The Penultimate: Part 2

I hope I've wrapped things up sufficiently regarding the penultimate episode of 24. Today I will be looking at the penultimate episode of Lost (as you can tell by now, penultimate may be my favourite word).  The point of this post is really to assess how What They Died For ties into the past, present and future of Lost.

It's a little tough to gauge the history of the show based on the most recent episode. I've commented previously that seasons 1 and 2 of Lost feel very different from the rest of the series. Perhaps it was due to the fact that in season 3, the end date for the show was announced so it started to feel like the show finally had a direction it could pull in, rather than just deal with things season by season. I'll be honest, I haven't been a huge fan of the flash sideways world and it's still a little tough to compare it to the previous versions we've seen of our favourite characters. My understanding was that part of the reason the sideways world was introduced was to remind us of who these characters were but that's not an entirely accurate assessment. It works for characters like Jack and Locke, but take a character like Sawyer who's life revolved around lying. Without his lying he is now a very different person. Or take Desmond, I don't know if over the course of the show I would say that Desmond's character changed much. He was a different character in his flashbacks for sure, but since we've seen him on the island, his motivation has always been to return to Penny. His character's change was crashing on this island to learn what he'd been missing all along. We didn't see this change, it had already happened when we first met Desmond. It's also exceedingly hard to look at his current role as opening the door for the others in the sideways universe against who who was.
 
The original timeline however presents a much better window into the past. One of the fundamental questions this show posed was what's so special about these people? It was something that developed over the course of the show and especially when we saw the importance of Jacob's touch in season 5. I was never pleased with the fact that we started the show with 48 survivors and then thinned the ranks with the attack at the barracks and the flaming arrow attack. To me it represented a fundamental shift away from this show being about survival, to being about these main characters. However for our main characters we learned that they were all brought to this island because they were flawed. The point of this island then was to heal them of those flaws. To allow them to seek redemption. And that idea of redemption has permeated the arc of every character since Day 1. Sawyer got to kill the man who killed his parents, Jack learned not to try and fix everything, Jin became a loving husband. This is what the show was about. Despite the insanity of the island, the goal of this show was always to take these characters and make them into better people. Now I understand what Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse mean when they say that for them the show is about the characters, not the mysteries. We can also compare the role of the Man In Black since the pilot. Since the pilot episode the smoke monster has terrorized our heroes, and even now at the end, it still does. The first mystery on Lost will also be what ends it. Kate mentioned they need to kill the Man in Black now; they need to kill the smoke monster. It all comes full circle.

Furthermore, this is what the entire sixth season of Lost has been ramping up towards. Finding a replacement for Jacob. Last season we learned that the Man in Black has been trying to kill Jacob for centuries and at the start of this season we learned via the cave of numerology that Jacob was preparing for it, and readying replacements for himself. Perhaps most importantly, it was necessary for Jack to see why he was important. The scene in Lighthouse where Jacob tells Hurley that sometimes you have to stare out into the ocean for a while to figure out what you have to do may have been one of the most pivotal scenes in the history of the show. Jack learned who he was, he learned why he was important, and he reflected on everything that had happened in his life, and his life on the island. Is Jack taking on Jacob's role to be the fixer once again? Perhaps, but has his arc been that he needs to stop fixing things or that who he really is, is a fixer? Was it about changing who he is, or discovering what he always was?  Or was it about striking a balance in between?

So looking forward now what can we expect from the finale? Well we know the Man in Black must die. I refuse to believe that Lost would lead us to this point, remind us that it only ends once, and then leave us in a loop. For a long time I've suspected that the ending might be a renewal of the scene with Jacob and the Man in Black on the beach from season 5, but now I no longer think so. It feels too expected almost, and not a real ending, only a continuation - Lost must end. I think the greatest question is how do you kill the Man in Black? Bullets and knives don't work, the only thing shown to have some effectiveness is a sonic fence. Perhaps all you can do is trap him in an ash circle like in the cabin. I think there's also a very decent chance that in the finale the entire island will be destroyed; it's incredibly poetic you must admit. Desmond was Widmore's failsafe, and I readily believe that by simply mentioning Desmond's potential, it won't be shunted away, something will happen involving him. This ties in to my new feeling about the flash sideways. Obviously the purpose of the flash sideways needs to be resolved. The epilogue theory is starting to look good to me again. That this is the future created from whatever happens to the island. These memories that the flash sideways characters are having are memories of their past life, their real one. But perhaps I'm reading far too much into this penultimate episode. A good penultimate episode should remind us of the past, and set things up for the finale. I won't say Lost has done exceptionally well setting up the past, but they are doing a superb job preparing us for the finale.

The Lost finale airs in less than 24 hours. Soon enough we will all know just what this show has been leading up to. And the only question left to ask is, are we satisfied? Because like it or not, it's the only finale we get.

The Penultimate: Part 1

We have a tale of two stories today. Both stories are on the verge of completion. There is one more episode left for both. One final outing to wrap up their stories, to craft their endings that will hopefully be gratifying to all the characters involved as well as us the viewers. I am speaking today about the impending finales of Lost and 24. But it's not the finales that I'm speaking about, rather I'm speaking about their penultimate episodes. The second to last episodes that serve as the build-up to their last hurrah. Both shows aired their penultimate episodes earlier this week, and as I contemplate the ending of my two favourite shows, I look back now on their penultimate episodes to see where the show started and and where it will end. Today's post will discuss 24 primarily, while the second part of this topic that'll be put up later in the week will be about Lost.

