So...

8-9 months until Lost returns.

I'm going to die.

S

P

O

I

L

E

R

I

S

H

So many thoughts about various things in the finale. I was at a viewing party, so was only paying as much attention as I could, and I didn't write anything down to discuss later, so I won't be doing a blow-by-blow.

1977 - the Swan / Jughead plotline

- not the least of which, thank you, Miles, for pointing out the "trying to prevent it may actually cause it" of it all...

- the electromagnetism craziness that happened at the Swan cite, we now know, was not caused by the bomb, but rather by the drilling and release of that energy...

- it will be interesting (um, to say the least) to see the effects of Juliet activating the Jughead core... god, didn't you feel for her in that moment? Presumed dead, and there's a tiny inkling of a shot in hell that Jack might be right (though what he bases his theory on, I really still have no clue) that blowing up the H-bomb at the Swan cite will lead to 815 never crashing on the Island... AND THUS JULIET WILL NOT ONLY NOT HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE HEARTBREAK OF LOVING SAWYER, BUT SHE WON'T BE DYING IN THE FIRST PLACE (though she'll be living an imprisoned, subordinate's life under Ben's thumb)

- I really don't give a fig about the Jack/Kate/Sawyer triangle, or any of the emotional trauma therein, but I looooooved the Jack/Sawyer fistfight (and Jack being on the receiving end of the bloody beatdown like he gave Ben in "Through the Looking Glass")

- Miles helping his dad out was a nice moment

- Phil getting impaled = the whole room cheering. Seriously.

- Sayid getting shot = the whole room silent. Gasp-worthy moment... though he didn't die (yet?)

- Rose! Bernard! Vincent! Awwwwww. Also hilarious.

Flashbacks

- Jacob touches (almost) everyone. They're marked, supposed to eventually come to the Island.

- Jacob was not in Juliet's flashback scene.

- Most significant flashback seems to be Locke's. Was Locke dead after his fall that eventually broke his back? And did Jacob resurrect him then and there? Or was that just a horribly cruel implication that I read far too much into?

- Saddest flashback was certainly Sayid's. Poor Nadia.

- SUN AND JIN IN A SCENE TOGETHER THIS SEASON! AND IT WAS THEIR WEDDING!

- Hurley and Sayid's flashbacks were after getting off the Island. Kate's and Sawyer's flashbacks were as kids (as was Juliet's, but Jacob wasn't there...) Jack's, Locke's, and Jin and Sun's were as adults, as was Ilana's.

2008

- Ilana has a box. She shows Lapidus what's in the box. He reacts. We don't get to see it until much later. WHY WILL THIS SHOW NEVER LET US SEE WHAT CHARACTERS ARE LOOKING AT!? ARGH!

- Ilana was sent by Jacob, to the Island, to do something for him.

- Locke (...?) is a master manipulator, regarding Ben. Even though Ben was told that he has to do everything Locke says, Locke didn't know that (... or did he?) but then he finds out, but to make sure that Ben really does do the dirty deed at the end, he manipulates Ben's mind (Ben getting manipulated! Love it!) to truly question the value of following Jacob's every word for so long and having nothing, and having lost much, to show for his devotion.

- Still no idea why Sun is in 2008 and not in 1977 like the rest of the alive Oceanic 815 passengers who returned in Ajira 316.

- Richard / Ricardos (so, he's Greek... which goes with that parchment / tapestry / whatever, and sounds like it goes with the answer to the "what lies in the shadow of the statue" question) doesn't age because something Jacob did to him (no idea what / why).

- Lapidus is a candidate (for Leader, presumably, which makes sense-ish now that we know what we know about Locke)

- Ben stabs Jacob.

- Locke kicks Jacob into a fire.

- Locke is dead. Dead is dead. Locke's body was in Ilana's box.

So, who's been masquerading as Locke all this time? My money at this point is Smokezilla, which is the spirit / embodiment of the other, nameless guy with Jacob in the first scene of the episode (with The Black Rock on the horizon). They seem to be the leaders of the two sides of the war that is coming to the Island. And now Jacob is dead? And "they're" coming (they meaning the return of the time travelers, perhaps, but also perhaps some external faction under Man #2's thumb?)

Looking at the stone tablet carving in The Temple, Jacob is Anubis (or whatever they wind up saying the Egyptian God is) and Man #2 is the monster on the left side of the tablet, aka Smokezille. Which for reasons I won't get into here, makes me think more of Yu-Gi-Oh than I ever suspected Lost would...

Um, yeah.

Jacob. Dead? Let's be honest. Three stab wounds and a little fire shouldn't be able to kill some mystical somesuch who has been alive for centuries / millennia, and seems to have certain controls or at least vision of fate / destiny / the future. After all, he asks for Ilana's help. That's rather prescient (or perhaps he's just excellent at game theory).

Anyway.

More on not-Locke. Who is Kara Thrace only EVIL (we believe).

Smokezilla has always been able to take the form of people who are dead (and, perhaps, those whose corpses are on the Island? Jury's still out on what Hurley's vision of Dave was). Eko's vision of his brother. Christian Shepherd. Why couldn't Smokey get to Jacob in any of these other guises? It's not entirely that he couldn't get to Jacob, but that he couldn't kill him. There's probably something within The Rules that this guy / spirit can't kill Jacob... though he certainly seems able to kill others (Eko). He needs someone to do it for him (OMG, YOU GUYS, HE'S THE FIRST EVIL FROM BUFFY). So why can't Christian Shepherd do it? Christian doesn't have relationships to anyone on the Island. He couldn't manipulate anyone the way Locke was able to (although he was able to manipulate Locke to, i.e. turn the donkey wheel). So he engineered this circuitous plan. Get Locke off the Island. Have Locke killed. Have Locke's corpse come back. Masquerade as risen-from-the-dead Locke and convince someone (Ben) to do his dirty work for him. There's the loophole.

It's all very... okay... and...? Sigh, I really need to know what happens next...

I don't believe Jacob is dead (and if he is, we need to know WTF that means in the grand, immortal scheme of things).

I believe Jack/Kate/Sawyer/Sayid/Miles/Hurley will arrive in 2008.

I believe we need to see more from Desmond, Widmore, Hawkings, Claire, and AARON next season.

We're getting towards the one "end" that Jacob said there would be, and everything else is just progress to get there.

Sigh.

8-9 months.