The show's not even over. But I'm loving all the redemption. So much redemption.

"If it helps Ben, I forgive you."

*** MAJOR SPOILERS ***

I was wrong on a whole lot of things. The island was never submerged, because the alternate reality wasn't *real*. It was a place for Jack to remember, to find those who had been close to him during the biggest part of his life.

Hurley became the Protector, and hopefully lived a very, very long life. Ben became his #2.

This show won't satisfy a lot of people. But I thought it was beautiful.

I'm satisfied.

Also, kudos to Jared because the show did exalt Jack at the end. The death scene in the bamboo forest was amazing, and Jack (who had become so humble in this season) got to see the plane passing over and got to know that he had "fixed" the island. Beautiful, and good for him. Vincent was a great touch.

It's good to know that Rose Anne and Bernard got to live in peace on the island.

So much to say.

To those who are right now saying "I WANT ANSWERS! WHAT ABOUT THE POLAR BEARS! WHAT ABOUT THE DHARMA INITIATIVE": You don't get it.

On the negative side, I was not totally thrilled with all-religions-are-the-same stained glass in the all-religions-are-the-same-afterlife chapel.

@Mandi, so you missed the part where Gilligan destroyed Rose & Bernard's hut merely by pulling out one palm frond?

;^)

Bill, the theology of LOST has always been more than a little whack.

I really liked it, but can't quite say I loved it. A little heavy on the schmaltz and man were there a lot of commercials.

I guess there are alternative ways to view it, but I think the most likely reading is that the sideways world was purgatory. So I think I was sort of right that the sideways world was false and Matrixy. While the island world was real and continues with ambiguity and mystery with Jack as its temporary savior, Hurley as his successor, and his #2 Ben now in charge.

And I really like that Ben didn't go totally evil.

Calvinator - Yeah, I know . . .

Evan - I meant to give you kudos too, because your Matrix theory was very close to the answer.

I got fooled because I never really thought of the sideways world as not being real.

I am confused as to why Juliet's last thoughts were "it worked" - I don't think the jughead bomb did anything but cause the incident.

But that's just going to have to remain a mystery :-)

Oh, and good thing (as many have said) all our questions were answered. :-

salguod, it wasn't "it was all a reality you made up" if you are talking about the island. The sideways world was the made up world, akin to a Purgatory where they all had to find each other and remember in order to move on.

So, unless I'm misunderstanding you, this was nothing like the ending to St. Elsewhere.

but still confused - what did the a-bomb do?

It created the incident, which created the need for a concrete-encased swan hatch and the need to enter the numbers and press a button, which ended up not happening when Desmond was too busy outside killing his button-pushing partner, which caused Flight 815 to crash, which started the show.

I really liked the ep. I think it may be one of the best series finales in a very long time. I felt so good about the end of this show - aside from the all roads lead to remembersville - and feel like this really capped one of if not the greatest TV series of all time.

"I am confused as to why Juliet's last thoughts were "it worked" - I don't think the jughead bomb did anything but cause the incident."

I think the "it worked" was her in the in-between of life and death, similar to how people talk about near-death-experiences, except it was legit. She was dying, but had some words from heaven on earth before-hand.

AMANDA - I think the a-bomb did half of what Faraday said it would do. It nullified the electromagnetism and set the timelines straight (those in the 70s got pushed back into the "present"). It did not, however, nullify the entire crash and "reset" events.

As far as turning the light on/off, I think it prevented the demise of the island.

SALGUOD- I don't think it's either of the things you talked about (dreamed or made-up), but the writers' take on heaven.

I think everyone in the flash-sideways was dead - but they weren't dead at the same time. Some were already dead (Jack, Locke, Sun, Jin, Chollie) - some would die years later (Sawyer, Kate, etc), some WAY WAY later (Hurley and his #2). As Christian Shephard said, there was no "Now" there.

So Jared, what did you think?

