It’s easy to be cynical about the finale to ‘Lost’.

After a solid season where we were made privy to a “sideways” universe- one where the Lostie’s plan was apparently successful and the detonation of the Jughead bomb lead to the island being destroyed and Oceanic Flight 815 never crashing, thus averting their troubles these last few years- the last episode, in typical ‘Lost’ fashion, flips that whole idea on its head.

But in doing so, the finale leaves a loaded number of questions unanswered; some annoyingly so, others not. The series ends on an emotional note, taking that visceral path and throwing logic by the wayside in a few instances (for example, Jacob’s plan and Jack’s ultimate death appear – on a surface level- horribly convoluted).

What we have in the final episode is a shift in balance of the storytelling towards the “sideways” universe, i.e. the afterlife construct for the survivors. That final revelation is a twist that is almost an inside wink to fans (considering the early theories about the show’s characters already being dead), and it by far overshadows the main island storyline, which sadly drifted towards irrelevence.

One of the main problems with the island storyline is how mired it has become. It boiled down to, Jacob couldn’t directly kill the Man in Black/Smoke Monster, so he brought the Oceanic Flight 815 survivors to the island in an effort to find a candidate to kill him. Desmond, who has a resistance to electromagnetism (presumably from those years spent pushing the button?), crawls down to the source of the light, pulls the plug (yes, the literal plug), and the island begins to fall apart.

Now, had the episode actually shown us that the world over was receiving some sort of apocalyptic distress due to the Light “going out” on the island, it would have leant the story some more weight. As it were, the episode never shows us this, so we are left to wonder, why is the light (and by proxy, the Island) so important? Why should Jack give his life for this purpose, other than taking the word of a man whose (fake) mother was an insane murderer?

Then, there is the Man in Black. After spending an entire season building up what the Man in Black/faux-Locke’s motivations were, and the need to confront him as a thread, the showdown is remarkably short. And Jack, for the one who is supposed to be the ‘hero’ of the series, comes across as fairly thick (why would you race, unarmed, towards a man with a large knife for a weapon, and then not be prepared when he reaches for it?), and kind of weak (Kate essentially lands the fatal blow). The one nice touch is the parallel in Jack kicking faux-Locke’s body off the cliff, similar to how faux-Locke kicked Jacob’s body into the fire.

Now, there’s the ’sideways’ universe. I give a lot of credit to the writers, because they played the audience perfectly in setting up the flash sideways as a parallel universe, and then finally revealing that it is an afterlife in which all the Losties find each other in order to move on together to whatever comes next.

This explains a few of the oddities in the sideways universe (the lack of logic in how Sawyer could have slept with that suspect before the sting operation went down, or how much happier some of their lives were) as well as why the Losties were so interconnected in life (they were always meant to be connected).

This revelation makes me want to go back and watch the season given this new perspective; in particular, the episode with Jack and his ’son’ and how he was really coming to terms with the issues with his father. Or Desmond’s comment when he beats up on Ben and tells him that he is trying to help Locke let go. Or the Hurley/Libby episode.

It is this ability to cast previous episodes in a new light that has been one of the series’ strengths, and the final season nails it. In some ways, Season Six has been a metatextual comment on the entire series, and like an ourobourus ties in (imperfectly) to the first season.

Given this, the producers went in the direction of not answering all of the questions, or addressing the logic flaws (Man in Black/Christian appearing to Jack off-island if he could never leave it is a huge one).

Instead, they chose to focus on the emotional impact of characters and their arc, as long-lost loves reunited, Jack comes to terms with his father, and the core cast reunited in a church to go into the light (beautifully counterpointed with Jack dying, staring up at the sky and watching the plane with his loved ones and friends escaping the Island, before his eyes close).

From a purely emotional point of view, it works in spades. But for some, either looking for the answers to all the mysteries, or who felt the ending was too spiritually heavy-handed, the finale fails in the last 10 minutes, and fails miserably.

So, as I said, it is easy to be cynical about the finale.

But it is also what makes the finale so wonderful.

It’s not perfect; it’s not the best piece of television ever. And for some who invested 6 or so years watching the show, it may be an episode of mixed emotions. But it pulls at your emotional investment in the characters. And after an incredible journey with them, it feels like a fitting end.