Some Random Musings on Lost's Series Finale

It’s been almost 24 hours since I watched the Lost season finale (three times, thanks to Sky Multi-start) and I still can’t decide whether it’s genius or just half-hearted. Here’s what’s going through my head just now…

- Too many Other deaths. Sawyer was right to remind us that Comedy Tom was actually a pretty nasty child-snatcher, but with so much yet to learn about the Others, is it wise to kill them all off? I wouldn’t be surprised if Patchy lives to see another day, but what about the Hot Lesbian Others down the Looking Glass?

- So, Charlie smashes Ben’s block on radio waves going on and off the island. And what’s the first thing to appear on TV? Penny Widmore claiming she hasn’t got a boat just off shore. So, Penny’s just sat in front of a webcam all day in Widmore Acres in case any signal anywhere in the world becomes unblocked? Come on. What with her plummy accent and lovely hair, it seems unlikely she’s going to sit in her wainscoted study for the rest of her life just in case Desmondo calls.

- And if Penny doesn’t have a ship, why did Naomi have a picture of her and Desmond?

- And what the hell was Walt doing with Locke? Is this another example of Walt appearing somewhere he wasn’t supposed to? We’ll probably never know what that means since they stupidly killed Miss Klu. And why is he doing the Island’s dirty work? And why had Locke’s legs stopped working while down in the mass grave?

- How was Locke able to kill Naomi when we’d already ascertained he is Not A Killer? And more bizarrely, how could he resist shooting Jack?

- Is Ben really the good guy? I’m hoping he is.

- Rousseau and Alex were finally reunited – though we’ll probably have to wait for Danielle’s flashback before we discover whether she was really stolen by Ben or if he is somehow the girl’s real father too. If Rousseau turns out to be a sleeper Other, I shall be very, very disappointed.

- Admittedly, I’ve hated Charlie for some time and he is responsible for some of the worst flashbacks of all time. But his death seems a bit of a waste – there’s hardly anyone worth caring about left on the island, so to write out another major character seems a bit dumb. Especially if you’ve got three more years left to fill with pointless flashbacks.

- And the final, killer twist. That the double-bill’s flashback featuring a pill-popping Jack closely resembling a Teletubby on Prozac acting like a complete lunatic was in fact not a flashback but a flash forward. Possibly. The insinuation is that Jack making that satellite phone call is going to be the biggest mistake of his life. But is it that simple? Could it be that Jack and co have all been on the island before and this flashback somehow occurred just before the series began and they’re reliving what’s happened before – hence Desmond’s flashes? Or could it mean that forthcoming series might take place off the island with the survivors trying to get back to their real lives but haunted by some sort of shared pain – ie will the producers rip off Heroes?

Oh well, only time will tell. I’ll be pretty annoyed if this whole escaping the island being a mistake thing is the main plot next season as there are still far too many unanswered questions about the island, the Others, Dharma, Hanso, etc. A few answers last night would probably have given me the energy to commit to the next series, as it is I’ll just have to wait and see how I feel when it finally arrives.