Lost – The End – Review

6 years ago a show exploded onto the box that would change Television forever. A show in which every question led to another question. A show in which polar bears on a tropical island, were as common place as simply saying hello.

Lost is a show which means so much to millions around the world, and its no wonder then that to ensure piracy of the episode is low, Sky have opted not to make people wait for the regular Friday night slot, choosing instead to air “The End”, the final chapter of the show simultaneously with their American counterparts. For those who braved 5am to see the conclusion, they were treated to what was, simply put: the finest two and a half hours of television in history.

So what of the episode itself?

On the Island, Jack and the 3 remaining candidates are heading to the Light to face Locke once and for all, while FLocke searches out Desmond. Everyone meets at the light, and both The Man in Black and Jack make the wrong decision – the light goes out, Jack has failed and the Island is about to sink, but MiB is mortal now, and after what is undoubtedly the greatest fight scene in 6years, Kate comes to Jack’s aid and finally kills the Man In Black.

Miles, Richard and Frank (the latter of whom is miraculously still alive after the sub crash – a moment for which the collective shouts of “YES!” from my front room could probably be heard from miles around.) head to Hydra Island in hope of fixing the plane, to leave the island forever, and are soon joined by Claire, Sawyer and Kate. The plane takes off and Ajira 316 is away, leaving Jack to sacrifice himself for the Island, and leave Hurley in charge of “doing what he does best – looking after people”

In the flash-sideways, everyone remembers, one by one, their past lives. Charlie and Claire are reunited as Aaron is born, Faraday and Charlotte get their happily ever after, Sayid finds Shannon with Hurley’s help and they finally get their moment, some 4 years after Shannon’s initial death on the Island. And then, the moment we’ve been waiting for: Juliet meets Sawyer, Kate meets Jack. They make their choices at last. It’s perfect. Utterly perfect.

But how does it end?

Christian Shephard’s (yeah, 6 season’s and I didn’t notice either until Kate points it out) coffin arrives in the sideways, and Jack arrives at the funeral he has sought for 6 years. But there’s one final shocker: Christian is not in the coffin. He’s stood behind Jack. “How are you here? You died!” Jack says. “How are you here Jack?” Christian replies simply. The sideways then are the Losties afterlife. They didn’t die in the crash, what happened really happened, but when they eventually died, some of them years in the future, their consciousnesses go to the Sideways, giving them a chance to reunite with their loved ones. Jack and Christian go downstairs and see everyone, and I mean everyone, from the Island, and Christian finally tells them they can go.

We flash to the Island, and see Jack in the bamboo field where the show began. He lies down and, joined once again by Vincent the dog, sees the Ajira flight over head, and, in the perfect closer, we’re back where we began: Jack doesn’t open his eye, but closes it. Jack dies, and the season, and the show finish.

Put very simply, this was the best episode ever to finally cap off the greatest show ever.