(S04E13) After having my mind blown several times during the finale, I'm wondering if we'll ever see another "normal" episode of Lost again. For better or for worse, the game has changed. Most of the 815ers have new agendas now, and some of our favorite survivors' fates are up in the air. Season five of Lost will look very different from seasons past, and I can't wait to see what the future holds.

The episode review is after the jump. Click here to join the chat.

The Jungle

Jack and Sawyer caught up with Hurley, who happened to be urinating at the time (is that an island first?). Hugo looked like he was in love with Sawyer for coming to find him, but had a lukewarm greeting for Jack. Locke and Hurley were still outside the Orchid station because Locke had trouble carrying out Ben's instructions (apparently he knows about everything but plants). Hurley and Sawyer had what could be their last cute buddy moment while Jack and Locke talked island business. Locke couldn't persuade Jack to fulfill his destiny and stay on the island, but asked him to lie about everything if he was rescued. The island is a special place and needed to stay hidden.

Meanwhile, Keamy and the mercenaries led Ben to the helicopter. Kate emerged from the jungle, claiming that the Others were chasing her. The whispers began, which put the mercenaries on high alert. Alpert and the Others used their mad guerrilla warfare skills to do away with most of Keamy's men while Kate and Ben escaped. Keamy avoided a gruesome death by kicking a live grenade over to his buddy, Omar, and followed Ben. He walked right into another trap, though; Sayid was waiting for him. What happened next was arguably the best fight in the show's history. Kudos to Sayid for holding his own against a much larger man, and to Keamy for lasting as long as he did. Keamy got the best of Sayid and started to choke him, but was shot in the back by Richard Alpert. Since they cooperated with the Others, Sayid and Kate were free to take the chopper off the island; Ben wished them a safe journey.

Ben made his way back to the Orchid and told Jack that he needed to get to the boat as soon as possible. The three 815ers left Locke and Ben to their work at the station. When they reached the helicopter, Sawyer and Kate had a sweet flirtatious moment before Kate returned to Jack's side. The chopper took off once Frank freed himself from the handcuffs.

The Orchid

Locke and Ben descended into the real Orchid Station. Ben immediately began messing with the station's equipment and filling a strange chamber with miscellaneous objects. The Orchid's purpose was finally revealed, thanks to another DHARMA orientation video. We learned that the island's properties were once the subject of space/time experiments, and that Ben was going against all of Edgar Halliwax's warnings by placing metal objects in The Vault. The men were interrupted by the sound of the Orchid's elevator and prepared for an attack.

Keamy stepped out of the elevator, wounded but alive (he was wearing body armor). He warned Ben about the dead man's trigger that he was wearing. If his heart stopped, the bomb on the freighter would go off and the passengers would die. He also made the mistake of taunting Ben about Alex's death. Locke came forward and tried to reason with Keamy, but Ben's desire for revenge won out. He stabbed Keamy repeatedly, killing him. Ben couldn't have cared less about the freighter's fate at that moment.

The plans to move the island continued. Ben caused an explosion in The Vault, and put on the Edgar Halliwax parka from "The Shape of the Things to Come." Ben would move the island and, consequently, could never return. John was meant stay behind and take Ben's place as the new leader of the Others. Before they parted ways, Ben apologized for making Locke's life so miserable. John went back into the jungle and received a warm welcome from Alpert and the Others.

The Freighter

Michael had a quick fix for the bomb situation: freezing the battery would delay the explosion and buy them some time. The only down side was that they only had one canister of liquid nitrogen, and the bomb would have to go off eventually.

The helicopter was losing fuel as it returned to the freighter, and they needed to dump as much extra weight as they could (make the obvious Hurley joke if you must). Sawyer whispered something to Kate (probably concerning the promise she told Jack about), gave her a passionate kiss and told her to "just do it" before jumping into the ocean. Thanks to Sawyer's sacrifice, the chopper made it to the frieghter at the worst possible moment. Keamy's heart rate stopped, and the bomb was activated; they had five minutes at the most. In all the chaos, Desmond, Frank, and the Oceanic Six made it off the freighter; Jin was left behind. Sun wanted to go back for her husband, but Jack refused to let Frank fly back. The freighter exploded, killing Michael and, presumably, Jin. Sun was inconsolable. Since the lack of fuel was still an issue, the chopper headed back to the island.

The Beach

Daniel came back with Zodiac raft, and made it clear to Miles and Charlotte that this last trip to the freighter was crucial for their survival. There probably wouldn't be another chance to leave the island after this. Miles wanted to stick around, and was surprised that Charlotte wanted to say. He implied that Charlotte had been to the island before and shouldn't be so anxious to leave. Well, played, Miles. I can't wait to see what you do next season.

Charlotte reconsidered her options and told Daniel that she was staying behind to look for her birthplace. Juliet was determined to help the 815 survivors reach the freighter safely before she left the island, and let Daniel and the redshirts take the raft. As Juliet drowned her sorrows with some DHARMA rum, Sawyer (shirtless--thank you, writers) swam to shore. They both looked devastated as they watched the aftermath of the freighter explosion.

Moving the Island

The big moment finally came, and it will probably be one of the most controversial scenes in the finale. Ben accessed a dark tunnel through the hole he created in The Vault, which led to a freezing cold lower room. The only thing in it was a frozen, giant wheel. Ben had a tortured look on his face as he used all of his strength to turn the wheel. The magnetic humming that resulted was heard all over the island and on the helicopter as well. The wheel glowed and produced a flash of light that surrounded the island (similar to the light from the hatch implosion), and the island simply vanished.

