Serious question, why does everyone think the 'Lost' finale was about them being dead the whole time?

I keep seeing this in comments and even heard it at a friend's house last week. People say the show ended with them being dead from the plane crash, which is flat wrong. The finale clearly shows the flash sideways was a kind of waiting room they made together after they all died at different times. The island stuff was real. I rewatched the whole series with my wife over three months, and the last episode makes that point. It matters because writing off the whole story as a dream or purgatory from the start kills any talk about the characters or the themes. It's like people just gave up and repeated a simple take they heard somewhere. How did this wrong idea get so common? Has anyone else run into this and tried to set the record straight?

2 comments

2 Comments

parker_sullivan25d ago

My buddy Dave argued with his dad for an hour after their watch party. His dad was fully convinced they died in the crash and the island was hell or something. Dave pulled up that scene where Christian explains it all in the church, but his dad just said it was a cop-out. He still brings it up at holidays, it drives Dave nuts lol.

robert_roberts25d ago

Because people don't pay attention. They hear a hot take and run with it without actually watching the show. The finale spelled it out with Christian's speech. The island was real life, the flash sideways was the afterlife waiting room they built together later. It's not that hard. Parker_sullivan's dad is a perfect example, ignoring the actual show to stick with a wrong, simple idea. It kills real talk about the story.