Hillbillies? Island-dwelling hillbillies, complete with the back-woods hick accent and everything, and it turns out they want Walt. A scuffle ensues and it appears that Sawyer is shot - perhaps - and dives into the water, with Jin quickly following. This is, of course, an assumption - we don't really see what happens, but there is a gunshot, and Sawyer winds up in the water immediately following that. Perhaps Sawyer fired and fell - we simply don't know. What we do know for sure is that, despite Michael's efforts, Walt is carried off by boating hillbillies.
Hillbillies.
And this is when we see that hatch again, and you really expect something big to happen, so imagine the response when all we see is a ladder. It's a tremendous letdown, it's a simple solution that many, including me, had come upon long ago and had dismissed as far too simple. But that's what it is. A ladder . . . and some hillbillies.
After all the build-up, hints, and talk, Lost finds me at a loss for once. I'm simply utterly baffled and disappointed. How can a show build up such tremendous momentum and then lose it all so quickly? It's easy - blow your steam far too early in the season and then try, desperately, to keep people involved. "Numbers" could have been - and maybe should have been - the season finale, at least in terms of intensity. "Exodus," tonight's (and last week's - it was part 1 of 2) episode, simply didn't have enough momentum to finish off the right way, in a way that was keeping in the spirit of the show so far. Instead of something satisfying, we got hillbillies. Lost has a lot of work to do next season, but it's not work on the story - it's repairing the damaging disappointment of tonight's "big" finale.
Article comments
1 - Justene
There be spoilers here . ......
You saw a different show than we saw, I think. After diverting attention to the hatch and the monster, the real twist was so shocking that the daughter and I had goosebumps. The Others didn't want the baby. The Others wanted Walt. All along. It was a fine way to pop the unexpected.
2 - Eric Berlin
Sounds like your problem is less with the show than with the commercials for the show. Also sounds like you were expecting too much.
I agree with Justene -- I really enjoyed the season finale and think that the resolution of the raft and hatch storylines opens up plenty of pathways to be explored this season.
3 - Gruffydd
I was disaponted, too. There were exciting moments...the raft and the hillbillies, the dynamite expedition, the gunpowder to fix Charlie's wound, the "smoke-monsters" but...I really wanted something concrete about the Numbers and the Hatch.
4 - Eric Berlin
That's what waiting for next season is all about!
5 - Bruce
You were correct. I was disappointed.
Bruce
6 - Jeff
I enjoyed the show and can't wait for the 2nd season. You cry babies are spoiled rotten. All along I thought they wanted the baby, but they really wanted walt. (cool) And Artz getting blown to pieces was pretty wild too! I'll be waiting for next season to begin and then we'll know more about the hatch. I think the numbers will play out but not anytime soon. After all the numbers is what brought them there and can't be exposed the first season.
7 - Joe
I couldn't agree more with this review. This show is panning out to be nothing more than X-Files on Gillians Island. We like the characters enough to watch their "riveting" backstories, but the supernatural events on the island fail to deliver. No answers, just more questions. Last night should have offered some sort of inclination as to what's going on...alternate realities, time warps, government experiments, aliens, dinosaurs, SOMETHING for God's sake! Instead we laugh as a minor character explodes and scratch our heads when we are introduced to redneck kidnappers and a hole in the ground with a ladder. Whoopdie do. I agree with Tom when he says it's ok to have mystery and suspense and not give complete answers, but if you're going to tease and temp viewers with strange, supernatural or sci-fi oddities, you have to move the story forward at some point and let the cat out of the bag.
8 - Stephen
Those of you who are whining and complaining about the show have no patience. The plot swerve was perfect, the monster was partially shown and now we know its not organic. What about the black smoke, and the OTHER black smoke.
We now know who the "others" are. Is it no wonder that there were other people brought to the island for whatever reason? Did no one notice ALEX driving the boat?
For shame people, really. You'd complain about anything.
9 - Tom Johnson
I see we're dividing into two camps (much as the Lostaways will be doing next season - you saw it here first: Locke will lead a group away after Jack and his own followers begin to question his motives. Or something to that effect.)
I wasn't lead to believe it would be something bigger by the commercials - it was by the show's creators, who have been hyping this finale up in every interview they've been involved in. Had they not oversold this show, I would likely still have been letdown, but nowhere near as much as I have been this time. The few answers we got were just so obvious and mundane. I'm less curious and less intrigued by this show as a result - not more, as was the intention of a cliffhanger.
And anyone looking for clues as to what the "monster" is may want to rewind a tape and look closely at Locke's eyes when he confronts the thing - supposedly this is where we get our "2-5% reveal" of the thing, in the reflection in his eyes. I have yet to do this, so I can't say for sure if there's something there, but others have said that they see a "humanoid shape." The creators said we would DEFINITELY see enough of the monster that we'd know what it is.
