'Lost' exclusive: ABC sets the record straight about the series finale's plane crash images

You know those Oceanic 815 plane crash images that ran after Jack's (Matthew Fox) eye closed and the "Lost" logo appeared on our TV screens? Some "Lost" fans and TV critics have wondered if they were a last Easter egg from the producers, a clue meant to lead us to conclude that no one survived Oceanic 815's crash landing — and therefore everything we've seen over the last six years never really happened.

Well, ABC wants to clear the air: Those photographs were not part of the "Lost" story at all. The network added them to soften the transition from the moving ending of the series to the 11 p.m. news and never considered that it would confuse viewers about the actual ending of the show.

"The images shown during the end credits of the 'Lost' finale, which included shots of Oceanic 815 on a deserted beach, were not part of the final story but were a visual aid to allow the viewer to decompress before heading into the news," an ABC spokesperson wrote in an e-mail Tuesday.

That means, Losties, that we were not supposed to think that Christian Shepherd (John Terry) is a liar. What Christian told his son, when they were reunited at the church, should serve as guidance for our interpretation of the series' ending.

So let's review: Christian told Jack that he was dead and everyone else in the church was too — some had died before Jack, as we already knew, and some died long after. The sideways flashes then were a step in everyone's after-lives, a way to reconnect before moving on permanently.  While there still may be unanswered questions related to that religious and spiritual conclusion to the "Lost" story, the photographs were really just a nostalgic, transitional touch added by ABC executives — and not executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

Love or hate it, that's the final answer.

— Maria Elena Fernandez
twitter.com/writerchica

Photo: A frame grab from the closing credits of the series finale of "Lost."  Credit: abc.com.

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Comments

[Whitney]

@Alam - I'm not sure if you realized it, but the bomb had been removed from the Ajira plane. Charles Widmore didn't realize that the Man in Black had gone onto the plane and removed the explosives, which was where he got the bomb for the submarine. Which the Man in Black mentioned a couple times to keep the remaining candidates from trusting Widmore. So no, that really was just footage of Oceanic 815 that they'd used for promotion that the ABC EXECS put in.

[Tim]

"a visual aid to allow the viewer to decompress before heading into the news", "just a nostalgic, transitional touch " Are you serious ?? That's fokin BS Why not just roll the credits or "Bad Robot"? Why not a Montage of your favorite characters' faces with some Celine Dion? How about the empty serene ocean?

They (D&C and/or ABC Suits) used unseen/unused photos and placed them on purpose. What purpose? That's what you internuts are for. To carry it on and on & argue/dispute/blog, start a new ARG perhaps, to provoke response.

Fail.

[emm305]

The final plane scene obviously was interpreted in a million ways.
I thought the plane pieces looked rusty around the edges. To me, that meant it was a scene from dead Jack's future, after the last of the passengers, Hurley or Ben, had died; coinciding with all of them being back together and moving on.

[MRoberts]

It continues to amaze me that (a) so many people don't understand what happened in a pretty straightforward finale; and (b) there are so many people who were emotionally invested in tiresome explanations of every little detail. It's important to have explanations when it explains the characters' motivations, but when it's just concocting a cheezeball pseudo-scientific backstory for "how does the island move" and things like that --- it's just a pointless exercise. To take an example: "The island can move because it is an ultra-dense confluence of the earth's electromagnetic fields, which intensify at particular resonant points, much as the earth's volcanic activity does. The electromagnetic reinforcing waves are so powerful that, if allowed to enter a critical state, they distort space and time, causing its temporal-spatial position ... blah blah .... .. blah blah" ... you really wanted that kind of thing?

I'm just glad the producers spared us from a pseudo-scientific gibberish explanation for every minor detail. The plot was explained: Jack saves the world, with Desmond and Kate's help, by killing the MiB and then restoring the bottling-up of energy. Walt, I could not care less what happened to him.

[xhehe]

Glad this got cleared up. Now hopefully will realize what actually happened at the end and quit saying they were dead the whole time.
<3 Lindelof and Cuse

[Steve C]

I loved the finale, just like I loved all the brilliant twists and turns for 6 seasons. In time, if not sooner, it'll be recognized as the greatest 1 hour drama in television history.
As far as that last "transistion" as explained by ABC, that was ridiculous; showing a plane crash to 'ease' the transition to the news??? Maybe they should have showed the beautiful beaches, mountains and sea's around the Island, which really was the central character of this amazing play.

[Steve C]

I just read Alam Grossmans comment about the plane that Lapidus, Kate, Sawyer, etc were on actually was the one shown at the end credits. I was thinking when Lapidus first started powering up the plane, that it was going to explode, It was mentioned when Locke found the first bomb, that it was ok, because there were several bombs carefully hidden and connected to the electrical system! It did explode, and that was the final images. Brilliant!