The Rescue of the Oceanic Six

The helicopter had nowhere to land, and Frank had no choice but to prepare his passengers for a crash. Luckily, Sayid had the presence of mind to throw the raft out before they hit the water. The only person who didn't make it through the crash unharmed was Desmond, who had to be revived by some intense Jack Shephard-style CPR.

As Hurley and Jack argued about the island's disappearance, Frank spotted lights from a nearby boat. As the ship approached, they heard men speaking Portuguese (the first clue). The ship belonged to Penny Widmore, and Penny herself was on the boat. She and Desmond had a beautiful reunion moment that was even more romantic than their phone call earlier this season.

Now that they were rescued, Jack followed Locke's advice and came up with the "official" Oceanic Six survival story. They took Penny's boat within a few hours of Membata, and the 815ers took the raft to the island. Frank and Desmond stayed behind with Penny. As Jack said goodbye to Desmond, he told him to never let "them" find him. The Oceanic Six reached Membata and stepped onto the beach looking stunned by everything that had happened.

Flash-Forward: The Oceanic Six

We got to see Kate's reaction to the final line of dialogue in last season's finale. Kate was furious that Jack wanted her to go back to the island, after everything that she went through. She told Jack that the mystery man in the coffin, Jeremy Bentham, came to see her before he died. Kate thought he was crazy, but could tell that Jack believed whatever he said. When Jack argued that he was only trying to protect Kate and Aaron, Kate slapped him and said that he could no longer say her child's name. Jack had abandoned them, and she wanted him out of their lives.

Hurley, still in Santa Rosa, had another unexpected visitor. Walt, now in his early thirties (kidding, but he has aged), wanted to know why Hurley and the rest of the Oceanic Six never looked him up after their rescue. Jeremy Bentham had also spoken to Walt, and the boy wanted to know why everyone was lying about the island. Hurley lied and said that they were protecting those left behind, like Michael.

Later, Sayid dropped by to visit Hurley and to kill a suspicious-looking man who had been watching the hospital. He explained that Bentham was dead, which meant that Hurley was no longer safe at Santa Rosa. Hurley was worried that they were "going back," but Sayid reassured him that they were just going somewhere safe. Before he left, Hugo finished his chess game and said goodbye to his opponent, an invisible Mr. Eko.

Sun took a trip to London to confront Charles Widmore, who pretended that she was merely the daughter of Mr. Paik. Cutting though the baloney, Sun told Widmore that she knew who he was and that they should meet to discuss their common interests. They were both aware that more than six people made if off the island.

Kate awoke in the middle of the night to a strange phone call and noises in her house. The voice was inaudible, but she was frightened enough to grab her gun and go to Aaron's room. She found Claire standing over the child. Aaron's true mother warned Kate not to take Aaron back to the island. When Kate's dream/vision ended, she ran to Aaron and tearfully apologized.

Jack returned to the Hoffs-Drawlar Funeral Home, where Jeremy Bentham's corpse was being held. He took a look at the man's body, but Ben appeared before we could see his face. Jack admitted that Bentham had told him about "bad things" happening on the island, and knew he had to go back. As if finding the island wasn't difficult enough, Ben told Jack that they all had to find it together--the Oceanic Six, Ben, and Jeremy Bentham, known to the rest of us as John Locke.

Final remarks/questions:

• Have fun checking out the website for Octagon Global Recruiting. The company's "recruitment drive" kicks off in San Diego on July 24, the same day as Comic Con (I'm sure that's just a coincidence).
• One of our readers, Ian at Comic Timing, reversed the audio on Kate's late night phone call. The caller said, "The island needs you. You have to go back before it's too late." Creepy!
• I tried to read up on the Casimir effect and negatively charged exotic matter, but it's way over my head. I'll stick with learning about philosopher Jeremy Bentham.
• I was underwhelmed by the frozen wheel revelation, but I can't think of anything that could move the island and not look a little silly. Simple was probably the best way to go. I expected the device to either look extremely ancient (like the four-toed statue) or extremely advanced. When the finale spoiler leaked, some fans were ticked off at the idea, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It's unlikely that the wheel will turn up again, so it doesn't really matter how it looked.
• I'd forgotten about the non-mercenary freighter folk, but they captured my attention again. Miles is already getting attitude from Rose, and Charlotte has a complicated history with the island. Daniel's fate is uncertain, since he's on a raft headed nowhere. What will become of the mumbling physicist?
• There was a lot of death in this episode. I'm a little bummed that they killed off Keamy. Ben deserved to get his revenge, but it's always a shame when the hot guys die. Kevin Durand did an amazing job with the character, though. He'll be missed. I was definitely ready to bid Michael farewell after this season. He redeemed himself the best that he could, and Jacob (via Christian Shephard) gave him the peace that he wanted. If this were any other show, I'd say that Jin is 100% dead, but Lost makes its own rules when it comes to life and death. For my part, I hope he's alive.
• The biggest shock was the identity of the man in the coffin. Locke makes it off the island somehow, and gets murdered (by Widmore, most likely) in the near future. Will the island work its healing magic when Locke's body is brought back with the rest of the survivors?

I'm a little mentally drained from two hours of death, romance, and island-moving, so I'll save most of my comments about the season for my "best and worst" posts. I will say that the writers had a lot to live up to after last season's finale, and they surpassed my expectations. This season balanced island mythology with a new timeline, character development, and a handful of new characters. None of the episodes felt like filler or dead weight. The finale may have provided an overwhelming amount of information, but that's better than short-changing viewers and leaving them hanging. After delivering so many unforgettable episodes this season, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have earned my trust. For the next two seasons I'm going to sit back and let them finish telling an amazing story.