My 2 hopes for the finale: Jack destroys Smokie and it ends with Jack happy. A "Jack-exalting" finale. I got those, so even though I don't think the finale as a whole was as strong as the whole show leading up to it, I'll be satisfied with it. I don't think I "get" it, really, but I didn't not like it.

Questions, though:
Were Lapidus, Richard, and Miles, etc. not real?

Why weren't Michael and Walt (and Ana Lucia for that matter) at the church at the end?

It's just that not all who were in the purgatorial flash sideways were really dead, I don't think. Unless I misunderstood that part.

I think Ben wasn't ready to move on because Alex (and maybe Rousseau) wasn't (weren't) with him.

Jared - what did surprise me was that Jack didn't kill Smokey. In fact, he had been defeated. The person who killed Smokey was Kate.

Jared - everything that happened on the island, and everyone on it (for example, Lapidus, Richard, Miles) were real. The island was real.

The wife noticed something. She struggled with why Jack was okay with Desmond going down to the heart of the island and turning off the light. Then she figured it out. Only when the island was 'unplugged' was Smokie's power interrupted. He could be harmed while the light was out, but not before.

I still don't know what to make of the finale.

I just find it amusing that after all this time of "See you in another life, brotha", he actually did.

I think Manders's take in comment #36 makes A LOT of sense.

Manders . . . what crash at the end? I don't remember a crash at the end.

You're probably right in your interpretations. But post-modern interpretations can't be "wrong", can they? :-)

Still, all kidding aside, great job.

That being said, this is one aspect of the finale where I don't want to think too much about it - if this thing all boils down to them having gained "salvation" through the island or something . . . I dunno. That's the only sour note I've got on this one. I never expected good theology from the writers of Lost, and really hoped they'd just stay away from it. I've felt this way since the Fire+Water episode.

My interpretation is the only way I can make sense of it without wanting to kill the writers, so thanks. ;) Part of what led to that was the World Religions Window. Obviously I don't dig the universalist-limbo thing, but it's gotten me to meditate on the idea that we have a story--the True Myth, if you will--and we need each other to be reminded of it. And we all have parts in it.

The crash: Over the end credits, they showed footage of a bunch of plane wreckage. However, we didn't see any logos on it or anything, so it leaves it kind of ambiguous: Is it the original Oceanic flight, or is it the Ajira plane (and Lapidus, Miles, Sawyer, Claire, and Kate didnt leave the island)? Again, it's intentionally left open to interpretation.

Yeah, y'all are probably right.

By the way, did anyone else lose it when Vincent came and lay down by Jack so he wouldn't have to die alone?

And am I the only one who thought "KHANNNNN!!!" when Jack yelled at Locke right before their fight?

I crack up to think of the series possibilities that exist vis-a-vis Hurley and Ben as sidekick buddies, protecting the heart of the island. It would be a comedy-drama.

I'm wondering - I assume that being protector makes you immortal. So Hurley's immortal - did Ben get to be immortal too?

I don't see how it makes you immortal, since Ben and Hurley are both in limbo. Unless something happened during their years on the island and they got killed Jacob-style.

And thanks--now I'm pondering The Adventures of Ben and Hurley. :)

I don't see how it makes you immortal, since Ben and Hurley are both in limbo. Unless something happened during their years on the island and they got killed Jacob-style.

Yeah, by immortal I don't mean never dying ever, but never aging. Like Jacob's mom, Jacob, etc. They were obviously immortal, I have to assume Jack was (until the plug was pulled, which made both him and MIB vulnerable) and that once the plug was put back in, Hurley was.

I think what we're meant to take away is that the events and the mysteries themselves weren't so important as what they actually did to the people who lived in them. Again, postmodern statement on religion--it doesn't matter the story, what matters is that it changes you and makes you better (and can also occasionally make you worse--see Dharma, the Others going on jihad against Dharma, all the ends justifying the means). This is not something I buy, by the way. ;)

If it weren't completely irrelevant to my field of study, I would totally write my master's thesis about this show.

