Interpretation

For the past six TV seasons I have been glued to every moment of "Lost." Through all the confusion, I came back each week to try to make sense of as much of it as I could. Last night, it all ended. For me, the conclusion seems to have been disturbing, because I slept fitfully, and my stomach is still slightly unsettled. (Or I could just be sick.)

As therapy, I present here what I believe happened, because I have to resolve it in my own mind, even if you may disagree. Saturday night, the producers cleverly presented the pilot episode which opened as the plane crashed, and the injured protagonist, Dr. Jack Shephard, awoke in a bamboo forest. At the very end of Sunday's finale, he makes his way back to very same spot. It is obvious that he and all the "survivors" had always been dead. Some instantly, and the rest shortly after, especially since the doctor wasn't there to treat and nurture them.

Therefore, the flashbacks to the characters' lives before they boarded the fatal flight were all that was relevant. All the rest of the content -- the flashforwards portraying the lives of the "survivors" that came back, and the flashsideways which showed their lives if the plane hadn't crashed -- was just the writers playing with our minds. Damn them!

PARENTHETICALLY: The plot elements encountered by the "survivors" on the mysterious island where the plane crashed, such as electrical forces that supposedly allowed the place to move and/or disappear, a smoke "monster" that killed people, a mislocated polar bear, and groups of persons who were or had previously been on the island, were mildly interesting. Only now do I understand their logic, because, after death, we have no idea what will or won't happen, so anything is possible.