My ending.

[slenzo]

In order to cope with the great pain and sorrow I am experiencing. I have written an alternate ending to LOST. If you too are suffering from the pain that Cuse and Lindelof have caused you, please read the attached doc. I've worked on it for a few hours so I don't have many details, but this is how I am going to remember LOST. So if it doesn't jive what's on TV, that's YOUR problem.

Feel free to ask questions or add comments.

SLenzo

PS> Jay and/or Jack. I would like for you to read this alternate story on your show.

Attachments:

[wvkarmatoburn]

Here's an idea.........
how about just pasting the text here instead of asking a bunch of people who don't know you to download your "word document". Then when people don't jive with what you have written don't ask for questions or comments. Mkay?

[slenzo]

wvkarmatoburn

I didn't know if the moderator would boot me for an excessive post, but I guess that's a lot safer than a file transfer.

Post coming up.

[slenzo]

My LOST Finale
by Slenzo

As he clearly states, the Smoke Monster wants to leave the island, but this is not his only intention. In addition to leaving, the Monster needs to destroy the Light Source at the heart of the island. If Smokey destroys the light, Jacob will die because the Protector’s only purpose is to safeguard the heart of the island. Destroying the light makes both Jacob and Smokey mortals and plunges the island into the ocean. Destroying the Light Source will also extinguish the light in all of us, eventually killing off all life on the planet (Jacob’s mother spoke of this a few episodes ago). Smokey is driven on this wicked path because he has seen the dark side of man for many centuries and is set on destroying all of humanity as a punishment for their selfish and destructive ways. He also feels slighted because the woman who raised him, murdered his birth mother, tried to kill him, and favored his brother Jacob. The theme of fractured parental relationships drives many of the Lost characters to do things that are immoral and harmful to themselves and others… this is relationship is no exception.

Fortunately, Jacob is aware of Smokey’s plans so he begins to recruit candidates to stop the monster in the event he, Jacob, cannot live up to his duties as Protector. Remember the rock game these two play throughout their lives? Smokey is always depicted as having the upper hand and/or understanding the rules better than Jacob. Knowing that Smokey can easily outwit him, Jacob “vets” 360 candidates throughout time and narrows his search down to the passengers on Flight 815.

The candidates crash land on the island and begin their long journey of self-discovery. Smokey sees that the island has new visitors and at first believes that they are merely more visitors looking to wipe out the islands current inhabitants. It’s the same story over and over again. As time goes on, Smokey realizes that Jacob is concocting a master plan to prevent him from ever leaving the island. Smokey is outraged and begins picking off the candidates one by one.

Jacob is overmatched and he knows it. He begins recruiting other folks like Charles Widmore and Eloise Hawking to help him. Their job is to protect the island’s Light Source from Smokey and his turncoat recruit, Benjamin Linus. If needed, they will also usher in a new Protector if Jacob cannot fulfill his duties.

As Season Six begins, Widmore is finding his way back to the island with a few plans in hand. The first would be to defend the Light Source with High Frequency Sonar fences. Though effective, these fences are nothing more than a red herring to shift Smokey’s attention away from plans two and three. The next plan would be to kill Ben Linus, but Widmore cannot do this himself in cold blood due to an agreement the two have. So he would have to find someone or something else to see the murder through. The third plan is to have Desmond enter the cave and remove the stone covering the Light Source well. According to theory, if Desmond (who is immune to the effects of electromagnetism) can remove the stone, such an action will strip Smokey of his powers making him mortal and thus susceptible to bullets, knifes, bombs, etc... Smokey will have to be assassinated by one of Widmore’s men and Desmond’s job would then be to replace the stone returning the island to a “normal” state sans Smokey.

When Charles arrives at the island he is informed by Jacob that these plans will not work, they need a contingency plan. With that, Widmore rethinks his strategy and adopts a two pronged approach focused around Desmond and his ability to persuade others. The new plans include a decoy Desmond on the island in 2007 and a contingency Desmond working in the alternate universe back in 2004.

