On-island: A
Off-island: F

Spoiler-filled explanation: We finally got the war for the island that we were promised more than a year ago, and although it wasn’t a war with massive armies, it was a tense war of strong adversaries with huge consequences. And it was resolved. Unfortunately, instead of sharing more of the great island world we fans fell in love with, half the finale (and a third of the final season) were wasted with this Purgatory circle-jerk that doesn’t really mean anything. In fact, I think the series of reunion scenes actually dimished the value of the riveting exits we had seen our favorite characters make over the last six seasons. I haven’t done the math, but I’m pretty sure the extra 30 minutes we got was made up entirely of flashed clips we’ve seen a hundred times before.

I would have loved two full hours of on-island climax and resolution instead of a cheesy class reunion and “ascent” led by Christian Shephard, who we all learned years ago was an alcoholic asshole who we didn’t even care about as viewers.

That said, I adored everything that happened on the island. The return or Lapidus, Hurley taking the protector role, Desmond making one more attempt to save everyone, and the genuine honor Ben had when Hurley asked for his help. Best choice of all–ending with the bookend scene of Jack dying in the same place where he woke up in the pilot episode.

For me, the sideways world will not live in my memory of the show. I already knew Sawyer and Juliet belonged together, I didn’t need the candy machine scene to prove it to me.

I could go on, but it would be as repititive as the series of “awakenings” we saw last night. Overall it was a great series, and I will always remember my favorite moments. We won’t see a show like this on tv for at least the next decade, so let’s take some time to really appreciate it.

This was one of my favorite new shows last year so I can’t wait to see how they follow up on the success of their first run.