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Maybe you all have already had this epiphany. But for me, it only arrived today.

Always wondered why Dharma was still dropping food so long after the Purge, especially since HQ back in Ann Arbor knew they were no longer receiving any data from any on-island Dharma stations.

But it's simple: they built the Swan after the Incident. They knew what would happen if the energy weren't vented every 108 minutes. End of the world, island sinking into the sea, all that. All they really knew was the world hadn't ended yet. Therefore, somebody must still be in that hatch, pressing that button. Better keep sending ‘em food and supplies.

A few more things that I've continued to chew on since the show ended…

Infertility - I'm starting to come around to this ALWAYS having been a problem on this Island, due - most likely - to the electromagnetic properties and stuff. In fact, I think this might explain the statue. That statue of Taweret, I'm guessing, was built by earlier Egyptian guardians/residents of the Island IN HOPES that erecting an image of a goddess of fertility that she would bless them with being able to have babies there.

We know the Dharma women had children, but they almost always went off-island to do this. Ethan was the exception because he came ahead of schedule, when the sub was gone and when the doctor was away. So Juliet had to step in and do her best. Maybe this was her ONE success against the fertility issues, the one exception to the rule. And that Ethan wasn't technically "born" but was a Caesarean delivery might even disqualify him (just as it disqualified MacDuff from the prophecy foretold to MacBeth) from the conversation.

Desmond's vision of Claire and Aaron getting on a helicopter - the one that ultimately convinced Charlie to go through with his sacrifice - why didn't that ever come to pass? My thoughts are that Desmond saw a woman getting onto a helicopter with Aaron, and assumed it was Claire, when really, it was Kate. Darn those prophetic visions - you can never get the camera angle you want. Or maybe this happens in the post-Ajira 316 return world, that a reunited Claire and Aaron take a helicopter ride, courtesty of Frank Lapidus, someday.

My colleague Bill Long (a techie to the end) told me that his biggest problem with the show was that we weren't told why Smokey makes metallic sounds, clanking and all, and would also be affected by the sonic fence, etc. I grant that this was not answered. My take is that these facts are in themselves an answer to the question of how the electromagnetic pool in the Source ripped the MiB's soul from his body. That major occurrence is easier to understand if you come to find out that a soul has metallic characteristics.

Any insights or new theories from the rest of you since it ended?

"Ohhhh… did you see that?" - Awakened John Locke, to Jack

What about you? What did you see?

What I saw was the end of an epic story about what happens when the Here-and-Now finally becomes just the Here ("there is no ‘now' here," says Christian). I saw a show that debated Fate conclude with concepts about the one fate that inarguably awaits us all. I saw some answers, and I saw some questions remain. Pursuant to that, I saw the story ascend to a plane even higher than the desire for knowledge, and I saw an incredibly compelling case being made that in the end it's not that you were proved right, wrong, or agnostic about those unknowns, but that you believed.

Interestingly enough, Faith, I think was the key not only for our characters, but for we the audience. I might suggest that your level of satisfaction with the finale was directly proportionate to the faith you had that LOST would deliver an ending worthy of your investment. That there would be something for you to take away. That enough of your pet questions - whatever those may have been for you personally (we all had our own) - would be answered, or at the very least mentioned. That you would, once it was all done, be able to look forward to re-watching all six seasons at some future date and time, believing that it would look richer instead of poorer in the light of knowing the ending.

That's where I'm at as I write this. Emotionally and spiritually satisfied. Wowed at the scope, themes, sets, and performances brought forth in a television series. Mildly entranced, as a part of my brain has set itself aside for the last three days masticating on all it had seen and heard from this show. And a little bit confused, to be honest. But I also can't lie and say I am without appreciation for still having some things to think about! It's like the show has, in a way, given me a way to keep going with it, rather than completely and abruptly slamming a door in my face. Still, I'll close this sign-off blog with a look at some lingering questions, some of which unsettle me more than others.

Would I have liked the LOST finale and the way the six seasons ended no matter what? Good question, since I admittedly have been a fanboy and a staunch defender of the series all along. The more I thought about this question I realized what it is I wouldn't have liked: a finale about faith - or a series about deep themes in general - that solved everything, left no grey areas, clearly demarked who was what, didn't need me to reflect upon it, or was only about a mystery to be solved. How would that have served anyone, allowed us to continue to fight and debate, or been anything special?

"But still," you say, "couldn't they at least tell me the Man in Black's name?" (It was in the script as Samuel. Does that, while another cool biblical name to consider the meaning of, really add much to your life?). "Why didn't they tell me whether Widmore was good or bad?" (even actor Alan Dale remains unclear). "Or why the Others had trouble conceiving and birthing on-Island post-1977?"

Indeed. They could have done a lot of things. I'm not here to convince anyone to like what they didn't like, view what they loved as inconsequential, or begin a career as a LOST apologist (too late, you say?). All I can tell you in this space is what I saw, how I interpreted it, and how I'm interacting with all the raw material in the space between. My greatest privilege would be to function in a small way as the Hurley to your Sayid, saying, "If you stick with me, you'll be happy you did."

Six Seasons in a Second

Throughout our final season, I have always kept myself from reading the recaps of others until after I completed my own. This week was no different, except that I did hear from more of you about your own theories, things you liked or didn't, and what's eating at you. I noticed a lot of confusion, some of it centered around what the whole story was, what the Island was, who died when, etc. So before we get to the specifics of the finale, let's do a quick look at the general overlay of the series.

In 2004, an airplane full of broken people crashed on a real Island in the South Pacific. Several people died in the crash. Perhaps they were the ones who were fulfilled, healed, and restored already. Several people would go on to die on the Island. Perhaps they were redeemed or accomplished their purposes during their brief stay there. Still more would go on to have many unbelievable adventures, including learning that the Island sat atop large pockets of electromagnetic energy that made it special in several ways. It could appear to disappear by moving in time. It could heal people. There were forces of good and evil on it. There were Other people already there, living in a society that was all at once secular and religious, scientific and faith-(fear?)-based. The human drama had been playing out for longer than any of our survivors could imagine in this place. Part of that is because this Island required a guardian, because it also served as a metaphorical (even literal) cork to keep Hell and chaos at bay. Unleashed, this Hell would cause the Island to fall into the sea, and would result in the Light of humanity going out, and the ceasing of the flow of living water. Essentially, the elements of life and community would be gone. The Island was not allegorical (I'm with Tolkien, who disliked people asking him what "The One Ring" symbolized. He intended no one-to-one correspondence). If the Island symoblized anything, it was our Earth - is it just a barren rock floating in a wide sea? Is our planet just a barren rock floating in the sea of space? Or is there meaning, is there a spiritual side?

There never was any escape for the twisted, angry, consumed-with-being-right soul of the guardian's twin brother. The very thing that would allow him to be free of the Island would result in the destruction of the world he wanted to see. That world is worth saving because even though Death waits for us all, we can continue in death to deal with our issues and find all-important love, choosing to move on if we so desire. Faith is the key, hope is the gift it unlocks, and love is what endures, helps us find each other even across the great border, and allows us to move on.

Several of you told me, "I just wish they had lived." And I admit to being a little confused over that wish. All the characters lived, existed. "Some died before [Jack], some long after." There's no sadness to the fact that eventually death came to them all; it comes to all of us. Boone died on the island in 2004. Jack died at the end of 2007 after completing his mission on the island. Kate probably went on to live another 40-50 years after flying out on the Ajira plane, and for all of that time she pined for Jack like another Kate (Winslet, as Rose DeWitt) pined for her own Jack (Dawson, played by Leo DiCaprio). I base this, of course, on how DeadWorld Kate told Jack how much she had missed him. We get to imagine what it was like for Miles to go home as a very rich man with the diamonds he dug up from Nikki and Paulo's graves. Or that Desmond probably used the Donkey Wheel to leave the Island, return to his family, and live out his days. Or what challenges Claire would overcome on the path to sanity and motherhood. Or that Richard could go on to experience the joys of aging, knowing he would one day shake off the bonds of flesh to be reunited with Isabella in his own DeadWorld. We also get to smile at the idea of new-Jacob Hurley running the Island with new-Richard Ben for another couple thousand years. You heard me. No reason to think he didn't do the job as long as he could, and that's a spin-off I'd love to see - the Adventures of the Immortal Hurley and Ben, and the Compelling Events that Ultimately Resulted in Their Own Deaths and Turning the Island Over to A New Protector). It doesn't matter when you die, since once you do, you step outside of time. Thus, every character, despite dying at different times, can arrive in this DeadWorld together. Let's take a look at what that world is like…

Who or What was David Shephard?

David, Jack's son, never existed. Not in LivingWorld, anyway. Which, of course, you already knew if you think about it. We definitely knew our original Jack Shephard never had a son. But then we were presented this "separate reality" in which he did, and after a brief period of misunderstanding, the two of them seemed so happy together. In fact, it was one of the big questions / conflicts as we began to wonder how the show was going to merge the timelines. What would become of David? Which world would Jack choose?

But then we got confirmation from Locke that "you don't have a son." And we learned that the LA X timeline was not an alternate timeline at all, but a timeless DeadWorld where characters work through situations and look for love (not even aware they are doing it or that they are dead) before they can - if they so choose - "let go."

Consider the following about David: He plays piano. He likes baseball, specifically the Red Sox. He reads Alice in Wonderland, always so worried about Kitty and Snowdrop. And last but definitely not least, as pointed out just last week by Locke, HE LOOKS LIKE JACK. These are all because... he is Jack. Or, at least, the part of Jack who never got to deal with his father issues in life. Who didn't get closure. Who is in some ways still a child not certain he has what it takes. David was Death's way of letting Jack work through those things and let go. He was as "real" as needed while there, but he has disappeared by the time the concert is over when Jack comes across Kate, and we never see him again. We can even look back to the fact that David did not sign-in at the desk in Ilana's office building (Jack, Claire, and Desmond all did) as yet another clue.

What's more, we can extend this theory about David to other characters and events. Like, where did Helen go / why does Memory-Activated Locke no longer worry or care about Helen before he heads off to the church and the great beyond? I think it's because her presence and function here were similar to David's for Jack. She allowed Locke to have experienced real love. She gave him another something to "let go" of. But once Locke made the decision to let go by rolling himself into Jack's office, Helen is strangely never seen again (one would have thought she would have come with him to such an important surgery, no?).

Going even deeper, these experiences of Jack and Locke in the DeadWorld, and of others like Sayid (got to see Nadia again, despite the cruel twist that she was married to his brother; got to find perhaps his real love - the one who really and truly didn't care that he was a big bad burly protector of people - in Shannon) may just give us a clue into those promises the Smoke Monster kept making to his recruits. You know, the "what is the one thing you want more than anything" promises. See, I think Smokey knows a lot about death, and the promises he was making amounted to little more than promising to kill the people to which he made them, thereby sending them to the DeadWorld where they get to work on that one thing, or see that one person again. Charlie wanted to see Claire. Sawyer wanted answers. Locke wanted to be loved instead of irreperably broken. And so on.

The DeadWorld also sets up several possible endings. Kind of like the 3 choices the Smoke Monster once presented to Sawyer. You can "believe." This is what the love-struck, once-was-lost-now-am-found, memory-activated dead Losties have done. They are leaving. You can call their destination Heaven - the place where faith is the key, hope is the way, and love abides (Desmond told Jack about a place they could be with the ones they loved). Another choice is to remain blissfully ignorant (kinda like in The Matrix) and see what happens. Hugo told Sayid he can choose. We know Ana-Lucia is "not ready." Eloise wishes to keep her son Daniel in the dark as long as she can to keep her own personal demons at bay.

And I believe a third choice is to reject - or not take advantage of - this second-chance DeadWorld and go on being an evil, unredeemed creep. I base this notion off an idea I came up with when I was trying to think if we had ever seen any characters from DeadWorld "die." Sun was shot... and lived. Locke was run over... and lived. Charlie choked on a bag of heroin... and lived. Desmond's car crashed into the harbor... and he lived. Did anyone die in DeadWorld?

Yep.

Keamy. And Mikhail. And their goons. Perhaps one message the show has sent us is that an eternal damnation only awaits those who throw away all chances and continue to just be flat-out evil. And guess what? It's even biblical. In Revelation 21:8 John refers to the "fiery lake of burning sulfur" as "the second death"! Makes sense, right? These characters died once to get to DeadWorld. If they die there as well, that's a second death. And it just can't be coincidental that this only happened to the real baddies; those who still had hope were kept from double-dying almost miraculously, almost as if there was Purpose to it, almost exactly like how certain characters couldn't die in our original LivingWorld timeline until they had completed their missions.

About that Fiery Lake of Sulfur…

Was that what was under the plug Desmond pulled? Hell? Hey, you tell me. The show certainly left that up to your beliefs to determine. For me, the clues of the show given by Jacob as well as my own Christianity inform me that this is an accurate a reading as any, since the concept fits for me into much of the rest of the story.

Who put that pit, tub, and plug at the base of the waterfall? Who do you think? Me, I think it dates to the creation of the world, beginning of humanity. To life starting, to death being a part of it. To good beginning, to the choice of evil needing to contrast it, balance it out. The plug, to me, represents the ultimate result of free will, THE last place where it all comes down to it. In the Source is both Life and Death. When Mother said this, I think it was meant on two levels.

First, yes, the Light (and perhaps the water, too) are part of what is inside not just the island, but every man. The Cavern is a real macro-level thing, but each of us has our own hole in the soul on a micro-level, too. Do you dare go in? Are you so determined that you find impossible ways to get by the safeguards? Can you deal with the outcome of your ultimate choice? Will you be right or wrong about it?

Second, there is Choice in the Source. Venturing in you can choose life, or death. We saw a skeleton lying to the side in the caves. Perhaps that was someone who ventured down and chose life by NOT choosing to venture into the pool that would kill him anyway, but also not to pull the plug that would extinguish life for all others. You can choose death (and even then, you have to be REALLY SURE you want to choose this, because you are choosing it for everyone, not just yourself, as it will take the creation of an impervious-to-electromagnetism guy to wade through the pool and get to the cork).

So what happened to the Man in Black when Jacob sent him down there? He washed into the pool, and the electromagnetism literally ripped the soul from his body, which later washed out the back side (just as Jack did). He emerged a black-hearted, twisted version of himself. Angry at Jacob, bitter at the lies told by his Mother, blinded by these concepts and what happened to him to the point where even with thousands of years he would never take the time to consider the possibilities that anyone else was right, that Mother's lies were for his protection, that perhaps they were all she knew herself, that perhaps they didn't necessarily negate other truths. For all Jacob's own flaws, he was at least wise to consider these possibilities on the night his brother first told him about the lies.

