Michelle Rodriguez's Disappointment With The Lost Finale Is All Wrong
Few shows have managed to take control of the cultural zeitgeist in the way that "Lost" did in the mid-2000s. With its massive cast of compelling characters and its mystery box premise, the ABC series cemented itself as appointment TV with its shocking character deaths, insane plot twists, and cliffhangers that had fans anxiously awaiting more episodes.
All the same, throughout the six seasons of theorizing as to what was really going on with the island and its hapless inhabitants, "Lost" alienated some of its fanbase. No episode made this clearer than the series finale, an episode that is still the subject of much debate over a decade after it first aired.
Many thought the ending lacked gravitas and fit too easily into an early fan theory that the characters were dead all along. Now, it looks like we can add a "Lost" cast member to that group. Michelle Rodriguez, who played Ana Lucia Cortez in Season 2 of the series, and in a couple of cameos later on, let slip in an interview with WIRED that she wasn't a fan of the ending. "I was a little disappointed they went the bible route," Rodriguez said. "I was expecting them to go maybe a little more sci-fi, black hole, Rosen bridge vibes. But they kind of went Bible with it. But it's okay, it was still fun."
While Rodriguez wasn't as harsh as some viewers, her criticisms showed that, like a lot of viewers, she may have missed the point of the finale.
A lot of Lost fans missed the point by a long margin with the ending
Many fans of "Lost" seemed to think that the plot in Season 6 and its visions of an alternate reality meant that those on the island had been dead all along, and thus, nothing that they did really mattered. It sounds like Michelle Rodriguez at least partially subscribes to this theory with her use of the word "Bible" twice. However, it's also pretty clear that this isn't actually what occurred.
In reality, everything we see on the island and in the characters' lives prior to Season 6 is all real, and it absolutely happened. You might even say, "Whatever happened, happened." The flashes in Season 6 of "Lost" are revealed to be the characters trying to find closure after their inevitable deaths, some sooner and some later, after the events of the island. This ending actually adds a ton of emotional resonance to the series and is not tied to any religion or faith.
The Lost series finale is a moving send off for its characters
As some fans noticed in the "Lost" series finale, the church that everyone ends up meeting up in after remembering their time on the island actually features many religious denominations on its stained glass windows, and no deity or afterlife is mentioned at all by any of the characters.
With this in mind, it's clear that what the church really represents is a place where the characters can finally move past all of the pain and trauma from their lives and have a chance for them to say the things they never got to say to one another when they were still alive. Juxtaposed with Jack's (Matthew Fox) death on the island, the scene is doubly moving as it offers both a finality with its ending, but also a beautiful new beginning for the characters to live in a peaceful, loving existence free from the perils of the island.
Though series fans — and Michelle Rodriguez — are well within their rights to like or dislike the ending of "Lost," it's worth pointing out that a major cross-section of the fanbase misunderstood the series finale. If that's why they hate it, then it might be time for them to recalibrate. To these unfortunate souls, we can only say one thing: "We have to go back!"