LOST: ‘The New Man in Charge’ Brings Answers and More Questions

More than 3 months after LOST aired its series finale, fans got a little more closure in the form of a DVD-only epilogue.

While the 11-minute story briefly leaked a few weeks ago, I resisted the urge to view it before I had the actual season 6 DVD in my possession.

And since some fans are a bit split on the actual content of these bonus minutes, I thought it would be fun for us to dissect and debate the final story.

Cool?

Have you watched the epilogue?

If so, read on…

First a little recap of what went down:

At the Dharma Logistics Warehouse, two workers are putting Dharma labels on canned food and building pallets, much like the ones we saw dropped down onto the island during the series. Ben comes in and tells the workers they’re no longer needed — I guess because the island dwellers can now come and go when they please? — but the workers are confused.

Thanks to the inquisitive duo — who are not so subtly standing in for the fans, demanding answers from a reluctant Ben — we got some resolution to a few open questions. Ben has a handy-dandy disc on him with another “Orientation” video where we learn what the “Hurley” bird is, what room 23 does, why pregnancy is complicated on the island, as well as confirmation from Ben himself (…if you can trust Ben) that the reason no one could ever find the island was because it was constantly physically moving. The answers were given quickly, because Ben had another stop to make before he went back to the island — Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute.

As soon as Ben said he was there to see Keith Johnson, my mind immediately went to Michael, who went under the alias Kevin Johnson before he died in the fourth season.  But it turns out that the person Ben came to see is actually Michael’s son, Walt, who had been mostly MIA from the series after he and his father left the island in the second season. Ben once again tells Walt that he is special and that he belongs back on the island so he can help his father. It didn’t take much to convince Walt — who appeared to be feeling the same pull back to the island that Jack had felt after he left — and he bounced out of Santa Rosa with Ben. Their getaway driver? Hurley, of course. Hurley was excited to get the gang back to the island and told Walt he wants to discuss a possible job with him. Seems like Walt is next in line to be in charge of the island.

Personally, I was so thrilled to be back in the LOST world for those precious 11 minutes that the answers didn’t hit me as hard as they should have the first time. And I was absolutely thrilled to have remained spoiler-free on the fact that Malcolm David Kelley (Walt) was involved, because it was the last (literal) gasp-out loud moment the show provided for me.

Obviously there is no way this could have — or should have — been fit into the series finale. To me, that final image of Jack’s eye closing in the final moments of LOST was the end of the show. This was like a nice deleted scene that added some clarity to certain things, but I don’t view it as the new ending, especially since it took place before the sideways universe reunions.

The downside of this mini-episode is that it does bring up new questions and a whole new set of loose ends that we were previously unaware of.

How is Walt going to help Michael, who is trapped on the island as one of the whispers in the jungle? Is he going to try and change his father’s fate? Assist him in moving on?

And now that we have some answers about Walt, what about Aaron, who was also deemed to be special?

And since we got a glimpse of what post-island life is like for Hurley and Ben, the desire to see what has become of the rest of the castaways between their island time and their reunions in the sideways world has intensified.

Really, I’m sure if we all sat down and thought about it, the list of “but what about…?” would go on and on.

What I want to know is how many of you feel this little bit of icing on the cake changes your outlook on the finale. Many fans were unhappy with the amount of questions that were left unresolved when the series ended, so perhaps this added a bit of closure for you?

Or do you wish you hadn’t gotten these answers and they left things a little more vague?

Or were you just so happy to get a little bit of LOST back that it didn’t matter what they showed you?

Let’s talk…

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