Was the Man in the Black the first-and-only Smoke Monster ever to inhabit the Island? It's at least debatable. I don't think Mother was one. If there were others, we never met them, except perhaps in that Egyptian hieroglyph Ben found beneath the Temple. I put these possibilities together in the suggestion that there's a potential Smoke Monster inside all of us. That mankind has been dealing with the worst of himself from the inside out, the death and the black stuff, since the beginning of time. And there's a real danger in unleashing that darkness and deception on the world. Still, it's not him leaving the Island that would spell doom for mankind. As we've said before, there is enough evil back in the world to do just fine at bringing about our own end, thank you. It's the conditions that would need to exist that would allow him to leave that would spell the end.

And what were those conditions? Pulling the plug turned out the Light. I understood the light as a metaphor for a combination of free will and original sin. The light of humanity. The choice that makes us different from the animals. The gleam that allows us to do good but also pre-ordains us to sinfulness and selfishness. What I did not expect was for water to stop flowing into the cavern when the plug was pulled. This was a big clue for me, and it finally answered a very big but extremely subtle question the show had presented to us this season: what was with all the water? Characters continually filling up bottles or canteens. Drinking water at odd times. Downing it as the act of faith that transforms one into an Island protector. It was the textbook case of "Water, water everywhere." Biblically, of course, we know of the concept of "living water" that quenches thirst for good, and comes pouring out of those who know Christ. Empirically, water (and light) are the ingredients of life that scientists look for throughout the universe to see if we are alone or not. The concepts work for all views. What is important is that there is a flow. Input, output. Life keeps moving, water keeps moving, time keeps moving. Dry it up, and there is nothingness. Barrenness.

This is why, I think, the Island is shown at the bottom of the ocean in what we are calling DeadWorld. Life has stopped there. You enter with the spark having gone out. But that is also why it is crucial for the living not to let the Island sink into the sea. If you do that, all you have is the DeadWorld. And if that is all you have, then there is no playing field, no gameboard, no proving ground, no test facility that is this life. No preparation. No chances. No redemption. No beginnings.

Jack Shephard passed his test, as did several other characters. It was never easy for him, as Locke once told him. Embracing the faith journey is next to impossible, but nothing is irreversible. Well, except Death. Although even in death you can receive second chances to work through things. But what about those who are dead on the Island? Those - like Michael, apparently - who are stuck in something very much like purgatory, who don't get to enter second-chance DeadWorld, but neither do they appear trapped under the Island in the lake of sulfur? I can only guess that Michael and the other whisperers are there because the Island, with its close proximity to "hell," serves as their own prison. They aren't worthy of being "in" Hell, but they are doomed to walk "on" it. Or maybe because the Island does have such close ties to Death and inescapability, those who die on or near the Island are stuck there. For the record, though, I don't see how that can be the case, as Boone, Shannon, and Jack and others are able to exist in DeadWorld as well as move on to "Heaven."

Passing the test involves accepting your purpose, seeing and embracing the miracles that happen that allow you to accomplish it, and possibly even sacrifice for the good of others. All of these boil down to faith. We mentioned that Faith is the key in LOST. I do believe this, mostly because I think this episode went to great lengths to prove what exactly the Man in Black's fatal flaw was, and that we waste a lot of time in our own lives debating right vs. wrong instead of simply believing.

As Jack, Desmond, and MiB all made their way to the Source, each one of them had a different idea about what was going to happen. They argued about who would be right, who would be wrong. MiB, when trying to kill Jack, was so determined to force into Jack's brain that he died for nothing, that it was all a lie, that he - the MiB - was right. So much energy into this one little concept. So much energy wasted when there were truths he had no way of even considering, such as the fact that pulling the plug would not only restore his mortality and ability to die, but that there would be no world for him to sail to. So he was wrong. But so was Desmond. Des believed that nothing would happen if he went into the cavern. Nothing of significance, anyway. His experience had taught him that he'd probably just be flashed out to someplace else, and that all this fussin and fightin and warring had no purpose, not when there was another world he had glimpsed where you could live for love! But that too was all a pipe dream, as Desmond learned, and his grandiose visions of another world were little more than the experience of his own DeadWorld. So he was wrong. But so was Jack. Jack believed Jacob wouldn't have brought Desmond back unless there was a reason. Surely Des was here to save the day! Nothing bad would happen if he went down there! Wrong again, as the MiB took glee in telling him.

It might not be a comfortable message for those, like me, who come from a belief system that holds to Absolute Truth. But the LOST gospel says that nobody possesses every bit of knowledge. You can exist for thousands of years and be right about a lot of things, but there will still be things you have NO WAY of knowing will happen. You can be convinced of your own rightness and righteousness but still see evil. You can talk of love and peace but be blind to the reality that the very fact such things exist means they will ironically become worth warring over as people will choose to define them in their own ways. Just yesterday I read a quote from a devotional that said, "Right doctrine is never an end in itself." So what do we do? LOST suggests we give up our claim to being right. And in its place we substitute something much better - Faith. Faith is not the opposite of Reason, says LOST; faith is quite reasonable. More reasonable than right vs. wrong, anyway. More reasonable than worry, fear, or judgment. Faith frees. Think of Desmond after he came out of Widmore's electro-chamber ready and willing to go with anyone down any path, so convinced they all ended in victory and a return to Penny no matter what. Faith brings smiles, and laughter, and understanding. Listening and loving. Faith brings us to Jack's sacrifice, and any we ourselves would make, because it helps us see that Death is not the end, and nothing to fear.

And that, friends, is what I think LOST was all about in The End.

The Ending…

Several weeks ago in this space we took a look at several possible endings I and others had theorized. I think it turned out to be an interesting combination of several of them. Also, it bears mentioning that ABC - not the producers - added the end-credits footage of the 815 carcass on the beach. They needed something over which to lay the credits and provide a buffer between the emotional ending and the local news. It was never intended to have significance. Unfortunately, this choice inadvertently served to confuse a lot of people who interpreted it as a yank-the-rug-out clue that no one had ever survived the 815 crash in the first place!

I never went down that road, mostly because that would go against everything we had just seen, not only in the finale but for six seasons, plus the fact that there were no human remains strewn about. I myself thought it was an homage to the plane, or the show, or just a quiet moment to reflect. When I did rewind and look for any deeper meaning (before I got confirmation that it meant nothing and was ABC's doing), it looked to me like there was a single path of footprints in each of the three shots we saw. And it got me to thinking about the famous (to Christians, anyway) poem "Footprints." In a show that dealt with faith, eternal destiny, love, religion, and hope, one thing LOST was careful to do was never really bring God into the equation. We had a "God" character in Jacob in some ways, but they carefully - as we know from the merging of religious symbols in the final scene in the church with Jack and Christian - stayed away from adherence to any one God concept. Still, knowing we had some obvious Christian archetypes, I wondered if these shots might actually have been a way to throw God into the picture quietly via subtle references to the aforementioned poem, the one where the man has the dream about the single set of footprints appearing during the toughest and roughest parts of his life - like the ones our castaways went through. And it turns out God was carrying him through those times. That was a beautiful metaphor for me from those scenes, and even though I know there was absolutely no intent there, I'll move forward with this in my thinking about the show.

The REAL ending took place before the final "LOST" black and white screen appeared. And in it, Christian shepherds everyone into the light to see what awaits. I do know, however, why Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof seemed to be in disagreement during this interview about the actual "final scene." It's because there were two final scenes, intercut. In the other, Jack, mortally wounded by the Man in Black, is washed out the back side of the cavern after putting the hell-plug back in place, restoring the Light and the Flow. He stumbles out to the bamboo - his original landing place on the Island (to my grave I'm going to believe he "flashed in" to that spot, just as he did from the Ajira flight, rather than having landed there from the wreckage). He lays down, Vincent comes. He smiles. Even laughs. Vincent lays down in exactly the same manner our family dog did when my father was dying, which brings me to tears. Jack sees his friends - the Ajira 6 - escape safely on the plane. Mission accomplished. Eye closed.

I simply loved these intercut endings. The shots in the church, especially with the light streaming in from the back, were beautiful. The final shot of Jack's eye was elemental, inspired. A great way to come full-circle.

But about those theorized endings I mentioned - how did the show relate to them in the end?

Was it "All a Game"? Yes, and no. "The End" didn't really deal with the game concepts we've seen so much throughout the series, but it did end up making a point about testing and proving, and about time and what we do with it. It dealt with issues of why we are here, and how we spend our "now." And I think one of the things the show knew it was saying all along was that we naturally come up with ways to spend our time ("pastimes" if you will). These things tend to have relevance to the themes and questions we deal with. We sort ourselves into sides. We're dropped here needing to figure it out as we go along. "Everything is an option," said Dogen. Life is a team sport. "Nobody does it alone, Jack," said Christian. Community is important, even if I see something white and you see something black. We can play these things out and see what happens as long as we have more faith in the Game than we have in our own interpretations of the rules. There are rules, but there is also choice, so rules may be broken, so long as one understands there are consequences.

Was it the "This Place is Death?" ending? Yes, and no. The Island is the spot on the Earth where THE choice free will boils down to has its ultimate waterloo. Unleash hell, or operate by faith and trust that life will give you every chance you need, even in death. It is again referred to as a "God-forsaken rock," and in the world of the dead, it is underwater, left cold and dead itself. Several people did die there. But we can assume that the Island goes on for millennia under Hurley's leadership, doing what it has always done - providing a haven for lost souls to be born again. What I doubt is whether these souls any longer find themselves in the middle of "the game" between the Island protector and the soul of his evil brother over whether humans are basically good or basically evil. And no, it was never lost on me or any of you how the Man in Black was the one who espoused the prevailing Christian view that people are prone to sin, fighting, and destruction.

Was it the Jack's Eye ending? Yes, and no. It wasn't a reboot. There were no multiple timelines. Jack told Desmond that he tried once before to undo the past, but he was wrong. There are second chances, but there's no changing the past. Instead, this version of the Jack's Eye ending completed the circuit. Or as Darth Vader might say, "The circle is now complete." Speaking of which, that Star Wars reference the producers had referenced? Turns out it was a double-shot. Not only did Hurley say Jacob was "worse than Yoda" for his cryptic instruction giving (and hey - too bad we never got to see Jacob disappear before the Candidates), but he also pulled out the old chestnut, "I've got a bad feeling about this…"

Was it the kum-ba-yah coffee shop / (God is) Love ending? Yes, and no. I am so glad they took it to the church instead of the coffee shop. But other than that it was so similar to how I imagined it. Friends embracing. Conversations. Happiness. Connectedness. And good ol' down-home soulmate love. Jack and Kate (told you guys she loved him). Sawyer and Juliet (their memory-activation scene was the bomb). Hugo and Libby. What did you think about Sayid and Shannon? I know some folks were bothered this wasn't Nadia, but as I mentioned earlier, I tend to think Shannon was the one who truly accepted Sayid for what he was, and saw only the good side of his qualities - that he is a warrior, a protector, a strongman to make the bad man go away, the like to which we should all be so lucky to have watching our backs. I wonder if everything about Sayid made Shannon feel safe, while perhaps those same things always gave Nadia bit of uneasiness, as they did when the LAPD came knocking on her door.

Ben comes to see everyone off, partly because he has to apologize to Locke (Locke rocks the Forgiveness on Ben, which he says helps him very much) for his selfishness and jealousy, and partly because he is saying good-bye to Hurley, with whom he got to share what was no doubt a lot of excellent adventures during their time protecting the Island. He doesn't go in, he says, because he has some things to work out. I choose to believe he is talking about Love, something which Ben Linus didn't experience much of in life, and something which we know he has now been given the chance to know in Death, having found Rousseau and Alex. I like to think he spends several years with them before he helps them undergo their own awakenings so they too can move on.

But what about the babies? Claire births Aaron, and brings him with her to the church. Sun is pregnant with Ji Yeon. But Little Charlie - Desmond and Penny's son - is not there. My first thought about all this was jotted down on a notepad during my second viewing of the finale, right at the part where Kate helped Claire birth Aaron - again. My notes read, "Life in / amid / out of death? Births and love? And at the Natural History Museum? Poetic." And what I think I meant by this was that the symbolism of life occurring in death might be just as natural as death occurring as a integral part of life. Science and nature and the empiricists tell us that you can't have life without death, and that this process has been occurring since we crawled out of the ooze. So again, LOST makes room in one image for all sides, all views. I don't know if someone being born into the DeadWorld signifies that this person - Aaron in this example - just died in their real life. Ji Yeon, in this explanation, would apparently be nearing her own death, soon to be born to Sun and Jin. I like that idea, but…

The fact Little Charlie isn't there - this would indicate to me that in death he had his own group of "people most important to you" to be with. Did Aaron and Ji Yeon not have the same? Or for them was this always their parents - the ones that Ji Yeon never got to know and perhaps wants to meet, and for Aaron, the two special mommies he had that loved him like no one else (Kate and Claire)? That's the best I can figure.

The Finale

Before we get to the remaining questions, let's take one last walk around the block with the events of "The End" that we haven't covered yet…

That opening shot of Christian's casket being unloaded at LAX - that was an interesting choice. To me it symbolized the Death theme, and the way it was shot and the music seemed to say there was nothing to fear here. I did find it odd, though, that Desmond was the one to call Jack about the arrival of the casket. Why not someone who truly was an Oceanic rep? I think, basically, Desmond just knew. He's been doing a lot of stuff behind the scenes (obviously at some point he or Hurley went and "awakened" Boone, for instance, and told him to get Shannon out of Australia), so he might have even been the one to track down its whereabouts. Or else he just knew that today was the day it was finally arriving.

I loved re-visiting some of our old locales like the Dharma lamppost church, and the Flightline motel.

More about Faith - looking back over the series, the idea of tests and faith have been replayed over and over. Earlier this season we found Montand's remains with the book Fear and Trembling (based off the Bible verse "continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling" - very much echoing what the Losties had to face), and in which the author Soren Kierkegaard sets up a scene where he defends Abraham for being willing to trust God in sacrificing Isaac. This Abraham story was also part of Desmond's faith journey during his monkhood days, when the monastery's label was "Moriah Vineyards," Moriah being the mountain where the Abraham story took place. Des had the following conversation at that time with Brother Campbell: He comments that it's a strange choice, given how "depressing" a story it is that Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac at Mt. Moriah.

Bro. C: And yet God spared Isaac.

Des: Well, one might argue that God need not have asked Abraham to sacrifice his son in the first place.

Bro. C: Then it wouldn't have been much of a test, would it, brother? Perhaps you underestimate the value of sacrifice.

Not anymore he doesn't. He was ready to make the sacrifice Widmore told him he would. And in death, Desmond goes on to prophet like status as the one who - given an idea by Daniel Widmore that "this was not our life" followed by having visions of having known Penny previously - becomes "something like" a priest to guide and prod everyone in the right direction. And yet… some people still don't quite understand what he was doing. Just last night I was asked, "But I still don't get why Desmond tried to kill Locke." Kill him? Didn't you hear him explain to Ben that he was never trying to do that, only get him to let go, to understand he was already dead, to move on?

