I'm not really a 'Lost' watcher. It's not that I dislike the show. I just don't have the patience, the physical time or the glucose IV bag set up needed to fully absorb the entire program.

That doesn't mean I won't be joining the rest of the show's core audience of puzzle junkies and people who get sexually excited from headaches for the show's May 23rd finale. It's a part of television history, and even if I have a better chance of understanding my student loan contract, I'll still tune in and help send the show off as it boards a flaming Viking ship headed for "Television Valhalla."

But such a grand piece of television history is subject to fall in the same bear traps that someone of TV's greatest series have jumped in with both feet. These are the ones that the 'Lost' finale needs, nay, must avoid.

The "Hey, It Was All Just a Crazy Dream" Ending
The events of 'Lost' sound like something concocted by the comatose brain of a stoner who fell asleep during a 'H.R. Puffnstuf' marathon. That doesn't mean the writers of 'Lost' should turn the entire mystery of the series into the stuff that dreams are made of. 'Dallas' did that to explain why the deceased Bobby Ewing suddenly returned from the grave. Bobby coming back as a zombie would have made more sense.
The "Hey, It Was All Just in the Mind of a Mentally Disturbed Person" Ending
Just about any form of fictional media works best when the narrator doesn't pretend he is an all-seeing and all-knowing god who can read his character's thoughts and interpret their every single feeling. The classic medical drama 'St. Elsewhere' strayed away from that trap until the final scene when it was revealed that the entire series was just the concoction of an autistic child with a deep interest in his snow globe. Ending 'Lost' in a similar fashion would produce more mental health problem causation suits than a thousand barrels of toxic waste dumped in a drinking water supply ever could.

The "Hey, Everyone Just Totally Died...or Did They?" Ending
'Lost' is one of those shows where literally anything can happen and that's what makes this particular pitfall so, uh, pitfally. 'Dynasty' famously created the mother of all cliffhangers when they almost killed off the entire clan during a wedding, leaving viewers to wonder who survived and who didn't. Since this is definitely going to be 'Lost's' final season -- unless ABC decides to spin the whole thing off into an animated Saturday morning series called 'Lost Babies' -- killing everyone off could create chaos in the streets that could make the riots in Greece look like an M.C. Hammer flash mob.
Here's the most likely scenario, since 'Lost' has such a confusing time travel paradox. The problem is that it's been done so many times, from dramas to sitcoms to sci-fi television that they could all sue each other for creative license infringement ... if only they had a time machine. I know that comparing the deep plot of 'Lost' to a sitcom like the long-running 'Mad About You' is like trying to turn an above ground pool into a habitat for a hippo, but the sitcom suddenly jumped ahead to the Buckman's future as told through the memories of their angst-ridden daughter. If Janeane Garofalo shows up in the 'Lost' finale, you might just want to put down the remote and pick up a good book instead.