[Trent]

You know what? It's actually a better, more satisfying story if they died in the plane crash. It makes the whole thing not a "dream" but a series of tests to prove their worthiness to move forward. And it means that those who died on the Island were beyond such tests, for whatever reason.

Frankly, it closes a lot of loopholes. The mythology of Dharma, Mr. Eko, pregnancies, Rousseau, the Other others, Widmore, Mittelos Bioscience, Alvar Hanso, etc., etc., all works so much better when it can be dismissed ... rather than requiring the audience to scratch its collective head and say, "But why did they RAISE those questions if they weren't going to answer them?"

I loved the ending, I loved the concept of "Lost," psychologically it meant a lot to me. It's a fantastic show. But the producers did get caught up in admiring themselves a bit too much, being too satisfied with their ability to create mythologies ... but not explain them. There are answers that would have helped spur the enjoyment of the series even more: How did Dharma fit into the whole thing? Why did Kate see the horse? How come women couldn't have babies? Which Kwon was the candidate?

Up until the end, "Lost" presented questions that didn't add to the central mystery, just frustrated them.

If the producers were to say, "They really did die in the crash, which is why no one could find the Island, and which is why they were 'presented' with these convoluted mythologies -- if they could solve them, they could move forward" ... well, in my mind, that would solve a lot. Which is why I actually loved those final images. (You REALLY think Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof had NO clue about them? Come on.) And why the whole thing worked.

When Christian said "it's all real," it was as simple and honest to me as saying to someone, "I understand the pain you're going through and it's quite real" even if it's psychological.

So, for myself, I'll stick with the "they all died when the plane crashed" theory. Try it. It works out quite nicely.

[Scott]

Good grief, ok once more:

1) MiB removed the bomb on the plane and put it in Jack's pack to blow up the sub. 

2) The Island was real. The alternate universe was the afterlife. 

3) The scenes in the credits had nothing to do with the show. Apparently at one of the previews, they never showed those scenes. So apparently ABC put them i during the broadcast.

With that out of the way, can we move to more important questions? Like if the Island can move, why doesn't Hurley move it to the Gulf of Mexico to plug that oil leak?   

[Jim]

What is the island? Are you kidding me? They answered that with Isaac of Uluru back in Season 2, Episode 19 (S.O.S.), and again when MIB was talking to Desmond about the island's healing powers.

And the numbers? They are both the degrees at which Jacob had to turn the lighthouse dial to find the Candidates, and the variables in the Valenzetti equation, as show in the ARG after Season 2.

Anyone confused by the show should either re-watch from the beginning or spend a few hours on this website: http://lostpedia.wikia.com

[Tam]

Lost fan = total spaz.

[asiu]

If you don’t get the LOST finale, you didn’t get it… for six years…

[Karen Chuplis]

I don't understand why people thought that. I really don't. I thought it was just an homage to the setting where it all began. It boggles my mind.

[innerjuju]

I'm Lost. I'm glad the finale explained a great deal to a number of people. To me, it was one big mess of partial answers to a hornet's nest of questions. I was so confused by this show so I've just determined I really wasn't intelligent enough to watch it to begin with.

The pilot episode was good, though.

[Jay]

I didn't take it to mean Christian was a liar - I took it to mean that those who flew off at the end didn't make it, but irregardless, the movie was vague enough and suggestive enough to imply a variety of meanings. For me, the constant flashbacks and forwards during the end - the reunion, plus him dying in the bamboo field - also implied the "meaning" that the reunion was all in Jack's dying mind, ala "Jacob's Ladder" - not the whole story, mind you, but the "flash-sideways" sequences.

[rupert]

The problem with the finale, and really the entire final season is that it doesn't FIT the rest of the series. In the end, the series has simply because some things that happened rather than a coherent narrative.

[kushibo]

Though I wasn't one of the confused, I could see how someone might reasonably think the airplane scenes at the end were a clue to what really happened.

But even if the pictures were intended as part of the story, they wouldn't tell of everyone dying on the plane. The scenes show obvious signs of human activity afterward, including footsteps and items from the plane put in deliberate piles.

And while we're on the subject, the bad robot at the VERY end of the episode, also not part of the story.

[Suzanne]

I took the final plane crash scene to mean that once Jack died and everyone 'moved' on, there was no one left on the island that was a passenger on it. 815 wreckage would be the same as the Blackrock shipwreck.

[Ray J]

It was a 6 year crappy and confusing show anyway so why would the ending be any else but crappy ?

[RL]

6 seasons and for an ending we get the Catholic view of life as the answer? The Island was Purgatory and everyone went to Heaven? Give me a break. This was insulting beyond belief, and they didn't even answer half the questions raised in the series -- violating the cardinal rule of good writing.