Before the season I posted a list of 50 questions yet to be answered. I didn't intend it to be a comprehensive list, just 50 things that came to mind. Some of them are important and some of them are not. With another season in the books, let me break those original questions into three categories: answered by season 5, addressed by season 5, and unaddressed by season 5. Down the line I will post a list of questions raised during season 5, as well as those that I overlooked in compiling the original list.
Questions Answered by Season 5
3. Where and when did the island move to?
4. Was Jeremy Bentham murdered?
5. What was the incident?
6. What is the sickness? Is it the phenomenon described by Faraday and experienced by Desmond?
17. Who actually staged the wreckage?
21. Who does Abaddon work for?
22. Who are the “they” he refers to? Are they the Oceanic survivors, the Others, the freighter people?
24. How did Marvin Candle lose his arm?
26. Who was Radzinsky?
29. Is the white tennis shoe significant? Is it Christian’s?
35. Who is Ms. Hawking?
40. Why did Miles choose $3.2 million?
50. What the heck happened to Montand’s arm?
Questions addressed by Season 5
1. What is the monster?
2. Who is Jacob?
7. Does Christian really speak for Jacob, or for some other entity?
8. What is the true nature of the island? Where is it? Does it have a name?
9. What are “the rules”?
10. Why do pregnant women die on the island?
11. What and where is the temple?
12. Who built the four-toed statue, and why does it have four toes?
19. What does Widmore want with the island?
23. What was Rousseau’s team’s mission?
25. Is Richard Alpert really ageless?
30. Why can some people see or hear Jacob?
32. What is the ash around the cabin?
46. How did Ben summon the monster, and how much control does he have over it?
48. Did Widmore’s man really kill Nadia? Or was it Ben?
49. What is the history between Ben and Widmore?
Questions (largely) unaddressed by Season 5
13. Who does the glass eye belong to?
14. What happened to Annie?
15. Who are Adam and Eve?
16. Are Walt and Aaron actually special, and if so, why?
18. Who is the Economist?
20. Who carries out the supply drops, and how?
27. What is the relationship between Hanso, Widmore, and Paik?
28. Why was Libby in the mental institution?
31. Will anyone ever find the diamonds?
33. What is the Book of Laws, and what was Locke supposed to pick?
34. What is the significance of the 305 and 325 bearings?
36. Why was Ms. Klugh so adamant about being shot?
37. Who was Eko referring to (“you’re next”)?
38. How was Cindy flipped to the Others?
39. Did anyone find the message on the gull?
41. What are the whispers?
42. How was Ben able to communicate with Harper?
43. Why did Walt appear to Shannon?
44. What did Locke see when he saw the monster for the first time?
45. Why does Tom quote Alvar Hanso?
47. Why does Widmore have nightmares?
Viewed in this context, I'd say Season 5 was about as satisfying as possible from a mythological standpoint. We learned a lot about Jacob, the Monster, DHARMA, Rousseau, the sickness...most of the questions that were not addressed at all are insignificant and were included here on my own whimsy. The crucial questions that weren't touched on are those involving Annie, Adam and Eve, Walt/Aaron, and the whispers. Everything else of import got at least a little screen time.