10 - Joe
Black smoke? Unless it turns out to be a cloud of nanobots or evil spirits from the unseen hatch of mystery, the black smoke just made this show goofier.
And if the whole thing turns out that Walt is manifesting all this crap with his psychic abilities, then I'll have to say I liked it better the first time I saw it when it was called "Spere" with Dustin Hoffman and Samuel Jackson.
11 - Justene
I think Walt would have been manifesting if he had said don't fire the flare.
We missed the whole Alex driving the boat. How do we know that, from age?
Sometimes, in a show like this, if you get too tied up in how you think it ought to go, you miss the fun. I had to stop X-files eventually. I just watch this show and enjoy the ride.
12 - chet
I have watched all but one episode and I really was not disappointed in the finale. Unlike others, I never expected Walt to be the boy the others wanted. I thought it was Aaron. And how much can you learn from 3 or 5 % of the "monster" you see for a split second? The hatch ending left a lot of unanswered questions, but isn't that the point of a final episode. The creators want people to return to season two and find out if some of these unanswered questions will be answered. It's only season one of the show and I think Lost fans should let the show evolve. The one answer I was hoping for was why the plane crashed? But who knows? Maybe that will be answered in season 2.
I did think there have been too much hype by the creators and producers and that's why some Lost fans are disappointed. I was glad I did not pay attention to the hype and just tried to enjoy the show. I can't wait for season 2!
13 - gc
shows alright but one thing that was not a surprise was the death of the high-school science teacher. with his introduction last week i was just waiting for him to go. i suspect that from time to time we will get to know one of the other plane-wrecked cast members prior to their death, like whoever was on the landing party that you hadn't seen before on the original star trek episodes. what was really funny was that just before blowing up he had a little scene with Hurly where he complained that there were other people on the island too and not just these stars, almost as if he was complaining from the actors standpoint.
14 - NFX
I was let down mostly in the fact I have to WAIT for next season.
Based on what we have seen to date, I get the impression that the island is some sort of spaceship or otherwise mostly hollow thing. Probably with it's own 'security system'.
All told this has been one of my favorite all-time shows.
15 - Tom Johnson
This is what JJ Abrams had said of the finale: '"It is beyond shocking," Abrams claims. "It's hair-raising. Also, something happens that is so terrifying, that's unexpected, and yet, it was right there, building for a while. It's one of my favorite turns I've ever seen."' I wish I could find a link for that quote, but unfortunately I can't beyond it being quoted on some message boards. Regardless, nothing that happened last night came even remotely close to that. Lesson learned: when people associated with the show are telling you how super-shocking and unexpected the end is going to be, prepare to be letdown, because the only time people hype like this is when they know they've got a dud on their hands.
16 - Sterfish
I, for one, am very glad that I ended up not reading or hearing any of the hype that lead up to this finale. It would have probably tainted my view of the show (as it apparently has for so many fans).
I enjoyed the season finale. It was entertaining even if no real revelations were involved. In fact, what it essentially did was confirm the things we all speculated about. Jack and Locke will probably become enemies. The people on the raft weren't going to go anywhere. The others are real and as hostile as Danielle said they were. Charlie will likely become heroin dependent again. The monster is tangible...in some way. Most fans figured a lot of this stuff out weeks ago but it took until the season finale to actually show or hint at these things. The people behind this show are working very gradually...maybe too gradually. It will be interesting to see how the creators react to fans' reaction to this finale.
17 - Geoff
I'm in-between. While I WAS dissapointed with the finale, I didn't think it sucked or that I would never watch the show again. It was just a bit too bloated and would have made a great hour's episode, at max a 90-minute episode. Stuff DID happen, and I for one found the black smoke thing really scary; it seemed supernatural to me, J.J. Abrams notwithstanding. I was totally weirded out by the outlaw biker/boater others and they'd better have a good direction with that thread when Lost comes back. The ladder down the hatch would have made a good episode ender but not a season finale ender.
It's definately not a dud and I don't know why some people love being bitter but to each their own. To the writers however, I say, Don't get too cute or overhype.
18 - Lost expirt
i know what the monster is... It's a monster but it's beautifull, remember when Locke confronted the monster in the bushes but you didn't see the monster and then someone asked him what he saw, he said he saw the heart of the island and what he saw was beautifull......... think about it....
19 - Lost expirt
I also know the secret to the whole show....... When i first heard it i was disapointed because it isn't very good.. Well it turns out it is all a reality game show... like big brother........... Lame....