* I rewatched all five season finales in preparation for the grand finale, then made sure "Pilot" was the last episode I watched. One moment in particular struck me in light of "What They Died For"--the flashback scene from "Exodus" in which Sawyer is hauled into an Aussie police station.
The cop runs down a list of all of Sawyer's crimes and concludes by asking "How do you live with yourself?" Sawyer defiantly replies, "I do just fine", to which the cop replies "Do you?" It is very much like the exchange he had with Jacob last week, and in both cases the authority figure calling him on his bluster seems to land a blow.
Another great moment I hadn't really noticed before, albeit one that is completely frivolous, is in "Pilot". Shannon announces she's going with Kate and Sayid on their hike to send a signal with the transceiver, sparking a heated argument with Boone. The look on Sayid's face as he takes it in is priceless.
* I don't believe that Richard is dead. I think the best evidence of this is MiB's chat with Ben on the porch, in which he says something like "Just the man I wanted to talk to." MiB is done with Richard; he doesn't really care about him one way or the other. He knows that Ben is the malleable one who can be made to do his bidding for the right price, and he simply tossed Richard aside like the now irrelevant pawn that he is (to MiB, at least). I do believe that Richard will die in the finale, as this is what he really wants and would reunite him with Isabella. But not yet.
* Some people are angry that Widmore went down with such a whimper, considering he was once the Big Bad on the show. There is certainly room to criticize the ease with which Chuck folded and told MiB everything he wanted to know, but I disagree with the notion that he was ever the Big Bad. Ben painted him that way, but I don't think he ever was. Ben and Charles are both evil--they both act only for their own side. That means that sometimes they are in opposition to the forces of the light and sometimes their interests align.
* One thing I glossed over at the end of the episode was that MiB's stated intention of destroying the Island called into question the veracity of his promise that Ben can have the Island to himself after MiB is gone.
* Doc Jensen offers an excellent theory on why Jack, Kate, Sayid, and Hurley were flashed off of Ajira 316 while Sun and others were not--they were candidates. Sun probably was a candidate but was crossed off when she became a mother.
* It appears as if the concert is going to be the singular event in 2004X that brings everyone together. I fully expect all the major players to be there, but I'll still list the ones that have an obvious reason to be there and the ones for whom we don't know how or why they will be:
Desmond & Kate--he's taking her there
Faraday, Widmore, Eloise--all main players in the staging of the concert
Penny--Faraday's sis and likely performing as well
Charlie--slated to perform with DriveShaft
Jack, David, Claire, unnamed ex-wife of Jack (Juliet is my guess)--family of player
Hurley, Sayid--obviously Hurley is in on Desmond's plan and will act accordingly, not to mention Hurley is a benefactor of the museum
Dogen--son is likely performing as well
Miles, Charlotte, Dr. Chang--museum employees and family
Sawyer--will probably be corralled into going by Miles, or there chasing the escapees (Ana-Lucia could be there for the latter as well)
Libby--likely Hurley's date
Unclear: Ilana, Boone, Shannon, Locke, Ben, Alex, Rousseau, Eko (don't expect to see him), Jin, Sun, Michael, Rose, Bernard, Frank
Some of the people in the unclear group have never even been seen in 2004X and might not be of any importance.
* The first thing about Season Six that I have a big problem with is the finale title. I have hoped ever since "Live Together, Die Alone" that the series finale would be called "Our Mutual Friend", although using that as the name of Desmond's boat was a blow to that dream. The title is authoritative, but unimaginative. On the plus side, the episode title won't have anything to do with how much I enjoy the episode, and it doesn't tip anything about the content.
* Carlton Cuse did a very good podcast with Bill Simmons. One of the things they talked about was what drew people to certain characters, and during their discussion I realized one of the big reasons why Jack has always been my favorite character that I'd never considered: Jack's journey with regard to science and faith with respect to the show mirrors my own. At the beginning of the show, Jack is always searching for rational explanations for everything that happens on the Island. And I too thought the show would be better if it was explained by pseudo-science rather than deus ex machina and light caves and the like. But as the show progressed, Jack began to accept that there were forces at work that could not be explained rationally, and I began to embrace these elements of the show even more. Now Jack is all in, drinking the stream water and accepting the role of Island Protector. Sign me up.
* Last year I used the pre-finale post to predict how the finale would go down. It was a ridiculous exercise, and the prediction was as off as possible (Desmond or Ray Shephard = Jacob is the highlight, but the whole thing is a train wreck). So just for kicks I'm going to do it again.
MiB will execute a two-pronged assault on the Jacobians. First, he'll dispatch Ben to try to assassinate Jack. Ben will succeed in stabbing Jack in the throat, Keamy-style, but Jack will not die and Ben will see the error of his ways, somehow sacrificing his life to allow the remaining candidates to escape. Meanwhile, MiB will capture Desmond and take him with him to the light cave.
In the course of running through the jungle, Miles will stumble across the caves, and read the thoughts of MiB and Mother. This will give him an insight into how to kill MiB which he will eventually relay to the candidates.
In 2004X, everyone will arrive at the concert, leading to Eloise Hawking having some sort of fit. Something she says will trigger a mass Island awakening among all of the appropriate parties. At that moment, their consciousness will travel to the Island timeline and imbue their doppelgangers with key information. Some of the deceased folks will appear as a whisper chorus, and they will help guide the candidates on their way. 2004X will be revealed to be a scheme hatched by Eloise to bring her son back to life, but will ultimately collapse as the key players in the universe realize their true destiny lies in the Island timeline.