Why was there redemption for Ben, Sayid, Sawyer, Kate, and the other murderers but not for Michael?

I crack up to think of the series possibilities that exist vis-a-vis Hurley and Ben as sidekick buddies, protecting the heart of the island. It would be a comedy-drama.

I'm wondering - I assume that being protector makes you immortal. So Hurley's immortal - did Ben get to be immortal too?

I think this is the one MAJOR flaw of the finale (which I thought was terrific.)

The only way for Hurley, as the immortal guardian Jacob's successor and Ben as the #2, Richard Alpert successor to DIE, would have been for something like the island-crisis we just witnessed to happen AGAIN! In other words, Hurley couldn't be dead unless the island got its plug pulled say 500 years later and someone murdered him.

And so we are led to believe that the Island crisis has been resolved, and everyone died happily ever after....but if Hurley and Ben were present at this dead person's reunion, that means really bad stuff has happened on the island AGAIN!

You follow?

The only explanation I've got for that, is that this whole 6 year story arc is really about Jack. That Jack's happy ending is the only one that matters, and by extension those he cares about. (Which is why people like Michael aren't there.)

What we saw was a Jack-centric heaven created by Jack's brain. (the old "heaven is whatever you want it to be" myth) This is why aaron was still a baby in in the church. If it was really the afterlife, why wouldn't aaron be all grown up, unless he died in infancy? Or was that Jin and Sun's baby I saw? In that case I guess that makes sense, because that baby died in utero...

LOST might have more new episodes in a parallel dimension.

NEW YORK—Desperate fans of the recently concluded television series Lost are speculating that the program is continuing on in a parallel dimension somewhere, and that alternate versions of showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are currently writing new episodes of the series. "It's very possible that a sideways world running concurrent to our own exists, and that a facsimile of myself is happy, fulfilled, and already gearing up for the season seven premiere of Lost," said 36-year-old Kevin Molinaro, who, along with more than 20 million other hopeless fans, has recently booked multiple roundtrip tickets from Los Angeles to Australia in hopes of traveling through a vortex in the space-time continuum. "I just have to find a way to get there. We all do." According to data from Google analytics, searches for "How to build/detonate/use a hydrogen bomb to open up a multidimensional wormhole" have increased 10 millionfold since the episode aired.

The only way for Hurley, as the immortal guardian Jacob's successor and Ben as the #2, Richard Alpert successor to DIE, would have been for something like the island-crisis we just witnessed to happen AGAIN! In other words, Hurley couldn't be dead unless the island got its plug pulled say 500 years later and someone murdered him.

It's possible that he willfully relinquished it to someone else without any sort of crisis. Presumably, Jacob's mother was going to give it up peacefully, before she was pushed to give it to Jacob.

Andrew,
I suppose that's true...maybe he found another crash survivor 500 years later that was a worthy successor...I think I'll just cling to that... ;-)

Oh man did I misread. I thought Bill meant:"You didn't get the answers you wanted." Woops. ;-)

It bugs me that they didn't tie up the "we can't have our own babies so we will kidnap your children" angle, but i guess I'll just have to live with it. :-)

I'm going to tell myself it's because Ben was pretending to hear from Jacob, so he was just winging it...

Sure would like to know what happened to all those kids that Ben's others kidnapped though. I guess they either died at the temple or Hurley as the new immortal guardian finds them later, helps them get off the island back home to their parents...

Really, my only beef with the finale is characters that were not in the church at the end, and what that means (if anything [and its probably nothing]).

