Jack might love Kate, but Peter definitely loves Lost‏

Whatever your feelings on the finale, you have got to admit that the
producers and writers on this show have got humongous balls to do what they
just did.

They potentially alienated a huge chunk of the audience, not only by killing
a very popular original character, but by possibly setting up a story that
does not have a happy ending. (For their main character, at least.)

Personally, I thought it was fantastic.

As is Lost's tradition though, it was short on answers and added more
questions:


Peter's Assumption #1: The flash forwards to Grizzly Adams Jack do in fact
happen in our present day.

If that is true, whose funeral did no one else attend? My first instinct was
Ben. After thinking about it all night, my other thoughts are Locke, Michael
or Sawyer.

If the flash forwards do actually occur in the present, then either Jack's
Dad never died and he's part of the conspiracy (something I have thought
since the beginning of season 2) or Jack is being sarcastic or too
high/drunk to realize that his Dad is dead. I prefer the former.

Angela said that she thought that they were trying to make Jack look older
in the flashes with the beard and all. I didn't get that at all, but another
big clue was the cell phone he was using. I remember thinking when he pulled
it out for the first time that it looked pretty (2007) modern. But I wrote
it off as a mistake or me not having any concept of current technology.

Could they all be dying since leaving the Island? If that's true, that could
explain why no one attended the funeral. (Either they are dead or don't want
to be reminded that they are dying.) And maybe that's why Kate has to get
back to "him." Whoever "he" is could be sick and dying. Another thought I
had was that "he" could be Kate and Sawyer's child. Or could "he" just be
the husband that she left when she was on the run from the cops?

If we are to believe that this is the aftermath of them getting off of the
Island, wouldn't Jack be famous for being an 815 survivor? People know him
from saving the kid and his mom, but I would think being the survivor of a
plane that was found at the bottom of the ocean (and after having been gone
for at least 3 months) would take precedence over his recent heroics. Maybe
it is another cover-up by whoever "saved" them?

How long has it been since they were "rescued"? If it takes place in our
present day and they left soon after they made contact, I guess it would be
about 2 1/2 years.

I didn't think of this until this morning, but why wasn't Kate in jail?


Peter's Assumption #2: The flash forwards take place in a timeline that
exists IF they continue on the path that started with Jack making contact
with Naomi's ship.

What if the events we saw were "flashes" that Desmond saw?

Desmond's flashes were always related to Charlie. By continuously saving
him, Desmond obviously not only influenced the present, but the future too.
Perhaps if he had let Charlie die previously, it would have been he who had
to go into the Looking Glass and sacrifice himself for everyone else. But by
having Charlie as his agent, he is now free to change the future himself.
Maybe he had the flashes of Charlie for a reason and that reason was to
prevent the future that would come (as we saw last night).

I don't think I'm describing this well. Ok:
Step 1: Desmond turns the fail safe key and develops precognitive abilities.
(Given to him by the Island?)
Step 2: Des saves Charlie multiple times.
Step 3: Des gets a flash of the button being pressed and Claire and Aaron
being rescued. He assumes Charlie does the pressing because that's who he
gets flashes about.
Step 4: He tells Charlie what Charlie has to do to get everyone saved.
Step 5: Charlie dies a hero, but not before warning Desmond about Naomi.

If this is all true, then the point of Desmond's flashes may be to save
everyone from Naomi's crew. Now that Des has the knowledge that Penny is not
associated with Naomi, he has the opportunity to stop the "rescue" from
coming and prevented the bleak future.

Maybe the flashes aren't from Desmond, maybe they are Jack's flashes.

Maybe they are constructs of Jack's imagination, his self-doubt, about
leaving the Island. Maybe he's still in captivity with the Others and they
are fucking with his head. (Not likely, I know, but anything is possible
with this show.)


Peter's Assumption #3: The flash forwards have nothing to do with anything
on the Island, and are simply another timeline entirely and were put there
to confuse us even more.

I don't really think this is the case, but it could explain how Christian
Shepard is alive, why Jack is not a celebrity from being a crash survivor,
why Kate is not in jail and anything else they want to explain that has no
relation to the Island.



Other questions/thoughts:

- Where will the series pick up next year? Will it be told from Grizzly
Jack's time, with flashbacks showing how everyone got off the Island? Will
it be focused on Jack's (and maybe other castaways) attempts to get back to
the Island? Or, taking a cue from Memento, will the story be told backwards,
with Kate & Jack's meeting the beginning/end, heading toward the moment they
left the Island?

- Charlie had to die. And he died a hero, by his own choice, which was a
nice way for him to go. However, if he didn't die, I was going to kill him
for giving those 2 commando chicks so much information - what was he
thinking? (Not that it ended up mattering anyway, but…) Him "singing to
himself" was hysterical though.

- Was Walt Jacob? Was he Smokey? Was he one of those crazy Island-induced
visions? All three? Could it actually have been Walt? Are Michael and Walt
dead do you think? Ben obviously does not want anyone he cannot trust off
the Island. What did he do with them?

- Matthew Fox was really good last night, especially when Jack thought he
had caused the deaths of Sayid, Jin and Bernard. But what kind of world is
Jack living in if in the future Kate seems more together than him? Come on!

- A whole bunch of awesomeness:

1. Hurley and the van: awesome. I had underestimated Mr. Reyes. I thought he
was going to get himself killed saving the day - instead he just saved the
day.

2. Desmond's excellent harpoon shooting: awesome. Too bad Mikhail is only on
#3 of his 9 lives. (He had a cat, do you think that means anything? Kidding,
I think.)

3. Rose's multiple zingers: awesome. "If I told you I'd help with your SOS
sign, would you reconsider?"; "If you say, 'Live together, die alone,' Jack,
I'm going to punch you in your face."; and making Bernard repeat "I am a
dentist; I am not Rambo."

4. Naomi's hysterical line to Jack: "What did you do before you became
Moses?" Awesome.

5. Sayid's death by legs: awesome-est killing ever.

6. The pinnacle of awesomeness last night: Jin. Awesome a zillion times
over. His unquestioning acceptance of death and refusal to give the Others
any information. And his English speaking to Sun. (I have to admit, that
made me well up a little.) However, Bernard is a big loser. A dentist and a
loser. Not only was he giving up his people, he gave up his wife! Come on!


- I think one of the reasons I didn't see the flash-forward reveal coming is
because I saw the names of Malcolm David Kelly (Walt) and Sonya Walger
(Penny) in the credits, so I figured the big twist would have something to
do with them. That is a good use of actors' names in opening credits.

- Could Naomi's people be Dharma/Hanso people? Angry at being purged from
the Island and seeking revenge?

- What is Jack sick of lying about? The cover-up from 815? (If such a thing
exists.)

- Was it a coincidence that Aaron cried when Charlie died? Maybe Walt's not
the only 'special' kid?

- Sawyer's shooting of Tom was pretty damn cold-blooded, but warranted, I
suppose. I had grown to like Tom though. Pity.


I feel like I'm not really doing the episode justice and there are other
things that should be touched upon. (Well, we do have 8-9 months to discuss
them.) On one hand, I am frustrated that we won't get any new episodes until
February, but on the other hand, I am so very happy that we have to wait
that long.

If no other definitive conclusions can be drawn from last night's Lost, at
least I can say I am sure about this: the writers know what they are doing,
they know where they are going and they are all way smarter than I am.

Even if every other finale I saw this spring sucked, Lost has made up for
all of them with two hours of well-paced, well-acted, well-written
confusion.