Speaking of Brother Campbell, I just remembered he had a picture of Mrs. Hawking on his desk in the monastery. And seeing Eloise in last night's episode was a reminder of why she's always known so much. Eloise Hawking was forever haunted by having shot her own talented son in the back. And when (obviously) Jack's plan to detonate that bomb never brought her son back to her, how delighted must she have been in death to have the chance to be with Daniel again. Her words to Desmond at the concert indicate that her greatest fear is someone awakening her son, and taking him away into "Heaven." Desmond lets her know that it won't be him doing this. But as we have just seen Daniel finally having a meet-cute with Charlotte, the woman who the mere glimpse of her at the museum had been enough to get him drawing physics diagrams in his sleep, we can bet that soon enough, Daniel, Charlotte, and others will soon be making their own journeys to the next great beyond.

Loved Desmond's line to Kate about "No one can tell you why you're here, Kate." You can take it two ways. You can ask why you're dead, but in the end, there's no good reason, as it's everyone's fate no matter what. No real rhyme or reason to it. You can also take it as you needing to figure out your own purpose and destiny within the world of the dead. Will you move on? Reject your second chances? Remain ignorant? What?

Good job of injecting humor into this episode. Loved Sawyer's lines about Bigfoot (Hurley), the Magic Leprechaun (Desmond), and the Burning Bush (Jacob). Ben and Miles also got a few smilers to say. This was a show that was totally underrated for its humor.

Free will still exists even in death, as Hurley indicates to Sayid. Dig it.

Rose and Bernard don't even know what year it is on the Island now, and don't even care. They have one rule of their own - don't get involved with Island events. They broke that rule for Desmond. Indeed, rules can be broken. And indeed, they have consequences. Helping Desmond brought the Man in Black to their doorstep, where he threatened to gut them if Des didn't cooperate. Des swings a deal to ensure their safety, and we can assume that Rose, Bernard, and Vincent lived out the remainder of their days in health and happiness on Hurley's Island. In death, I don't know what occurred that woke them up, but I am convinced that in the episode where Jack visited Bernard's office, Bernard was speaking as someone who was already Memory-Activated and was just waiting for the rest of his friends to join him.

Also liked bringing Rose's old line of "not going anywhere with" him / that man out of the closet.

Of course Richard and Frank both lived. As Damon Lindelof once told us, unless we show you something happening (like a death), you can't assume it happened. This m.o. goes all the way back to wondering if Jin died in the freighter explosion. I do like that we guessed right about the life preservers, though, back when Sawyer was watching them wash up on shore. It was pretty clear that was Frank's ticket.

Juliet - in DeadWorld - has the last name Carlson instead of Burke (since she never married that creepy hit-by-a-bus ex of hers from her first life). Carlson was her maiden name, which we know from it being the same last name as her sister Rachel.

I'm still wondering, though, why Miles' last name never changed from Straume to Chang in the DeadWorld. Did Miles ever embrace death once it came to him at all? He is not at the church with the group that is leaving. He was always kinda sorta in it for the money and to save his own skin. I loved him as a character but I can't help but wonder - due to the open questions the producers left us with about him and the fact he dug up the diamonds - if he ever truly "got it." I took a lot from his line to Richard as they are doing maintenance on the plane - "I don't believe in a lot of things, but I do believe in duct tape." First time through, I laughed at that line. Yay, duct tape! Second time through, my face fell. Faith is the key, Miles! And you are truly standing there in front of a guy who you just saw go from unaging to mortal - having been flashed through time and having seen sentient clouds of black smoke and having been gifted with the ability to talk to the dead - and you can actually still talk of what you DON'T believe in? I worry for you, my friend.

I loved the mirror to the D.O.C. episode with Juliet, Sun and the ultrasound, which serves to activate Sun's, and then Jin's, memories. So beautiful they way they both transitioned to English after that, and the peace they had on their faces after that, like when Sawyer came to visit them and Sun told him, "I'm already safe." It's this kind of peace I was thinking about when Locke, just before surgery, tells Jack he hopes that finding his father will bring him some peace. And truly, the ending of this episode and series was all about being at peace after all the tests and turmoil are at an end.

Richard was made mortal again with the official end of Jacob's rule on the Island, and this is just the push he needed to find a reason to live again. Immortality is a boring curse, the show seems to be saying. The other side of that coin is that mortality - knowing we are going to die - ironically enough makes for one exciting, albeit challenging, beautiful adventure. And Richard is ready for it. When it comes to an end, his Isabella awaits…

When Frank came up with the idea of stealing Smokey's plane so Smokey can't use it to escape, it became more clear to me just how skilled a game player this Man in Black was. Not only did he access the form and memories of a guy who knew how to fly a plane (Locke), but he left himself multiple methods of escape. Need to blow up the sub? Take the plane. Plane gets taken? I have a boat.

Jack knew he was going to kill the Smoke Monster, even when challenged as to "how" that impossible task would be accomplished. "It's a surprise," he said, knowing that it would probably come to him that way as well. I loved it when Flocke told Kate to save her bullets. Somehow I knew that would come back to haunt him. I just kinda wish they hadn't actually had Kate SAY "I saved you a bullet." Too Eastwood or something. Would have been more LOSTy to let us make that connection ourselves and then pat ourselves on the back for having caught it.

Jack speaks about Desmond as Jacob having brought him back. So is that who Jacob wanted Hurley to help find the island - not Widmore but Desmond? Makes sense, and makes Lindelof's ascertation that Jacob never visited a repentant Charles Widmore more sensible. Question: Do you think Desmond might have been No. 108 in the Lighthouse, the one Jacob sent Hurley there to look up before Jack smashed up all the mirrors? Because it makes sense to me that Desmond was a special candidate in that he was the exception, the sum of all the others, and that he was even referred to by Jack as "a weapon." Several items in the LOST story dealt with The Valenzetti Equation, which involved The Numbers as a way of predicting when humanity would cause its own extinction from the planet. If the equation results in 108, and "108" is a weapon (as in, people will keep building bigger and bigger guns until they build one big enough to destroy themselves), then the metaphor works. What Desmond does, pulling that plug, would have resulted in the end of the world. And another item of LOST lore comes full-circle.

Even in DeadWorld, there are rules. Hurley tells Sayid this. It has to be Sayid's choice to wake up. But what Hurley can do for Sayid is tell him that in his view, he's a good guy (harkened back to their first convo on the beach where Hurley says "You're okay" to Sayid after he has just fought with Sawyer, and Hurley learns that Sayid was in the Republican Guard). He tells Sayid he can't let himself be defined by what others think of him. He can't let others tell him who he is. And that's so true. But let's not forget that where LOST leaves off, we're still accountable to answer to a God, not simply to ourselves or to others.

Jack and MiB continue their right vs. wrong discussion when lowering Desmond into the cavern feels like "old times" when they stood atop the open Hatch. I loved the verbal beatdown Jack gives the MiB here about dangit, you aren't John Locke, you dishonor him, he was right about most everything, and I wish I coulda told him, so shut it. And once again, being-right-obsessed MiB can only retort that Locke was never right, and when you drop into the ocean with this island (foreshadowing his own end), you'll know that.

The producers had told us that Desmond's long-ago line to Jack of "You gotta lift it up, Brotha" would come into play. I put it to you. Did this refer to the heavy plug being lifted back into the hell hole? Did it refer to Jack finally lifting the lid to his father's coffin? Or both?

Why is it that pulling the plug suddenly puts flesh and blood into the body of the Smoke Monster? I honestly have no explanation for this, other than what we discussed earlier about unforeseen happenings. You can be SO smart and think you've played your game perfectly and were so right, but then something completely out of the blue can happen to you that you had no way of anticipating, causing your own arrogance and self-rightness to be your fatal flaw. His failure to believe ever since the beliefs handed down from his mother were challenged twisted him, ruined him, and destroyed him. But here's one irony - he never HAD to be bad. Could he have not chosen to be a good little Smoke Monster? And once his mortal coils were returned to him, could he not have suddenly chosen to embrace that miracle (he was so bitter previously about his body having been stolen from him unfairly) and work towards restoring the Island WITH Jack and Co.? I bet Hurley would have let him leave, and see the world, with his new order in place on the Island, and humanity safe. But he was too blind and too far gone to even consider the hell it would be to admit he was ever wrong.

Didn't you like how when Ben was trapped by the falling tree limb all these people who once hated and feared him so much wouldn't leave without him? Only question is, one minute he's pinned and the whole group can't free him. Next minute, Jack is off chasing Smokey, Kate has gone after him, and now a smaller group ends up getting Ben free? How?

We know what was up with Jack's neck wound now - but it doesn't explain why he never experienced a wound like that in his side during his DeadWorld scenes.

When Jack's neck started bleeding after Locke's surgery, and Locke wakes up talking about "You don't have a son" and "I hope somebody does for you what you did for me," I thought, oh, crap, it's just like the old days, and Jack's gonna start getting really insulted and pissy at Locke's crypto-faith comments! But no. He simply makes his way to the concert. There is no David there, only Memory-Activated Kate. She has missed him so… and she touches him and he recoils because he's not ready to let go, to remember, to accept that he's dead. She does manage to convince him, however, to go with her to the church, where his final reckoning can occur. "If you come with me, you will [understand]," she tells him. Such assurance, such conviction in her words.

On the island, meanwhile, Kate wants Jack to come with her, be done with this cursed place, let the island sink. "I can't," he says. Not only is he sworn to protect it, but sunken Island, he knows, equals DeadWorld. And that just won't do. The light must be put right, or "God help us all."

Ben shows how he was in some ways always a true Captain of the Island. If it's going down, he says, well he's going down with it. That's consistent. It was all he ever had, and he loved it to the end. But if you think about it, they told us all along (we always knew names were important on this show) who the next King of the Island would be. What is the meaning of the Spanish word Reyes? Kings. Still, Hurley was only able to do this job after his friend Jack placed faith in him, just like Hurley had earlier encouraged Jack with his own faith. "I believe in you" are meant to come across as the incredibly powerful words that they truly are.

Best scene of the finale - Sawyer's Apollo bar sticks in the vending machine, just like Jack's once did. Juliet catches him trying to get it out. She tells him a secret. When the bar falls, her words are the exact ones spoken during her death scene in the season's first episode: "It worked. We should get coffee sometime. We could go Dutch." Sparks fly and hallelujah! I especially love this scene for the meaning it gave to "It worked." All this time we assumed it meant the Jughead plan worked, but no. It was merely Juliet in death seeing and saying the lines from her meet-up with Sawyer, who won't die for several more years (we assume), but for her it's happening right then, right there.

You know, guys, I never got into the Jater / Skater thing, but one reason for that is that from where I stood, it was always going to be Jack and Kate, from the very moment she stitched up his wound on the island. And once they painted the picture of Dharma Days Sawyer and Juliet in love and having spent THREE YEARS together, there was likewise no doubt in my mind that these two had an everlasting love. Not much else needs to be said, but I am sorry if you were holding out hope for different romantic ending that never materialized.

Kate got Claire to come with them by assuring her that no one ever knows how to be a mother until they do it. It's another metaphor for the show itself. No one can show you how to play the game, what you're here for, how to live or care for another person. The key is just doing it.

Ben advises King Hugo that he doesn't have to operate under the same rules as Jacob. He can make his own. And they should be in line with the strength of his personality - taking care of people. And we can start right here with getting Desmond back to his family, and I think I can show you how we can do that… (wanna make a trip to the Orchid station with me?).

Jack and Christian's scene in the church was the crux of understand everything that happened. Much of it we covered above, such as the explanations of Death being a place outside of time, and that those who are most important to a person - the people with whom you faced the most challenging but rewarding times - they are the ones who will build a DeadWorld with you so that you might all find each other again. Life is lived in community - solo runners don't get very far down the love trail. And by the way, Jack, no, you're not "leaving." More like "moving on." Let's go find out what y'all's Heaven is gonna look like.

I neither loved nor hated the conglomeration of the world's religious symbols being so prevalent in that final scene. All those philosophies contributed to the making of the show, so the producers had every right to include them. Beyond the Christian ones, I felt the Taoist yin and yang, the black-and-white, good-and-evil dualism and sense of balance played the best and the heaviest among all the others over the course of the show.

So why weren't the following in the church?

• Ben (still working some things out; probably going to explore love with Danielle and try being a real dad to Alex)
• Ana-Lucia (not ready yet)
• Miles (see above for my sad theories about him)
• Charlotte & Daniel (won't be long before I think each of them find love with each other and are soon ready to move on)
• Eloise & Charles (not sure it's a happy ending for them, either. Loveless marriage? Her son soon to "leave"?)
• Michael  (trapped on the Island's purgatory with the other Whsiperers?)
• Richard (his DeadWorld most surely involved Isabella and others closest to him)
• Walt (he was only a kid when he spent a month with these people; surely his own DeadWorld experience involved those he lived the more meaningful portions of his life with)

And Frank Lapidus, master of the one-liner, had as his final line: "Amen." And I say Amen to that.

The Questions

A sampling of friends' reactions immediately following the finale…

"Amazing, awesome, perfect. Kind of puts the whole Dharma food drop questions into perspective, doesn't it?" - John Sizemore

"Wow!!!! I just can't believe it!!! All the questions ended up not being very important in the bigger picture!!! Just the people… :)" - Nicole Gardner

"I do not like unanswered island mysteries." - Davida Bloomberg

So which camp are you in?

I'm right in between. As I explained in my final blog post just before the finale, for me, LOST is "equally compelling in the ways it's about character / relationships / community and about mystery / revelation / metaphor. It all comes down to this tonight."

In the end of every game, one side wins out. In this case, the best one did. Can you imagine if LOST had ended with just a narrative about how this-was-that and that-meant-this and here's a line about how Yemi's Beechcraft flew through a wormhole and the MiB's name was Samuel just because we like Bible names and Hurley was really a space alien? Where's the heart, the pathos, the higher meaning?

That said, emotional satisfaction and character summation isn't necessarily the side I was rooting for. For several reasons, just like several of you, I watched LOST not to find out if Kate and Sawyer end up together (couldn't care less), but to find out what the Island was, why they couldn't have babies there, what the Monster was, and discuss these items with other true fans to see if we could puzzle it out.

Gradually, it became clear that LOST was telling a story that, despite all it's well-worn archetypes and references to literature, philosophy, music, and religion, had never been told before. It was going to be unique, and as such, un-figure-out-able. So I began to do a little bit more of just enjoying the ride and seeing where it would take me.

When it was over, I responded to my friend Nicole (quoted above) with this: "Well said, Nic! Ain't that the truth? And kinda the point to so many things? As much as I love playing detective, I'm still a romantic at heart. So I loved the love stuff as a way of always finding each other across time and space and death. And love (including all the trials of it) being the key to knowing who was important to you and figuring out everything you can "let go" of to move on. I also think I'm going to find it quite fun to answer the remaining questions for myself in light of this whole paradigm the ending showed us. Honestly, most of the remaining questions I don't think they truly left unanswered. They're all in the text - we just have to discern them in the proper light now. They did such a job of making both the show's themes and the audience's experiences all about community and doing this thing called life and love together.