Was Miles there? Frank? Why no Walt (I can see why no Michael [if it was because his sins, or whatever], but Walt was faultless)? Eko?

etc etc

My thoughts (written on an iPhone so probaly not well put together):

I realized something this finale that someone mentioned above that really changed my whole perspective of the series: the show has never truly been about the island, the mythology, dharma, polar bears, Jacob, or even the island (all things I first fell in love with early in the show and got me hooked). It's about the characters. It has always been about the characters; their stories, their passions, their fears, their journeys. The island was how these people told their story, rather than the people being how the island told its. Honestly, I feel satisfied but also cheated. Season 4 and 5 really, honestly (unless I've totally overlooked something) led us to believe the island was the ultimate story and the ultimate reveal. "What is the island" was the primary question on every one's mind from the pilot to the episode before the finale. We came to realize though that the show is really purposed to answer the question "Who are the characters?", a twist I did NOT see coming and one that ends the series aptly. That being said, I DO feel somewhat cheated. Even if the show is really about the characters, if it's not about the island, than the characters really have no purpose. Reworded, if the characters are the ultimate end and not the island, then the characters have lost their greater purpose and meaning, because from episode 1 of the series, we were led to believe they were part of something greater (the island and it's forces) when in reality the island was part of something greater (their story). A tad disappointing somehow, I think. It makes Jacob, MIB, their mother, the Light, etc really all insignificant. I'm that I'm a little peeved. What we thought was the true pecking order of significance (island's light > protector > losties or "candidates") is actually different and almost flipped. (character's stories > island interaction > mythology). Anyone get what I'm saying here? If this is true, then their whole purpose of being "candidates" or Lockes good old circa Season 2 talk of "the island" choosing things or bringing people or determining fates..... It's all for naught. That disappoints me. But maybe I just need to watch the show again knowing what the real purpose of everything was (to develop characters?.. Still trying to figure this out...)

Thoughts anyone? What do YOU think the ultimate Purpose or Force was... Since the island mythology turned out to be more of a means than ends?

So, is Ben Susan? Does he not get to go to the real Narnia, or he just not going now or with them?

I hated/loved the ending. Truly, I'm torn. It was beautiful, yet frustrating. Just like every show, it brought up millions of questions. (Why were so many beloved missing? Why did you have to 'remember' something, not learn something to move on? Why was romantic connection so important? And, darn, I still want to know why Walt was special!)
But, somehow, truly, in that room, with the light and the joy, the connection all around them, the writers caught something eternal, that Reunion we all look forward to. I watched it with family and friends, and my brother-in-law and his teenage daughter were there; His beautiful, believing wife, (her mom) died of cancer 2 years ago. You could have heard a pin drop as that scene played. We were all thinking it. "Yes, someday, Heaven!" And when the 'Father' opened those doors and that light spilled in.... oh.
But, as always, I have some little issues:
Ben's final "redemption" in attempting to help Hurley. It was all so weird and happened so fast. One moment we were wondering if he was faking it with MIB, conning him to help his friends, then, no he's really bad again, then he's attempting to be good. And then, he's stuck under a tree, the filming and action there seemed slapped together, un-edited, and unresolved. That was a HUGE tree for our friends to get off him and they never showed how they did it.
Whitmore's killing: Terribly anti-climactic. The guy had such an intriguing persona and back-story-- don't you think he deserved more time in his demise?
I could go on, but it's moments like these that made me crazy that they plodded through that Temple, and brought that entire thread in--what a waste of time, creating those dumb characters and preening them for several shows while dealing with these icons in just seconds.
Also--#57 Shrode, what babe died in utero? The Kwons' baby was born in Korea.
I'm not into the Love Triangle, but doesn't it seem to everyone that although they both left their true loves on the Island, Kate and Sawyer probably ended up together?

Evan, you need a blog. :)

Michael wasn't there because there was no one to redeem him, to wake him up.

I just gotta say I was wrong about lilith.

You all don't know this, but I was wrong about something else...

When I saw Jack lying outside the cave at the end, I thought that he had just turned into another smokey. You know, like MIB did when he was sent down there. so I thought jack might be a white smoke monster instead of a black one, and would be friends with the guardian instead of being enemies.

Whoops. called that one wrong.

Shrode, The photo is circa Season 1, when we first began to see Walt had special abilities. He became somewhat of Locke's child protege for a while. Must have been from one of Locke's 'remember' flashbacks....

