3901

I agree, and I think it’s even more than that. The ironic counterpoint of the flashbacks is the foundation of the narrative of the show.

Otherwise it isn’t much more than a goofy science-fiction story, that is actually kind of straightforward.

Get to the island. Find some shit out. Get off the island. Find some shit out. Go back to the island.

3902

Hey, I actually predicted something right on this show for a change!

I really liked the episode, but one thing that struck me were the references to how long they’d been on the island. We’ve been watching this show for 4 years, so it feels weird to think that those 85 episodes only covered 108 days on the island, almost a day per episode – it seems like they were there so much longer. I’d be curious to see if the show could even remotely be converted to a day-by-day timeline.

3903

I don’t remember the details of that episode at this point, but it seemed pretty obvious at the time that we were seeing the scene of Ben’s immediate arrival from the island, but then it was pretty strongly implied that some time passed before we picked back up with him.

I’d say Michael is definitely dead, or at least as dead as anyone can be on this show. Christian wasn’t showing up to spirit him away to safety or anything funky, he was announcing the island was releasing him from being unable to die. That seemed pretty clear.

I think Jin is dead too, because even if he survived the blast, I don’t think the island took anything that far out with it. The chopper was flying from the boat toward the island, so the wreckage would’ve been even farther from the island (and behind the chopper which is why you didn’t see it as the island disappears) and the chopper clearly didn’t go. I’d say Daniel might have been close enough to go with the island, but that’s just speculation. I guess if they want to save Jin they still could if we find out Daniel’s raft was left behind too, but that all seems unlikely. Who would then rescue them?

3904

Ok, so I want to get something straight or at least clear up some things.

Right now, there is the group of islanders with Richard (who recruited Ben and then Locke) who are immortal and know most of, if not all of the islands secrets.

Then there was the Dharma initiative that Ben essentially destroyed when they gassed everyone but the people he took command of there (the fake beard guy, Juliet, etc.) were brought in to continue research… wait… now that I think about that, I’m confused. Any help?

Ok, then the third group is the people from the plane. Now half of them blow up on the ship (great way to get rid of all the redshirts in one fell swoop) and the rest get time shifted along with the island to wherever.

Then, there is Widmore’s group that came in to wipe everyone off the island so that he could seize control of it and use its power in some way. I’d like to think that that seems fairly straight forward. Clearly, things aren’t working out for him.

And finally, that brings us to the dead people and some other random characters. Chief dead person clearly being Christian and chief random person being Lt. Daniels (I’m just going to call him that since he is played by Lance Reddick from The Wire, as we’ve said previously). What there purpose is hasn’t really been made clear. And hell, we still don’t know who or what Jacob is.

Now, I’m not stating all this to prove a point, I’m just putting it all down so I can sort it out. Does that seem like a logical summary of the people/groups at work here?

As for the finale, I really loved the Desmond/Penny reunion. I really thought something bad was going to happen and then realized that it was really just going to be a great culmination of the Desmond storyline.

I still feel like there is some stuff that is slightly beyond my grasp with this show. My enthusiasm for the show sort of dimmed when they had, what I felt, were a string of far too serious episodes that were maddeningly vague. As per usual though, the finale brought things back into focus and, I think most importantly, pared down a lot of the side characters that either were no longer needed or had had their storylines brought to a logical conclusion. Bring on season five!

3905

“Hoffs/Drawler”, the name of the funeral parlor, is an anagram for:

Flash Forwerd or Flesh Forward

3906

BTW you don’t actually know if the Others are immortal or not, they could have just as easily time traveled to and from the island, rather than just living for a long time somehow.

— Alan

3907

Richard and The Immortals (also the name of my new band, by the way) might be the descendants from the Black Rock pirate ship. There may also be another as-yet-unseen group: the original inhabitants, the ones that made the four-toed statue and, I suspect, the ones that built the move-the-island wheel.

3908

Of course, we know Ben goes on to vow to kill Penny, right? Things may still go terribly for them.

3909

What a great fight scene between Sayid and evil mercenary guy.

3910

True. But at least they had a moment.

Plus it was pretty clear that they needed to get them back together. I mean, everyone was rooting for Desmond, right?

Now that they have they can mess with them again.

3911

What Ben said about everyone going back implies that Desmond has to go back too. So I would expect Desmond to buy Penny’s safety by agreeing to go.

3912

Yeah, there was definately a gap between his arrival in the desert and when he met back up with Sayid in the main part of that episode, but he also seems to have jumped into the future because when he asked the lady in Tunisia the date, it was October 2005 and he turned the wheel around the very end of 2004 or beginning of 2005, and there’s no way it took him 9 months to get from the desert to that hotel.

3913

Well, it didn’t take nine months, to him it was instant. I just think a ‘time-shift’ is a side-effect of making sure the wheel in the sky keeps on turning.

Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.

3914

Damn you, Machfive. Damn you to hell!

3915

And of course, who’s to say those were the same two groups? There could be a whole history of different generations of groups on that island, and the show has the luxury of revealing it bit by bit.

3916

I’m a huge fan of the Pixies, and that scene was just perfect for me. Driving around in the dark with a crazy beard, wacked out on some drugs and looking for a funeral home to break into? Yup, that seems like a good spot to use the Pixies as background music.

3917

Harold Perrineau’s exit interview with TV Guide. He seems quite bitter that he came back only to be killed off.

Considering that there is no exit interview for Daniel Day Kim, I’d say Jin is still alive.

3918

What the…?

Way to slap the race card onto the table with gusto!

So I guess Cathcart was right that his proximity to the explosion means Michael is dead. I wondered if it was supposed to be something ambiguous, with Jack’s dad (aka Hawk the Slayer) teleporting around and gathering people like Michael and Clair. So I guess Jack’s dad is a ghost, after all, and Clair is indeed dead, having died off camera. A non-supernatural ghost, of course, since the writers have denied anything supernatural.

BTW, why didn’t stupid Michael send Jin back up to the deck to be with Sun like he said he was going to do? Sun tells him she’s pregnant and he tells her he’ll send Jin back up on deck to be with her. Instead, he sends Desmond off and keeps Jin hanging around just long enough to miss the chopper. Way to be a jerk in your final moment, Michael. Good going.

-Tom
3919

Any chance Perrineau is helping the powers that be at Lost pull off a big red herring? After all, Hurley suggested to Walt during their chat in the mental hospital that Michael was still alive, and he got that info from Locke/Bentham, right?

Other question: Won’t it be hard for the O6 to keep the real story secret from Widmore, given that it was his daughter who found them and helped them orchestrate their hoax?

3920

Too bad he ignored the whole Rose thing.

— Alan