Better Purgatory: The Island or The Sideways?

[LockeRulez]

(I guess none of us know what Darlton was thinking, but let's go with this rumor for the point of discussion.)

What do you guys think? I guess the theory is that originally The Island was supposed to be Purgatory, but since everyone figured it out, they scrapped that idea and later switched it to The Sideways.

Would you have been more satisfied one way or the other?

From the character/story viewpoint, the main difference is that in The Sideways you don't really remember everything from your previous life. This is definitely something that I am not in love with. There is some arbitrary point when your life is different for some unexplained reason, and you have very different people in your life (like David). Maybe its inferred that you made your life what you really wanted it to be in The Sideways, but maybe not. Either way, you have a different life, and your time on the Island time no longer happens in your Sideways life. That definitely bothers me because it was supposed to be the most important time in their lives. And then when you realize you're dead and its time to move on, you're happy to leave something as important as your son (David) behind. Obviously its not as easy black and white, and Eloise & Ben clearly decided to stay behind. So in this case, I like the idea of The Island better as Purgatory because you would immediately continue on from the point you died until you are "redeemed" or ready to move on. From the character standpoint, that makes more sense to me than the less-connected Sideways.

So next, the mythology standpoint. Would you have been happier if the final answer at the end was that The Island was just Purgatory, so everything that happened there was possible (and didn't need a scientific explanation) because you weren't on Earth anymore?? That would be a nice easy answer to long life, healing, etc. I'm really not sure I would have liked that better. I kind of liked that there was really not mythology stuff in The Sideways. Nothing was fantastic, until you moved on. I did like that it was more like real life (to allow you to deal with your problems) than real life (on the Island) was.

I think they had to do it this way so no one would catch on that The Sideways was Purgatory. Darlton corrected their early mistakes from The Island as Purgatory.

I think overall I would have liked it better to be The Island, if it was done well enough to trick us for 6 seasons. I probably would have been a bit disappointed that the explanation to everything was that it was all fake, but to me at least that answer would have been better than nothing.

What do you think? (is anyone still here?)

[spinaltumor]

I honestly don't think it makes a lick of sense that the Island could have ever been Purgatory or some sort of afterlife.
I can only assume the theory was made by people who never really watched Lost but still pretend they know everything about it.

Why, in the pilot episode, would there be a polar bear in Purgatory? Why scientific research stations? Why would there be a radio tower signal? Why would these people all form relationships in the afterlife with people they never knew when they were alive? Why would they have been able to leave the Island and then come back to it again later?

As I understood it, Darlton weren't exactly sure which direction to go after The Incident, and were pleased they could show both scenarios...if the bomb worked and if it didn't. That makes it sounds like any purgatory thinking only came in right at the end. It was never something planned from the start. Just the start of season 6.

Either way, I would have despised the ending being that they were dead all along. I really can't think of the writers even remotely thinking that as a way of ending it. Maybe if the show only lasted one season...but otherwise? I just don't see it.

[Uncle Igmar]

Yeah - what she said.

But I thought of another "U" turn issue that - based on audience reaction - Cuse and Lindeolff (sorry - I refuse to call them Darlton - it sounds too stupid) could have put the old kibosh on - the idea of introducing even more new crash survivors. I would love to ask them if the reaction to Nikki and Paulo stopped them from introducing any other LOSTies to the Starting Team (so to speak).

I mean the 2nd stringers - Rose and Bernard - Frogurt - the guy with the weird rash who wanted to join in the golfing - even Scott and Steve - had at least been mentioned from the beginning. Even the entry of Arzt kind of late in the game - near the end of the 1st Season - sort of seamed natural.

[monsterjester]

Even if the intention was there early on, I'm sure they scrapped it when they realized the show would last and fans would ultimately see that as a cop out. But I do think there's room for interpretation; while I watched every show, and would never pretend to know everything about it, I don't get why some fans are in a huff over this. While it's clear the writers did not intend to imply that the whole series was some kind of paradise, for some of us fans who enjoyed the finale but craved payoffs for some of the bigger mysteries, the whole wacky shebang representing Jack's need to be at peace before moving on makes a certain sense. Magic island, smoke monster that makes mechanical sounds, weird hatches, glowy lights, time skipping, moving/vanishing island, dangling plot threads, characters come and go, one person taking the form of or representing another--all things that remind me of my stranger fever dreams that my brain would try to string together. I just kind of think it's poetic, and that Christian's assurance that "all those people" and "everthing that happened" were real could just be his way of saying that they had all been "real" to him--because he needed it all to be ready to move on. But I'm not an idiot, and don't think this is how the writers intended it--I just like that it kind of explains how weird the whole series was, which was one of my favorite parts about it, as much as I loved the characters.

[spinaltumor]

Uncle Igmar - I think they said as much at the New York Times Talk live if I remember correctly. That Nikki and Paulo didn't work out, so they knew not to make that mistake again.

[Uncle Igmar]

Jun 1, 2010 11:53:31 GMT -5 spinaltumor said:

Uncle Igmar - I think they said as much at the New York Times Talk live if I remember correctly. That Nikki and Paulo didn't work out, so they knew not to make that mistake again.

Oh OK - I totally missed the NY Times thing - I withdraw my question Your Honor.