So yes, I think my friend John (also quoted above) is right - one thing the ending did was make little thing matter less. But as we know in life, it's often the little things - the details - that matter more once we sit down and puzzle our lives out. If we ever intend to do that with the show, we've got to confront the mysteries. So, yes, I think my friend Davida (quoted above) is also right, and it's those items we'll address here as best I can. I understand you may have other questions that I'm either snobbily thinking are too basic, or which I stupidly have not thought of yet. Feel free to drop me a line about those, and I'll get them added.

Answers We Got in the Finale Itself

Are Frank and Richard Dead or Alive? Alive!

Do the Alternate Timelines Merge? If so, how? No, no merge, because they weren't alternate timelines. Don't you know that you can't change history and whatever happened happened? Our original timeline tells the life stories of the LOSTies, how they once we lost but then were found. When they died, all of them between October 2004 and sometime maybe more around 3004 or 4004, they all started running into each other again in Death. And we learned that even Death can not stop True Love. All it can do is delay it for a while (amazing how many times the Princess Bride has been a useful quote this season).

How Does the Island End up Underwater? Well, it never did. Not in any world of the living anyway. If that had happened, I do believe the world of the living would cease to exist. And underwater, Source-extinguished Island would equal only Death existing. And just as life can not exist without death, neither can death exist without life. There would simply be… nothing. Just like Widmore seemed to say (maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all).

So Why Did We See it Underwater in the Flash-Sideways? What we were seeing was the DeadWorld of the 815ers. In that world the Island still had all its features which they remembered but it was just as dead and gone as they were, and could not touch them anymore.

Who Commissioned the Hydra Runway Project? This wasn't given any kind of direct answer, but I feel safe in assuming that if the MiB put the bug in Ben's ear to have the Others build it as a way to get Locke's corpse back to the Island, Jacob was a step ahead of him in their game knowing it could be used to fly the remaining survivors to safety after his replacement(s) saved the day and took over Island Operations.

Why Could Ben Kill Widmore When Previously He Couldn't? I think we got a sense from recent interviews with the producers and some lines from this episode that most "rules" were never immutable laws or anything. You could choose to follow them or not… but not following them would have consequences. I think off-Island Ben and Widmore both knew that if either of them killed the other, the consequence would be forfeiting any shot of ever getting back there.

Who is David Shephard's Mother in the DeadWorld? As we hoped and suspected, it was Juilet. This is even more rewarding when you consider what Ben said so long ago about why he chose Juliet as part of his manipulative scheme to break Jack in the Hyrda station - she bore a striking resemblance to Sarah, Jack's former wife.

Miles and the Diamonds - Do They Come into Play? Not in any direct way, as they let us imagine the life Miles goes on to live when Ajira 316 makes its way home. But the facts that Miles "doesn't believe" in many things, that even in death he doesn't embrace his identity as Miles Chang, that he isn't at the church in the final scene… these things have me believing he never shook off his temptation to value money above love and anything else.

"You've Gotta Lift it Up, Brotha" - How Will this Manifest? The producers had told us this phrase of Desmond's would show up. It wasn't spoken, but it was acted out. Twice. With the stopper in the pool, and with the coffin lid.

Is Ben Really Back on the Dark Side? No. I can't call his Widmore killing a nice thing (though I do like to think he let Charles die in a nicer, quicker way than MiB was going to), but in going with Smokey he just still was making the plays that were most convenient to him. But when he found out Smokey really did want to destroy the Island, he was horrified. And when he knew once and for all which side was aiming to save humanity, he signed right up.

Who Rescued Desmond? Those meddling Nadlers and their dog.

What Became of Rose, Bernard, and Vincent? Still there, still happy. They lived out their days on the Island in happiness.

What Was Up With all the Water Everyone Kept Drinking and Refilling? See above. This was a subtle clue all season.

Jack's Neck Wound - What's That About? Past experiences intruding on the world of the dead. Jack sustained it when MiB gave him the wound that would lead to his death.

What are The Numbers? We already kinda knew that they referred to Jacob's candidates and to their sum, 108, which was painted in a mural inside the Hatch - which just happened to be home to Desmond Hume for several years. It bothers me a little that Kate can be a candidate when she didn't correspond to one of the six special numbers, but that's not that big a deal. I think the fact these numbers were entered into the Swan computer was just because they were a convenient code to use (had to use something). 4-8-15-16-23-42 was the serial number for the Hatch lid, so they could have just chosen that for the computer code for the same reason. The Numbers were also broadcast via the Island's radio tower, and we can assume Dharma built that and started that broadcast sometime after the Incident. Or perhaps the Others built it on order of Jacob, as it did serve to call in groups like Rousseau's team, and to get Lenny to carry them in his head to Santa Rosa where Hurley would hear them, play the lottery with them, and set himself on the path of becoming the New Jacob.

Mirrors / Reflections? Well, a lot of time was spent over several seasons discussing the concepts of "Through the Looking Glass" and "See you on the other side." The mirrors, I think, represent the soul looking back at the body. Knowing now that the people in the reflections were dead, it gives a strong sense that they are having the chance in DeadWorld to "reflect" upon the lives they led, and to really see themselves for perhaps the first time.

Will We See the Kids? We were told we would, and we did. Though one was in an ultrasound, and the other as a newborn - not at all what I expected. I thought we'd see something like grown-up Ji Yeon, Aaron, Little Charlie, Clementine, etc. coming to the strange Island their parents once inhabited…

Was it all a Game? Nope. But as mentioned above, the gaming themes remain elemental to an understanding of the series. And sure enough, some did win. And some definitely LOST.

I Have My Educated Guesses to Keep Me Warm

The Beechcraft - How Did This Small Plane Get from Nigeria to the Island? My favorite theory is it flew over the spot in Tunisia (which I like to think lies on the exact opposite side of the world as our Island) just as Richard or someone was using the donkey wheel to leave the Island, and there was a "trade" in time and space. One swapped places with the other?

Who Completed the Donkey Wheel Project? It was either Jacob himself (and I'm not convinced he was brilliant enough), or it remained there until Dharma found the wheel and hooked it up themselves. I prefer to think it was Jacob, because I think this is the "privileged information" Richard once told Locke about regarding how to leave the Island.

Who destroyed the Roman village, killed the people, filled in the well? I think Mother and Jacob did this together the morning after she made him "like her." We know Jacob is a fantastic fighter (remember how he has pummeled his brother and kung-fu'd Richard) and that Mother has strength that belies her frame (smashing Claudia's head in, braining her own son against the wall of the well). Plus, their sennet game was found at the scene of the attack. What I don't think is that either Jacob or Mother turned into a smoke monster to accomplish this raid.

Why is Hugo Nicknamed Hurley? We never did find out, did we? He told us in Season One that he's "not tellin'"… and he never did. So I like to think it was something embarrassing relating to his eating problems and possibly vomiting. Something that doesn't come close to describing who he really is as a person, his real identity.

The Hurley Bird - What the Heck? I dunno, but this could be anything. From a talking bird that used to live in the Dharma zoo and heard either our Losties or the Whispers say Hurley's name at some point, so a simple foreshadow that Hurley would one day rule over the birds and beasts of the Island.

The Cabin - Whose Was It, What Happened There, and Why Does it Seem to Move Around? This is admittedly the toughest one for me to figure. I'll have to go back and re-watch some scenes, but I don't know if that will help much, as I suspect our writers were still kinda fleshing out all the little details of our story during those days. What we know is that it was built by Dharma's Horace Goodspeed in the 70s as a retreat for his family. It's entirely possible that Jacob used this place to give instructions to Dharma folks, just as he used his statue as his base for giving instructions to Richard. After all, there's gotta be some reason Dharma's presence was tolerated on the Island until Ben came to power. At some point, Ben used the cabin because it was Jacob's base, or because he wanted people to think it was Jacob's base, the place he went to get instructions from (from his point of view) the unseen, perhaps-not-there-but-I-can-use-this-to-my-advantage "god" of the Island, the one I can get my people to do whatever he says. At some point, as mentioned by Ilana, "someone else" began using it -- the MiB whom Locke saw throw Ben across the room and heard say "Help me." And who Hurley spied through the window as Christian, and who was probably also the scary eyeball that showed up at the window scaring Hurley.

Fertility Issues? If it weren't for flippin Ethan being born (albeit Caesarean) in 1977, we could theorize about these issues going back even further. What happened between then and now? I can only think The Incident had something to do with it. Post-incident, Dharma posted all sorts of Quarantine warnings in the Hatch, and came up with a vaccine for an apparent sickness that began to infect people. This same vaccine that Desmond took in the Hatch and was part of the food drops is what Ethan was giving to Claire, and which Charlie later secured some of to give to Claire as well. I'm not sure Claire ever needed it, as her baby was conceived off-island, and Juliet theorized that the problems began at conception, though they didn't end up threatening the life of child or mother until the end of the second trimester.

Why Does Ash Bother the Smoke Monster? Great question. Maybe because he's all mad about not having a body of his own anymore, and our bodies are essentially ash ("ashes to ashes"?)

Backwards-Talking "Special" Walt. How did he do that? Walt shows up dripping wet at one point, and speaking backwards to Shannon. He had a bad feeling about the Hatch - didn't want John to open it. He gave the Others all they could handle (if you've never seen this batch of "mobisodes," they're worth checking out, in particular the Room 23 one about Walt). All I really need to know is that several characters on LOST are "special" - Miles can talk to dead bodies. Hurley can see dead people. Walt can make birds fly into windows. MiB could see his dead mother and was adept at science. Locke was recognized in the finale has having been special - probably for his unwavering faith. Some things you just can't explain in life.

What did Richard mean when he told Sun that he saw her friends die in 1977? I think this was an assumption on Richard's part. All he knew was that he helped Jack and Co. take a nuclear device to the Swan site in 1977. He knew they detonated it. And they disappeared. Richard had no way of knowing they hadn't died, but had instead caused a time-flash reaction that had flashed them into Present Day Island Time.

Posed by the Finale

How does pulling the plug make Smokey flesh-and-blood again? And if it does that, why is he still in Locke's form? When he's killed, he leaves a body, so there are now two John Locke corpses on the Island? Yeah, apparently so. Sorry, don't really have any theories as to why the plug pulling made Smokey mortal again.

Stumped! Somebody Help ME Out

The Black Rock Journal - how'd it get off the Island to be found among the artifacts of pirates in Madagascar and eventually bought at auction by Charles Widmore? Did it contain any secrets?

Outrigger Shootings - who shot at Sawyer, Juliet, Locke, etc. while they were time skipping? Whoever it was had Ajira water bottles in their canoe, so… ?

Dharma Still Sending Food to the Island? A dozen years after the Purge, Dharma is still sending food. Some gets dropped in the jungle outside the Swan, while still more finds its way into the kitchens and pantries of the Others. Either Dharma HQ back in Ann Arbor is really dumb (don't they realize no data from any of the hatches is being sent back to headquarters anymore?), or Ben and his network of off-island Others tricked the system by putting someone inside Dharma who still makes it look like business as usual and keeps the foodstuffs coming (seems like Rose and Bernard are still enjoying Dharma goods in 2007, even).

What did Ben THINK he was going back to the Island to do that was such a big deal (told Jill the Butcher: "Keep [Locke's body] safe Jill, because if you don't, everything we're about to do won't matter at all"). Was it just making sure he got back that was so important to him? That's my assumption. Proving he could do it, and being in charge again.

Appearances of Christian. Right now, I'm going with Jack seeing Christian in the hospital lobby as a hallucination or a ghost sighting (although they sure made a big stink about the smoke alarm malfunction in that scene). I'm going with Christian appearing to Michael on the boat as an indication that the writers hadn't yet worked out that Smokey can't just fly about between islands over water whenever he wants to yet. And I'm going with Christian appearing at the barracks to Sun and Lapidus while Flocke was still over on Hydra as oversight.

Libby Stuff. We still never actually heard her last name in any episode (it's listed in several places as "Smith," but that always struck me as a cop out). Nor do we know who her late husband was who gave her The Elizabeth, or why she was in Santa Rosa the first time (or why she was on 815 originally).

Widmore & Zoe's Equipment. It ended up just being left in that outrigger. What was it for? What were they intending to do if they hadn't gotten captured/killed?

Just Have Fun with These Because There Was Never Going to be an Answer

Origins of Mother

Montand in the Tunnels (why'd his team as well as the Others just leave his body there?) / the Rest of Rousseau's Story

Why Was the Faked Crash Site in the Indian Ocean? Why Did the World Buy It?

History of the Swan Hatch post-incident

Finally, if that wasn't enough for you, there's this. It was forwarded to me today, but I have to say, while some of it is valid questioning (backwards-talking Walt saying not to push the button - the button's bad), some of it is remedial (the polar bear in the comic book? Simple foreshadowing; Walt didn't manifest the bears onto the island so he could see one. That we at one time thought he might have is just what makes the storytelling good), and some of it makes me think this guy just never got it (the Others' fake beards? Come on. If you are going to show up to people who crash landed on your Island, are you going to want to present yourself as clean, well-groomed, air-conditioned, fresh-baked cookies types? Or would that just make the newbies want to come gate crash your party? No - you're going to make yourself look scuzzy so they'll leave you alone and underestimate you). But, fair enough.

…And There's Always Going to Be Something More to Say…

I delayed a bit in writing this blog because while it remains unposted the show still remains open for me! It's hard to say good-bye! But it's not hard to say thank you, and I wish to express that sentiment to the following folks for their support and faith.

• Steve McGarvey. Thanks, boss, for setting me up with the blog and letting me run with it. Hope you've been happy with it.
• Chad Nykamp. I can't believe LOST was only 18 episodes in when I started with Salem. I still remember you looking at me cockeyed wondering if I was really a LOSTie, or just someone claiming to be. And all it took was about 50 good conversations to earn your trust and respect (cue email from Chad saying "Where did you get the crazy idea I respect you?"). Have truly enjoyed the Q&A sessions with you, so thanks for that, and the fact your mom was the first person to ever tell me she was a fan of the blog. Still waiting to get your take on the finale!
• Kelly Good. Excellent job coming as close as possible to the new Chad once he ran away to Florida. You've been a real help with talking out theories and sending over your research.
• John Sizemore. Just being the spitting image of John Locke would be enough. But contributing your takes each week has been much appreciated.
• Fred Alberti.  My co-originator of the LOST Lunch. I do miss going to Buffalo Wild Wings for discussion, but we just grew too big for everyone to be a part of it!
• Scott & Cindy Bartley.  We have endured scorn, my sad little friends, at the hands of those who don't understand our obsession. But thank you for helping me fend off the Philistines, and being the only ones who can truly even try to understand what it's like to try to watch the show with Val.
• Nicole Gardner.  I always looked forward to your upbeat, excited takes, Nicole, on how it's "all about love. The rest is just chaos."Amen.
• Holly McEvoy. Thanks for recommending and reading, Sis. I think you were my only fan for a while. I love that this gave us another way to connect.
• Valerie McEvoy.  Thanks for being the Penny to my Desmond (yes, I said Desmond. This is my blog, my farewell, I get to choose to be the coolest character I wish). Your understanding that this was a journey I had to take, even if it began with you barely seeing me in January when I did the Seasons 1-5 Marathon, was so appreciated. If you want, you can take a page out of Faraday's journal and write yourself a note that says, "If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume (a.k.a. me) will be my Constant!" And so I shall. Love you. Have enjoyed the LOST journey with you, even if I did have to banish you to the other room for thinking Frank's last name was "The [male anatomy]."

