People who knew me back in 2010ish era knew that I liked Lost a lot until the last season. The opening scene with Desmond remains an all-time favorite piece of cinema.

I mentioned back then several times: the only way for them to have ended the show in a way that could be consistent with the spirit of the show was to go meta. The last scene had to pan the camera back and see the end of the take from the point of view of crew.  Then some of the actors could be decompressing later, and something small could hint that maybe the imaginary world of Lost had bled over into the real world of the actors.

So I was so pleased when the ending of The OA did that with panache. Without giving away the ending, which is worth watching a couple times, the meta labyrinth is now fully open, and the writers can go many ways. And like Istvan Banyai’s Zoom, the point of view can keep telescoping. That kind of meta ending has a long tradition in film. The final scene of Blazing Saddles of course is the perfect template (“Raisinets?”) but more in the idea of the real action ending up on the movie set. I guess one might say that Sunset Boulevard played with it (“Alright, Mr. DeMille I’m ready for my close-up“). I’m also partial to the flawed Irma Vep.