It’s over and I feel empty. No other finale happening this week interest me. I feel sad and content all at the same time. I have been counting down to the series finale since 2007 and I never anticipated I would be so crushed on the days following the end.

I have not read any reviews or other opinions of the finale so I could remain unbiased, and for those who have not seen the finale, turn back now because I will openly discuss the series. Long story short: I am a fan of the finale. It satisfied me on my original viewing, it still entertained me on the repeat viewing and there is enough open for interpretation that fans will be given the chance to decide on their own. The finale will change how I view season six but it didn’t rewrite the history before it. Whatever happened, happened.

I was moved by the final act and thought it was great that everyone could get together and have a reunion. The sideways afterlife was a Vanilla Sky “Life Extension” life where you could do what you wanted, be who you wanted to be. Hurley saw himself as lucky, Jack had a family, and even though he was divorced they were still friends, Kate was born to run and Sayid wasn’t with Nadia but could be around her and watch over her. Baggage from their life carried over into their post life but how they dealt with it was how they always wanted to deal with it.

How the afterlife world was created and how they decided to meet at The Lamp Post Church are a mystery to me but they are ones that don’t change the fact that it happened. Daniel Faraday did not go with Desmond and the passengers because the Church gathering was for the survivors of 815, and his time to move on would come later. As to would Ben’s time, always an outcast, he would go when he was ready.

The island story in the finale was everything I could have hoped for. Not all mysteries were answered, and for a show about characters and the issues that affect them directly, I can accept this. The primary concern for the Oceanic crew was how to survive, to defeat the Locke Monster and leave.

Questions about food supply drops, how Tom, Ben, Richard were able to leave the island easily, who was shooting at the Losties in the other outrigger while they were time skipping were not important and didn’t need to be addressed. If a mystery was answered (Who were Adam and Eve?) then it was because it affected the group and was something they wondered too.

I believe Christian Shephard that everything that happened to Jack was real. That the people in the Church were real. Everything from September 22, 2004 until 2007 happened. The footage of the Oceanic wreckage at the end of the credits didn’t mean they all died. It was a gentle reminder to show how far we’ve come, and the ancient battle between Jacob and Man in Black was the backdrop that brought these strangers together. They were taught that if they don’t live together they would die alone, and we saw that even in death they go together.

The predictions I made before the finale were terribly inaccurate, but there were two that were partially correct if you draw outside the lines.

• Rose and Bernard will not be involved in any island conflict but they will be collateral damage from the battle, and Vincent will wait for them at the cabin like Seymour did in the Futurama episode Jurassic Bark.
• Lapidus and Richard are having a big BBQ on The Hydra enjoying the rest of the Dharma beer.

I figured Richard was still alive because a character like his wouldn’t die off screen. However, I did not expect to see Lapidus survive and when they landed on The Hydra I gave myself partial credit for the fact that the BBQ could happen. Rose and Bernard didn’t want to be involved in the conflict, they broke their rule by helping Desmond, and thankfully they were not collateral damage.

Although Vincent laying beside Jack as he died was one of the saddest things I have seen, if the Church reunion didn’t break me emotionally then this did.

Lost was a great series that had mystery and intrigue and characters were complex that they would be loved and hated over the course of the show. Part of the appeal was waiting a week for the next episode to air, to let time for the previous episode to sink in, to read theories and understand what the new questions are.

Lost is an easy show to binge on but it needs to be savored. The fantastic season cliffhangers are only topped by the brain melting premieres, the wonderful soundtrack gives life to the island and seeing the show start to finish is definitely rewarding.

I’ll miss you Lost. You confused and frustrated me, but gave me something to look forward to every week for years and I’ll see you in another life.

Update: I won’t seek out reviews or recaps of the show to understand the show, but I came across this one and I feel it says everything perfectly. Everything I believe about the finale, the Sideways and how it all goes together is written here and I feel it gives me a little closure.

I don’t know how to deal with this. Every year the Lost finale was an event for me, but to be on the verge of the final finale, the end all-be all of finales is tough. Whatever I felt for Battlestar Galactica ending will be dwarfed by this. I have been watching Lost since 2005 and soon all of that time invested will be behind me.

It is for the best that the finale is on a weekend and the following day is Victoria Day, so I have a chance to recover and prepare myself for public interactions on Tuesday. I have come to expect a mind bending twist in the final moments of a season finale followed by months of agony and suffering, but I got through the nine month hiatus because I knew it was coming back. After Sunday that’s it.