Bye, gang. It's been a blast. See you on the other side.

--shawn
 

Damon Lindelof, one of the co-executive producers of LOST, used to read Enyclopedia Brown mysteries as a boy. One day, his father ripped out the answers section in the back of the book, telling him, "The answers are there in the story. You can figure it out."

So I learned from this interview, in which Christianity Today chats with Entertainment Weekly's LOST recapper Jeff "Doc" Jensen (yes, Doc's a believer). I highly recommend reading this 3-page piece if you have even been a casual follower of my blog or the show this season, whether you read it before tonight's finale or over the next week as you process what you just saw, whether you believe, don't, or aren't sure (Jensen is very fair and makes mention of how LOST is a conversation starter for folks of all views).

It's highly probable that much of the show, once it's done, will be left for you to debate, discuss, rewatch, figure out. That is not to say we won't get any answers, but I can pretty much guarantee what we won't be seeing is the equivalent of an orangutan in glasses and a labcoat using a pointer and a chalkboard to absolutely illustrate every mystery LOST has ever posed.

CT put one of the questions we've covered quite often in this space - one which I have discussed with many of my Christian friends who are (rightly) staunch defenders of Absolute Truth - to Jensen like this, and I simply love his answer:

If we get to the end of the show and we don't know exactly who is good, who is evil, won't that be disappointing?

Lost begins that conversation by saying, "Who gets to decide who is good and evil?" Here on earth, who gets to decide who is right and who is wrong? What Lost wants to say is, We're not going to decide that. What we're going to say is that you decide that for yourself. This is the ultimate expression of free will. All these being equal, pursue a life of self-awareness so that you know yourself well; then, you decide moment to moment whether you are good or evil and then be that, hopefully choose the good.

What we may see from the sideways world is that some of these characters are going to have to think, "Wow, is that who I was, or is that who I am?" I think they're going to have to make a choice. They might be put in a place where they get to step outside themselves and see that life and make a decision. Like Sayid, I lived a horrible life, but I made a movement toward the good. The ultimate message Lost wants to leave us is not passing judgment on people but asking us to look within ourselves, and ask, Do you know yourself well enough to answer that question? If you don't, what do you need to be doing to get to that place? You're going to be held accountable at some point, because it's going to have ramifications for eternity.

Jensen also talks about why, in my view, LOST succeeds: it's equally compelling in the ways it's about character / relationships / community and about mystery / revelation / metaphor. It all comes down to this tonight:

[Finishing with some things open-ended is] a really romantic notion if you're an artist or writer, but if you're a... consumer of entertainment, you might find that extremely frustrating. If you want the detective to enter the room and explain it all, you'll probably be dissatisfied. If you love the mysterious puzzle and coming up with your own conclusion, it could be very satisfying.

I think where Lost can win is if it's emotionally compelling, if they tell us a story that reminds us why we love these characters and bring them to a powerful, incredible, emotional conclusion, which they can do independent of giving us answers to the island. We'll be crying, and we'll be laughing at the end, and then an hour will pass and we'll realize, "Wait a minute, they never told us the answer to this."

CT and Jensen also enter into dialogue about redemption, religion and satisfaction. So definitely go check it out! 

*****

Saturday night, as you probably know, ABC re-aired LOST's original 2-hour "Pilot" episode, with enhanced pop-up revelations. Most of these were basic and remedial, serving to fill-in those who haven't watched the show or who gave up on it at one point. But I still took some notes, which I copy here as I took them (beware: these are unedited for spelling / grammatical errors, or incomplete thoughts. Also, just because I typed in a notation they showed us doesn't necessarily mean the information was all that special or revelatory):

Notes from Saturday Night's Re-Airing of "Pilot" in Enhanced Pop-Up Format

• Iconic image of eye opening
• "Jack fell from the plane" into this bamboo field. The field is an important location (the heart).
• Only the protector can see the Heart.
• Electromagnetism can heal things like paralysis and cancer.
• Also functions as a cork, prevenint "hell" form getting out and spreading.
• When people are brought here, their past doesn't matter, only their second chance does (so it's a born-again experience, basically).
• "Swooping Smokey" was still there flying down behind the exploding jet engine, but not discussed. I continue to wonder if them "debunking" this was simply to not give away that their "Monster" was a big cloud of smoke. Because this is so coincidental.
• Boone = president of a bridal company.
• Extraordinary that these people survived a crash of this magnitude, but these people were brought to the island for a specific reason (but free will still exists (what does this say about those who did not survive?). But the island is dangerous, and these people CAN die at any time.
• Don't worry about the others, we need to stay together. Never leave my sight. -- Jin. Cool considering how their story ended.
• "Force was enough to destroy the island, but was contained in time."? WTH?
• Smoke monster did used to be a man, the Man in Black, robbed of his body and humanity by his brother Jacob. Trapped, must kill Jacob, needs one of the survivors to help.
• A man was suppsoed to discharge the amassed energy every 108 minutes.
• Jacob was born on the island over 2,000 years ago. Jacob and MiB have a disagreemtn over the nature of man, leading MiB to want to kill Jacob. MiB has vowed to kill Jacob and any of his candidates so that he may finally leave the island.
• Rain has come to symbolize danger. Whenever it rains, something is about to happen. "Save it for a rainy day..."
• Original 815 pilot was supposed to be Frank Lapidus, not Seth Norris.
• Smoke monster can not kill any of Jacob's candidates directly. Seth Norris was not on Jacob's list to be brought to the island. So this is not a rule violation.
• Walt doesn't respect Michael or see him as an authority figure.
• They were brought there because they were flawed, had complicated relationships with parents, were looking for something they couldn't find out there. They needed the island as much as it needed them. Sawyer will eventually prove to be a trusted leader. As weill Hurley.
• Sayid will struggle with his violent nature and his past, but will ultimately decide to help his friends survive.
• Others are usinmg an underwater station to jam all signals. (Dharma permitted there to build the things Jacob needs?)
• Kate does not what the Marshal's death on his hands. She would call him on Catholic holy days to plead her case. (She also used saint names as aliases).
• Faster Friends, Part One comic book. Green Lantern & Flash.
• "The story of the island is the story of light and dark. Jacob is always shown in white. His antagonist is the man in black / the smoke monster."
• After Locke's death, the MiB who had lost his humanity, was able to take Locke's form. He will become a dangerous force against Jack for the island.
• Polar bear came from Hydra Station. Dharma conducted experiments on the island for over 15 years.
• Biological and behavioral. Broke out of cages, swam to main island.
• Marshal hid a memento of Kate's in a safe deposit box in NM.
• Radio tower already transmitting a looped distress signal by Danielle Rousseau, a French scientiest.
• They were draw in after hearing the transmitted Numbers. After her team died, Rousseau hiked to the tower and changed the signal.
• Rousseau had a number in the Lighthouse. That is why she couldn't be killed? Rest of her team did not? So Jacob purposefully called her there?

*****

Similarly, I spent a few minutes Saturday afternoon making some coarse (course?) notes about items that remain unanswered. Just as above, these are mostly unedited and randomly grouped:

Finale Answers Checklist

First, we have received TONS of answers already: Will there be a new Jacob? Who are Adam & Eve? Were Jacob & the MiB twins? etc., etc.

The still-open questions as I count them are below. I have bolded ones I consider major. Whether or not I actually expect an answer to a "major" question (see: the MiB's name) is another story, however.

• Did Jacob really visit Widmore, or was that a lie?
• How does the Island end up underwater?
• Do the alternate timelines merge? If so, how? Where do our characters end up living happily ever after?
• The Hurley bird. Why does this giant bird call Hurley's name during the Michael-led trek to sell his friends out to the Others? Why have the producers been so hush-hush whenever asked about it? Where did Hugo even get the nickname Hurley? Why does nobody "back home" ever seem to call him Hurley?
• The Beechcraft - how'd it get that far?
• The Man in Black's name
• Where did Mother come from? What was her name / place of origin?
• Black Rock journal / Hanso family
• Why ash? Why does it bother / keep out the Smoke Monster?
• The cabin? What was up with that place?
• Are Frank and Richard dead or alive?
• Is the Smoke Monster the soul of MiB, or an evil entity that took his form and memories? (This was pretty definitively answered later Saturday night during pop-up LOST)
• Who completed the Donkey Wheel project?
• How did Jacob come and go from the Island?
• How did Mother and/or Jacob destroy the Roman village and fill in the MiB's well?
• Who commissioned the Hydra runway project? Jacob, or Smokey?
• How did Hugo get the nickname Hurley?
• Off-kilter Identities? Was there a secret to how Kate was not biologically an Austen, Locke's father was named Cooper, Claire's father was named Shephard, James and Hugo and others go by aliases or nicknames, Miles rejects his father's last name, etc?)
• Backwards-talking Walt?
• When and why did the fertility issues start happening on the Island?
• Why did Jacob need to recruit candidates from the world when he had a group of followers on the Island?
• Is Libby's last name really Smith? Is it significant? Was her chance meeting with Desmond where he ended up with her boat a set up?
• Why could Ben kill Widmore when previously he could not?
• Desmond's vision of Claire & Aaron getting on a helicopter that convinced Charlie to make his sacrifice - why didn't it come to pass? Might it yet?
• Who shoots at our time skippers from an outrigger? Why do they shoot? Did Juliet hit / kill one of them when shooting back?
• Why did Sun crash with Ajira 316 in 2007, and not get flashed out into 1977 like Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid?
• Where does Ethan's seemingly-superhuman strength come from?
  Remember the time he picked up Charlie with one arm and pinned him to a tree? And how he carried off a fighting Charlie and Claire by himself? And how easily he bested Jack in their first fight? What was that about? And how was Jack able to best him the next time they faced?
• Why was the faked Oceanic 815 crash site in the Indian Ocean - northwest of Australia - when Sydney-to-LA flights take off from Southeast Australia and flight in a northeasterly direction?
  Why did anyone back in the real world believe the crash site was on the level? There should have been no way this flight would ever have been in those coordinates.
• Dharma - why allowed there?
• Did Hanso have a deal with the Others? Why did the Others purge them, and if they were going to do that, why wait 20-some years to do it? Why were they allowed to build the barracks atop a sacred tunnel system, and above the Smokey-summoning cave? Did they ever really succeed with any of their experiments? Why do they continue to send food drops, and why do the Others continue to enjoy Dharma-brand products in their refrigerators and pantries? Why did Pierre Chang ever bother with candle-based aliases when there was no mystery around Dharmaville about who he was (he even worked admission on occasion)?
• Dharma food drops?
• How are the Others still enjoying Dharma products?
• David Shephard's mother?
• Does new-2004 Sawyer have a daughter, Clementine? Does he have a relationship with her?
• Why was Montand never carried out of the tunnels? Why didn't either Danielle's team or at the very least the Others at least remove/bury him? What is the complete story of Rousseau's team?
• Why are mirrors and reflections so important / prevalent? Can Jacob watch candidates through mirrors?
• Why is MIB stuck in Lockeian form?
• Miles dug up the diamonds from Nikki & Paulo's graves; is this just to tie up that loose end, or will they be significant to the story's endgame?
• What was the fate of Magnus Hanso? How did the Black Rock ledger end up in the hands of pirates in Madagascar? Why did Widmore buy it? Is Widmore descended from the Hansos?
• "You've gotta lift it up, brotha" - we have been told this line Desmond once spoke is important to events in the finale.
• Is Ben really back on the Dark Side?
• Was Desmond rescued by Rose, Bernard, and Vincent?
• Eloise Hawking? "Why ‘God help us all' if the O6 plus Ben plus Locke don't all get back to the island?"
• Bamboo Jack (and the Golden Waterfall beyond the bamboo)
• Drinking water? Any signif to how often this is shown?
• Widmore & Zoe's equipment in the canoe?
• Jack's neck wound?
• What are the Numbers?
• A game / the game?
• Raised by Another?
• The kids? Will we see them (Aaron, Ji Yeon, etc.?)
• So the MiB admits that he was appearing as Christian Shephard. I'd still like to know how Smokey/Christian:
  a) Appeared to Jack in the hospital lobby after the O6 returned
  b) Appeared to Michael on the freighter
  c) Appeared to Sun and Lapidus at the barracks when Flocke and Ben were still over on Hydra
• Ilana's backstory - According to rumors, she was scheduled to have a backstory in which she was Jacob's daughter?
• What was Libby doing in Santa Rosa? Will Hurley ever figure out where he knew her from? What is her last name? What was she doing in Australia in our original timeline (reason for travel)? Did someone send her to "coincidentally" meet Desmond and offer him her boat The Elizabeth for his race?
• the history of the Swan hatch between ‘The Incident' and Radznisky killing himself (if that is what really happened, Kelvin)
• What did Richard mean when he told Sun he watched all her friends die in 1977?
• We met Jill, who appears to be an off-island Other, at the beginning of Season Five. It's her butcher shop where Locke's corpse is kept nice and cool until Ben and Jack are ready to take it to the airport. In their brief meeting, Jill mocks Jack to Ben (who defends Jack as having been through a lot), tells Ben that everything's on schedule, says the dead body will be "safe" with her. Ben leaves her with this quote: "So keep him safe, Jill. Because if you don't… everything we're about to do won't matter at all." This quote and scene stick out to me like a sore thumb now. What did Ben think he was about to do? Shoot, I'm not even clear yet on his motives for returning to the island. All we do know is once he got there he did nothing but unwittingly become the MiB's Jacob-killing patsy. What did these Others think they were doing, and what was so important about it, and why did it involve Dead Locke and the rest of the O6? Were they just important to Ben getting back in the same way they are important to MiB being able to leave? Related question: What did Ben surreptitiously pull out of the air vent in the LA hotel room where he and Jack stayed? Has that or will that ever come into play?

See you Tuesday afternoon with my finale recap! 

I didn't know what to expect Thursday night. All I knew is that there isn't much LOST left, so even if it cost me $12.50 and I had no guarantees I'd actually learn anything, I was totally going to attend Times Talks Live: LOST, broadcast via satellite to a local movie theater.

