My LOST Moment

David, 32 —Bayonne (New Jersey, USA):

I was just starting my first year of high school when Lost began to air on TV. I was intrigued by it from the moment I saw a commercial for a few months before it premiered. By the fifth episode, “White Rabbit”, I was hooked.

Lost was the first show to make me look inside myself and ask what kind of person I was and what I believed in. The conversations I would have with friends, acquaintances, and even complete strangers would awaken a burning passion in me, one I still feel today. It still remains my favorite show of all time.

In the Season 1 finale of Lost, “Exodus”, John Locke and Jack Shepherd had their iconic conversation where Locke said: “Each one of us was brought here for a reason.” In the seasons that followed, we continued to ask why the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, and many others before them, were brought to a mysterious island somewhere in the South Pacific.

The Season 6 episode “Ab Aeterno” gave us the definitive answer. As we are finally told the story of Richard Alpert’s past and how he came to the island aboard the Black Rock, we witness his first meeting with Jacob and watch as his life is changed forever. Richard is convinced that he is trapped in Hell when the Man in Black tells him that’s where he is, and sends him on his way to kill Jacob, who the MiB refers to as the Devil. When Jacob tells Richard that he protects the island and that he brought Richard’s ship here, Richard asks the obvious: why?

This is the answer Jacob gives:

“Think of this wine as what you keep calling hell. There’s many other names for it too: malevolence, evil, darkness. And here it is, swirling around in the bottle, unable to get out because if it did, it would spread. The cork is this island and it’s the only thing keeping the darkness where it belongs. That man who sent you to kill me believes that everyone is corruptible because it’s in their very nature to sin. I bring people here to prove him wrong. And when they get here, their past doesn’t matter.”

When Richard asks if others were brought here before him, Jacob tells him there were and that they’re all dead, killed by themselves or the Man in Black. Of course, Richard is confused. If Jacob brought others here before, why didn’t he help them?

As Jacob gives his answer, he asks: “Why should I have to step in?”

Richard’s answer? “If you don’t, he will.”

This changes Jacob’s perspective on how he’s been doing things on the island, leading him to appoint Richard as his right-hand man to act on his behalf with others that will be brought to the island in the future.

And there you have it. After six seasons and up to 112 episodes at this point, we were given the ultimate answer of what the show was all about by the man behind the curtain. From the island’s nature to the reason so many others found themselves here before our main characters.

What I love about this moment is how Jacob and Richard are set up. Jacob is obviously the all-knowing God and Richard is Christ (he even looks like him with the long hair and beard). Jacob’s explanation to Richard about his troubled relationship with the Man in Black is very much in tune to God’s relationship with the Devil. And Richard asking Jacob why he never helped anyone he brought to island before him is all too similar to one of life’s oldest questions: “If there’s an all-knowing, all-loving God, why does he let bad things happen?”

I don’t believe in organized religion (it’s fine if you do), but I do believe in God. And while this may be a TV show, I have always seen truth in Jacob’s response:

“I wanted them to help themselves. To know the difference between right and wrong without me having to tell them. It’s all meaningless if I have to force them to do anything.”

That first conversation with Jacob and Richard is my favorite moment from Lost because it says everything that the show had always been about while mirroring our own questions about why we’re here. And Jacob’s theme, “The Tangled Web”, playing in the background is the icing on the cake.

Sydney, 15 — Orlando  (Florida, USA):

My “Lost moment” is in the episode “Happily Ever After” in season 6, which depicts and explains Desmond’s “other life”. He has just spoken with Eloise about losing track of Charlie and is about to drive off with George as his chauffeur when Daniel “Widmore” (Faraday is his last name in his original life) approaches him and explains how, after seeing Charlotte (whom he hasn’t met in this lifetime) in a food court, he “felt it”, how he felt love, and how it was like he already loved Charlotte. He proceeds to tell Desmond that after waking up the next morning he wrote a series of equations about releasing an extreme amount of energy, and tells Desmond he couldn’t possibly know these quantum mechanics equations due to his career choice: a pianist. At the end of the scene, Daniel explains to Desmond that this “Penny” IS real, and that she is actually his half sister.

Lots of scenes mean a lot to me, some equal with this one, but I chose this one because at my stage in life, I am trying to figure out what really matters, and Lost has certainly made it clear, and couldn’t have come at a better time. This scene features Desmond’s uncertainty with the whole scenario, because he pretty much is a man of logic shown when he states that Penny is just an idea, and can’t wrap his head around it. I’m typically the same way, and when Daniel was speaking to Desmond, he also spoke to me.

