How LOST’s finale went all to hell and why I’m happy about it
In the run-up to LOST’s season III finale, I ruminated on Dangerous Old Men and Thongs on Fire and How it All Might Go to Hell. http://lostforum.blogspot.com/2007/05/dangerous-old-men.html
I worried that the creative team would lose their mud at the last second and go for the cheap skin flash, the cheap ratings grab, and that the most impressive LOST season ever would all go to hell as the season ended. Whereas I wanted an epic tragedy like King Lear, I feared that the finale would give us King Coconut and the Dynamites on Cancun Beach.
It all went to hell, alright, but in a way that made me very happy. Read on and I’ll explain.
Bullet in the Head
Those of you who visit the JOOP! thread http://o.forums.go.com/abc/primetime/lost/thread?threadID=1705793&forumStart=0
on the abc board know of my love for Asian cinema, particularly movies made in Hong Kong. One film category which bears a distinctly Hong Kong trademark and which is noticeably absent from most American mega-mall movie theaters is the movie in which things roll along nicely for a while, and then IT ALL GOES TO HELL.
As example, you can’t do better than John Woo’s 1990 masterpiece, “Bullet in the Head.” http://www.twitchfilm.net/archives/008578.html Remarkably, LOST’s season finale shares many parallels with “Bullet.” While mainstream American movie producers may shirk from such darkly-themed fare, Lindeloff and Cuse rose to the challenge and pulled no punches.
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e155/back_gammon/bullet_in_the_head.jpg
Waise Lee, Jacky Cheung and Tony Leung Chiu-Wai in Bullet in the Head. Photo courtesy of LoveHKFilm.com
Punishing and pessimistic in extreme, “Bullet” presents characters who quickly find all their hopes and dreams destroyed by fate and their own brash folly. The three main characters, a trio of sworn brothers from the tough streets of Hong Kong, find themselves stranded and LOST in Viet Nam on what was supposed to be a get-rich-quick, get-in, get-out, two-day drug run.
But as things often do in Hong Kong films, the trio goes through the Looking Glass. The Viet Nam they’ve entered is a world tossed upside down and shaking with desperation as the machinery of war rolls and thunders across the countryside. As things fall apart for the trio, mortal fear enters the equation. As does betrayal. And it only gets worse.
“Bullet in the Head” doesn't allow its characters the opportunity to survive hell. Instead of honor and friendship redeeming the characters, they're ultimately twisted and destroyed by the stark realities of their worlds. Ben is the romantic dreamer who wants to save the girl, honor his friends, and do the right thing.
---Kozo http://www.lovehkfilm.com/reviews/bullet_in_the_head.htm
Substitute Dr. Jack Shepard’s name in the passage above and you can see the parallels. No hero’s journey here. Just a Golden Pass to hell. The ones who died are the lucky ones. This particular hell is reserved for those who must live on knowing what they’ve done.
Mahaparinirvana Sutra Verse 19:
The worst of the Eight Hells is called Continuous (Avici) Hell…
It has the meaning of Continuous Suffering. Thus the name…
Avici : No time, No space, No remission (interruption/ relief/ cessation…)
In Avici Hell, time does not seem to pass because there is no change of experience… through relief of suffering. And space does not seem to exist as one's being fills it completely. There is no "break" of suffering for a single instant for kalpas (duration of world cycles) till one's unwholesome karma is exhausted…
Hurley, the Next Kharmic Cowboy?
Even though there’s violence galore in “Bullet in the Head,” there’s no cowboy bravado. No swaggering heroes. Nothing to get a movie audience on its feet and cheering. Indeed, what’s so astonishing about this film is its brutal honesty, an honesty so intense it leaves viewers staring wide eyed and silent.
Not that LOST’s finale lacked cowboy bravado. Hurley mowing down Others pell-mell in the Dharma van came as close as it gets to a get-on-your-feet-and-cheer moment. But this is Hurley, the guy who felt sad for the squished tree frog and who felt guilty when he stashed Dharma Ranch Dressing and didn’t share it with the rest of the Losties. What’s going to happen to his soul now that he has to live with knowing he deliberately killed someone? Will he be the next Kharmic Cowboy to get his Golden Pass to Continuous (Avici) Hell?
“…Mistakes Were Made…”
I can’t begin to catalogue every tactical and personal mistake made by Jack, Locke, or Ben, nor can I list every twist of fate and free will, nor explicate the hubris and the self-deceptions which locked their trajectories on a path straight to hell. Suffice it to say that mistakes were made, and this is one of the biggest clusters of all time.
Which leads me to Jack’s disintegration post-rescue in the flash-forward. Remember in the last essay when I was describing King Lear? How he got lost on the moor in the fog and emerged forever changed? If that doesn’t describe Jack, I don’t know what does. Where he goes from here is anyone’s guess. If the writers follow the path of John Woo, it has all gone to hell for Jack and he will remain in Continuous (Avici) Hell with no ticket out.
But what of Ben and Locke? I think Locke had his King Lear moment in the Purge Pit. He lay there lost in the fog. Desperate to end his life. But he emerged forever changed. He’s a hunter now, capable of killing. Gone is the farmer, perhaps forever. Has he emerged from hell or is he just entering it?
And Ben? I don’t know. He’s beat down, wore out, and tore up, but was Alex’s and Juliet’s betrayal enough to send him wandering in the fog? I don’t think so. In my opinion, we have that to still look forward to.
Thank you Lost writers. Thank you for letting it ALL GO TO HELL. You’ve made Shakespeare and John Woo proud, and you left this viewer staring wide-eyed and silent. I can think of no greater compliment.