Lorne Manly, an entertainment editor with the New York Times, interviewed LOST's executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof for an hour and forty-five minutes. I had told friends I wasn't sure how the time would be filled - surely they wouldn't spoil the ending that is now just two days away, and what could they tell us that we who obsessively study the show wouldn't already know?

Plenty, it turns out.

I attended the event with two co-workers, Kelly Good (and her brother Justin), and John Sizemore (and his wife Kelly). We laughed a lot, we said, "wow" several times, we left the theater electrically charged over the flat-out-awesome several-minute clip from the finale we were shown as the event ended.

We were also, I must say, rather blown away by the number of times the topics of faith, the Bible, redemption, the Garden of Eden and other religious themes were discussed by the producers, many times even without a question directly soliciting such an answer.

During the show, actors Michael Emerson (Ben) and Jorge Garcia (Hurley) did walk-ons (admittedly, these were rather cheesily set up with scripted answers that cued the entrance of the actors), and contributed to the questions and answers. Manly asked several questions from his own cards, plus several more that LOST fans around the country had submitted. At the end, audience members there in New York were given the opportunity to ask their own questions.

Some of the program involved technical details of how a show like LOST is written and produced, but even these less-revealing moments were enjoyable, mostly because of the hilariously "on" Lindelof and the eloquently-interesting Cuse, who have said they will be going into "radio silence" for a good while after LOST's finale this Sunday night. Why? They want to let the show settle with folks. They believe they have crafted an excellent ending to their tale, one with plenty of answers, but if some questions remain unanswered it is because they did not want to answer them and prefer to let people have something to debate. Kind of like… religion? Yep, like I said, that theme was omnipresent Thursday night, all the way down to the young lady in the NYC audience who credited the show for returning her to faith in God and people, and to church.

We saw 4 clips during the evening:

The first was the Season Two scene where Locke and Jack debate whether to push the button as the timer ticks down. This is the one with Jack wondering why Locke finds it so easy to believe, and Locke screams back that it's never been easy. They pointed out how they loved that scene for the way Locke needed Jack to agree to push the button with him. He could do it alone, but ultimately, this faith journey thing isn't a solo sport. We need to take it together. And practically, if Locke could convince Jack that they were going to spend a season pushing the button, that is what would convince the audience to go along with that storyline as well.

The second was the beloved scene from "The Constant" where Desmond and Penny finally talk to each other over the telephone from the freighter. This established that Desmond would not only be healed from time travel sickness, but that a Constant could be a person (hence, people still are constant presences in everyone's lives in this final season), and that Penny would be the one to rescue the Oceanic 6.

The third scene was an example of one that came straight out of a conversation in the writer's room - Hurley and Miles in a 1977 Dharmaville house debating the realities and paradoxes of time travel. Classic, funny stuff. Ultimately, they realized that Hurley would be the voice for the audience on this one, and he would need to come up with a poser that stumped Miles (this was the question of why adult Ben, whom they captured in the Swan in Season Two, would not remember that big bad Iraqi who shot him when he was a child. As we know, this was answered via Richard taking Ben to the Temple's healing pool and telling Kate and Sawyer that young Ben "would remember none of this.")

The fourth scene was the clip from the finale, and we'll get to that at the end…

Here's a list of the highlights, in no particular order. For the record, I don't consider any of these items "spoilers," because after all, they came directly from the show's production team itself just prior to the finale (as if they want to ruin that for anyone). But if you want to go into Sunday knowing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, turn away now. I promise nothing below this line is going to be something you go away wishing you didn't know, but some people are weird about that and need to click here instead.

TURNING AWAY? NO? OKAY, ON WE GO.

Coolest Reveals

One audience member asked a question about the first time Jack and Desmond met running the stadium steps in Los Angeles, you know, the one where "See ya in another life, brotha" originated. This fan had long believed that another line from that conversation, the one where Desmond told Jack, "You've gotta lift it up, brotha," was somehow cosmically significant. Was it? Would it still come into play? Upon hearing the question my co-workers and I groaned a bit, because after all, surely Desmond was merely talking about Jack's sprained ankle back in that scene, telling him he had to elevate it (lift it up). Right? Wrong! The coy answer the producers gave this questioner? "Um, you will know more. You're definitely not going to be disappointed in the finale…"

Malcolm David Kelley will be appearing as Walt in the finale! (Even though they joked that Kelley was now 39 years old).

Was Widmore really visited by Jacob off-island after the freighter was destroyed? In my recap of "What They Died For" yesterday, I made the case that for several reasons, yes, I believe Charles is telling the truth. But when the producers were questioned about Widmore's motives "now that he's dead," Damon Lindelof gave a very interesting answer. He said that on LOST, we can only assume something happened if they actually showed it to us with a scene. Otherwise, what reason would we have to believe the words of a character they had previously shown us was selfish and untrustworthy? This one made me think. It still makes more sense to me that Widmore was visited by Jacob. How'd he suddenly get back to the island after years of trying? Where'd he get his "list" of candidates? How did he know about the war that was coming to the island, and that there was a "wrong side" that might win? How did he know to bring Desmond? While those are all great questions that still put me in the camp of "yes, Jacob visited Charles," the implication that simply cannot be overlooked from Lindelof's cryptic answer is that Charles - though unafraid of dying like Smokey inferred - is still acting selfishly. His true motives for bringing Desmond back might have had nothing to do with being a failsafe or one final level of protection put in place by Jacob. Following that line of thinking, then, it is quite probable that Jacob never visited Widmore, and therefore Smokey has been given wrong information about Des - information that might backfire on him!

There's a major Star Wars reference within the first 7 minutes of the finale. Cuse looked like he wanted to smack Lindelof for revealing this, so we all took this as much more meaningful than, say, Hurley wanting to send George Lucas a better screenplay for Empire Strikes Back. What could it be? A Jack-and-Claire Luke-and-Leia-style kiss? Ew, let's not go there. It'd be much cooler if, maybe, Ben were to go up to Jack at the concert and say, "I am your father!"

Is the "final scene" really the final scene? This was odd. There seemed to be a minor debate between Cuse and Lindelof when Carlton started to talk about something like "the final scene" or the "real final scene." Whatever they were getting at, it was clear this was something they really didn't want to give away. I can only assume that the show will appear to end one way, but one final shot or reveal may just yank the rug out from under us.

What vs. Who? This was a cool reveal for me because the producers mentioned the thematic concept of "Identity" - one that we have played with often in our recaps - within the show. So many times they have toggled between defining people or things as whats or whos. Ultimately, they decided early on that instead of answering questions like "What's in the Hatch?" and "What is the Monster?" that it would be so much more powerful, especially considering the sense of community / togetherness / humanity they wanted to instill, to answer them as "Who's in the Hatch?" and "Who is the Monster?"

Mirrors. The producers were asked about both the mirrored structure of the six seasons (Season One in many ways paralleling Season Six, and so forth), as well as the prominent presence of actual mirrors and reflections within Season Six. They admitted that first of all they did want the series to have some symmetry, which is one reason why this season's flash-sideways has served to give them more room to help us know the characters in the ways the Season One flashbacks did. The other reason mirrors seem to be everywhere is, as above, the concept of Identity. They want to remind people of the sensation one sometimes gets of looking in a mirror and wondering if the person staring back is really one's self. Who is that person? Do they have their own life on the other side? Do they have the same odd feeling of disassociation when they look closely at themselves or get introspective?

Reassurances

If you're like me, you've been bombarded recently by pseudo- or know-it-all fans telling you how they heard "the show has four alternate endings!" Please. Stop. This is not a remake of the movie Clue. So get one. If you were perhaps worried about this rumor, Cuse was kind enough to dispel it for us: the "alternate endings" that are being promoted for the post-finale Jimmy Kimmel special are spoofs. Humor spots. Fun. Nothing more.

I've long been aware that "did you know how this was going to end since the beginning" has been Cuse and Lindelof's least favorite question. It's pretty much a no-win proposition, as Damon went on to point out. He said there exist two groups he hears from most often. One wants every snippet, plot point, and twist from LOST lore to have been pre-ordained in a giant binder. The other wants to know how much evolved through fan theory, fan reaction, writer creativity, character growth, etc. But these ideas - the ordained and the organic - are mutually exclusive. Still, there have been elements of both occurring. They did confirm, though, what they have confirmed already several times - the actual ending, the final place we end up - has been known since J.J. Abrams conceptualized the show. From there, they crafted a story that was ultimately helped along once they found out exactly how much time they had to tell it. Beyond that, they created each episode to be a compelling story unto itself. It was a brilliant answer involving the many levels of quality storytelling. They even admitted their own fallibility, especially as it pertained to Nikki and Paulo…

The producers gave a flat-out "No" to questions of whether the actors or the fans were ever responsible for suggestions that found their way into the show. However, on rare occasions, audience reaction to certain things might cause them to consider putting in an explanatory scene here or there. One such example was how people kept pondering why Hurley would never lose any weight (Lindelof did humorously expose human prejudice via this example, saying that nobody ever asked why Kate's hair retained such a sheen, or why Sawyer's beard never grew unruly, oh, but the fat guy? What's with him?). So, they put in the scene about his secret stash of ranch dressing and other foodstuffs in the jungle. Which later would even give the character a nice obstacle to overcome. And interestingly enough, even Nikki and Paulo were conceived as a way to please fans who used to complain about "all these other survivors" of the 815 crash who never got to say or do anything! And we all know how that turned out: "Who are these characters? Why are they taking up episode time from the ones I already love?!" Which is why in Expose they wrote the great line for Sawyer to say on behalf of the viewers: "Who the hell is Nikki?"

How did the producers go about deciding upon and setting up the endgame of the final season? They described it as planning your own funeral. What they really wanted to go for was the emotional response and a spiritual quality. Yes, it will be about the mystery, but mostly, it will be about the characters.

Interesting Q & A

When asked what some of their inspirations were that they drew upon for their careers and the writing of this series, Cuse pointed to serial Westerns he grew up watching (like Gunsmoke) for their narrative styles and ongoing stories, and Lindelof pointed to Twin Peaks for its "What the hell just happened?" manner of storytelling and David Lynch's writing and direction. It was the first time he ever realized how a TV show could "leave the space of the box it's on" and spawn hours of discussion with someone, in that case, his dad.

Some of the ongoing questions / problems some fans seem to have with the show were cited as: Why was Claire's psychic so insistent? What makes Aaron so special? What was the deal with Kate's toy plane (one of my own pet peeves)? Why do you torture us with lines like "every question I answer will only lead to another question" from Mother? And, respectively, they took us through these questions. The psychic would later reveal himself to be a fraud [incidentally, one friend once told me that one of the DVD extras contained a deleted scene where Malkin was paid to make sure Claire made it onto 815]. They never really said Aaron was special; the psychic wasn't legit, the Others only wanted to study him b/c of their fertility issues, etc. Kate's plane was nothing more than what it was; no hidden microfilm inside or anything. And Mother's line about questions and answers? Like it or not folks, it's the truth - about the show and about life (which they illustrated with a mini Q& A session of their own. "Where did the universe come from? The Big Bang. What started the Big Bang? Uh...." and so forth).

Ever wonder why, if the Smoke Monster can't kill the candidates, why Smokey tried to drag Locke down that hole at the end of Season One? One audience member did, and Lindelof's two-part answer involved the following: First, "what are the rules?" Is a rule breakable (just with consequences, of course, like in our lives?). Second, what they wanted to explore in this scene was Locke's faith journey. He had previously looked "into the eye of the Island, and what [he] saw was beautiful." Would he still feel that way if those beliefs were challenged? If the beauty turned on him? Came at him with an apparent malevolence? What would that look like?

Why has Eloise Hawking always appeared to be one step ahead in knowing what's going on? Will she be appearing in the finale? For obvious reasons, the producers said they could not answer. They did get quite a laugh, though, when they said her apparent powers of comprehension come from "her hair." They did use this question to explain how Hawking has often functioned for them in the role of "Johnny the Explainer" (a role other characters, such as Ben, have filled on occasion). They never wanted there to be one "Johnny," mostly because they did not want there to be one final human authority on anything, just like in real life. There's no rulebook or ready explanation for your journey, but (just like in the game Myst I have referenced so often), you have to work much of it out as you go along.

Why did the Others think Walt was "special?" And how did he appear on the Island from off-island? They answered this question by admitting that yes, Walt is/was special, and that they have used this word, "special," to describe several characters through the course of the show. Lindelof cited a "mobisode" from Season Three that was on the web, in which Walt's experiences in Room 23 were shown to some extent. Basically, just as they had Ben and Miss Klugh say in the show, the Others "got more than they bargained for" with Walt. "He started freaking them out," said Cuse.

Asked whether / how creating the show has changed their views on Faith and God, the producers said, well, it was more the other way around. The show provided a vehicle for them to illuminate thoughts on faith (emphasizing how this will be very big in the finale). They talked about the questions we all have, the answers we seek, and how we do life together, in community. They compared creating the show - the togetherness of the team, the processes of finding the answers, the shared lives - to how we all seek, love, work, and lift each other up in our daily lives. I believe the way Cuse put it was, "Disparate people form community under extraordinary circumstances." And with this one line, he perfectly tied in what they had been trying to get across all night how the creation and evolution of the show among the writing staff paralleled the story being told within the show.

This theme continued when a different audience member asked why is it necessary for there to be human presence on the Island? In other words, can't it just protect itself? The producers said that first of all, an empty Island wouldn't make for a very good story. Second, they said, "the Garden of Eden didn't really get interesting until there were people in it." And that's what their story is on one level all about - what difference do people make. Are they basically good, or basically bad? What will they sacrifice to protect what's important? What will they do to procure their freedom? Unable to ever "prove" a concept of God or the laws that would come from him, will they nevertheless accept these things on faith, or will they go their own way? It's "the biblical story," said Cuse, "you have to take it on faith." He did pause, though, and reflect that the pursuit of truth is central to all religions, not just Christianity…

Now About That Scene from the Finale...

Man, did they end the evening on a high note. Here's what happened in the scene as best I can recall...

Locke is staring down the well noting that Desmond is not there. Sawyer is spying on him from the bushes. Ben gets the drop on Sawyer from behind and forces him at gunpoint over to the well.

Locke asks what Sawyer is doing there. Sawyer says he heard Desmond fell down a well; he's there to get him out. He looks down it, no Des, tells Locke, "Looks like somebody beat us both to it." Locke asks if James knows why Locke is there. "I'm guessin' you need Desmond to destroy the island." When Locke confirms this as "absolutely right," Ben gets a horrified look on his face.

