the finale. But he wasn't dead the whole time. Nor was he dreaming.

I like things that are open to interpretation, too. Normally, I don't like to tell people they're wrong when it comes to their art or whatever. I like when people have different view points and different takes on things. But this is something that the creators have addressed time and time again. It's hard not to comment on the whole "dream" and/or "purgatory" thing.

But, whatever. Take from the show what you will. I'm not Damon or Carlton or JJ. I'm just an asshole who loved the show and has internet access.

Sorry if anything I've posted reads as preachy or like I'm talking down to anyone. That really isn't what I'm trying to do. I just like discussing the show and I'm passionate about it.

He doesn;t know anymore than anyone else. He is just interpreting what he thinks the writers were thinking. Since the writers decided to not be clear, this is what we are left with.

It's pretty clear. Jack dies.

http://collider.com/lost-ending-damo...plains/167981/

It's a long interview. But jump to the 6:25 mark.

From the horse's mouth.

I thought the show made itself pretty damn clear in the finale that the flash sideways was a sort of purgatory -- a holding pattern in which souls of the dead, connected by some strong life experience, could remember what it was that they did on Earth in order to be able to accept it and move on to the afterlife. There wasn't any of this Jack dreaming business.

Exactly.

It's all explicitly stated in the finale.

Exactly. As Red Brooklyn pointed out earlier, "whatever happened, happened". The only part of the entire series that was a figment of anyone's imagination was the flash sideways of the last season, and that was a figment of everyone's imagination. It was the purgatory that they created together so that as they died at different times, they could help each other find their way to what lies beyond.

Jack did not die in the plane crash. He died from the wounds he received while fighting the Man In Black. What happened, happened.

That made for an awesome cinematic experience.

:rolleyes:

**** Lindelof, **** Cuse, **** all of them.

This was a six year waste of ****ing time.

You won't see another serialized SciFi drama for at least a decade. Viewer trust has been broken and its unlikely to be repaired for a long, long, long time.

Revolution is doing well.

I wouldn't have had a problem with the open to interpretation part (I am one of the few people that liked the sopranos ending) however with this show they realized they backed themselves into a corner and I think they just ****ed up.

The problem with Lost was that early on they created this amazing world, but there was never any planned story to tell. Lindelof kept promising everyone that it was all under control and they were following some grand plan. Until the last season...which was basically an "oops, we have to end this and have no ****ing clue how to."

I saw an interview with Lindelof where he went on about ambiguity and its importance in story telling. And I do think ambiguity can work (see: inception). But it can't be used as a crutch to wipe away all the story telling you've done because you never had an answer in the first place.

No, it is not. It started out well but as of the last airing, it dropped to a 2.4 rating (about 7 million viewers). Alcatrazz, which was cancelled by Fox after its first season, had similar numbers (1.8 when cancelled).

It's also going on hiatus until March, which is never a good sign.

I've never found Inception to be ambiguous.