My Brain is LOST.

The season 4 finale of Lost was ridiculous, like five movies crammed in to one. I suppose part of the insane pacing can be attributed to losing a few episodes to the strike, but I was in awe. I laughed. I cried. My jaw was agape. I jumped. My heart is still pounding. It may be the best episode yet, and there's a ton to process.

Oh yes, there will be SPOILERS.

Working slightly backwards with the scenes freshest in my memory, and assuming readers are familiar with the show as it would literally take years to explain:

1) I was not expecting Locke to be in the coffin at the end. Even when Ben walked in to the funeral home and started speaking to Jack, I thought the reveal would be Ben's body in the coffin, with the Ben speaking to Jack being one of myriad manifestations of dead characters we've seen on the show. Like an idiot, I totally took ”Jeremy Bentham” to be an alias Ben was using, and missed that it was an obscure philosopher influenced by John Locke. In hindsight, besides Locke choosing an alias connected to his namesake, it makes more sense that he would have visited Walt and brought him up to speed on what really happened on the island. But...the coffin did seem short, didn't it? Could one of the “bad things” that happened after Jack and the others left be that Locke loses his legs? That would be pretty tragic after the Island had restored his ability to walk in the first place.

2) The second moment that added a few tears to the lump in my throat was Desmond's reunion with Penny. I don't know about anyone else, but I got really nervous when he told her he'd never leave her again. That line was just begging for a surprise gunshot, but I'm glad out of all the couples separated across the great divide on this show, those two got together, at least for now. I was worried in general about both Desmond and Frank since they weren't among the Oceanic Six, but it makes sense that they wouldn't be with the survivors and part of the cover story since neither character was on the plane in the first place. Will they have to go back to the island with Jack and the rest next season? “See you in another life, brother.”

3) Marvin Candle and those damn DHARMA videos are so frustrating. This time, using the time “Dr. Edgar Halliwax”, he begins explaining an experiment in time and space using the island's unique energies, likely the same energy that shifted Desmond's consciousness through time after the events of the second season finale, and turned the sky purple, a similar effect to what happened when Ben turned the wheel. The tapes, a microcosmic parallel for the show itself, always give us pieces of information, enough to tease but not enough to explain it all. I knew the tape wouldn't finish; they never do. As for Ben being the one to turn the wheel and move the island, it's interesting that he said the one who moves the island can never return. Wasn't the same thing said a few episodes ago about Charles Widmore? He sent a team to fetch Ben because he himself couldn't set foot on the island? If so, could he have been there before and turned the wheel? Did the island move or shift when Desmond turned the key a few seasons ago? Was that why there was suddenly a second island in season 3 that they never noticed before? It doesn't explain why the second island was gone this time though. Actually, in all the aerial shots I'm not sure we caught a glimpse of it at all. Perhaps the island exists in multiple times and spaces at once, which is why the course heading is so specific. It didn't “move” so much as it shifted out of phase with that particular point in reality. The other island could be somewhere else in the world, reached only by traveling from the side of the island touching on that point. The release of the island's energy can close some of these rifts and bits of folded space, kind of how Samantha Carter figured out how to use explosions to make wormholes “jump” on Stargate SG-1. Or maybe I watch too much science fiction...

4) Since the helicopter folks didn't run into Faraday, maybe his boat was caught in the energy pulse and shifted with the island. I think it's funny that Sawyer can jump out of a helicopter and swim back to the island faster than a little boat with a motor. And of course he had to lose his shirt along the way and do a male version of that scene from Dr. No where Ursula Andress comes out of the water. That was for you ladies, I guess to balance out the Kate shower scenes we get each season.

5) As for the boat, that was a massive explosion. I guess Michael is pretty much done, but who knows? Some force kept preventing his death until he returned to the island, and as of this season he never set foot off the freighter. Christian appears and tells him “you can go now” right before the bomb goes off. Was he recruiting him into the brigade of characters who still appear and give creepy advice after dying? Was he saying he'd served his purpose and wouldn't be saved this time? Will Waaaalt ever see him again? If everyone who left the island needs to return, then it's more than the Oceanic 6 and Locke; they might need to bring Walt back too. When Jack and the other survivors of the chopper crash first saw the light on the water, I remembered the season 1 finale in which Walt was taken, and was a bit concerned. It was a nice parallel to shoot the scene that way and lead us in one direction, only to reveal it was Penny, as friendly a contact as they could hope for. Just as the island might converge on different points around the world, so too are these people intertwined and connected across great distances.

6) Michael might be done, but I remain hopeful for Jin. We didn't see a body, and he was out on deck. Granted, he didn't have time to get a life vest on, but maybe he was thrown clear by that first blast before the whole ship really lit up. Sun needed to lose him in order to be motivated to take over her father's company and be tougher, but if anyone deserves a reunion it's those two. At the very least, I'd like to see him appear as a spirit to meet his daughter. At the very most, I wouldn't care if he climbed into a refrigerator and was thrown safely back to the island, so long as he was okay. All I know is, seeing his wife in hysterics on the helicopter was a very emotional moment and a very intense scene, and that happened with an entire hour left in the episode!

7) I liked the little tease about Charlotte searching for her birthplace, and Miles' cryptic remark about her being “back” on the island. I think a lot of the subplots with these new characters were lost in the shorter episode count, so it was a nice suggestion that there'd be payoff next season. Potentially, three original cast members bit the dust this season, so there's room for the new folks to shine next year. Along with Jin and Michael, I'm starting to think Claire crossed over at some point, maybe as a delayed result from being in an exploding building. She stayed in this world long enough to make sure Aaron would be safe, then Christian appeared to help her cross over. She appeared in Kate's dream begging her not to bring her son back to the island, and I'd like to think she might be reunited with Charlie. It is interesting that Desmond had a vision last season of Claire and Aaron leaving on a helicopter after Charlie sacrificed himself, but for whatever reason Claire wasn't on that helicopter with her son. Did events in the timeline change, or was he seeing another helicopter further in the future?

* * * * *

I'm very tired, and it will take some time to process everything. I haven't even had time yet to analyze the Octagon Global Recruiting viral website advertised near the end of the show. I apologize if my thoughts are jumbled and disorganized, and I'm certain there were other important things in the finale that I missed. It seems like teleportation was confirmed, and Ben appearing in the desert with a parka and an injured shoulder a few episodes back was explained. When the island moved wherever when he turned the wheel, he was shunted there. It would also explain the DHARMA polar bear skeleton Charlotte found in Tunisia. As for time travel, is it physically possible or can only consciousness move as with Desmond? Ben did ask what year it was when he was in the desert. If we're dealing with alternate timelines as well as alternate space, then these “ghosts” might not be ghosts but alternate versions of these characters stepping through into this reality to set events on their correct course. Or maybe I have been watching too much Stargate.

All I know is, it's going to be a LONG Summer...