Lost and 24 are two fundamentally different shows. 24 encapsulates it's season as stand-alones for the most part. 24 lives in the perpetual now and the show takes very few opportunities to look back at past seasons. Consider the death of Bill Buchannan last season. At no point did Jack or Chloe make any references to informing his wife Karen Hayes of her husband's death. Not only did we see the start of their relationship in season 5, but we also had the good fortune to learn of their marriage and watch that dynamic during season 6. By season 7 this was completely ignored. Lost on the other hand is obsessed with the past. The show has spent 6 years building mysteries and expects us as the viewers to have been watching along so that any references to the past can be readily added to the overarching mythos of the show. Comparing their penultimate episodes therefore is really an exercise in comparing a season of 24 against the entire series of Lost.

 I'll start with the penultimate episode of 24 since it will be easier to look back on. 24 started this season preparing against the assassination of President Omar Hassan. It's intriguing to realize that they both succeeded and failed. They succeeded in stopping the initial threat on his life, but failed to stop the secondary threat later in the season. So as we ramp up to the finale, what is happening in the 24 universe? Jack is on the warpath, still killing anyone involved in the death of Renee while at the same time, exposing how far up the chain the Russian cover-up goes. Jack seeking vengeance for Renee's death has been a great storyline, and quite convenient in also exposing the Russian's involvement in the death of President Hassan. Looking at this episode I am reminded of how shortsighted 24 can feel at times. I am reasonably confident that you could have started this season from the episode where Hassan dies. The whole arcs involving the initial assassination attempt, and the nuclear rods storyline could be completely ignored and we would still be at this point in the narrative.

I also can't say I appreciate where the show is heading with the finale. If Renee's death goes all the way up the chain to the Russian president I feel it becomes too much of a suspension of disbelief to kill him. Jack can kill the middle management as much as he wants, because for us as the viewers we see them as middle management, ultimately replaceable and unimportant. Dealing with heads of state becomes too real for us and it starts to cross-over into the political territory of the show. Jack came close to killing President Logan at the end of season 5 you may remember, but he didn't, because the writers and the viewers know that there's a line that gets crossed if you do. It's the same reason why the death of President Palmer at the start of the season was so monumental beyond the role he's had in the show. I find it intriguing that in the same stroke, Jack didn't kill ex-president Logan in the penultimate episode of season 8 though he had the chance. Though it will be the Russian president I still don't know if Jack could or should do it. However, we shouldn't forget that this will be the series finale. The great thing about the finale is that afterwards there will be no in-world consequences, it frees the writers up a little bit, however that noose is tightened again considering the continuation into a 24 film franchise.

What's most important to me however is the question of what ending Jack Bauer will get. At the start of this season we were promised a happy ending for Jack. He would move back to LA, get to be with his daughter and granddaughter and live happily ever after. His motives changed when Renee came back into his life. Now he no longer wanted to go to LA alone, he wanted to do it with this woman, and bring her back from the brink as he once was. The creator Joel Surnow has commented that Renee was the one love interest of Jack who truly understood his life. Reading the books and listening to the backstory on season 1 showed that Teri was always behind this wall in Jack's life, never fully understanding what his job entailed, and their marriage suffered for it. When she was finally able to see her husband and what he had to do for his job, before she could accept him, she was killed. As important as it was seeing Kate Warner bring Jack back from the beyond in season 2, she understood less of him than Teri did. Jack's fling with Claudia in season 3 was simply that, a fling. It only happened because he was undercover, in the real world they would never be capable of staying together. Audrey Raines was the best chance Jack had of finding love again. However Audrey's interest always felt like what she saw in Jack was a younger version of her father. I always felt that Audrey would push Jack to become a man different than who he was. She loved him but expected him to change. Her exit from the show was heart-wrenching though. And it always makes me feel guilty to see Jack with Renee after leaving Audrey, his influence indirectly causing her to become so psychologically damaged. Diane Huxley was a nice reminder of what Jack lost in season 1, but her and the absolute mess that was Marilyn Bauer were ultimately forgettable. Renee always felt like a female version of Jack, and maybe that's why we always liked them together. With her death, the question is what ending will Jack get? For many years now I've felt that he should die. It's the only way to put this show to any justice. For all Jack's done for the series, he should die as a patriot. Given the move to make a 24 feature film however that seems unlikely. For the most part 24 finales are usually bittersweet, emphasis on the bitter. Teri dying, President Palmer's attempted assassination, Jack faking his death, being sent to China and going into a coma don't always have the happy endings we want. Given that there will be a movie after this, I think this ending may be more bitter than we would like.

How well has the penultimate episode set us up for the finale? Well we know Jack's motivation, to presumably kill or at least take down President Suvarov and possibly President Logan while he's at it. The political storyline is a little hazy for me however. President Taylor is trying to get this peace agreement signed, but if Jack succeeds in his mission, there is no way Dalia Hassan and the IRK will stay at the table. The two goals are fundamentally at odds, and it's been an undercurrent so far regarding the government trying to stop Jack to keep this peace process alive, but it's my hope that for the finale, we'll see the government pull out all the stops to stop Jack. There's just 2 hours left for Jack Bauer and now I think it's time for each side to put their cards on the table and let the chips fall where they may.

Keep an eye out for my next post that will be up before the end of the week regarding the penultimate episode of Lost.