Goodbye, Farewell....

Joke's on Joker, I guess, because I'm posting about an hour after the end of the show.

So another season of LOST comes to an end, and an exciting one at that. This season has been fantastic--with a defined ending in sight, the clarity of the storytelling has improved greatly and led to every episode fitting into the larger puzzle in a much more natural way than during the second and third seasons. Bravo.

Now, let's talk specifics. (That means I'm going to discuss the finale episode in detail. I'd give a spoiler warning, but I'm trying to disabuse the Internet of the notion that it's still a "spoiler" after the show has aired in its primary time slot. So I'm giving you a...fact warning. How 'bout that?)

Obviously, the big news is that Locke came to the U.S. nearly three years after the rescue of the Oceanic Six, calling himself "Jeremy Bentham" and insisting that they return, and that he died while there. What does this mean? I don't know. If the island wouldn't let Michael die, why would it let Locke? Had his usefulness as leader run out? Had he somehow defied the island (perhaps in paying his debt to Matthew Abbadon)? This will be an interesting mystery to unravel in season five, which it does now appear will be about the "really bad stuff" that went down after the Oceanic Six left, and about the attempts to get the Six (and Locke) back to the island. I'm definitely game to see what happens next. (Hopefully, what happens next is Jack removing that hideous fake beard. Dear goodness, that thing is awful.)

The rest of the rundown (what's fresh in my mind, at least, less than an hour after watching):

• Structurally, I loved the episode beginning with the ending of last season's game-changing finale. They had my mind blown from the first second. Kudos to them.


• Desmond and Penny have reunited! I've been a sucker for their story since it was introduced two years ago, and find myself very happy to see their reunion. Dramatically speaking, it was well-earned (and due; with Penny as his "constant," Des's flashes were not likely to recur, making him a little less special a character than he used to be). Of course, we have to wonder how things will go when Ben's attempts to find and kill Penny a year from now take place. Will they bring Sayid--as Ben's muscle--face-to-face with his friend and his rescuer?


• The apparent death of Jin--and Sun's reaction to it--was heartbreaking. I predicted Jin would die by season's end, if only because of the apparent "get a traffic violation in Hawaii, get killed off the show" policy, but it was still a shame to see it happen. Yunjin Kim is to be commended for her performance in the scene, which really sold the emotion of the moment. I'm interested to see the angle on her new hardened personality (she was Jason Bourne-esque in dealing with Widmore in 2007), and hope that we haven't seen the last of Jin, at least in flashbacks.


• What's the meaning behind the appearance of Christian Shepherd in Michael's last moments, saying "You can go now?" Was that the island releasing Michael to finally die? Or was Christian bringing Michael into the "Island Apparition" fold, as he apparently did with Claire? It had a definite "Terence Mann is going out into the corn with the ballplayers" vibe.


• What happens next to the people who stayed on the island? Why did Miles want to stay? What's this new info about Charlotte (was she born on the island)? Have we seen the last of Daniel Faraday, or did his raft full of redshirts get to "move" with the island, too?


• So now we know why Ben was wearing the parka, and how his arm got lacerated, but how did he get flung into the Tunisian desert when the island moved?


• That bit with Hurley playing chess against a (presumably) nonexistent Mr. Eko was creepy, but also kind of sweet (hey, that's what the ladies say about me!).


• Nice to see they found a way to utilize a three-years-grown Malcolm David Kelley.


• Never let it be said that this show can't bring the funny. The entire Orchid Station sequence, with Ben gleefully filling the chamber full of metal objects while Locke watched a video that said repeatedly, "Whatever you do, don't do that," was a bona fide hoot.

I must say, I was satisfied with the season as a whole, and the finale in particular (the season's other biggest highlight was probably the Desmond-centric "The Constant," if I get a vote). And now we wait, until next January or February. See you then!