Lost: The New Man in Charge

"We deserve answers!" - Hector of the Dharma Initiative

As I've said before, fans who saw the ending to Lost were, like with many endings to many popular shows, heavily divided in their thoughts. Many loved it to tears, many hated it with a passion, many were still confused. I was the first one. I would have to say that the show's true climax does the right thing by resolving the arcs of the many characters we've cared about over the course of the series. They were the ones that were really important essentially. And by focusing on them and the end of their journey, Lost ended with a breathtaking, emotional ride that concluded a multilayered adventure and reminded us of how much history we've had with it. That being said, answering mind boggling questions was not a major factor. But it's not as if the minds behind Lost were totally oblivious to fans lust for mystery solving or were just copping out. To those who were unsatisfied with the one side, a DVD featurette for Season 6 gives us an epilogue: The New Man in Charge, that answers some of the things you didn't find the time to just interpret for yourself.

(Spoilers)

The plot of The New Man in Charge centers around the missions of the newly appointed representative to the Protector of The Island, Benjamin Linus. His first task leads him to Guam (destination of Ajira 316) where he goes in to shut down a Dharma Initiative warehouse whose primary function was supplying the food drops that we saw in Season 2. The two sole DI employees there are baffled at all that's happened in the past 20 years (they apparently thought the Initiative was still around). Ben pays them but is persuaded to provide them both with an answer to each single questions they have. This leads him to mention the moving Island as well as play DI Orientation tape that explains a few things: the odd selection of animals on The Island and their purposes, the purpose of Room 23, and the infamous "Island pregnancy disorder." Ben soon departs and heads to his next and infinitely more important location. Arriving at Santa Rosa Hospital in Los Angeles, he arrives to meet "Keith Johnson" who we soon learn is Walt Lloyd, the "special" former castaway. Walt was apparently institutionalized when no one believed his story about The Island (I'm assuming because he discovered Michael died). Ben convinces Walt that The Island needs him, and more importantly his father needs him. "Just because he's dead doesn't mean you can't help him." says Ben. Hmm... Anyway, Ben leads Walt out and to the Dharma Bus, where Hurley awaits in the back seat. Walt is overjoyed that one of his old friends came back for him and Hurley assures Walt that The Island is exactly where he is supposed to be, now more than ever because Walt has "work to do." With this, the three drive off into the night, on their way back to The Island where Walt is to take up "a job." Even though I'd say I've had my fill of Lost with the series finale, this was a delight.

Though I would have been more impressed with my original vision of this epilogue: Hurley and Ben just shortly after their inaugerations, burying Jack, with Hurley asking his questions and Ben sort of tutoring him in all things Island; maybe even discovering some new things together, this was still satisfactory for the answer starved part of me. The answers weren't even my favorite part (although I'm glad they finally addressed the pregnancy issue). My favorite parts were the little character moments: Pierre Chang in his omniscient orientation zone; Hurley totally Jacob-in-the-back-of-a-cab esque ; Walt and Ben reminiscing their rather flawed past; the Lost-liners like "we're gonna have to watch that again," "you have work to do," "What happened, happened." Callbacks are always nice when a show has this great of a mythology.

Still this has its flaws. I'm actually less thrilled about answers than I let on. For the most part, when big, drawn out questions were answered on the show they felt pretty anti-climatic. The ones that rarely were were ones regarding the characters (again, characters were more important). Although after awhile the lack of subtlety with question answering was worked in a way that made the show hilariously metafictional (just more props to the writers). There are many times the fans of the show seep into the dialogue of the characters in the later seasons (kinda like Supernatural too). It even happens in here, the two Dharma workers are really just two fanboys confused and looking for resolution to things that puzzled them, and when they got answers to their questions they were even more bewildered. I also felt as if this short was way too short for what it was packing. The answers section in the beginning is clever and interesting but more time was devoted to that section than the Walt section, which I felt was more significant.

This gave more of a sense that the story of Lost continued on even after the point at which the day is saved and everyone goes home in literal or figurative ways in the last episode. There is gonna be, dare I say, even more speculation about the show after this thing. I liked the fact that after five seasons and the shows end, Walt's arc is still present and notoriously undiscovered. He is now a young man whose hasn't found what the others found before or later in their lives: himself. My theory on what his job will be is to hone his gifts to form some kind of powerful Locke-esque communion to The Island. Ben uses Michael as incentive for Walt to return. Michael's spirit told Hurley midway through the final season that "the whispers" on The Island were that of lost spirits who couldn't move on from life, probably due to the terrible choices they made. The whispers parallels the sideways spirits of our characters in the final season who were able to move on due to the fact they were able to find each other again even after death. Walt's primary job: help the lost souls find their own great LAX in the sky, where I'm sure in time the eventual spirits of Walt, Michael, Ana Lucia, Eko, Miles, Richard, Frank, Daniel, Charlotte, Ilana, Eloise, and Widmore will arrive at that church and find Ben waiting so they can find out what comes next. Of course that's just me.

In closing, the epilogue provoked some fun thoughts, but it really is kind of soon for this, like Oliver Stone making W. before Bush was even out of office. I really don't think it will provide the answer seekers any real satisfaction. The twelve minutes of answers that lead to more questions doesn't compare to the two and a half hour epic that was the last and apparently answerless episode, or the entire series for that matter. But being a lover of Lost, just seeing a couple of the characters again and getting excited at speculating their mysterious futures was still enjoyable in its own right. Watching The New Man in Charge isn't by any means necessary, but I wouldn't say it isn't worth seeing. In the end, the only question I'm actually thinking about is how many times have I said "this Lost post will be my last." In truth their will probably be more to come for future anniversaries in tribute for a show that was my first true television addiction. Okay, I'm ending this right now.

This has been more Lostiness from Your Modest Guru. Thanks for reading and Namaste.