“How was it?”

That question will be asked millions of times for at least the next 24 hours, and the answer, for me, takes two different routes. Both of which can be summarized by one word, the word I find myself infused with as I think back on the show and its conclusion: Sweet.

As in, lovely. Kind. Refreshing. Perhaps even blessed — even if it was a tv show that contained almost as much advertising as show content. Sweet.

The question “How was it?” depends in general on another question: “What were you hoping for?” In many cases, “What did you expect?” might be another question that comes to mind, but for fans of “Lost”, much of the pleasure was in expecting to be surprised in the most twisted ways, therefore making “expected” something better left behind. “What were you hoping for?” is the more relevant question, and one that is, I think, easily answered for most fans: To have the characters together, alive and happy. We wanted Charlie to survive and be with Claire, Sayid to be with Shannon, Sun and Jin, Desmond and Penny, Sawyer and Juliet — Jack and Kate. We wanted Locke to be whole and Hugo to be cool, dude. We wanted a goddamn happy ending, and that’s what we got.

But it had to make sense. It couldn’t be Bobby Ewing waking from his dream or an autistic boy looking in a snowglobe. The happy ending had to be authentic; it had to make sense in the universe “Lost” inhabited. The island story had to be resolved, not tossed aside for the happy ending, and it was. Jack died to save the island, and Hugo and Ben remained behind to protect it and to find a new way to get Desmond home. The jet with Kate, Sawyer and the others flying over Jack as he died was their inadvertent farewell.

But even as the ending had to make sense, it had to avoid being complete. The story’s ending had to be happy, it had to make sense (no cheating) and it had to be Lost-like. We know there are important things we have not been told. We think they are going to heaven — but are they? The world where Hugo, Sawyer, Kate and the others survive and where they return to their lives: it doesn’t disappear. Even as the characters gather at the end, we know there is more than what we see. The bright light envelops them and hides from us the next stage of their journey — and we exit on the island, as Jack dies and the others continue forward. At the same time we have the happy ending and the sad, all of them together and only a few who survive.

“What were you hoping for?” I think most fans got what they were hoping for, an ending that touched their hearts and, at the same time, left a few mysteries still lurking. There will be no sequel, no spinoff (the Ben Linus Show!) but there is a certain incompleteness that feels exactly right. “Lost” is done, but the finish combined both sweetness and mystery in a way that, I hope, will leave fans, not satisfied, but complete. As a huge story arc, it was masterful writing, and to me, they got the ending right. “How was it?”

Great. Wonderfully crafted. Sweet.