Sawyer teases Locke that this would be suicide for him, but he insists, "I'm not going down with anything, but YOU, and your little candidates, certainly are." Sawyer then drops some knowledge on Smokey, "We're not candidates anymore!" This seems to genuinely surprise or unnerve Locke, and Sawyer uses the momentary distraction to punch and disarm Ben. He takes off into the jungle with Ben's rifle and backpack (which we assume contains C-4 and the other walkie like the one Ben gave Miles).

Ben asks why Locke isn't going after Sawyer. Locke says he doesn't need to. Now Ben, knocked to his knees and bleeding, gets whiny. Says, "I thought when you said you were going to destroy the island you were speaking figuratively!"

"Why?" asks Locke. "Because I said when I left I would leave you in charge?" Then he says that Ben is still welcome to join him on his boat (the Elizabeth, surely) once he gets Desmond to do what they need him to do to put "this God-forsaken place" "at the bottom of the ocean."

Just then, Locke looks at the ground around the well, notices a paw print.

"I think there was a dog here..."

(Fade to black, rousing applause)

So first of all, I guess I was wrong about Ben perhaps manipulating / playing / conning Smokey in going along with him. It does appear from this clip anyway that Ben had returned to the dark side because he thought he was going to get to play King of the Island again.

Also, Sayid did not help Desmond out of the well. Sayid actually thought Desmond was still in the well. The paw print surely indicates that Vincent, Rose, and Bernard came across Desmond, and helped him out of there. We might even go further and guess that this well is where Rose and Bernard regularly came to get their water? In any case, we were right - they're still on the Island, and they showed up just in time!

We already know the Island ends up at the bottom of the ocean, somehow, some way, in some time. But who or what actually succeeds in doing it? Might sinking the Island actually end up being a brilliant idea, since we know that "The Source" is not extinguishable via water (it already sits in the middle of a waterfall without ever going out), and therefore putting the Island at the bottom of the sea is the ultimate way of making sure nobody finds it, can get to it, or extinguish it?

Sunday is so gonna rock!
 

Once upon a time, a vengeful Benjamin Linus crept his way into Charles Widmore's London penthouse bedroom at night. His face was half in light, half in shadow.

"Wake up," he said to Charles, who admitted he'd been having nightmares (were these related to the visit from Jacob he would reference in "What They Died For"?, ala Scrooge's visit from another "Jacob" in another famous London-based story?), and as such now slept with a bottle of Scotch by his bedside.

"Are you here to kill me, Benjamin?" Charles asked.

"We both know I can't do that," replied Ben, his words heavy and loaded with meaning.

So, what has changed? In this penultimate episode of LOST, the next-to-last one we're ever going to get, Benjamin Linus shot his rival and fellow former leader of the Others Charles Widmore three times, killing him. His stated reason? "He shouldn't get to save his daughter."

Hmmm. Somehow, I thought we were past this. I thought Ben was past this. He already had his chance to make sure Penelope Widmore didn't get to go on living, but ultimately, when he saw she was a mother, he stayed his hand, enduring a savage beating from Desmond as a result, just before boarding Ajira 316.

And again I ask: what's changed? Did walking past the spot Alex was buried snap Ben - whose story of forgiveness and redemption we were so enjoying - back into rage-filled maniac mode? Did learning of how Widmore was saved from the error of his ways via a personal off-island visit from Jacob boil his bitterness? Was it a snarky bit of foreshadowing during the scene in Ben's kitchen when Charles told him, "If you shoot me, then your last chance of survival will be gone"? Is Ben ticketed for death in the finale now?

Or… could it all be a ruse, one last gambit from humbled super genius Ben Linus, champion of liars and schemers? Might he be less bitter about losing Alex than he is about being played upon like a violin ("I was told that was where I could summon the monster. Until I realized he was summoning me")? Is his too-quick-for-my-tastes acceptance of Smokey's plan and the chance to do some killing a ploy to get close enough to Smokey to find a way to extinguish the evil menace?

Was Charles Widmore merely a sacrifice in that battle? One Ben was kinda happy to make? One where Ben was perhaps actually trying to kill Charles before Charles could tell Smokey his secret? One where Ben viewed letting his former leader die quickly by his hand as a more honorable death than letting him be squished to jelly by the Smoke Monster?

I sought out one of my best friends, Scott Bartley, a champion of the character of Ben Linus, for comment. Scott says, "The rules are different since Jacob died. Ben will sacrifice himself destroying Smokey. He doesn't like that he was manipulated, so he's doing the same to Smokey now."

I don't know if Scott's right, but I hope he is. This would explain Ben's motives and sudden seeming switchback to his old ways. It would keep his redemption arc intact. It would explain why Ben can kill Widmore now where before he could not (dead Jacob = rules not currently in play; the Island possibly done with Charles now, etc.). And it would make for a cool end to Ben's story. I honestly don't believe for a second he any longer is motivated by the "when I leave, you can be King of this little rock with no people on it" line Smokey sells him. That's just not where Ben's journey ends.

All in All, It's Just a Little Chalk on the Wall

Another journey comes to an end when our Final Four meet the temporarily-risen-from-the-ashes Jacob. We'll discuss how we got to this point and where we went from this point in greater detail below. But for now I want to concentrate on the answer Kate was given and the issues it creates for me.

• Jacob admits he wrote the names on the wall. I wasn't a fan of this reveal, because I really felt it worked better having the nice, orderly Lighthouse bunch of names / numbers / scratch-offs belong to Jacob, and having the dark, subterranean, haphazard cave wall chalk names / numbers / scratch-offs belong to his nemesis Smokey. It didn't sit as well with me knowing the cave is Jacob's. That means if the Lighthouse is also his, that Jacob is a bit dualistic, perhaps unstable. Or it could mean that the Lighthouse belongs to the MiB, who we do know was more adept at construction and science, but this would be problematic because it would associate Smokey more with order and reflection, and Jacob more with chaos.
• Jacob tells Kate why her name was scratched off. Okay, I like that he explained it. I like that it was because she had accepted the supremely important job of raising a child. I like his phrasing of "It's just chalk on a wall," as it resonated almost like a biblical treatise on not being locked into any fate, on God being willing to forget things like our sins, and all that. But here is what I most definitely do not like:
  • If, as we have been led to believe, the big answer / reveal about "The Numbers" is that 4-8-15-16-23-42 = Jacob's Six Candidates, then why and how can Kate actually be one? Yes, Kate was touched by Jacob when she was a girl. Yes, Kate's last name was on the wall. Yes, it had a number next to it (51). But that number was NOT one of 4 (Locke), 8 (Reyes), 15 (Ford), 16 (Jarrah), 23 (Shephard), or 42 (Kwon). So here's my problem: if "the job is yours if you want it, Kate," then Kate is a Candidate. If Kate is a Candidate, then "The Numbers" are meaningless. And what did we just go through for six seasons of "The Numbers" if ultimately they don't mean anything, if all they are is "chalk on a wall?" Is this bothering anyone else? That one of the show's best and biggest mysteries could be reduced to meaninglessness?
• I also assume that Sun becoming a mother answers the question of which Kwon was the actual Candidate - Jin, the one who never left the Island and never had the responsibility of raising a child.

I'm holding out hope that the rumors are true - that Kate has a major role in the finale, one that will help explain the above in acceptable detail.

All I Need to Know about France (Little Dictators, Good Cooks, Shameless Romantics) I Learned from LOST

I realize I began this blog entry - the last of our Thursday blogs following a Tuesday episode - with two elements I didn't really like. So let's focus for a while on what I really did like - the Bizarro Alternate Universe goings-on.

We begin the penultimate episode of LOST the way the very first episode of LOST begain - with Jack Shephard's eye opening. Except here, he's at home in Los Angeles in late-September 2004. He's got that strange cut on his neck, a great relationship with his son, and a new housemate. And perhaps most strange of all - none of these relatively young, healthy people mind sitting down to a yummy breakfast of… Super Bran? Hey, I get that the doc's family may be into good nutrition, but they never heard of Special K? What's with the big brimmin' bowl o' Colon Blow? A subtle message that our characters need to be cleansed from the inside out? ;-)

Claire doesn't look uncomfortable at all to be staying with her long lost family. She does make mention that Aaron kicks a lot at night.

David will be playing piano at the concert at the museum that night. His mom will be present, and Jack has to promise not to "get weird." Oh, but apparently things are going to get very weird there, David, as the entire cast of LOST is going to descend upon you!

But what does dead Christian have to do with any of it? What is Desmond's strategy behind calling Jack and pretending to be an Oceanic rep who has located Christian's coffin? I mean, Jack is already going to be at the concert. His son's playing there. If Desmond's goal is to get all the 815ers and friends into one place, then making up a story about the missing coffin, telling Jack that it should be available "by the end of the day" would seem to be a potential road block to Jack being there. Is that part of Desmond's plan? Gather everybody except Jack Shephard, Island Protector, at the concert?

As to David's mother, I'm sticking with what I wrote a few weeks ago: "The less time we have left, the more this feels like a big reveal. As in, not Sarah, Jack's wife from the original timeline… My hope? It's Juliet. She and Jack could have met in medical school, but their careers drove them apart. And, being divorced now frees her up to still have that cup of coffee with Sawyer. Cut, print, make it happen."

Speaking of that "all about love" coffee shop ending that I still kinda hope is coming, I always wondered whether Ben would have a soulmate to share a latte with, and who that might be. I LOVE that it's Danielle Rousseau. This was my absolute favorite part of this week's episode - seeing Rousseau again, and watching Ben get misty-eyed upon learning that he has been a meaningful father figure to Alex. But this is also what made seeing Ben's apparent turn back to the dark side on the Island extra disturbing.

Oddly enough, Ben has Desmond to thank for his newfound love connection and more. It was one of the many joys of this week's episode to see Desmond Hume yet again parked outside Washington Tustin High School looking to run down John Locke. Or was he? Maybe this time he only wanted to appear to be running down Locke so that Ben would do just what he did - try to stop him. Me, I think Desmond is operating on such a higher plane of faith that he is good either way. Run down Locke again? Fine. Get stopped by Ben? We can work with that, too. All roads end at the same place. I must simply do my job as the prophet to help them see. When Ben wants to know who Desmond is and what his motive is, he gets a beating that flashes him back to the day at the docks where he couldn't pull the trigger on Penny, and Des pounded him silly. His injuries here, down to the sling, are very similar. And he believes Desmond when he tells Ben that his intention was never to hurt Locke, but to help him "let go."

Ben passes this information on Locke in the nurse's office. It does indeed mean something to Locke, who is indeed starting to open his eyes. He hangs up on his call to the police (just as the officer answering the phone is approached by the very man turning himself in for the crime the phone call is in reference to), and goes to visit that nice Dr. Shephard.

In Jack's office, we get one of those stick-out lines when Locke looks at a photo of David and mentions how much he looks like Jack. Why? Why the small talk? It's not like we need to establish something for these two to discuss. It's lines like this that tell one to make a mental note: remember how much David looks like Jack. The resemblance is probably going to end up being important somehow.

But then Locke and Jack really get down to brass tacks. Classic LOST lines like "Don't mistake fate for coincidence" and "What if all this happened for a reason?" make cameos. But the bottom line, as Locke puts it, is: "Call it whatever you want; here I am. And I think I'm finally ready to get out of this chair." Faith and action. No quibbling over details, just: belief, letting go, moving on, embracing change, and doing something. Together.

The Magical Mr. Hume

Desmond, meanwhile, goes on to hook up with Sayid and Kate in jail, and enlists the help of Ana-Lucia and Hurley in busting them all out. Even Hurley's Hummer and his Camaro end up playing their parts! You couldn't not love how Hurley has clearly undergone his full Desmondic conversion, as evidenced by his slip of "Hey, you didn't tell me Ana-Lucia was going to be here." He recognizes her on sight. She of course has no idea who he is, and is content to take her $125,000, call him Tubby, and be referred to as "not ready yet" by Chef Desmond. Kate and Sayid, however, have already been asked by Desmond to grant him their "trust" if he were to succeed in freeing them from custody. Sayid goes off with Hurley in the Hummer, while Kate is given a skimpy black dress and is to accompany Desmond in the Camaro. This concert is going to be some event.

Miles is looking forward to it so much he's already putting on his tie, and Sawyer is so scared of seeing Bitter Charlotte that he'd just as soon skip out on his invitation. So something's still got to happen to get James Ford to the event. But we can count the following…

Already having RSVP'd: Pierre Chang (museum), Charlotte Lewis (museum), Miles Straumme, Jack Shephard (intends to come anyway; we'll see if he makes it or is sent on a fool's errand for the missing coffin), David Shephard (performing), Kate, Sayid, Hugo, Desmond, Claire (with Jack, David), Juliet (assuming she's David's mom)

Assume they're coming: Dogen (son probably playing), Eloise Hawking (benefit organizer?), Charles Widmore (with Eloise), Daniel Faraday (probably playing in the concert; anything to see Charlotte some more), James Ford, Libby (with Hugo?), Penny (with Desmond?)

Not responded yet: Frank Lapidus, John Locke, Helen Norwood, Charlie Pace, Benjamin Linus, Danielle & Alex Rousseau, Jin & Sun Kwon, Boone Carlyle, Shannon Rutherford, Rose & Bernard Nadler, Arzt, Frogurt, the Marshall, Dr. Ethan Goodspeed, Matthew Abaddon, Naomi Dorritt, Nadia, Ilana Verdansky

Highly doubtful: Michael (and Walt) Dawson (didn't they live in NYC?), Anthony Cooper, Ana-Lucia Cortez (Desmond says she's "not ready yet")

Regretfully unable to attend: Mr. Eko. If you didn't already know, the producers could not reach an agreement wth Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje to return.

‘Zoe' Means Life… Or Not

Back on the Island, Ben sells out the duo hiding in his closet to the Smoke Monster. Smokey dispatches with Zoe the moment Charles tells her not to speak (there's that "don't let it/her speak" thing again). Smokey says hey, I just inferred since she wasn't allowed to talk that she was of no use or importance anyway. And nobody liked this character, so see ya!

He has also inferred, however, that Charles is "clearly unafraid to die," so he comes up with a different threat - Penny. I don't think Charles believes that he won't hurt Penny, but if there's a chance, he is willing to take it, since I think he also believes that even if he tells Smokey what's up with Desmond, the Monster won't be able to do much about it (and would find out soon enough himself anyway).

What we do know is that Widmore, as speculated two weeks ago, was indeed visited by Jacob, who showed him the error of his ways. The Charles Widmore we were seeing when John Locke arrived in Tunisia, the one who helped Locke - via Abaddon - find his friends and attempt to recruit them, the one who said, "war is coming to the Island. And if you're not there, the wrong side will win" knew what he was talking about, and was indeed on the side of "good." R.I.P. Charles. And you too, Zoe, I guess. Though your existence and geophysicist background and search for the pockets of energy sure seem completely pointless now. (Note to self: Next time you watch Season 1-5, notice things like the look on Charles' face when Desmond marches in looking for "Daniel Faraday's mother." In hindsight, it's the expression of the true believer, of the person who was told that one day, your son-in-law you haven't seen in ages will come walking through that door looking for the mother of your son. Cool).

