"The end of an era" and all that nonsense.

Summation of the day: Work was very quiet. It was boring.

AND NOW THE IMPORTANT PART. LOST FINALE. It goes without saying that there's massive spoilers here if you've not seen it yet.

Angus came over tonight to watch it, and it proved a fantastic ending to six years of religious following of it. I absolutely loved the whole episode. I was entertained by the OTT scenes of Jack vs Flocke on the clifftop, filmed just like an anime stand-off, and the plane taking off amidst the ground crumbling beneath it. I was gripped by the twists carefully revealed, especially the fact that the "side flashes" weren't at all that; they were flashes to the aftermath, where they are in some sort of perfect afterlife. The ending may disappoint some fans to start with, but if you think about it, there is not other logical way to have ended it without reverting to atrocious "it was all a dream" techniques, having some sort of horrific, depressing ending, or worse still, a big cliffhanger. It wasn't until half an hour after it finished that me and Angus both admitted that we were both very close to crying at the final scenes in the church, and the beautiful finishing and closing given by Jacks eyes closing, in parrallel to the very beginning of the pilot. There are those who are now saying "OMG I knew it was purgatory at the beginning", but they are wrong. I'm ridiculously tired, so I'll copy my summation from facebook:

If you consider it to be purgatory you are either a) grossly misinformed (i.e. by the nonchalant arse-minded saps at Radio1) b) Incompetent at deciphering anything more complex than the mystery of postman pat's missing mailbag or c) Haven't watched most episodes, and just want to have an opinon.

I feel that this is a fairly concise demographic of those who may have such an understanding of the finale. Also, I don't see it as being religious; it's a fictional program which has featured massive polar bears, smoke monsters, electromagnetic holes in the ground and people who refuse to age for 2000 years. The thought of the characters meeting in a near-perfect afterlife is not contrived by any means.

All in all, it was a fantastic ending to a fantastic show.