It's definitley a deliciously batshit finale... In a good way kind of, but then again not really. It's too much. I'll be shocked if this is all true and they actually go through with it, but who knows.

I think the exact opposite. It's clear now, more than ever before, that there is an end game when the series started and they rarely winged it.

So I guess if that spoil run-through is true, then potentially that means...

The island story will continue until the end of the series I presume(the island IS Lost), but individual character by episode flash forwards will replace the flashbacks, setting up some mystery of the castaways being cursed after leaving the island or something of the sort.

A brilliant move if its true that I never saw coming, works even moreso with the fact that the flashbacks were getting redundant, we know everything about the castaways at this point, this opens up a lot of mystery doors.

That would actually be a brilliant move.

Unfortunately, it's one I doubt they'll make.

Michael Ausellio commented that next week's season finale is so crazy and full of shit going down, he refuses to reveal anything about it. Awesome.

No my friend! You just refuse to believe.

No. I know what happens.

I believe the following:

1. The producers have said that they have a plan through the end of the series. I believe this plan is not like Heroes' plan (where the producer has mapped out every single episode in a season) but more like Battlestar Galactica's plan (where there is a roadmap with specific plot points, but there is flexibility built into certain timelines). I believe this because I see things in Season 1 (and 2, which I still like a lot... the only elongated section of this I didn't like was Season 3 up until the Episode 7 break) which are thematically coming back into play.

2. I do believe that Lost has been "sped up" a bit for faster storylines and more resolutions. I think this is a reality of a show like this in a market like this. I believe they have had to make adjustments based on actors (like Mistereko and Michael) that haven't always been the best for the show. But that's the economy of filmmaking, which I'm sure someone like you can respect.

3. I don't believe that the spoilers (which Shack posted is the same as I read) necessarily indicate one thing or another. I think the interpretation is rather open ended and in light of what's happening to Desmond at the moment, premature.

4. I'm all about huge show shake ups... Battlestar's Season 3 is an example... it was very left field but allowed the show to really stretch, and Lost has not disappointed me except for once since Not In Portland (I didn't like the Bai Ling Jack flashback episode). I have no reason to think that this won't continue on into Season 4.

5. The producers have been constant on the ideas that they would not address things like the monster until the end of the series, and Jacob in Season 4, and Rousseau in Season 4, and I don't think that what I see from the spoilers necessarily changes that.

6. I think the spoilers will be more... passive? I think the show will start working somewhat from both ends, reaching a central point. I don't mind really, as long as it remains interesting.

7. People have been predicting that ever since the end of the first Season that the format of the show would change (less flashbacks, etc. etc. etc.) but it hasn't yet.

8. Both previous seasons have ended in similar ways. While it's definately shocking and an advancement, I don't necessarily think it's going to lead to different results... maybe just more clarification on why they can't... you know.

9. If someone like you is unhappy with the show on a fairly consistent basis, I don't see why you wouldn't be more excited by the potential here (although that wasn't really the issue). This may be one of the most left-field Season finales in the history of television, and if they pull it off, all the better for them.

Hehehehe. I say enjoy the ride. It sounds like one hell of an episode

(And ABC wouldn't let them fuck it up too much, especially because they probably let some higher ups at ABC tell them where it was going).

I think the finale will make you very happy. You especially.

But yes, I'd venture to guess that I don't believe a television series has ever had a Season finale like this. I'd like to watch TV series that have "mid-series" finales that have the potential to have this much impact.

I thought that episode was in A+ territory until the very end...when Charlie didn't die.

The whole thing would've been incredibly poignant and fitting if, you know...he had died. Like he was supposed to.

Awesome to see Bernard and Rose again

Can't wait for next week

why isn't jack dead yet?

I was kinda ready for Charlie to die after all that buildup, he really didn't have to hit Desmond, kinda odd "last" movie for him. Isn't that the base Jack and Juliet were at in the beginning of this season?? How did Jack not remember opening a door for it to bust open with water?

Oh my dear. Remember how I said you would really love the finale?

If they kill Charlie, they probably want to do it in the Finale. They want to put in the season finalle. Overall, it was a great episode, can't wait for next week.

Another awesome episode. I cannot freakin' wait for the finale. It's gonna be kick ass!!

And Charlie better die, although I was feeling a bit sorry for him after that #1 memory/"I love you" to the baby.

I did feel very sorry for Charlie, especially the scene with him and Hurley that was a sad moment. Actually if he is going to die I am liking how they are writing his end.

That was so far and away Charlie's best episode ever. If he does indeed die next week (Considering the hype they've been building up to with a finale massacre or whatever), I might actually be a little sad, which is kinda shocking.

Overall, great build-up episode. I still don't completely trust Elizabeth/Jack for whatever reason though.

Me too :'(

My thinking, and I havent read any spoilers or anything, is that the base will somehow be flooded, and he'll still die doing the same thing Desmond had a vision of.

Another great episode.

The structure of the flashbacks was a bit different.

Instead of being the negative events of someone's life, it ends up being all the positive ones.

It was a very good episode. I kind of now hope Charlie doesn't die. Though I haven't hated him nearly as much as others here.

Jack is much worse.

I liked Charlie up until he went crazy in season 2, but I think I will feel kinda sad if he dies now.

A soso episode saved by the twist at the end. Charlie's mission made no logical sense. Just because Desmond saw Claire being rescued if Charlie died, doesn't mean that she'd never be rescued. For all Charlie knew if he'd broken the path of events, she might have been rescued two weeks later. It was just too stupid and had no emotional weight. And if he loved Claire so much he'd tell her all about it and not make major decisions that affect her future behind her back.

But the twist at the end saved it for me. It looks like maybe that's where all the fertile women are hiding? Or is it just a Wives of the NRA convention? I don't really want to know what it is till next week.

I was annoyed by Jack being back in charge this episode. Who the hell is he? Everything was so much more interesting when Sawyer was the sort-of leader.

It was watchable and pleasant, I just didn't buy into the central idea that this was something he should do or that it was even so noble.

Jack is the leader because Bai Ling made it so LOLOLOLOLz

Some other random thoughts I forgot to mention:

- Dom M. did a good job.
- When Charlie got in the hatch at the end, it seemed like Juliet might possibly have been lying and if she's lying about that then what else is she holding back?
- That mugging Charlie broke up was really strange. They hid the mugger's face and he behaved kind of odd. I wonder if it will come back in play later in someone else's flashback. Or maybe it was just a bad bit-part actor.
- I was impressed by the period feel of the learning to swim flashback. A lot of effort went into that short scene.

Same here.