You needed all of them, and they needed you. Now, as of July 1, LOST is back on Netflix, giving both devoted fans and newcomers the opportunity to (re)explore The Island.

For super fans like us, there’s nothing more exciting than diving back into the world of LOST —discussing its mysteries, cherished characters, and endless theories in 2024, nearly 20 years after its debut. Few shows have come close to challenging LOST’s top spot on our list of all-time favorite TV shows.

Spoilers Below: Reader Beware

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The LOST series finale, aptly titled "The End," aired on May 23, 2010, drawing in 13.5 million households. ABC reported that 20.5 million viewers tuned in for at least six minutes of the episode(s). Despite its massive viewership, the finale's reception remains incredibly divisive even after 14 years. So where do we stand? To put it simply, we loved the finale and believe it is perfect in every way.

To fully appreciate the finale, one must recognize that at its core, LOST has always been about our relationships and connections. The so-called “unanswered” questions pale in comparison to the poignant moments of reunion and remembrance between the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 and their loved ones in the afterlife. This profound connection, as Christian Shephard explains to his son Jack, is what truly defines the heart of the island and makes the finale resonate so deeply.

Let’s rewind a bit to the start of Season 6. We picked up right where we left off in the Season 5 finale, with the detonation of a nuclear bomb on The Island in the 1970s. What followed was a surprising “flash sideways” that seemed to depict an alternate timeline where Oceanic Flight 815 never crashed. To our astonishment, we then saw The Island submerged underwater, with the camera panning over and through the ocean floor, revealing the remains of The Others’ and The Dharma Initiative’s community, including a broken swing set. [Cue the familiar black screen with white text slowly appearing: LOST.]

It was natural to assume we were witnessing a flash sideways. By the sixth season of such a deeply enigmatic show, one might expect the writers to have exhausted their ability to surprise. But we were wrong. The sight of The Island submerged underwater left us astounded and eager to understand its implications. As we clung to our screens for the final season of what we considered the greatest television show ever, the truth began to unfold slowly and intriguingly.

We were not being shown a flash sideways nor were we being shown an alternate timeline that the detonation of a nuclear bomb created. What the detonation did accomplish was catapulting our friends out of the 1970s and into their correct timeline of the year 2007, where we see them continue on with their current journey on The Island. What we witnessed was their afterlife or beyond. Again, as Shephard explained, it was the place they all made together so they could find one another.

We find it deeply comforting and beautiful that the afterlife isn’t introduced with extreme confusion or something jarring and bizarre. Instead, it feels as though you continue on in a semblance of the life you knew, even if somewhat solitary. As Jack poignantly reflects early on, "Live together, die alone."

The connections, experiences and memories all of the Oceanic Flight 815 survivors shared together on The Island cease to exist at the beginning of Season 6 as the plane experiences slight turbulence, but continues safely along its intended path, landing at LAX, rather than crashing. 

Our first hint that this is something new and different, comes when fan-favorite Charlie Pace explains that while on the plane, he went unconscious after getting a small bag of heroin lodged in his throat. While unconscious, he claims to have seen an image of a beautiful woman, who we all know must be Claire. He knows something is not quite right. Desmond Hume has been tasked with bringing Charlie to a concert so that his band Drive Shaft can play, but this initial effort is thwarted when Charlie grabs Desmond's wheel and runs the car into the water. They are submerged when Desmond gets “a flash," which is a memory of Charlie's death in Season 3, in the real life that they all experienced together. 

Desmond saves Charlie from the car, and Charlie is determined to not only find the woman from his vision, but help others see what he has seen. From there, our Oceanic Flight 815 survivors begin to reunite with each other “by chance," having “flashes” of memories rush back to them once they touch their respective significant other, even ever so slightly. 

One of the most moving reunions, is when Sawyer finds himself inside a hospital. He passes Jack, who he does not know (yet) in the hallway and asks him where he can “get some grub”. Jack gives him directions to a nearby vending machine, and we get to hear Sawyer deliver another infamous, “Thanks, Doc." No flashes occur during this encounter, despite years of knowing each other during the most important time of their lives. 

Sawyer attempts to buy an Apollo bar from the vending machine, but it gets stuck. He crouches down, opens the flap, and reaches his arm inside the machine, reaching for the candy bar. Juliet approaches. After some brief flirting about the vending machine, she crouches down as well to grab the candy bar that has now dropped. As she passes it to him and he reaches out to take it, their fingers touch and the flashes commence. They remember each other and their love. They remember each other and their loss. He asks her to coffee and she repeats her final words that she said to him back on the island while she was dying– “We can go dutch”. They remember again, and embrace. THIS is what the finale is all about. This is what the entire series is all about. And it is nothing short of beautiful and moving.

When it’s our time to pass on, we hope the experience is exactly like “The End” of LOST.

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