With that, let’s take a look at the alternate universe. The alternate universe exists because in 1977 a nuclear bomb was detonated over an auxiliary access point to the Light Source causing it to be extinguished. The blast radius was relatively small, lets say a mile or so, because the gravity caused by the electro magnetic source didn’t allow the blast to exceed too far from the point of detonation. When the light was extinguished, the island began to tremble and the Others living on it began to flee. Most of them died, but a good number of the members made it to the submarine and fled for the mainland (both Linus’s included). From this point on, the alternate universe was created and we are made privy to this in the first episode of Season Six when Oceanic Flight 815 flies over the ocean (in 2004). The camera pans downward and we get a glimpse of the island sunken beneath the Pacific.

Focusing on Desmond and the contingency plan in the alt-universe, we discover that his goal in this universe is to get everyone who was a candidate on the 815 flight in the same place at the same time. If Desmond can get everyone to the church, the Losties may be able to switch timelines and save the world. But, even though it may be the goal for all of the candidates to collect in the church in alt-2004, the opposite is true for the island in 2007. All of the candidates must be off the island, and by off I mean dead. This Grand Resolution or Big Switch is only achieved when all of the variables (candidates) and constants (their relationships) are in one timeline and not in the other. If Desmond can pull this contingency plan off, then the Losties would be able to “will” the alternate universe onto the “real historical timeline” and push the real 2007 island timeline into oblivion. Got it?

Okay, this is how I see the final episode should have played out.

Smokey and Ben begin scouring the island to eliminate everyone on it save Jack and Desmond. Jack cannot be eliminated because of the rules, and Smokey wants Desmond alive so that he could go into the cave and extinguish the light. Neither Smokey nor Jack can enter the cave on their own because both are forbidden. As these men begin their hunt, Jack moves to “defend” the cave and instructs Sawyer, Kate, Hurley, Miles, Richard, etc… to split up in smaller groups and disperse. Sawyer is okay with this because he has a plan to get off the island and doesn’t care if he does it with the whole group, with Kate or alone… he just wants off. Desmond accompanies Smokey and Ben and watches helplessly as his friends are cut down one by one (this includes Rose, Bernard and Vincent… sorry Lepidus is already dead in this story).

The hunt lasts for two hours, but is broken up by sideway flashes into the alternate universe. Everything we saw in the flashes in the Finale occur, the writers did an excellent job and I wouldn’t change a thing except the last 10 minutes. In alt-2004, Desmond begins connecting the Losties with other Losties and guides them to the church. As more and more Losties make the connections, momentum builds and more and more about the 2007 island universe is revealed. Losties begin connecting other Losties and even Others that survived the blast in 1977 join in. Everyone is on the same page, except for Dr. Jack. With about 30 minutes left, the viewers are starting to piece together what is going on and begin rooting for Jack to come around, find the church and change the timeline.

On the island in 2007, Smokey is feeling awfully roostery. The candidates are being eliminated one by one (I won’t go into details but they all die by either being shot, sliced, slammed or crushed) and the Monster has Desmond seemingly under his control. Smokey believes that Widmore’s original plan and his contingency plan (actually the decoy plan) will not work. It is a matter of time before he reaches the Light Source. All Smokey needs now is to have Ben Linus lead Desmond into the cave and extinguish the light. This will cause Jack and Smokey to become mortal. Then either he or Ben will have to finish off mortals Jack and Desmond; granting Smokey his freedom. Ben will get his ultimate wish to rule the island, albeit for a short period because it will sink into the ocean killing him… a raw deal for Dr. Linus I guess. Now remember, Smokey has no clue that there is another Desmond in the alt-2004 timeline plotting his demise. Smokey clearly underestimates his brother’s and Widmore’s combined intelligence.

