Okay, it has been almost a week since the finale, and I think I am ready to talk about it in more depth. let me do standard caveats that this is all IMO, And I don't think the last episode was bad, I just don't like the resolution it brought to the series. I also don't think the wreckage at the end was Ajira or that the island was purgatory so you can separate me from the crazy group.
The short review is:
I didn't like it.
The long review is:
I think season 6 was fundamentally flawed in its conception, and the ultimate gambit of that plays out in the finale, making me not enjoy the episode on total. I don't have a problem specifically with giving the characters an epilogue, but from the beginning of season 6 I said I would be disappointed if that was what the entirety of X was. Either in the form of limbo or in a hard reset where they regain their experiences. So at the outset this wasn't going to be a resolution I enjoyed.
I think a big reason for disliking the X resolution in hindsight is how it minimized the impact of certain events throughout the season:
The impact of the deaths of Sun/Jin, Sayid and even Juliet were all lessened for me because I was watching everyone running around in X. I was believing that these characters were all alive and well still, and it took all semblance of tragedy out of it. Retroactively discovering that they were "dead and well" instead of alive and well did not fundamentally change this. In fact it may even reduce the emotional impact even further than initially, unlike say, finding out at the end of season 5 that Locke was really MIB and Locke was really gone.
This extends beyond deaths as well, X being purgatory just really lowers the stakes of all of season 6 for me. I was not convinced that the entire world and life itself were at stake if Smokey left. Damon & Carelton can say on a podcast that smokey is evil incarnate all they want, they didn't set this up within the framework of the show effectively, and where they did touch on it in the show, they ultimately diluted it with X or by other means. Did they really save the world? There is not sufficient information to make this assertion, and it's easy to interpret the characters who told us the stakes were immense were either lying, or just didn't really know themselves. I kept expecting things to go real bad in X to show was why this was still so important.
I also didn't like the way X was structured to intentionally mislead the viewer. The cold open from the bomb to LA X, the island being underwater, Juliets "It worked" from beyond the grave etc. I don't mind a red herring now and then, but this was fundamentally intended to mislead people who pay close attention. This is the opposite of what they did in the Season 3 finale where they left some clues out in the open.
I won't dive into how the hug-o-thon in the church was awful fanservice, or how X itself felt like fanfic, others have covered this better than me.
"Bu bubu bu bu it was a world created by flawed individuals!"
Who? Lindelcuse are flawed? You just told me how godly they were
I understand the writers desires to give these characters happy endings, and I understand a fans attachment to that sort of resolution. We loved these characters, and they all deserved a happy ending. But Lost was a drama, and a lot of great drama and writing that D&C were inspired by has its share of tragedy. The only "Brave storytelling" was not giving in to the incessant whining of "Answers" and leaving the truly inconsequential things open.
But, my absolute BIGGEST complaint with the purgatory idea is that these characters somehow NEEDED this world to move on. I think it cheapens the growth they had during the show.
Don't tell me Jack needed to fix John, or talk to his Dad to be able to let go and move on. When he smiled at Ajira, and shut his eye with his last breath he had already learned to let go. When he told Flocke that he wished he could have told John he was right when he was still alive he had already learned to let go. When he saved Desmond and bathed in Radioactive Gatorade to return the cork he had learned to let go. These characters didn't DO anything in the X world that redeemed or completed their souls, they were just there and had memories of what they had already done. I think most of our favorite characters had come to these resolutions in their own time on the show, and to say that they all needed to see each other again to realize this is a disservice to the character arcs they had already established so strongly.
I would only really change one thing in the finale: when Hurley asked Ben to be number 2. They went so crazy for echoed dialog this season but they missed a PERFECT opportunity for Hurley to echo Jacob and say "What about you" in a completely different tone and to different affect. "I could really use someone with a lot of experience to help me... What about you?"
Now a couple of things I loved about the finale.
Jack's "falcon punch" on Locke
Hurley becoming the protector
Laurel and HardyBen + Hurley island bros 4 life
Having the balls to show more new mysteries knowing they would never be resolved (the cuneiform on the cork, the other skeletons in the source etc.)
The final shot with Jack and the dog
Richard's Gray Hair
In closing I leave with this to blow your mind on: The island was purgatory the whole time
