LL (71) I think you are spot on. I think the flash forward is a story telling device not a preminition like Desmond is having. Think Pulp Fiction. Especially given we are at the half way point, changing from looking into the past of characters to the future allows the story to be told over a great period (given we only been on the island for what, 90 days?).

umm, i am newbie to all of this...my mom has gotten me hooked onto. anyway..did anyone notice that Walt's voice sounded fake??? like maybe his real voice was too deep...just a ponder

Ben is pure evil. At this point anything he says or does just needs to be discarded. Sawyer is turning out to be the angel of death. The people he killed, needed killing. Can you disagree? He's also shown the ability to choose love and friendship. Watch him, he's not going anywhere.
Locke why the knife and not the gun? Where did the kid go?

The only thing I disliked about the flashward, which was obvious you didn't need the funeral home sign to figure that out, was that it brought the show to close to reality. The shows beauty is that it's set in a place of no time and there fore can creat it's own reality... Make it real then you have to consider the fact that no one would ever survive a plane crash like that and there no show...

I totally don't like the 3 year 16 episodes... who can keep that kind of interest in a show like this? I totally loved the xfiles, but got burned out, till this day I don't care what happened.

I think this show is special and should wrapp it up next season... The show could go down as the greatest or the greatest disappointment.

I posted this on the recap yesterday, and I'm still sticking by it.

I don't think the flash-forward was any kind of vision or time-bending or anything like that. I also don't think it means the focus will change to "how Jack/Kate/anybody else gets back to the island". I think it's a new structure to the show.

Up until now, we've seen flashbacks of the characters, and with three seasons left (I know, not the same number of episodes, work with me here), we're at the midpoint of the show. Now, in the final three seasons, the structure of the show will change: action on the island alternating with flash-forwards instead of flashbacks. They'll provide the same service - learning more about the characters and how they are connected - but from a very different point of view. In the final episode of the series, everything will meet in the middle with the 815ers getting rescued. (Which means the phone call will not lead to a rescue in my world.)

Anybody have any thoughts? Or am I out of my mind?

Great season finale and great spring board for the remaining episodes. What the producers have done is change the focus from the Losties vs the Others to what the Island is all about. The Island is the real mystery. Solving that mystery is where I think the producers will take the story.
While these chat boards have focused on the individuals and their stories, I think the mystic powers of the Island is the core of the story. Why are these particular individuals on this island? Did the Island "select" them? Who are those who came before? Why was this island selected by Dharma? Who are the original island inhabitants? Who built what and why?
Ben stated "the island is under assualt like never before." Who is assaulting the Island? Why does the Island need protecting?
If the focus is only on the individual characters yes the story is pretty well screwed. If the focus is on the Island then we in for one hell of a ride.

Right on, 1iPete (#28). "too many people are accepting the "flash forward" sequences as the guaranteed future or current present", and I agree about the voice on the other end of the phone. While watching I wondered if it wasn’t a “flash forward” but Jack’s imagination.


People are looking too closely at the newspaper clipping, reading too much into it. However, including it was brilliant. TV show creators now know how to use the internet, spoilers, DVR, etc., to their advantage. I vaguely recall one of the Lost creators using the phrase "TiVO moment" or similar. Get people pausing, talking and speculating! It seems that the evolution of television marketing = viral marketing + technology.

In the comments to a Lost blog post about the previous episode someone speculated that Walt couldn’t come back because the actor had aged so much in three years. It was kind of cool to see older Walt, but I wonder if and how they’ll explain it. Blame the island?

In watching a show like Lost one has to both take things at face value and recognize that things aren't always what they seem. There is no "couldn't". Nothing is impossible.

Although there were bits of the episode that I didn't like, such as Bernard giving up the information when he could have lied and Charlie closing the door after the grenade went off, it was a great finale. The characters and performances were strong. I like the introduction of Alex to Danielle and Alex's reaction for her in the preceeding moment. "Alex, this is your mother." It was another fantastic Michael Emerson moment. He's got excellent delivery.

I predict that the "other others" that are coming to the Island are the original Dharma members. This would explain why Ben is so scared.