In the alternate world, the Losties are congregating at the church with a few of them making a detour to the concert to collect the likes of Charlie, Claire, Farraday and Charlotte. By this time all of them have full comprehension of their mission. All except Jack, he is in a state of denial just like the Jack we knew in Seasons 1 and 2. With the exception of a tiny flash here and there, Dr. Shephard is completely oblivious as to what he needs to do. While in his office, he places a call to Oceanic Airlines inquiring about the delivery of his father’s coffin. He is told that they don’t have any record of it being delivered and they fear they may have lost it again. Outraged, Jack slams the phone and heads to LAX. On his way out he sees Juliet and Sawyer pulling away in an unmarked police car. Juliet signals Sawyer to stop and shouts out the window for Jack to follow them. Jack waves them off because he is too busy and too enraged to deal with his ex wife and the snarky investigator. Before hastening away, he shouts to Juliet across the parking lot that he will see her at the concert tonight. Sawyer lets out a “son-of-a-pregnant dog” and attempts a U-turn. Juliet grabs the steering wheel and looks into Sawyer’s eyes. She tells him not to worry, Jack will come through in the end. Knowing Jack and his dogged determination from the 2007 timeline, Sawyer agrees and the two head to the hills. Jack jumps into his car and speeds to the airport to ream out the man behind the counter.

On the island, the inhabitants are down to four: Jack, Smokey, Ben and Desmond. They convene in front of the cave, eyes locked and steely nerved. Smokey tells Jack to give it up, but he dismisses his request. The Monster signals over to Ben. The turncoat responds by sticking his rifle into the ribs of Desmond. Linus tosses his head in the direction of the cave, commanding the Scotsman to enter. Smokey satisfactorily watches Ben and Desmond walk towards the Light Source, grinning and nodding ever so slightly. A fist finds its way to the Monster’s jaw. The two immortals begin to scrap but unlike other classic Lost brawls, the contest is bloodless. It is a futile endeavor, but both of them go at it anyway.

Jack pulls up to the airport in 2004, and argues with the associates behind the counter. He gets nowhere and realizes that he is running late for the concert. He has a hunch that the coffin may have already been delivered to the church but opts to head to the concert instead. He just doesn’t have the time to do both and no one at the church is answering the phone.

In the cave, Desmond and Ben reach the Light Source chamber. Ben signals to Desmond to remove the stone as per Smokey’s instructions. Desmond sheepishly complies.

Speeding in and out of traffic, Jack winds his way through Los Angeles and heads for the hills. He thinks he can make it in time to catch the end of the concert, but unbeknownst to him, the concert ended a half hour ago due to a medical emergency. Suddenly, a car crashes into Dr. Shephard’s vehicle. He is knocked unconscious and is slumped over the wheel. The door to his car opens and two nondescript arms reach in and grab Jack’s limp body.

Smokey and Jack are slugging it out in the stream at the entrance of the grotto. Neither is getting anywhere, but this is exactly what Smokey AND Jack want. They both want to buy time and keep one another occupied.

Desmond removes the stone, a brilliant flash lights up the cavern and is quickly extinguished, the water is choked off and drained, the cave now glows an eerie crimson. Both Desmond and Ben are a bit shaken but both have survived the ordeal. Ben too is immune to the EM wave as evident when he turned the infamous donkey wheel in Season 4. Desmond slowly glances up to Ben and smiles; “you know what you have to do now brotha?” Ben nods and pulls the trigger. Desmond collapses to the ground. Ben looks unaffected by his murderous act. He then mutters, “I know all too well what I have to do now.”

The shot rings out of the cave and grabs Smokey’s attention. Jack throws another sucker punch to the Monster’s nose knocking him onto the seat of his pants. Blood is drawn. The earth shakes. Both men know the Light Source has been taken out and that they are both mortals. Only one of them will make it to the end, an end that is all too near. Smokey confidently announces that the tide of the battle has turned; it is two against one, a knife and a rifle against nothing. Jack is doomed. Another shot echoes from the cave. Jack turns around, and glances at the mouth of the grotto. It is empty. Jack pauses and smiles. Undeterred, Smokey unsheathes his knife and stabs Jack in the neck.

Everything goes black.