I am almost positive that whatever I know or understand about Lost will be turned upside down in the finale but I am going to throw some ideas out there, just to document how off track I was. None of this has been influenced by spoilers, everything is speculation and usually the craziest theories are the ones that tend to be partially correct.

• Jack will be unable to defeat Locke Monster, as he now has the same brotherly powers that Jacob had, so Kate, Hurley and Sawyer will do it. As Locke dies the monster transfers to Sawyer, thus pitting Jack and Sawyer against each other.
• No one will leave the island, even if the Locke Monster is defeated there will be no way for the survivors to leave and the team will help Jack protect the Light from other people that find the island. The show closes with Jack, alone for decades after watching his friends die of old age, working on a loom as a plane splits in two over the island.
• After one more betrayal to the 815′ers Ben will die at the hand of Jack.
• Rose and Bernard will not be involved in any island conflict but they will be collateral damage from the battle, and Vincent will wait for them at the cabin like Seymour did in the Futurama episode Jurassic Bark.
• The cut on LA X Jack’s neck is from an upcoming event in the Prime timeline, after which the Prime line ceases to exist and everyone switches over to the LA X timeline.
• LA X Claire will have Aaron at everyone around her will connect to the baby and remember everything.
• LA X timeline is what happened if there was no Jacob or Man in Black battle.
• LA X 815′ers will be given the choice to live in a world without love or to go to a time where they experienced that love and had a life purpose but at the cost of death.
• Dr. Linus will never have that dinner with Danielle Rousseau.
• In LA X the concert all 815′ers are going to will start with Faraday playing All Along The Watchtower/Final Four Theme on piano and that will magically transfer them back to Prime timeline.
• Lapidus and Richard are having a big BBQ on The Hydra enjoying the rest of the Dharma beer.

In closing, here is a fantastic fan made trailer for the final episode, The End.

I haven’t written about Lost much this season, or about a lot of things in general, but that doesn’t mean I find this season any less amazing. I had faith in the LA X timeline, I thought The Temple storyline was good, and as the series accelerates closer to the end I have no idea what is going on or how it will end. I find it amusing that the characters I care about most (Desmond, Ben, Richard, Jacob, Man in Black) were not even around in season and some weren’t even mentioned until season three.

In light of Lost not being on it’s time to take a walk down memory lane with some scripts from previous episodes. This site has a few scripts from season one and two. I don’t normally read scripts, I imagined they were pretty tame, but if they include the amount of cussing, unsaid suggestion and written like something Quentin Tarantino would do then I should read some more.

One of my favorite Lost episodes was Season 2 – Episode 20 Two for the Road because of the shocking end and here is how some key moments were scripted:

SAWYER
(to Jack)
What? You brought her along for the sympathy vote? Well she ain’t in my head, Doc, so go screw.

Ow. ON KATE, uncomfortable that Sawyer has crossed into this territory. Jack deals with it another way — pulls out HIS fucking gun, sticks it in Sawyer’s face –

JACK
Take us to the guns. Right now.

Now Sawyer has a moment of realization. He doesn’t have his fucking gun! He forgot about it. He involuntarily reaches anyway for the back of his waistband, like you’d check for your missing wallet. Nothing! Double fuck.

SAWYER
That bitch. She stole my damn gun.
(off Jack’s look)
Ana Lucia.

JACK
How’d she do that?

Sawyer’s not about to tell Jack that –

SAWYER
Sonofabitch!

JACK
What does she need a gun for?

Locke knows why: to get fucking revenge. He realizes he might have seriously fucked up.

LOCKE
Jack. I need to tell you something.

BACK ON MICHAEL — And his expression changes — as if he’s in great EMOTIONAL PAIN that he can’t restrain anymore. A single TEAR slips down his cheek. And then, very, very softly, he says –

MICHAEL
I’m sorry.

ANA LUCIA
(confused)
For what?

Michael abruptly STANDS. Points the gun at Ana Lucia.

BLAM.

He shoots her. POINT BLANK.

And Ana’s eyes barely register surprise as she slides off the couch. SLUMPS into a seated position.

She looks up at Michael, still pointing the gun at her as she opens her mouth — but it’s not drawn out. No. Because a moment later, her body just… goes SLACK.

Her eyes stay open, but the lights are out.

Ana Lucia Cortez is dead.

VOICE (O.S.)
(confused)
Michael — ?

