Sci-Fi Storm

So the shock should be over now. No surprise that the finale of Lost had the highest ratings for the night and was the highest rated episode in two years – but it may not have been as high as some expected. Perhaps some of the thunder was lost by the finale of Celebrity Apprentice given that Brett Michaels’ medical problems have been big news. But anyways, there is much to talk about, and I’ll start off some discussion points below. Feel free to chime in. But BEWARE – there are spoilers below, so if you haven’t watched yet, what are you waiting for?!? Come back later…

1) The Purgatory Angle – Since Season 1, there has been a lot of speculation – are they in Purgatory? Hell? Well, that wasn’t so far off…or at least the creators decided to work that in but twist it around. The Island was real, and they were alive and could be killed.

But when Season 6 kicked in after the nuke, we had two very different universes/timelines – the one on the Island where the nuke didn’t appear to work, and the one where the plane never crashed and life went on (the “Sideways” universe). So how could both happen? Well, it really didn’t. The Sideways timeline wasn’t “reality”, but a form of the afterlife. However none of the characters seem to know this until the end. When they come into contact with each other, suddenly their memories of reality come back and the recognize each other, as a feeling of happiness comes to them. Then when Jack’s father Christian explains things, we discover they are all dead, but they did not all die on the plane, or on the island. They died in different places and at different times, but they all came together at this “time” possibly after the last of them died (Hurley? Was he the first to realize what was happening?), to move on.

So, there WAS a “purgatory”…just not until Season 6.

2) Father Knows Best – Why was it Christian who explained it to Jack? I think it is because it had to be someone that Jack KNEW was dead, before having reached the Island.

3) The Lucky Man – So, Jack “elects” Hurley as the Island’s new protector, with a seemingly redeemed Ben as his “Number 2”. You know that the Sideways time must have occurred sometime later (from Hurley and Ben’s point of view) as they acknowledge each other as being a “Good Number 1/2”. How long did they live? How did they eventually die? No one knows.

Did Jack actually give Hurley the power to protect the Island? Jacob’s mother used a flask, and said some words. Jacob also said some words (I forget what drinking vessel was used). Jack used a dirty water bottle and said, “Drink this.” But perhaps it was the touch afterward that was the key…

And if The Man In Black is dead, who do they now need to protect it from? What eventually happens to the Island?

4) The Heart Of The Matter – This is actually something that still hasn’t been explained. What was the power of the Island? How did it turn The Man In Black to the Smoke Monster? Why didn’t that happen to Desmond or Jack? How was it related to the magnetic anomaly at the Swan station? Or the wheel at the Orchid station?

5) Getting Older – Richard got a gray hair – is he aging now and will eventually die? Was this because of Jacob’s passing, or the change in the protector? Or uncapping the heart of the Island?

6) Time Flies – What purpose did the Season 5 time-jumping have, other than to fill in some scripts? How did the reality of time travel enter in to this?