LOST: Happily Ever After

Confusing, uplifting, heartbreaking, illusory—so many possible labels for this fairy tale, but then, fairy tales are supposed to be outside the realm of reality.


I’ve been remiss with spoilers, so I’ll apologize if I inadvertently indicated plot or character twists in my Facebook post today. I’ll reiterate that all of my blogs about LOST, posted any time from a few minutes to 24 hours after East Coast US broadcast, will definitely spoil you if you haven’t seen the latest episode. Please read at your own risk.


What happens when what seems to be the proverbial happy ending really just stunts our emotional or spiritual growth? How can a less than happy ending logically be the best thing for us? And what four-letter word turns out to be the meaning of life? LOST tackles these issues from the perspectives of three of my favorite men: Charlie, Desmond, and Daniel.

This episode also scored well on the List of LOST Trademarks: symbolic names, frequently representing philosophers or scientists; repeated symbols or icons, including bunnies, keys, and eyes; repeated or mirrored scenes or dialogue; repeated themes. So, among the fun tidbits for the faithful, “Happily Ever After” provides us with

• Science-related names Minkowski (now Widmore’s driver) and Angstrom (the bunny), but Faraday and Hawking are now Widmores

• Humanities-related names Hume and Milton (Penny’s apparent flashsideways surname)—so many metaphors, so little time

These names also reflect the ongoing LOST thematic battle between Men of Science and Men of Faith in determining how to approach life. Dan clearly isn’t a man of science in the flashsideways, but even as a musician (although music still is a highly technical specialization) he takes a scientific approach to deciphering the nature of love and the possibility of more than one timeline. In this episode, despite all the science, the battle convincingly swings toward faith. We might not be able to prove it empirically, but we believe certain “truths.” Hold that thought for a moment.

• Repeated images of a bunny, a request for Des to hand over any keys or other metal before (in a mirrored scene) entering the electromagnetic field or undergoing an MRI, and emphases yet again on eyes (three times on Des’ peepers in this episode) to frame the story from his perspective in different timelines

• Several mirrored scenes from Desmond’s backstories, some going as far back as Season 2: Des wasn’t kidding when he told Jack in that fateful stadium “See you in another life.” This time, however, he has a happier run-in with Penny. And isn’t it nice to see the guy swoon at love at first sight? Another mirror shows us what the Desmond-Charles dynamic can be if Widmore considers Des a son instead of a son-in-law. That bottle of finely aged Scotch (sorry, whisky) is an appropriate measure of the wealthy Scot’s level of approval.

Still difficult for me not to obsess over the mirrored Not Penny’s Boat scene; it was powerful, symbolic, and confounding all at the same time.


Now back to those repeated themes: Love and Sacrifice.

My deepest regret about LOST has been its treatment of love, especially unrequited love. I wish LOST would requite a lot more often. That’s particularly true of couples Charlie and Claire, Daniel and Charlotte, and Desmond and Penny, although at least they enjoyed smooth sailing for awhile. “Happily Ever After” changed my mind about LOST loves.

How remarkable that Charlie, during an NDE on Oceanic 815, understands what it would be like to love and be loved by Claire, and how love would make life worth living (even if that life is shorter than I would’ve liked).

How symbolic that Des’ “transition” from the island’s test room to the flashsideways world is blue sky and puffy clouds, a stereotypical visual of heaven, but his idea of heaven on earth is only realized in one timeline.

How touching that Dan immediately recognizes Charlotte (and her love of chocolate).

How prophetic that sacrifice is required for LOST’s greatest love stories. Widmore’s comments to Desmond that “The island isn’t finished with you yet” and “I’ll ask you to make a sacrifice” are the most haunting words yet—at least to Desmond/Penny fans.

Charlie seems remarkably wise and certain about the nature of life and love. This characterization leads to my big conundrum with this episode: Is Charlie a live junkie getting along miraculously in hospitals and jails without his stash? Should I assume he’s receiving off-camera care? Once he crosses over—the street—he seems remarkably unconcerned about death but focused in his role as a spiritual guide, not unlike the post-death Charlie who visited Hurley with a message. He also seems to appear just when Des needs him, but other people, including hospital staff, are remarkably cavalier about his disappearance. Am I reading too much into Charlie’s second voyage to the bottom of the sea? Send me your interpretations! Or post them at the blog instead of on Facebook!

Despite all the ways that these love stories are never likely to achieve a happily ever after, that doesn’t make them any less moving or memorable. “None of this matters. What matters is that we’ve felt it.” I agree with you, oh wise Charlie, whose dialogue summarizes LOST’s significance to me as a story for all time: “Just for a moment I saw what [love] looked like…I’ve seen something real. I’ve seen the truth.” So, George Minkowski, did I find what I was looking for? Yes. And it doesn’t matter so much about that happily ever after, after all.