When Charlie was drowning and we saw his face through the door it was the first time in three seasons I saw some “Hobbit” in Dominic Monaghan. It was in his eyes.

So the man in the box, I figure two possibilities. Locke (alreay discussed), but what if it were Ben (*gasp)? Follow me here for a second. Given it appears Ben might be right about the people on the boat coming to kill everyone, what if Ben, Kate, 'him,' and Jack are a few of the people who survive and get off but others die? While Ben is a bad man (killing his own people for instance) Jack knows Ben was right about not calling on the phone and thus feels (very) guilty. He should have listen to him (in his mind). Thus Jack goes to the funeral but nobody else: killed his dad on the island - no family, any other survivors think he is evil - hence don't attend.
I'm probably wrong but the key is trying to find the twist for the man in the box.

One season our time is one month island time. They have been on the island for 90 days now.

I don't know how much they will change that in the future, meaning that if 22 episodes = 30 days that 16 episodes will be 30/22 * 16 = 21 days per season in the future.

What really matters is that Sun got pregnant on the island and that women who got pregnant there have up to their second trimester max before they die. So this way or the other, Sun might live up until the last episode, that's what's really important.

The boat is 80 miles off-shore. Even if it just makes 10 knots per hour it will be there in half a day. Only if you consider that Penny isn't the one who sent the boat you have to think about the fact that if she'd now decide to put together a rescue party on her own boat it might take as much as one season for her to get there (in 6 weeks on a regular ship you can get anywhere in the world - larger container ships usually need 4 to 6 weeks to get from Europe to anywhere depending on whether they use a canal or not (Panama/Suez)).

Considering the funeral: it could be that only Jack, Kate, the man Kate needed to get back to, and a third person were rescued from the island - and nobody else. It could be that Jack and Kate as well as that man are living a lie, that's why Jack is so depressed (he told Kate he doesn't want to lie anymore) and that he thinks they have to go back to rescue the ones they left there.

So anything can happen next season. I think the flash forward happened in the mind of one of the people on the island, most likely Locke (because he said that's not what was supposed to happen) or Jack, just like the flashes Desmond had only that this time we saw the whole flash ourselved (compared to parts of the flash we saw in the episode when Naomi parachuted down on the island where we actually saw Charlie die on-screen, knowing that it was just a flash-forward in Desmond's mind).

It could very well be that next season we see Jack trying to go back to the island. But I doubt that. I think this was just for us to know that we now have to root for the people who want to stay on the island - namely Locke (*gasp*!) and Ben (*doublegasp*!!). They totally flipped our emotions - that's great storytelling and that is why this has been such a great season finale.

And again, like I said before - nobody knew that Star Wars Episode V and VI would be THAT great, everybody wondered whether you could actually top the first movie or maybe just make two sequels that are at least just as good. It was possible and I think that "Lost" has so many good writers, such an avid fanbase and a large anough following that it will deliver.

I know - I was one of the people who was so god damn angry during mid-season where they really were in a slump but look at what they did - they read the forums, listened to the feedback, killed off Nicky and Paulo and got back to writing some of the best episodes yet.

So as long as we give them feedback they will know what they have to do to keep us happy and them :-)

OK...so here's my take on this whole thing! There are only 48 episodes left, which is just under half of the total show run. How many 'days' have they been on the island so far in 3 years? Technically it could take the next season and a half for the boat to even get there and find them. We are forgetting that the days on the island are few so far. About the newspaper clipping...I would assume, because no one showed up, that it was John. I hadn't looked at the clip of newspaper when I first thought this but after reading this article and lookng on the second picture (click on the word clipping in the article) there are clues that lead me to believe that I am correct on this hunch. (The letter J in the man's name and something about Towers...wasn't he thrown off a tower?) If he was the one trying to keep everyone on the island then no one would go to his funeral. Also, that would explain why Jack has suddenly decided he must go back in the flash forward. Because John was right about the island. Any way it goes, I'm looking forward to a great season next year!

Hey 62, one quible. JJ has very little to do with the show. That's why it is still good and hasnt dropped off like Alias.