A series of Jack-centric events fill the screen. A green eye pops open. Dr. Jack Shephard, lies on the floor of a church. Ben Linus appears in Jack’s view and smiles. Linus apologizes to Jack for ramming his car into Jack’s auto but it was the only thing he could think of in such short notice. The Losties were running out of time and they couldn’t afford to have Jack climb the hill and enter the concert only to find it had concluded early when Charlie jumped off stage to assist Kate deliver Claire’s son, Aaron. If the island is destroyed in 2007, the ripples of that event will go both forward AND backwards in time in a matter of minutes, the time shockwave would peel the alternate universe off from the main timeline thus ending its existence. Jack understands now. He brushes himself off and shifts his focus to the entire congregation of Losties including Michael, Walt, Anna Lucia, Nikki, Paulo and Mr. Eko. They are standing in the pews, holding hands over and across the rows creating a web of variables connected by constants. John Locke, Kate, Hurley and Alex reach out their hands to Jack and Ben respectively. The equation is complete. A brilliant golden flash, lights up the church and then silence. The alternate universe becomes the main timeline. The island timeline and Smokey disappear into oblivion.

The camera pans the congregation in slow motion. Everyone is happy, holding one another, laughing. Success. During the celebration Jack peers down the isle and sees something he didn’t notice before. His father’s coffin flanked by Anthony Cooper and Roger Linus. Both men are in wheelchairs and both men are resting their hands on the coffin. Christian Shephard was also a variable in life and in death. The camera pans the crowd once more and pulls back. Hovering over the church for a moment, the camera then begins to glide towards the ocean. It plunges into the depths and we see the remains of Taweret’s statue, the Dharma campus, and the temple. The camera snakes around the island a bit more and dives into a familiar looking under water cave. In it we see a plugged well with a dimly lit stone pulsing above it. The heart of the island beats on even after the nuclear blast in 1977. The damage the blast caused extinguished the light, sinking the island and killing Jacob and the Smoke Monster. But it didn’t stay out for long. As the time shockwave flowed from 1977 to the future, it was counter-acted and overtaken by a much more powerful shockwave moving backwards in time that the Losties generated in the church in alt-2004. The 2007 timeline didn’t adhere to either causalities and thus was stripped off from the main timeline and disappeared into oblivion. The timeline of humankind is linear once more with the island being destroyed in 1977 and the passengers of Flight 815 landing safely in LAX to go on about their daily routines as a doctor, police investigator, wealthy restauranteur, teacher, etc…

The island is now safe and secure under many leagues of ocean. It is safe from man and monster for eternity.

[cucumberjones]

What? You mean it isn't common to go around on message boards posting attachments of text files? I thought that's what they were all about...

I have a better idea: why not just write out your own story entirely and then you can add your asinine ending to that, instead of the perfect finale that Lost had. Even if you hated the finale, I don't see how you could just pretend it didn't exist and make up your own story. Like it or not, it's how the show ended--deal with it.

[wiired]

Agree with cucumberjones. I loved the ending myself. And I hope slenzo for your own sake at some point you accept it

[slenzo]

@ cucumberjones and wiired. Did you at least read it? What parts didn't you like? You just seem to be critical of me and my opinion of the finale, and not of my work.

Thank you in advance for your constructive criticism.

[eking64]

but the bomb didn't work, Juliet was talking about the vending machine when she says to Sawyer "it worked"...that whole conversation with Sawyer that occurred earlier this season was about the vending machine and going to get coffee.

[slenzo]

@eking very good point however, "it worked" in the context of the network finale didn't mean anything until the last episode. The whole season could have gone multiple ways (multiple time lines, purgatory, a dream etc.) because the context was very flexible.

Since I am rewriting the last episode and removing any and all allusions to purgatory. "it worked" in the context of this personalized episode means the bomb went off and two time lines were created.

Thank you for taking the time to read it.

[wiired]

Slenzo I have no problem with you writing about things the writers of the show may not have addressed or directly answered. But I don't see the point in re-writing cannon.
Your ending is interesting, but I prefer the way the show actually ended

[slenzo]

Fair enough wiired.