BLAM! BLAM!

And Michael is fucking SHOOTING before he even sees what he’s shooting at — INSTINCT now as he WHIPS AROUND towards the sound of that voice and REVEAL –

LIBBY.

SHOCKED. HOLDING THE BLANKETS SHE WAS GETTING FOR HER PICNIC WITH HURLEY. A BLACKENED HOLE now permeates in the center of those blankets as Libby’s knees fucking BUCKLE –

She hits the ground like a back of rocks. Over. DONE.

Oh sweet fucking CHRIST.

TIME STOPS. ON MICHAEL. FREAKING OUT. SWEATING. BLINKING. HIS GUN HAND FUCKING TREMBLING. FROZEN.

And then he BREAKS it. Pulls his eyes away from the dead women as he TURNS — INTENSE — walks over to the ARMORY –

GIACCHINO MUSIC starts to POUND now as his SHAKING HAND spins the COMBINATION DIAL — eighteen to the right — one to the left — thirty-one to the right. HE PULLS DOWN THE HANDLE –

THE DOOR SLIDES OPEN. DARK IN HERE, Michael, the gun at his side, BACKLIT by the living area behind him as we REVEAL…

Henry. Sitting in the corner. Untied.

And considering he just heard three gunshots and a STRANGE MAN is now standing in the doorway of his “cell,” the look on Henry’s face is not one of FEAR…

It is one of ACCEPTANCE.

He stands up. Faces Michael.

And Michael looks at him. ANOTHER tear slides down his face as he raises the gun…

And turns it on HIMSELF — PUSHING IT AGAINST HIS COLLARBONE.

After hearing about the Seinfeld reunion on Curb Your Enthusiasm I watched “The Table Read”, laughed a lot, and decided it was worth it to start from the awkward and uncomfortable beginning. Jenna and I started at the beginning and loved it. It was awkward, embarrassing and hilarious all in one. Curb Your Enthusiasm is far from work safe, but you get so emerged in the dialog that you may not recognize vulgar language until some says something incredibly offensive and then you realize what you are watching.

Classic moments were Larry’s drawn out “pretty good” and whenever he would stare someone down hoping to see the truth in their eyes. Surprisingly, both moments were in a single scene here. Nearly every episode would have us performing some variation of a face palm or head hold while we questioned Larry’s actions. For the most part Larry David was put in terrible circumstances by doing what he thought was right or fair, but it was never seen that way.

The show would bring socially accepted situations or behaviors into question. Things that are accepted “as is” for most of us would get Larry involved in a shouting match with a complete stranger. The show does have a lot of yelling, which is mostly due to not having a script, but that’s how real life goes. You don’t pause for crowd reaction, you continue talking and if you are trying to make a point you just talk louder and force the other person out of the conversation.

In a lot of ways Curb Your Enthusiasm mirrored Seinfeld where nothing would happen. With the exception of a few seasons (The Producers, Seinfeld and restaurant opening) the others carried on without incident and would follow Larry and his friends around various stories and antics. Richard Lewis needing a kidney was a big story but I can’t remember what else happened in that season or how it related. The problem with binging on a show, especially one where the seasons just happen is that you can easily forget what one season was about to the next.

One thing there was never a shortage of was celebrity name drops and appearances from a familiar face. After a while you get used to seeing Ted Danson around or just expect Ben Stiller to be in the next episode, and it was refreshing to have other actors just show up, similar to Entourage but in greater quantity.

After Curb Your Enthusiasm I may venture into It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to continue the comedy against heavy dramas like Deadwood or Mad Men.

One thing I am going to miss the most is the commercials. Advertisement is a necessary evil but I never felt one commercial overly annoyed me, even when played repeatedly. Some commercials still managed to excite me, get my blood racing and induce goosebumps. If you were lucky enough you would see the longer version of a commercial and feel a new surge of emotions all over again.

Here are some of my favorites from February:

Molson Canadian – Made From Canada (YouTube – 1:00)
It has great shots of Canada, inspirational words and as the commercial comes to a close you hear the powerful and always motivating music from Clint Mansell. I saw this commercial several times while I had a MGD in hand and felt a little guilt.

Visa – Go World
The “Go World” campaign was amazing. The commercials would change based on current events (like when Canada won its first gold, YouTube – 0:32) and as the medals accumulated the first names of the athletes would be added into the commercial. These were never dull and even after seeing the Dan Jensen (YouTube – 0:30) or Sara Renner (YouTube – 0:32) ad spots multiple times I still got emotional over it.

