I sat back as the theater started to empty out, people one by one, in small groups of two or three, made their way up the narrow isles to the exit signs that glowered a faint red.

How long had it been since the second Maze Runner had hit the theaters and we’d plunged head long into a WCKD controlled world of illness and death and conspiracy?

2015?

A year before that, we were first introduced to the Glade and the Maze, and a whole new world opened up before us – one of brutality and pain and suffering and loss.

Was this new world one of supernatural and hideous monsters that lived beyond the walls as many of the boy’s feared?

Quickly, Thomas discovers they are nothing more than advanced tech, and the maze is a puzzle to be solved, and a way of escape.

But to what?

To where?

That was, of course, spelled out for us in the Scorched Trials, and we found our rag-tag bunch of survivors out in the cruel, harsh reality of a dystopian world, ravaged by a virus that turned regular people into fiendish, ravenous monsters, and seemed to always end in death.

At the end of the second movie, Teresa has betrayed us all, and those still left alive are hell bent on bringing the fight to WCKD once and for all.

Three very long years later, I find myself here, now, sitting in this movie theater, having just finished watching the last installment of a really great movie trilogy.

What am I left with?

I let out a long sigh, get up, find the theater all but empty already. I make my way to the exit, out into the lobby area, make my way through the double doors and stumble out into the parking lot.

It’s early in the day and few cars or people are around. Just the way I like it.

I imagine maybe that they are all there, in that place, a last refuge, together.

They’ve lost so much, suffered at the hands of cruel people, been tortured, beaten, killed – in the name of what?

Greed.

Power.

As always.

In the minds of men there is nothing more absolutely corrupting than absolute power. And those who have are always guilty of wielding that power over the weak, the down trodden, the less fortunate.

But, unlike so many film franchises before it, Maze Runner was actually allowed to finish the race. As I unlock my car door and slip in behind the wheel, I remind myself that very few movies or books are allowed to follow their natural course, progress on their own terms, and then lay down and finally rest.

Tie up the loose ends.

Bring us closure.

I start the engine of my little hatchback, pull out of my parking space, around the side of the building and pull up to the stop light, where I sit, waiting for the red light.

As I sit there, I can’t help but wonder, were the sacrifices necessary? Is sacrifice necessary to achieve the goal of sanctuary? Must some ultimately give their life so others might live free and safe from the harm of other men?

Thomas gave nearly everything he had so that others might live.

His hopes.

His dreams.

His future.

Would we be willing to do the same?

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Have you watched the final installment of the Maze Runner Trilogy? What did you think? Tell me all about it in the comments below.

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