Would someone make Rilay's link clickable, please? I'm limited to my Blackberry until Thursday and can't access it. Thanks!

Jen, done.

I just re-watched it. I admit that there was a bit of mist at the end . . . that didn't happen last night. So, in other words, it was even better on re-watch.

Jared will be happy to know that I now totally and completely admire Jack. He died well.

Regarding the wreckage at the end. It's clearly rusty/old. That's Oceanic 815.

It makes me realize how pretty and stirring the music for this show was.

Through much time trying to digest the ending, I think I'm overall satisfied, albeit slightly disappointed. The "postmodern" ending did kind of make me mad, but I can't say it shocked me that the ending of the show had those kinds of overtones, given the rest of the show.

A few weeks ago I was trying to figure out what the overarching theme for this show was gonna be. I kind of honed in on that conversation Jacob and MIB had towards the middle of Season 6 when they discussed their ideas about human nature in terms of good and evil. After that I felt like the point they were trying to prove was that everyone is good natured, but sometimes unfortunate circumstances can cause even good people to do bad things.

While not exactly right, it kind of braced me for the "Everyone is right" and "Heaven is realtive to what you think it is" idea that they kind of threw out there in the end. I don't agree with that idea, but honestly who can expect a TV show to be theologically sound anyways? In the end I guess I just wished they took a different route altogether and didn't mess with religion at all as a means to wrap up the show.

Also, with the ending in mind, I feel like LOST had a ton of filler. I think they could have made the point they did in much less time. Seasons 4 and 5 seem kind of meaningless to me now. Does anyone else feel this same way?

At any rate... I'm holding out for this when it comes out... some good insight maybe?

John

Yes, I got that after thinking about it. Both the "it worked" and the "unplug it and then plug it back in" to reset.

Very clever.

Haha Mr Bill, not wasted time (I LOVE the show and the journey and always will), just a lot of misleading. Maybe I'm just so nerdy that I was always drawn to the mythology and the island stories more than the characters...

I think the whole deal that the guardian sets the rules, ultimately ends up unsatisfying and weak writing, but it does allow them to cover all sorts of strange and unexplained behavior of several characters.
I kind of think that this was more about the character of Jacob and MIB - he kinda deserved a name I think but alas - and that instead of thinking of it as weak writing, which I totally would agree with normally, I think in some ways it added to the character development of the game players. In some ways it showcases Jacob's faults all the more, the game never really HAD to be played the way they played it. Hurley will be a much cooler protector, dude.

And totally off subject, but . . .
Not here, but elsewhere, there are those Christians blogging about how they can't believe the finale didn't show that Jesus is the only way.
Can I just say here that some people REALLY get on my nerves?
Way to ruin a good story AND make yourself look totally clueless on blog threads full of non-Christians.
Just blowing off steam.

Thanks, Bill!

OK, guys...the reason for the Polar Bear was because the Dharma initiative had brought them there for study and locked them in cages. In the wake of the Dharmacide they either escaped or were let go by Ben's people to roam the island.

Thought that was obvious. ;-)

OK, guys...the reason for the Polar Bear was because the Dharma initiative had brought them there for study and locked them in cages.

Not that I care about the Polar Bears, but they shouldn't have been able to survive in the tropical climate, especially given that they stopped being fed and taken care of years earlier. I don't know all that much about animals, so I may be wrong about that, but saying that Dharma brought them there just leads to the question, "how did they survive after the Dharmacide?"

One question I've been trying to figure out is what exactly was the purpose of Ben's people on the island?

With each new comment and insight, I am more sad that the show is over. That said, I like that they had a firm end in mind and stuck with it despite the show's popularity.

Bill--I thought Ben's final redemption was vague, and a bit hard to read. I think he truly aligned himself with MIB, and was willing to murder again to lead the Island. His hostility for Sawyer when he holds him at rifle point seems sincere. But, then as MIB reveals his true desire to sink the Island, you see Ben's face change. I think this is where he decides to return to our friends, and it's confirmed with him radioing Miles.