More TV spots available at YouTube or on their Facebook page.

Coca Cola – Whose Game They’re Playing
The first time I saw the “Whose Game They’re Playing” (YouTube – 1:02) commercial was in a movie theater in January and the way I felt then is how I felt all the way through February. It’s a great commercial, one that would always force me stop what I was doing and watch.

I have noticed that video montages have been appearing on networks as the Olympics came to an end, but one that really stands out was Stephen Brunt’s emotional discussion about being Canadian and celebrating as a nation. Even after multiple viewings it’s still good.

Thanks Olympics for giving us Canadians something to feel and cheer about, it’s been a fantastic seventeen days.

Will next season start with them landing at LAX successfully or has all of this happened before and will continue to happen?

I wrote that on May 14, 2009 and for the last 265 days I have continued to think about it, understand how it all connects and patiently wait for the last eight and a half months.

I have continued my MSN profile tribute, which has been running since before the start of season five and will continue with it through the remainder of season six. May seems like such a long time ago, and here I am, hours away from the wait being over. It feels like it has gone by fast, and other times it has dragged on.

Tonight will be the last Lost premiere. The last chance for a new curve ball to be thrown. The last time the season can open on a new eye and a new piece of the puzzle to be introduced. Tonight is the last time I order Hawaiian pizza for the premiere. Tonight, it is finally tonight. I am almost in disbelief that this moment has finally come.

It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress. (Jacob from The Incident)

The Christmas break for TV shows has started to kick in. Some shows (FlashForward, V) may not return until after the Olympics, others will begin again in January, but this quiet is the calm before the storm. It will give me a chance to re-watch season five of Lost and prepare for the final season in February.

Details about the sixth season are very accessible. Casting spoilers can appear in an interview for TV Guide or in a not-Lost related article. With just over fifty days to go it is easy to cave and read the smallest detail, but I want to go into February with as much unknown as possible.

To pass the time a little easier and get excited for the upcoming season I have spent a lot of time watching fan made Lost trailers. In Preparation for Season 6 is some of the best fan work I have seen on any trailer. Keeping in ABC fashion (where no new footage is shown in previews) these videos do a great job of building up certain elements of the show.

Blue Skies Over Bad Lands
Sadly the giant black hole that appeared over Norway turned out to be nothing more than the Russians testing a missile out at water. The photos from this entertained the alien geek in all of us and fueled the what if conversation a little bit more.

Tube Steak Challenge
A long overdue update wouldn’t be without an increase to the Tube Steak Challenge. Thanks to my nieces second birthday I was able to add three more to the drive to fifty-two.

I immediately thought of one thing; the new Apple Magic Mouse!

Way to go team, way to go.

Unfortunately we sit in that eight month void when Lost is not on, but I am able to get by with the new fall programming on the networks. My weekly viewing routine has stayed the same as last year, but with a few slight changes.

30 Rock and Community join my ‘watch immediately’ category. I was able to catch up on 30 Rock over the summer months and have been happy to add this to my weekly programming. After going through the series in a matter of weeks I was really satisfied and glad to finally catch up on a show that has been dominating the Emmy’s for the last few years.

Community was a leap of faith and it has paid off in a big way. The pilot was made available for online viewing prior to its network premiere so I had read a bit of chatter about from those in TV IV and thought it would be worth looking into. It had a slow start and I was doubtful if I would stick with it, but after a third of its season I look forward to Thursday’s when I can see this in the NBC comedy sandwich.

During the summer months we also caught up on Entourage and Weeds. After seeing bits and pieces of Deadliest Catch we tuned in for its complete season on Discovery and love every moment of it. We can say that we have seen Deadliest Catch in four separate countries, a show none other can claim.

A surprise addition to my schedule came when I had some time in September to watch both seasons of True Blood. After you binge on a show there is always some separation anxiety, but after finishing True Blood I was in a rough spot. I haven’t felt this kind of withdrawal from a TV show since Dexter. Even now I still miss it, and the wait for its return next summer is made easier knowing that Lost stands between me and the return to Bon Temps.

There Goes My Hiro

It has been almost a year since I saw my last episode of Heroes. This time off was not intentional, we just never got around to watching the remainder of season three after its mid-season break. As the months went on we had stock piled enough episodes to binge properly we just never returned.