Also, I ponder death quite a bit, and the possiblity of the whole “second life” scenario has touched me. “What if this wasn’t SUPPOSED to be our life?” really hit me in ways I cannot even explain.

This scene, and Lost in general, taught me at a most critical time what truly is important. That trust and love are what really matter, and to make the most of the short life we are graciously given. I was always someone who thought logic was all that counted in life, it was the only way to get somewhere. Thanks to Lost, I now know how wrong I was.

Amy, 44 — Troy (Alabama, USA):

When Jack is finally awakened to the memories of his life, his conversation with his father became my favorite Lost moment. Jack’s very last words of the series are “Where are we going?“, which sums up my experience in watching Lost for six years.

Christian’s answer, “Let’s go find out“, brought me cathartic hope. After watching Lost for five years, I was diagnosed with cancer in the summer before the last season. A brutal year of treatment followed, ending in May and just in time for the finale. Hearing those words and seeing Jack die and simultaneously reunite with his loved ones helped heal my battered spirit. It wasn’t coincidence that Jack hugged people who he learnt the most from on the Island: Locke (his foe/teacher), Desmond (the man he saved), Boone (the man he couldn’t save), Hurley (the friend) and Sawyer/James (the man who set him back on the path toward forgiving his father).

Seeing Jack take courage, let go and find out gave me perspective on death that continues to help me.  Lost is the only TV Series to speak so truthfully and eloquently on death… and life… and finding out…

Ed, 44 — Colorado (USA) :

Near the end of the series, Iliana asks a broken Ben, “Where will you go?”
“To Locke,” Ben resignedly replies.
“Why?”
“Because he’s the only one that’ll have me.”
…
Ilana says, “I’ll have you.”  And walks away.

Best scene of emotion encompassing the human need for belonging and acceptance I’ve ever seen.  Still brings goosebumps.

Rebecca, 30 – Smyrna (Georgia, USA) :

I have SO many favorite Lost moments.  Charlie fighting his addiction and becoming a hero in “The Moth” made me like the show. Desmond and Penny’s phone call in “The Constant” made me proclaim it was the greatest TV show ever made.  But, the moment that connected with me (and makes me cry) more than any other is the scene with Jack and David at the end of “Lighthouse”.

I grew up the daughter of a gifted musician (a pianist like Jack and David).  Through my dad’s love of music, I grew up loving and learning to play it.  He and I played duets (him on the piano and me with my bassoon), he would come to my concerts (as Jack tries to make it to David’s audition), and we both had a love for handbell ringing.  There were times when even though I loved playing instruments, I didn’t think I was all that great at any of them, but he encouraged me to keep playing.

My dad passed away in 2006 (when I was 25-years-old).  Two months later, I was introduced to Lost.

So, when “Lighthouse” aired, four years after I lost my dad, seeing Jack talk to his “son” hit home because it was like it was my dad, saying those words to me.

– David:  I didn’t want you to see me fail.
– Jack:  You know, when I was your age, my father didn’t wanna see me fail, either.  He used to say to me that…he said that I didn’t have what it takes.  Spent my whole life carrying that around with me.  I don’t want you to ever feel that way.  I will always love you.  No matter what you do, in my eyes, you can NEVER fail.  I just wanna be a part of your life.

Jack’s words made me think back to one of my last big memories of being with my dad, a year before he died.  I was moving to another city for a job and on the last night I was with him and our handbell choir at church, he told the whole room how proud he was that I had picked up and had come to love handbells as he had.  Still makes me tear up to remember that because even though I felt like I struggled with music, it was just enough for my dad that I developed a love for it as he had.

My dad was no saint and neither am I.  He had his flaws.  I have my flaws.  We had our disagreements, but we also had going out for pizza moments like the Shephards decide to do at the end of this scene.  Hearing and seeing Jack tell David that he will always love him felt like my dad was still with me and continuing to encourage me through my TV. As I carry on living after my dad’s death, I still have feelings of inadequacy and fears of failure, but as a Christian, I also felt like Jack’s words were my Heavenly Father’s.  I may have lost my earthly dad, but my Heavenly Father still wants to be a part of my life, I can never fail in His eyes, and He will always love me.

Just as David’s existence helped Jack with his father issues, I felt like this scene helped me with my own, in an emotionally profound and spiritual way.