Bill - yeah, you're right. I forgot about the distinction between "others" and Dharma.
And Shrode's right, they couldn't have kids so couldn't have descendants.
Crap. I got nothing.
Also, now that I think about it, it makes total sense that MIB would let Dharma stay there for research, but why wouldn't he have just killed any of the "others" when they were out in the woods w Richard before they took over the Dharma compound?

GinH,
They were under Jacob's protection. This is why they were pretty upset when they heard Jacob got killed. They weren't protected anymore.

Then what about all the times Ben's guys were out kidnapping and terrorizing our favorite Losties? They were out of the protected area. Speaking of, any ideas on why the pillar things kept out Smokie anyway?
Also, anyone else sad that Daniel didn't get to go with everyone? He fast became a favorite. Wouldn't have minded him getting to happily live out eternity w Lewis away from his creepy mother.

GinH- didn't it seem like Daniel was describing his "life-flash" to Desmond, when he recounted the story of seeing Charlotte? I think the meeting back-stage was showing his time was coming. And the way Desmond answered Eloise when she asked if he was leaving, "Not with me...." I'll be there's another load going out with Miles, and the other late arrivals.
And since you bring up questions: Remember the Dharma food-drop early on in the show? Wonder who did that and why they didn't ever check on the island. They could still find it--why not make contact?

Bill, here's my theory about why Jacob ordered the Dharma-cide: First, the Dharma Initiative was bringing people to the island who were not touched by/brought there by Jacob. Second, the DI were conducting experiments with the island, with the electromagnetic qualities of the island, perhaps getting a little too close to the heart of the island. I think Brother/Smokey would have liked everything about the DI (their curiosity, their "across the sea" heritage, etc.) and would try to use them as much as he could in an attempt to kill Jacob and leave the island. As Island Protector, Jacob would have had to put a stop to those things. Also, I think Mother set a precedent for him when she destroyed the original group of people who came from across the sea.

So who WERE the temple people?

Shrode,

Why do you think Richard couldn't communicate with Jacob? The episode Ab Aeterno clearly demonstrated that Richard could see Jacob, was working for him, etc. Just wondering where you got that Richard couldn't see/hear Jacob - did I miss something?

I think we may need to go back and rewatch some episodes. ;-)

Well, I think you're jumping to conclusions because you don't want to think of Jacob as able to do the Dharmacide.

Keep in mind the following things:

1. What do you know of Richard? Is he a murderer, based on anything you've seen from him?

2. How *powerful* was Ben at playing Richard back in the late 80s when the Dharma initiative was iced? Was Ben the leader of the Others? I posit that he was not: it's clear that when Danielle landed on the island, Widmore, not Ben, was the leader of the Others. And at that point Dharmacide had already happened.

OK, Maybe Widmore ordered it. But your argument is one from silence. When did Richard express frustration with Jacob? Not until Jacob allowed himself to be killed. Richard was definitely duped by FLocke, because Locke was Ben's replacement and Richard didn't realize that Locke wasn't Locke until it was too late.

Jacob ordered it. At the very least, he did nothing to stop it. But I think that is also a faulty argument. Jacob was protecting the light. The Dharma initiative was digging holes all over the island, trying to harness the island's power. Jacob showed amazing restraint, actually, seeing how long he waited.

2 questions that have repeatedly been asked, in spite of the fact that I think the answers were kind of obvious: 1. Why polar bears? 2. Why can't they have kids?

1: The Dharma Initiative brought the polar bears to this tropical island in order to find a way to genetically alter them so that they could survive in warmer climates (global warming propaganda? probably). So it would make sense if they genetically altered them.