With all of this information at their disposal, the candidates will be able to defeat MiB once and for all in a climactic showdown at the light cave. Sawyer and Desmond will both sacrifice themselves in the course of this struggle.
That will leave Kate, Jack, and Hurley among the major Lostaways. Jack will be healed after the 2004X awakening, and will use his newfound powers to allow Miles and Claire to return to the real world and Richard to be released from his duties and his immortality. He will leave out the rest of his years in a peaceful Island existence. Jack will then allow Hurley to make a choice--leave the Island, accept a job as his Richard-like advisor, or remain mortal but choose to stay on the Island. Hurley will choose the latter and start a new Island society, but one devoted to living peacefully in this newfound tropical paradise rather than servicing a shadowy agenda. Since Jack can now make his own rules, he'll tab Kate to serve as his co-guardian of the Island.
The preceding faux-episode summary is the perfect encapsulation of why I am a sabermetrician for kicks, not an aspiring fiction writer. It also is offered in the spirit of enjoying what Damon and Carlton have planned for us--it may not be what you expect or what you want, but it will be a helluva lot better than whatever the average internet hack dreams up.
* To address the broader issue of what the show should resolve in the finale, I have to say that I am already satisfied with the mysteries that have been resolved this season. Before the season I made a list of the essential questions that LOST needed to address, and said "If most of those questions are addressed adequately, then I will be very satisfied with LOST." Those questions were:
1. What is the true nature of the Jacob/Black Robe conflict? Good v. Evil? Shades of gray? Are they gods, demigods, ageless mortals in the mold of Alpert?
Obviously there is more that could be mined out of this, but I'd chalk this up as answered. It's good v. evil with shades of gray, but they are not inherently good and evil--they chose those paths themselves. Jacob is an ageless mortal, MiB is actually the Monster.
2. What destroyed the statue? Was it related to the pregnancy problems? And if not, what caused those?
Half-answered; the tsunami that brought in the Black Rock destroyed the statue, and it was apparently not related to the pregnancy problems, which are presumably not going to be addressed.
3. What is the history of the Hostiles/Others? Are they simply the people Jacob has drawn to the Island? What is their mission, and what is the Temple?
Largely answered--the Others are the people Jacob has drawn to the Island, apparently dating back to the arrival of the Black Rock. We don't exactly know what their mission is, but that's appropriate because they don't either. The Temple got plenty of screentime.
4. What are the Whispers?
Answered--the whispers are the voices of Island dead who can't move on, personified for us in "Everyboyd Loves Hugo" by Michael.
5. Who are Adam and Eve?
Answered--Adam is the mortal body of MiB, and Eve is the body of his "adoptive" mother, who he killed. They were laid to rest by Jacob.
6. What is the Monster? More specifically, I don't need to know how a cloud of black smoke is sentient; I just need to understand its relationship to other forces on the Island and what it is judging? What is its moral code, so to speak?
Answered--it and the MiB are one, its mission is to escape the Island, and it was created by the MiB being thrown into the light cave.
Six questions I wanted answered, and for the most part they have been. While we don't have complete answers for all of them, elements of each have at least been touched on. None of them have been completely ignored.
Season Six has raised other questions of course, but only one that would be able to stand aside the big six. That is the nature of 2004X and it's relationship to the Island timeline. That is, by default, the major question which the finale must resolve, and I have full confidence that it will be crucial to the outcome of the story.
* Leaving aside ridiculous predictions about what the end of LOST will be, what should it be? I believe that it should be true to the nature of the show. I'd like to believe that all LOST fans could agree that the end of the show should be true to the nature of the show in its entirety.
That still leaves it up for the individual fan to define what makes LOST tick. For me, the greatest characteristic of LOST is intrigue and mystery. I know the producers like to say that it's a character-driven show, and I understand what they mean by it and why they view it that way. I don't think there's any conflict, though, between having a satisfying end to the character's journey and continuing to foster mystery.
The very best endings to LOST episodes are the ones that make you say "What the heck did I just watch", the ones that make you reconsider a dozen other things that have happened in a new light. Scenes like Jack's flashforward, Sayid working for Ben off-Island, the numbers being embossed on the side of the hatch.
LOST is also a show steeped in ambiguity. This season we've been getting a lot of exposition scenes in which a mystery is explained (ex. Michael confirming Hurley's theory about the Whispers, Jacob's fireside chat with his candidates). That's fine, and necessary in some cases, but it's not the trademark way in which LOST resolves mysteries. LOST is a puzzle that the viewer needs to piece together himself for it to reach maximum efficacy. As long as the TPTB give us the picture on the front of the box and don't hide too many of the pieces, we'll be okay. It's more fun that way.
Finally, LOST is a bittersweet show. There haven't been a lot of happy endings so far, but there have been satisfying endings--endings achieved after a character has made real strides, endings that allow us to feel good about that person's life again (Sayid is a classic example). LOST shouldn't end as a barren wasteland of despair, but it also shouldn't have a syrupy-sweet ending. Some shows demand such an end and don't get it; LOST is not one of them.
So at 11:30 tonight, I'd like to feel conflicted--satisfied but not happy, and wondering whether I wasted 119 hours of my life (just on first viewings). Because if I never spend another hour thinking about the implications of the show, I know I will have wasted 119 hours.
In that vein, there are a lot of things to be said about the show as a whole and its legacy, but I'll save that for after the finale when there's nothing else left to write about.
Remember, it only ends once--anything that's happened before that is just progress.
