Series finale not Lost on the diehards

Every once in a while, a television show comes along that captures the world’s attention. For a brief period, it transcends the status of a mere weekly diversion and becomes a cultural phenomenon. In the 1990s, Twin Peaks captivated audiences with a combination of well-crafted mystery and David Lynch weirdness. For the past decade, Lost has been just such a phenomenon.

The show, created by J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber and Damon Lindelof, premiered in fall 2004. By the end of its first season, the show had already cultivated a massive following of viewers left waiting for more. By that time, the mysteries — both those pertaining to the show’s characters and those surrounding the enigmatic island itself — had been established. Fans were left with countless questions: Who are the Others? What exactly is the island? Where is this show going?

Lost lasted six seasons — four more than Twin Peaks — while juggling a myth arc and universe far more complex than that of Lynch’s landmark series. The show lasted so long thanks to a rejection of traditional storytelling methods that set it apart from other television shows.

Instead of caricature-like soap opera personalities, the show’s characters felt realistic. While other shows stuck with one genre, Lost mixed everything it could find — from horror to science fiction to comedy — and drew from a wide range of influences, ranging from movies to quantum physics to classic philosophy. The vast array of source material made for a show that not only entertained its audience but also taught it about a number of different subjects. Even the episodes were unique in style, some depicting on-island adventures and others offering flashbacks that revealed character motivations.

The show’s evolution in the course of its six years on air was nothing short of extraordinary. In the pilot, Oceanic Flight 815 crashes on a tropical island, leaving a collection of people with troubled pasts to each fend for themselves. Soon mysteries of the island begin to emerge, and the castaways are left to confront the Dharma Initiative think tank, island natives called the Others and all manner of supernatural elements around them.

Despite a slight slump in quality at the start of the third season, the show never seemed to jump the shark; instead, it grew naturally with each plot twist fitting seamlessly into the serialized narrative.

By the time Sunday’s finale rolled around, the battle lines had been drawn: The survivors were the last line of defense against an ancient evil island native, the shape-shifting Man in Black.

So, with a cultural milestone coming to an end, how did the fans take it? With a mixture of sadness and excitement, fans worldwide geared up for a night of revelations and conclusions. With Dharma-labeled snacks and polar bear decorations, many set aside books referenced in the series and prepared for the end of a six-year journey.

With a story as epic as Lost’s, the finale had a lot of expectations to live up to. Aptly titled “The End,” the two and a half-hour conclusion had fans — and even some non-fans just along for the ride — waiting at the edge of their seats for the answers and resolution to a show that had captivated the hearts of the world. So did the finale provide some sort of resolution? Yes.

Not all of the mysteries of the show were answered. Doing so would have been too ambitious, time-consuming and trivial. For a show that made everything important — from suspicious minor characters to seemingly unimportant objects that figured in clearly important scenes — the finale avoided nuance, focusing instead on the main struggle between the survivors and the Man in Black.

At the same time, “The End” was an enjoyable finale precisely because it stayed so close to a crucial element in the show’s success: its characters. Character arcs were rounded out in satisfying ways, and longtime viewers were given a sense of closure in the end. Jack, whose savior complex clearly motivated many of his actions, was given a chance to truly save the day, and Hurley, the perennial everyman, had the opportunity to shoulder the ultimate responsibility.

“The End” delivered on Lost’s premise, providing closure to a show that had evolved from a story of survival to a struggle against an unstoppable evil. But more than that, Lost succeeded in lasting six seasons as well as in incorporating philosophical and pop culture references alike into a brilliant story that defied genre while overwhelmingly appealing to television audiences.

It did not explain every detail and mystery, but did it really need to? The emotional arcs of the characters and the storytelling rang true. In the end, isn’t that what good television should do?

What fans are going to do in the aftermath of the show’s conclusion is a mystery worthy of Lost itself, but for everyone who followed the show all six years, it was an engaging, enthralling and shocking run.