LOST Was Really About Amazing Grace

I’m not going to do an extensive recap of the Lost series finale. By now anyone who watched the show has their own interpretation of what it all meant. I’m pretty much convinced that the sideways-flashes were limbo and everything that occurred on the island did indeed happen. The survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 didn’t die in the crash and were reunited before passing on to the afterlife. I could be wrong, but I’m sticking to my guns.

Once the final shot faded to black, the song “Amazing Grace” began playing in my head. I’m not a religious person, but I’ve heard the hymn enough times to make some connections to the series. Being unfamiliar with all the lyrics, I immediately jumped on Google and did a quick search. It opens with the following verse:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

Jack, Kate, Locke, Sawyer, Hurley, Sayid and the rest were the wretches. They were lost on the island and blind to their reason for living. After letting go, they found themselves, which allowed them to walk into the light. The song continues:

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
‘Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

All the shit they endured on the island and in the flashbacks would definitely qualify as toils and snares. Who is Grace? Jacob? Desmond? God? I’m not certain, but Jacob showed them the path and in the sideways-flashes Desmond was the one responsible for guiding them “home.”

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

When Jack closes his eyes his mortal life ceases. What awaits him in death is joy and peace with the people he loved most.

You can read the full lyrics here. Lost is too complex to summarize in a single hymn. However, the parallels between the narratives are hard to ignore. Both are about forgiveness and redemption even for those who have sinned. I might be reaching, although I’ve seen much crazier comparisons over the last six years.

At any rate, I will miss the show. It didn’t answer all my questions, but it did what most entertainment fails to do today. It made me think. For that, it deserves a mountain of praise.