2. The Others steal kids because no one can have kids on the Island. No one can have kids on the island because of the radiation and electromagnetic energy that was a result of the incident. This was obvious because before the incident there were babies born/conceived. I can think of three specifically, including Miles and Daniel Faraday.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought those two things were fairly obvious...

about the whole transfer of guardianship from Jack to Hurley... Jack didn't say the magic Latin words. I wonder if that was an oversight, or if it was significant somehow?

and i'm not sure that the flash sideways world wasn't "real" per se. it seemed more like the main island storyline was "real life" and like the flash sideways storyline was where they went when they died - a sort of purgatory/place to find each other/place to make better decisions. note that a lot of them ended up being a lot happier in the sideways story - stuff from their "old" lives still plagued them, but they generally made better decisions - and tended to rely on other people more.

i actually like the hope they left you with as the plane flew overhead as Jack was dying. Kate et al. got off the island. Claire will get to go be a mom, and to spend time with her own mom, who miraculously recovered from the car crash that had left her in a coma. Yay.

There's hope that Desmond will get to spend his days quietly on a boat with Penny and his son. Sawyer and Kate have changed for the better, and will make better lives for themselves. Even Miles seems to have found some sort of peace. And Frank - well, Frank's just cool, and I'm sure he'll find a beach somewhere and just be happy. Rose and Bernard will live happily ever after and die of old age. And Jack died a hero. I'm sad that he died - and totally lost it when Vincent showed up so he wouldn't die alone - but if there's a way he had to go, that was it. And at least he knew Kate loved him before he went.

As for the necessity of time travel - well, seriously. It's TIME TRAVEL. It doesn't have to be necessary.... lol. (tho for the record, i think for a lot of reasons it worked well in the plot.)

Happy, re: the words--it's not the cup, or the liquid, or the words that matter, but the act itself and the intent of the people involved, I guess. They're signs pointing to the thing signified, the transfer of power. Perhaps a statement on ritual/sacrament?

The way Lost ended is a great example of postmodernism. So what if there are so many questions unanswered. . .the answers are not what is important---it's all about the relationships made along the journey.

Manders, very interesting.

Shrode - according to the writer, MIB is the one who ordered the Dharmacide, through his dupe Ben, who thought he was listening to Jacob. I think there are holes in that, but if that's the case, I am wrong in my assessment of Jacob.

He's not evil. Just powerless :-)

Then there's this:

But, from a more "behind the scenes" note: the reason Ben's not in the church, and the reason no one is in the church but for Season 1 people is because they wrote the ending to the show after writing the pilot. And never changed it. The writers always said (and many didn't believe them) that they knew their ending from the very first episode. I applaud them for that. It's pretty fantastic. Originally Ben was supposed to have a 3 episode arc and be done. But he became a big part of the show. They could have easily changed their ending and put him in the church -- but instead they problem solved it. Gave him a BRILLIANT moment with Locke outside the church ... and then that was it. I loved that. For those that wonder -- the original ending started the moment Jack walked into the church and touches the casket to Jack closing his eyes as the other plane flies away. That was always JJ's ending. And they kept it.

Jen,

Good point. Des was season 2, Juliet was season 3.

You know, the more I think about it the more I wish the writers had left Jesus out of the show. Just make the end vaguely Hindu or whatever. The gospel was misrepresented, majorly. As Kate said: "Christian Shephard, are you kidding me?"

This is not what you may think. I never expected Lost to get it right. It's not a theology show. I get that. I know, though, that I tend to give good art a pass on messing up the gospel. I'm wondering why.

I think we're willing to give art a pass on theology because the point of it is story. There's no reason to think that every story written must be theologically perfect and in line with Christianity. I think even some of the parables Jesus told would be seen by some in the Christian community today as heresy if they were just told as stories.
A good story, with well developed characters, great dialogue and a fantastic story arc is a beautiful thing whether the end points to Jesus or not. It's a story. Fiction. Not meant to reveal truth. Nevertheless, I'd say God is glorified in a lot of great "non-Christian" stories. He is, after all, the one who gave the author their talent. Obviously, we don't want to take that point TOO far. I just mean, can't the Christian community just enjoy a great story???

Not to be a stickler, but Libby wasn't from Season 1, either.