We continued to put it off in favor of some other time, and when Buffy and Angel occupied our summer we fell further away from Heroes.

Now season four is off and running and with nearly twenty episodes to catch up on our motivation and enthusiasm about returning to a show that has betrayed us was growing thin and I finally made things official and bid farewell to Heroes.

I have never quit a show during its run. Shows have been cancelled on me (Daybreak) while I was watching and others came to an end (Battlestar Galactica, ER); but I have not stopped mid-season on a show before. Abandoning a show I have invested many hours in was a difficult choice, but it was oddly liberating to no longer have Heroes hanging above me.

This past summer, Jenna and I spent some quality time watching a TV show. Our television summer hiatus included watching two shows: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Two shows is a small number, but these two shows comprised of twelve seasons, had 254 episodes between them and it consumed four months of our time.

The Whedon vempire (vampire empire) was cheesy, fun and a good way to make the gap between new television. When Angel became its own series we watched the shows the way they were meant to be watched, meaning we were true to the air dates of the shows and watched them in the order they aired. This made any character or story cross overs a little more enjoyable. Oz would leave Sunnydale and then appear in LA, or when it involved a major reveal like Drusilia or Darla going from one show to the other, or Faith crossing between Los Angeles and Sunnydale it was a great payoff. I wish they would have utilized that more because when it happened it was fun television.

Trying to review these shows is tough, each had such strong high’s and such terrible low’s. We were warned about season one of Buffy, and it’s a good thing because if we didn’t know it would improve our enthusiasm to continue would have been lower than a snake pit that frat boys worship in their basement. One thing I did appreciate was that even if an episode was weak it would be referenced later (usually in jest) or they would go back to a character that was introduced (Ms. Calendar).

I have always read about Firefly, Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog and Dollhouse being Whedeonesque but I never appreciated that until Buffy. There is a definite character and language style about Whedon shows. It was a common occurrence that a serious episode would end on a one liner from Xander. Or there would be one extra beat too many after a line and credits would roll. It was common that there would be throw away lines that were awkward and didn’t fit, but it was Whedon’s trademark coming through.

Buffy was our favorite series of the two, and some of the best episodes I have ever seen came from Buffy. Episodes like Passion, The Body, Hush or The Gift were amazing. They were what kept us coming back for more, hoping for repeat perfection. The seasons started to blend together but I was a big fan of two through five. When season five started I was against it completely because they blindsided the audience with the introduction of Dawn.

After you grudgingly started to accept her appearance they explain how she is The Key and the season takes a staggering turn for awesome. The finale of season five was amazing. It was the perfect series ender, and even though season six was strong (Buffy struggling with being brought back could have been a nice parallel for how the show felt about being brought back from cancellation), it was too fitting of an end.

My favorite character of the two shows was Wesley. When he appeared in Buffy he was a bumbling, awkward and terrible Watcher. Giles slapped him around and after Faith went rogue he crumbled, packed up his life and went to LA where he became awesome. The transition was slow, and not without character torment. As Angel progressed Wesley came into his own with interesting story arch’s, and had several seasons of him struggling against Angel, Gunn and Fred.

She wasn’t my favorite character, but Cordellia’s transition between Buffy and Angel was amazing. In Buffy she was an annoying cheerleader that toyed with the emotions of others. When she showed up in LA she had a purpose and provided something to the team. She became compassionate and was doing things with the interest of others at heart. Her story became a little too much for us to enjoy around season four but her transition from boring to brave was good while it lasted.

It’s odd, but when we were watching Angel we wanted more Buffy, and when we were watching Buffy we wanted more Angel. We found the best experience was when Angel and Buffy shared an episode or story line (before the Angel spin off). When Angel got his own show the mystique around him was lost and the hiding in corners Angel character from Buffy had gone. I did enjoy that Angel became this caricature and instead of shying away from it they would play it up, especially in episodes like Smile Time.

However, I did enjoy the back story of Angel. There weren’t many episodes that went to his past but there was always enough to give new information on his character. There was always enough Drusilia or Darla but those two became my favorite b-characters. Drusilia never changed, she was always a star gazing, wide eyed doe and I liked her for that. Her occasional growls to Spike or lines like “I’m going to be a mummy” always kept me amused.

After much encouragement from Tracey to watch these shows I am glad we took the time to get through them, and maybe years from now we will go down this road again but for now we will let students transformed into hyena’s lie and concentrate on fresh TV in the 2009-2010 schedule.