I’ll be honest and say I’m not sure which side of the fence I fall on regarding last night’s season finale. This feels like a real “jump the shark” moment, just like that lame ass ALIAS – Season 2 finale when Sidney Bristow skipped 2 years of her life. I hate sloppy storytelling shit like that, but I’ll keep an open mind for the time being.

***WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

~ I’m guessing the identity of the casket’s occupant is Michael. I say this because they made a point of showing that the funeral home was in an African American neighborhood and because when Jack makes the call from his car, he says “I saw your…” Initially I thought he was calling Sarah to say he had seen her marriage announcement but looking back he was probably going to say “I saw your father’s obituary…” Also, when Jack asks Kate if she is going to the funeral, she says “why would I?” because Michael betrayed them so horribly.

~ Okay, anytime this show makes a point of showing a business name, you know there’s some sly little anagram hidden. Tonight the mortuary was Hoffs/Drawlar. Scramble it up and what do you get? Flash/Forward.

~ Jack’s suicide attempt is halted by a car wreck involving a woman and her son. Since everything and everyone is connected in the LOST universe, I would assume that it is either Claire and Aaron or Juliet’s sister Rachel and her son.

~ When Jack is called “a hero twice over” midway through the episode, it seems as though it is because he saved a mother and her son, but in retrospect, I’ll say it’s because of the rescue of the car wreck victims and the rescue of the survivors of Oceanic 815.

~ Did anybody catch Ben’s comment to Richard about going to the Temple? I think between the magic healing, non-aging, black smoke monster, weird ass statues and now a Temple, this might be the lost island of Atlantis.

~ They shot Big Tom. WTF? I was so looking forward to his big gay love scene with Ben when they were reunited.

~ Nice try shooting Walt’s scenes from overhead and from Locke’s point of view, but the kid still looks like he’s grown a couple of feet. Obviously this wasn’t the real Walt, so I am guessing it was the Black Smoke Monster. And if the BSM is Jacob, that would prove Ben’s last words to Locke to be very prophetic (“Well, I certainly hope he helps you, John”).

~ Mykhail — dude, how many fucking lives do you have anyway?

~ Speaking of the one-eyed Russian, mad props to you for killing Charlie.

~ I knew Naomi wasn’t working for Penelope. My theory is she was working for Penny’s father and the photo was so she could identify Desmond on sight and then kill him, therefore removing any chance of a Desmond/Penny reunion. This would make Naomi’s group “bad guys” and prove Ben right.

~ Nice job with killing an innocent woman, Locke. Something tells me per my feeling a few weeks ago that Locke and Danielle are going to hook up and remain on the island.

~ Jesus Christ, they could spend a fucking fortune on the Looking Glass underwater hatch sequence and they couldn’t get a fucking beard and moustache that look real for Jack? He looked like he raided the Others’ costume closet half the time.  Let’s work on that shit for future episodes, ‘kay guys?

~ Looks like Jack has gone more than a little nuts trying to find the island what with all the maps and charts cluttering up his place when he calls Kate.

~ Jack says he uses the golden passes given to them. Good thinking on the airlines part — hey, you almost died on one of our planes, now give us the chance to get it right.

~ Kate’s comment “he’s waiting for me” would suggest she is paired up with the Sawyer. Her appearance indicates she uses a lot of Mary Kay. And she drives a Volvo. WTF? Maybe the “he” is a child…

~ Jack’s comment to Kate “I’m tired of all the lying…” suggests some truly bad shit goes down on that island before they eventually get rescued (and would explain Jack’s addiction). And might they be lying as a condition of their rescue? If Penny’s father is behind Naomi’s group, he is powerful enough to extract a promise of silence from the Losties.

~ Finally, are we to assume that the first 3 seasons were our Losties on the island flashing back to events that led to their being stranded on the island and the final 3 seasons will be them back in the real world flashing to how they off the island? That would work well in a symmetrical sense, but unless they find a way to limit the present day stuff to just Jack and Kate, it will undercut any suspense as to who actually makes it off the island and who dies or chooses to stay.

All in all, a decent cliffhanger but one which threatens to kill my interest if this turns out to be some “alternate universe/one of a million possible outcomes” endings.

February 2008. huh? I hope ABC knows what it is doing leaving such a highly serialized show off the air for 8 months and expecting folks to pick up right where it left off. I personally think ratings will drop like a fucking lead balloon after that long a hiatus but we’ll see.