[wentwj]

First off, I've come to terms with the series finale, I'm alright with it. But my biggest problem with it when it aired, was that it made me extremely de-value the flash sideways. All the intricacies and mysteries ultimately were meaningless. I can see what they wanted to do, with their happy ending and ultimate resolution, but to me spending half a season on it wasn't worth the pay off.

My biggest problem with yours slenzo, is that I don't like the notion of the main timeline being "destroyed". I want it resolved in a manner that doesn't eradicate the show we've been watching for 6 years.

My theory before the finale aired, that I thought FOR SURE was going to happen until about 15 minutes before the show ended, is still my favorite end... though of course since it's my solution, I'm partial to it. I figured that island jack would realize that he couldn't beat smokey, and would, in essence 'let the wookie win', and smokey would get off the island, which would somehow inadvertantly cause the alt reality.

Desmond and pals would then round everyone up in the alt reality, as happened, and then once everyone had 'woken up' they would ultimately do something in the alt that would defeat smokey and 'reset' back to the main universe.

Anyone, I know it's vague and not well defined, it's just that the story that I've cared about for the last six years was the story on the island, the 'real world'. I watched under the premise that everything was really happening, and wasn't a dream or purgatory (and the main story wasn't). I was intensely interested in the alt reality, not really for itself, I mean it was interesting to see characters in a new light, but I assumed it'd somehow feedback on the main island story, and THATS what I was waiting for. Instead, making it purgatory-ish really took the teeth out of it for me. All the pieces of it fell apart. Keemy's alt story, in fact most of the alt stories, now seem like mostly jibberish, non-sensical, and irrelevant. The island was sunk? So what, it was just a made up universe for them to 'meet' each other, the island really plays no real role. Presumably no one could have died, jack's son doesn't really exist, jack and juliet being married is completely unimportant. It seems like they spent half a season just to give a warm and fuzzy ending, but we had to deal with what was mostly fluff for that half to get there. I'd rather have a grittier ending with more meat to it. I didn't really need more mythological answers, I was fine with what we got, but give us more story answers, or just more story in general, instead of fluff to support a 5 minute warm and fuzzy ending.

Still I liked the ending enough, it didn't ruin a show, just toned down half this las season.

[slenzo]

Thanks Wentwj, your concerns about the network finale echo mine to some degree.

My biggest issue with the finale and I guess the entire 6th season is that the recipe for the show was changed. The first 5 seasons focused on the characters, their relationships, their history and their interactions with a mysterious island in the Pacific. The episodes were captivating and chock full of mysteries that kept us at the edge of our seats. The 6th season is basically Jack's point of view as he dies. One character with no allusions to the past, just a flash sideways that doesn't really happen.
What was the purpose of the entire season? What was the purpose of Ab Aeterno, Across the Sea, What Kate Does, etc...? The writers just paying up lip service by giving us answers to a few of the mysteries? Ok, I know the Jacob and Man in Locke have rules they need to abide by... who cares. This season was about Jack dying. Wow, Sun and Jin finally reunite after jumping through time for a season only to die in each others arms. So what? The season was about Jack dying. Sawyer is riddled with anger and guilt as he loses Juliet, causes Sayid, Sun and Jin to die... will he ever come to grips with it? Maybe, maybe not. We will never know because Jack is dying.

I would have loved a different ending other than a dream or purgatory. Because a dream or purgatory are two literary devices that the Producers swore they weren't using in Seasons 1-5. All of a sudden, half of the story line in Season 6 is purgatory. C'mon!

I will stand by the first 2 hours and 15 minutes. After that, the entire series earned a big black eye because of the purgatory bent. That's why I wrote a different ending. You (collective you, not wentwj) may not like it or have your own opinions that differ, that's fine. But if you think that pulling a purgatory card and revolving a season around Jack is a better option... than I think you need to re-think.

[cucumberjones]

I didn't read it, Slenzo--mostly because it's long and I really don't care for the whole premise. As wiired said, I don't see the pointing in re-writing cannon, let alone reading it. Now if you wanted to make up fictional stories about Hurley being the leader of the island, or Jacob's early days as leader, I would probably read that.

[slenzo]

your post speaks volumes cucumberjones