We've covered Ben already, but the fact he "wants to see" bloodshed, and so quickly asks if there's anyone else to kill? Creepy. And on his question about who else needs to be done away with, both the episode and we cut away to…

"And I Thought that Guy Had a God Complex Before"

This line from the guy who was just let off the hook over his guilt for being responsible for the deaths of Sayid, Jin, and Sun. And to his credit, he knows it's not the time or place for his sarcasm. James Ford is just really confused about everything he has just learned. Why it took Jacob, however, to convince him point-blank that he wasn't "doin' just fine" before coming to the Island, I don't know. Seems like we would have hoped these Candidates would have, like Jack, figured that out long ago.

I wonder: did everyone who did not survive the 815 plane crash have a happy, content, well adjusted, unbroken life? Like all the folks whose "eulogies" Claire read the night they burned the fuselage? Did everyone who died ON the Island come to it flawed and broken, but complete their freedom-purpose-redemption story during their time there, and so passed on? And are those who are left the ones who are still overcoming things? Was Charlotte right? Is "this place death," in every way, shape and form? You either come to it dead, die getting there, pass on while there, or prepare yourself to die redeemed through what you experience there? All at once staging area, proving ground, purgatory, ghost land, heaven, hell?

Apparently, it wasn't the wine, or the cup used, that turns one into an Island protector, but it's the incantation that is said, or else the simple act of faith in drinking what is given, or both. After Jack accepts his role and drinks the water, Jacob tells him, "Now you're like me," similar to what Mother told him so long ago. What does "like me" entail? Long life? Almost surely. Special knowledge? Probably. Ability to find the waterfall? Definitely. The right to make one's own rules pertaining to the protection of the Island? I say yes (I also say this is how Mother and/or Jacob were able to wipe out the Roman village and fill in the Orchid well). Becoming a target for Smokey? Absolutely, and so Jack is told. "I hope [he can be killed]. Because he's certainly going to try to kill you." What's interesting to me is that Jacob after all this time isn't even sure if you can kill a Smoke Monster (be sure to read more on this below in the "The Answers" section).

As indicated above, I liked Jacob's answer about why he chose these candidates, that they were broken, that they were just as lonely as him and searching for something they were not going to find out there. This is one thing the show has always been about. But I do also have a problem with one thing - Jacob never "touched" Sayid until Sayid was completely happy. And in fact, Jacob's touching Sayid as he and Nadia crossed the street is what caused Nadia to be killed! I suppose it's arguable that Jacob knew Nadia was gonna get run down by a car no matter what, and so he was there with knowledge of what a deep wound that would cut in Sayid, but he sure had to drag Sayid back to the Island (in cuffs!) against his will anyway!

When Jacob explained to the Candidates that he wanted them to have the choice he never had, you'll have to excuse me for thinking it sounded an awful lot like Lestat to Louis in Interview the the Vampire. Are we to infer that the only reason "free will" has been such a huge deal on the show is because Jacob is pro-free will because he was never given a choice to accept his role (Mother having said, "I'm afraid you don't have a choice"), and because the Man in Black was likewise changed/imprisoned/kept from leaving against his will as well? I still think it's bigger than that, and that the show isn't just about free will (more like how free will & determinism co-exist, just like constants & variables and order & chaos and faith & reason), but that this does make a very convenient explanation for why we were always hearing how important is has been for people to make their own decisions on the Island.

The One Thing I Could Never Do Myself

Our final scene had Smokey realizing that Sayid might have done him a favor (not wittingly, of course) in failing to kill Desmond. He learned from Widmore that Desmond was Jacob's "one final way" to make sure the Monster can never leave. So Locke's plan is now to capture Desmond. Somehow, Desmond's imperviousness to electromagnetism is something he feels he can use as a way to "destroy the Island." Does he succeed? Well, the Island does, apparently, end up "blown to hell" and underwater at some point... but anything else is just guessing. I do have to hand it to the show that the greatest accomplishment of Season Six seems to be how they have kept the timelines separate with no apparent answer to how they are going to come together until it finally does. And at that point, all criticisms aside, I think we are all going to stand up and cheer.

The Mirrors

• Jack's reflection in his bathroom mirror as he examines his neck. Has it struck anyone else as odd that such a competent, fix-it obsessed doctor just shrugs recurring and unexplained bleeding off as no big deal? (I must point out here that my brain is having a bit of a chuckle remembering the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "'Tis but a scratch! It's only a fleshwound!")
• Ben's reflection in mirror in the school nurse's office.
• There's a dressing mirror in Ben's secret room beside his suits.
• Jack's turn to stitch up Kate with black thread, harkening back to the Pilot episode. I loved the visual metaphor of him unraveling the thread, just as we slowly unravel the thread of the mystery of the show.
• Danielle tells Ben he's coming to dinner with her daughter, "even if we have to kidnap you."
• Ben's injuries from Desmond's beating are almost identical to the ones he got the last time Desmond beat him up.

So Who's Left?

• Jack.  He sipped the sacred Kool-Aid, and had a sudden look of realization on his face. All hail the new Protector of the Island! And to those of you who don't like this because you don't want your favorite character's fate to be one of sitting on a stupid rock in the ocean for millennia, I wouldn't be too worried. I'm not convinced Jack's tenure is going to last nearly as long as Jacob's did.
• Jacob?  I wanna see what happens when the fire burns away. Does Jacob get a cool send-off? Does he do the Obi-Wan thing and float off into the ether? What?
• Kate - Sawyer - Hurley.  Why was Hurley so "glad it's not me"? Why were Kate and Sawyer so reticent to take the job? What do they have to go back to? What are they still hoping for? What do they still have to accomplish? Will they / can they die now that the status of Candidate is a moot point? From what Kate told Jack about Ji Yeon and how Smokey is responsible for her being orphaned and Jin never getting to know her, we know that Kate's big remaining goal is a Dead Monster.
• Ben.  See introduction.
• Miles. He freaked out at Alex's grave, sensed something wasn't right with Smokey coming to New Otherton, and struck out on his own. But not before Ben gave him a walkie "in case I need you." He's most definitely still got something to do.
• Richard - Frank.  As Sawyer watched the empty life preservers wash ashore, it was not only a powerful image, but it made me pause and ask, "Huh. I wonder if maybe Frank found his way into one o' those." My candle in the window is still burning for he of the hairy chest. Ditto for Richard. I'm not sure how anyone survives a Smoke smushing like the one Alpert received, but neither can I believe that LOST just dismissed such an integral character so swiftly and without dignity. That said, not like this hasn't happened before (Ilana). If Richard is dead, then his story comes to something of a sad close, as he would have died never really "getting it" even after 140 years on the Island. His final strategy was to talk to the Monster, still believing that HE, Richard, was the object of Smokey's desire ("I know this man. All he wants is for me to join him"). Um, no. He no longer requires your assistance, Ricardo. You may go be with Isabella now. But I do hope we'll see you and Frank again before you go.
• Desmond.  Sayid gave him a rope to climb out of the well. Where has he run off to? My guess is he'll be found at the spot this season began, which happens to be the same spot where Desmond spent so much time on this Island - the Swan hatch crater. Once upon a time Desmond became what he is when he saved the day by turning the Failsafe. Now we learn he IS the Failsafe. Should be an interesting way to come full-circle on that story.
• Claire.  Crazy Claire does not like being abandoned. She had just begun to embrace the hope of seeing her son again when Smokey, whom she had thought was "her friend," tried to kill everyone else who was promising to make a way for her to get back to Aaron, and now he has just left her stranded on Hyrda Island. Why didn't he bring her with him to the main Island? No idea, but I'm pretty sure she's not okay with it, and it may come back to haunt him. Bring on the Revenge of Mother of Squirrel Baby!
• Rose & Bernard?  Like I said in last week's recap, now that we know they aren't "Adam & Eve," I'd love to, nay, I need to know their on-island fate (along with Vincent). I assume they flashed into 2007 when Jughead was detonated just like everyone else. Speaking of Vincent, an interesting thought occurred to me when Jacob told Jack where the Heart of the Island may be found: beyond the bamboo field. Way back when Jack first woke up there, the first living being he saw was Vincent, who was coming from… which direction? Not the beach (south of Jack)… not the lagoon (east of Jack)… beyond the bamboo field, maybe (north of Jack)? Has Vincent been to The Golden Waterfall?
• Eloise Hawking?  You can't tell me this woman will not be appearing in the finale. She must have something to do with it, as she's always seemed to know more than anyone else what's actually going on and what's going to happen. I fully expect she'll be at the museum concert - perhaps even organizing it - but will she show up in the Island timeline, too?

Other Items of Note

That brief exchange in the jail between Sawyer and Kate before Ana-Lucia hauls the prisoners away - what was that about? Why show us Kate pleading with Sawyer to let her go? How much or how little should we read into these words? Is it truly a statement about innocence? About identity (Sawyer insists he's "a cop;" she's not so sure that defines him at all)? About "letting go" (ala Locke? Or perhaps in a "you loved me but now you have to let me go" foreshadowing type of way)?

Another choice that made me wonder: Widmore getting a glass of water from Ben's sink. It's odd how many times this season we've seen people fill up cups or canteens or glasses with water. Is Widmore really this thirsty? He didn't even let the tap run, and it likely hasn't been on in three years. That water's kinda murky, too. But he gulps it down like it was his beloved MacCutcheon's whiskey. Anyone have any theories? Would love to hear ‘em.

Don't forget - though Widmore and Zoe are dead, their equipment remains in their outrigger. Smokey noticed it, but did nothing with it or to it (another underestimation on his part, methinks).

Great line by Miles: "I lived in these houses 30 years before you did, otherwise known as last week." It's completely inaccurate (young Ben and Miles lived in Dharmaville concurrently from '74-77), but it's fun anyway.

Ben has enough C-4 on hand to destroy the plane "10 times over." Richard - for some reason - wants exactly that kind of firepower, so they intend to pack it all. I think what we're really being shown here is that there exists on the Island enough explosive to make a bomb so huge it might be capable of… sinking the Island if rigged in the proper location?

What is the magic behind Kid Jacob pouring his ashes into the fire and getting to rise Phoenix-like as adult, corporeal Jacob?

The Answers

From now to the end of the series in this space, we'll be taking notes on how the show is doing in answering the questions we posed at the midpoint of Season Six in this blog, as well as those posed or expanded upon since then

Answered

Who rigged the C4 into the electrical system of the Ajira plane?

Widmore. As to why? Best guess comes from what Smokey said: "Widmore knew I would kill these men," the guards he set outside the plane. Seems like it was a trap, a hope that the Monster would make his way to the poorly-guarded plane and try to use it to fly away, only to blow up.

Whose headquarters, respectively, were the seaside cave and the Lighthouse?

It currently appears that Jacob was responsible for the Candidate names in both locales. 

Who/What is Jacob?

There's not really anything left we don't know about him at this point, except how he came and went from the Island. Did he use the donkey wheel? Or some other method?

What side was Widmore on, what did he know, when did he know it, and who told him?

At some point after FreighterGate, Jacob came to visit Widmore and told him to stop staging plane crashes and sending mercenaries to extract Ben, and told him what was really up. And Charles had a purpose, a way back to the Island, and a way to redeem himself.

Partially Answered

Who/What is the Smoke Monster?

We've gotten a LOT of information on this recently, but the story still remains incomplete (as it should be headed into the finale). The biggest things we learned this week are that he prefers to take human form so he can have his feet in touch with the ground to remember he once was a man. And it became more clear that Mother was probably not ever a Smoke Monster. Jacob takes full responsibility for making this entity the way it is, calling it his "mistake." I don't like the implication that this means the Monster wasn't created until 2,000 years ago when Jacob threw his brother into the Source. The hieroglyph at left strongly suggests otherwise, seeming to date the Monster to Egyptian times at least.

Jacob doesn't flat out SAY the Monster is his brother, but he does call the Monster a "mistake" he made, that he, Jacob, is "responsible for the way he [Smokey] is," and the reason why he had to choose Candidates, because one day, the Monster would figure out a way to kill him. And any new candidate is going to have to keep the Monster from finding the Heart of the Island.

I still have several problems with admitting that the Smoke Monster is merely the warped and twisted essence / spirit of Jacob's brother. The biggest problem I have is how letting the guy we met off the Island would possibly cause "God help us all" and "everyone would cease to exist" to happen. This entity told Jacob it wanted to "go home." Well, if this is the Man in Black, the only home he ever knew was the Island. If by "home" he means the place across the sea from where his people came, then what would he have to gain by destroying the world rather than seeing it?

The Smoke Monster continues to seem so much more evil and menacing to me than the Kid/Man in Black ever did. But what I can admit is that this is where the show seems to be pointing - that regardless of what we knew of the MiB's personality or the hieroglyphs, the Smoke Monster really is the result of Jacob sending his brother into the Source, resulting in a "worse than death" existence that turned him into a really angry, really evil being who will somehow spell the end of all life if he ever escapes the Island. (But I still like to believe the Monster was a a trapped evil spirit / fallen star who was imprisoned in the Golden Waterfall and released, genie-like, when MiB was washed down there. And the reason it can't destroy Jacob directly is because Jacob "released" him, kinda like a genie being released from a lamp, and as much as he hates Jacob for not letting him leave, he also is beholden to him). And it will be Desmond's job, ultimately, to put the genie back in the bottle. My pet theories die hard).

What are The Numbers?

We thought we had this one figured out (they correspond to the candidates), but Kate and the explanation Jacob gave her had to go and throw a big monkey into that wrench.

Expanded Upon

Jack's neck wound - what's up with that?

He had it on the plane, and he has it again at least a week later. We can't be sure if it's been there every morning in between, but it's a good guess it has. It doesn't just appear in the mirror, but is visible on his actual non-mirrored skin as well. Somehow it feels like the wound is a connection between the timelines. But how?

The Donkey Wheel

This didn't appear in this week's episode, but I had some thoughts about it since we saw it last week. I still wonder who ever installed it and set up the whole "move the island, get flashed out to Tunisia, time-travel, can't find the Island system," but the theory I like the best is that project stayed incomplete until Dharma showed up and their brainiac scientists completed it. I think when they drilled down and took this image of what was behind the wall where their drills kept melting, that seeing this image of the uninstalled wheel is what convinced them to go in. I will grant, however, that it's possible (as referenced vaguely above) that Jacob is the one who completed this project so he could leave the Island (which would theoretically be "allowed" since it was in service to the Island as a way of finding candidates to be the new Protector).

Posed

Is Richard dead?

How does it all come together? What will go down at 'the concert'?!
Can't wait!

Tonight, May 20, the New York Times is interviewing LOST producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, and the event is being broadcast live via satellite to select movie theatres across the country. I'll be attending tonight and writing a review blog tomorrow! Look for it!