The Beginning of the End

A rush of thoughts/feelings/emotions have hit me, now that I've been back in NY for a number of weeks after my time South of the Equator.  However I am going to postpone those for my next entry since I have even more thoughts on Lost since we are down to the last 4 hours of the show....ever.   I know it's possible they can make movies or spinoffs after the finale, but in my mind this is the true conclusion to the spectacular roller coaster ride of 6 seasons.

Having just watched the last episode I found some developments predictable and yet was floored by others.  If you haven't seen it yet, then this is a spoiler alert and you need to stop reading.  The predictable includes the fact that Lockeness's goal was not to escape but to gather the team of candidates together in one spot so they can all be killed simultaneously.  Man in black (MIB) gives these intentions away on the hillside when Jacob brings him the wine after Richard feebly tries to kill him.  Jacob says "If you kill me, someone will take my place" to which the MIB snaps "Well then I'll kill them too".  I wonder if MIB needs any vessel to escape (which is the real reason why he kept the plane intact) or if the death of all the candidates with Jacob's simply "releases" him into the world like Pandora's box.

Jack realized this, of course, even back to the previous episode when he takes the "leap of faith" off the boat.  He was ready to stay on the island and would have if Kate hadn't been shot.  You almost wonder if Lockeness shot her from the water somehow because it all worked so perfectly for him including transferring the bomb.  Since all they dynamite was gone from from the Black Rock (thanks to Hurley/Michael) he knew where to get C4 explosive and it makes me wonder where Richard, Ben and Miles are.  Speaking of missing people, I was happy to hear Sayid say my favorite character, the one pictured above, Desmond was not murdered in cold blood.  He will still clearly have his part to play in somehow vanquishing Lockeness or leading him to some of those Electricity and Magnetism pockets to do so.

It seems I can't make it through one episode these days without bawling about something.  This one was no different as no sooner were Jin and Sun reunited, they were caged then led to the submarine where they met their tearful ending.  So shocking and tragic!  I found myself wondering in the final seconds whether Jin should have left her, not to save himself, but to raise their child.  As romantic as the scene was, I think he should have put his duty of fatherhood above that of being a husband. It all happened so fast he probably wasn't thinking at all + the scene when Hurley and Kate find out on the beach is poignant and sorrowful.  

As sad as it was, nobody asked about Chesty or Sayid for that matter.  Sayid had a Darth Vader like epiphany at the end so it looks like he did come back from the dark side after all (thanks to Desmond).  I wonder if he'll be trapped on the island in some sort of purgatory (like Michael and the others) or if he'll be allowed to "move on"?

People keep hypothesizing what the little boy represents.  Some postulate that it is a growing Jacob or maybe Aaron (Claire's son).  I am not sure whether he is real or a spirit, but my guess is that he's a referee of sorts.  He appears to Lockeness periodically to remind him he is not allowed to kill any of the candidates or main players like Desmond.  This is why he threw Desmond in a well (to trap him) and then had Sayid kill him later.  Given these rules it will be interesting to see what his next move is (and i do mean move like chess).  My guess is he will try to get Widmore to kill the remaining candidates in some kind of shootout  (or maybe he'll resurrect Sayid again from the deep and enlist him anew).  Just about anything is possible at this point.

One thought I've been mulling in my head is whether ALL of the appearances from dead people have been the work of MIB?  We know about Christian Shepherd and the others ones from earlier seasons.  But what about taking it a step further to Richard's wife, and even Jacob himself.  It could all be the MIB posturing to get the candidates killed.  After Richard visits with his wife it causes him to separate from the candidates in an effort to blow up the plane and he says "Don't get in our way" implying if they do, Richard is likely to kill them.  As for Jacob, he tells Hurley to save Sayid + that didn't work out so well, especially in the short term.  I'm not as convinced of this theory as I used to be since it's not clear if MIB can do this anymore since he might be "stuck" in Locke (Illana briefly mentions this).  Jacob also led Jack and Hurley to the lighthouse and that's where Jack starts to think differently about what he is supposed to do on the island.  Time will tell.....

On the topic of spin offs, I was thinking today that LOST set themselves up nicely for them and future movies by showing all those names in the cave and on the sundial.  I mean, who were those people and how did they get themselves crossed off the list of candidates.  If someone does finally succeed Jacob (Jack is the frontrunner at this point) it will certainly be a big deal after potentially centuries of failures.  Who built the statue?  What was there before Jacob and MIB (MIB says he was once a man)?  Did he inhabit MIB's bodies and memories (like he did Locke's) when MIB came to the island?  I suspect some of these might be answered in the last few episodes but there is plenty more they can do with it.

I keep wondering if someone new is going to come out of nowhere to make a difference when we least expect it.  Right now, I'm going to take a longshot and put my $$$ on Danielle.  Yes, the French chick who we haven't seen at all this season but to my knowledge is out in the jungle somewhere.  There's also the others from the temple who are out in the jungle after the mortar attack including the stewardess.  Will Eloise Hawking make it back (she must have helped Widmore find the island)?  If she did aid Widmore she must know the gravity of the situation. As for super longshot theories, I think it's possible the leader of the temple and his lennon glassed sidekick could appear for some role.  They were killed in the pool of life and I don't think that's a coincidence. 

Lastly, as expected, it's still not clear what the parallel universe is.  I used to think it's the future or timeline that will occur once Lockness is defeated.  The fact that a few of them have seen snippets of their island life confuses this.  Desmond is the only one that seems to have complete consciousness of both worlds and why he tried to run over Locke is unclear (to kill him?  to get him to meet Jack? to force him to have an island vision? (Locke does mutter something about pushing the button and people believing him)).  BLOG ADDITION: Upon rewatching the last episode, I noticed that the last thing that Jack says to Locke in the hospital, "I wish you believed me" is almost the same thing that Locke mutters when he is sleeping and having an unconscious flashback.  When Jack says it back to Locke, it stuns him.  I think he has a conscious flashback at that moment to the island like Desmond underwater or Hurley when he's kissed only we don't see it.   Who knows what he sees in his flashback?  His life on the island?  His death?  His possession by MIB?  Whatever it is I am sure it was stranger than the other ones we were privy to.  I'd wager that Desmond was trying to induce this moment as it is somehow critical to defeating MIB.  Who knows, maybe, just maybe Locke isn't dead after all.  If he can be dispossessed maybe he can return (although this didn't happen with Christian, so perhaps not). 

The parallel world is so much more pleasant than the one we've known.  Even Locke's dad didn't try to kill him and they seemed to have a good relationship.  Of course it's not all roses, Sayid is not with Nadia but rather arrested, Kate is on the run (not clear if she did kill her step dad in this time line) and we still have no idea where Shannon is.

That's enough for now.  Feel free to call me out on any misinformation or erroneous conclusions or even if you want some good healthy debate.