LOST: Were They Dead the Whole Time? (An Explanation)

LOST: Were They Dead the Whole Time? (An Explanation)

Did you come to this page from a Google search? Good! That’s what I was hoping for.

You may have just finished “Lost” and found yourself confused, asking if “they were dead the whole time.” Or maybe you decided that the show wasn’t worth watching if this was how it ended.

So I am here to give you the straight, no-bullshit answer, to ease your mind. And the answer is: NO, THEY WERE NOT DEAD THE WHOLE TIME. THEY DID NOT DIE IN THE PLANE CRASH. If anyone told you they did, they were wrong (and probably didn’t even watch the whole show, if at all).

If you need more than just my word, here is an interview from 2014 with showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse where they reassure us that was not the point of the show. The whole article spoils the show, so I recommend only reading it (here) if you have seen the series. But here are some pull-quotes: 

Cuse: “No, no, no. They were not dead the whole time.”

Lindelof: “For us, one of the ongoing conversations with the audience and there was a very early perception, was that the island was purgatory and we were always out there saying 'It's not purgatory, this is real, we're not going to Sixth Sense you.' And we felt it too that the show had to become sort of meta in this way.”

One thing ABC did which may have confused people was what they aired over the end credits of the last episode. Normally, they would air some kind of goofy commercial. But the Lost team wanted something a little more respectful after an emotional journey. What they had in their archives was some footage of the plane wreckage on the beach – no characters, just the broken pieces of the plane with the sound of the waves rolling up the beach. This was aired over the credits to give people time to decompress. However, some assumed that this image of plane wreckage with nobody around was an indication that they all died in the crash. Wrong. It doesn’t really symbolize anything. It’s just the plane.

So there it is. The characters did not die on the crash. The island was real. It was not the afterlife. And so, if you have always been interested in watching this show, but were turned off by the alleged ending, you are now free to watch and enjoy it.

For those who finished the show and want further clarification on aspects of the final season that may have confused you, read on.

Below are MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR SEASONS FIVE AND SIX, so scroll past the Vincent pictures to learn more.

Alright, so let’s go back to season five. After time-traveling, the characters decide to blow up a nuke at the site of what would become the hatch – the place that ended up crashing their plane. They believe if they blow it up, the plane can never crash, and maybe they will have created a new timeline in which they can go on living their lives. So they get the nuke, set it off, and…victory?

Not quite. Season six continues their misadventures on the island (now back in the present) as well as flashing to some sort of alternate universe where their lives are slightly different but the plane lands safely at LAX. As the season progresses, these alternate-characters interact with each other and begin to have flashes of their island selves, suddenly remembering everything. As we eventually learn, this alternative universe is, in fact, the afterlife. They are reuniting and regaining their memories of life.

The scene with Jack and Christian in the church is key. Jack comes to realize that he died, which Christian confirms. Jack then asks, “Are you real?” His dad responds, “I should hope so. Yeah, I’m real. You’re real. Everything that’s ever happened to you is real. All those people in the church…they’re real too.” Okay, so Christian reassures us everything is “real.”

“They’re all dead?” Jack asks. Christian: “Everyone dies sometime, kiddo. Some of them before you. Some long after you.” Right there, that’s confirmation that the plane crash theory was wrong. Some of the people in the church died before Jack (Boone, Charlie, Locke, etc.) and some died long after (Kate, Sawyer, Desmond, etc.)

Jack asks where they are. Christian says, “This is a place that you all made together, so that you could find one another. The most important part of your life was the time that you spent with these people. That’s why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone, Jack. You needed all of them, and they needed you.” And there’s the money shot. Christian literally says “the most important part of your life was the time that you spent with these people.” If they were all killed in the crash, then what “time” was spent together? They never would have interacted. So clearly everything on the island was real.

One last moment that may have confused people: as Jack lies dying on the ground, he sees a plane fly overhead. Is this Flight 815, symbolizing the plane’s final moments before it hits the ground and killing all on board? No, it’s Ajira 316, after Frank takes off with the remaining survivors. Now, a fair bit of time passes between the plane taking off (while the island is still cracking apart, as Jack is in the light pool), and Jack dying. Enough time for him to be spit out of the cave and stumble back to the bamboo. There’s no reason for the plane to still be anywhere near the island at that point – UNLESS he had to turn around because the mainland is in the opposite direction of how they took off. But the purpose of showing the plane is to show Jack that his friends got off safe.

So that’s it. No copout ending. The only time people are dead is in the season 6 flash-sideways universe. Nothing else.

And if you haven’t already, please head to my “Lost Revisited” project and read along as I rewatch the series, review and rank the episodes, and connect the dots between the mysteries.