Miscellaneous Lost Thoughts [Updated]

I may be posting to this thread for a while as various things come up.

• My first response this morning to the events of last night: why did Juliet die?  Why did they blow up the bomb?  It didn't work.  It didn't do anything. Well, not true.  It mattered but not in the way we thought.  It had only one significant effect--it moved the 1977 people (Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sawyer, Sayid, Miles, Juliet [for a minute or two]) into 2007.  And that was important for the endgame--arriving where Jacob was dead and where the candidates needed to be to move the story to its resolution and to move Jacob's endgame further along.  And Smokey's, too, since he could not leave until the candidates were dead and alive in 1977 meant that they were not yet dead in 2007.
• My first thought going to bed last night: where does Frank land the plane and how does he explain: a) what happened to the rest of the crew and passengers of the Air Ajira flight; and b) how does he explain passengers who did not fly either flight (Miles, Richard), those who flew only O-815 (Sawyer, Claire) or even more difficult--both (Kate)?
• I was satisfied that Desmond could use the boat (the one that got him here in the first place) along with Ben's knowledge of the proper course--although that might have changed when the Island moved.  
• I guess we will have to wait for the DVDs to figure out what Widmore was up to.  I guess, if he really had a change of heart, his quest for magnetic spots was his way of looking for the golden pond, rather than for profit.    
• I am going to have to re-watch to see what spurred each awakening, as it was more than just Love (Hurley, James/Juliet) or Violence (Desmond) but varied with each character (birth: Kate, Claire, Charlie; Dad: Jack).  And some did not awaken--Miles, Ana Lucia, Charlotte, Daniel, etc.
• Regarding the bets/lines, it is perhaps a good thing I didn't put any money down:
• Over/under on Oceanic characters dying during the finale: Under (just Jack).
• Other deaths: Under (Smokey).
• Kate ends up with neither Sawyer nor Jack (although they do kiss) but Claire at a 100 to 1!
• Alt LA reality does come to an end!  Or not.  Depends on one's religious orientation, I suppose, but they are all leaving together.  But leaving behind Charlotte, Widmore (unseen!), Ben, Alex and Rousseau (is he going to revel a bit in a happy ending before moving on?), Nadia, etc?
• Smokey did not win.
• Jacob is not resurrected.
• Funny, I forgot to set the line on resurrections, but Vegas would have had it at 1.5, I think and we got two--Richard and Frank but not Widmore.
• Eye opening.  Check.
• Mirror:  Check.

Again, I will probably add to this as I reflect, read the reviews of a few others (Doc!), and chat with friends.  It was a good thing my wife, who had fallen out of Lost, came back due to my daughter's interest this season, as her discussion of the Well of Souls (wasn't there a Well of Souls in Raiders of the Lost Ark?) was illuminating.  I know now why I married her--to have an editor and a writer and a mastery of both science fiction and fantasy present at this time, all together in one person.  Is she my Desmond?  Well, he moves more quickly than she, but yet another thing to ponder.

Updated: Just watched again the last fifteen minutes or so--from Locke's arrival at the "Church" more or less.  It still worked for me--got very misty--and that is really what I take away--this show moved me, made me think, entertained me.  More than most things I have watched on TV. Was it completely coherent?  Um, no.  Why is Aaron the baby there but not the child of Sun and Jin?  If one gets here by being a member of the community and this is the most important time in their lives (the Island, that is), then it kind of makes sense that certain people show up but was that really the peak of Aaron's life?  Or was he just integral to the community in a way that Ji Yoon (I think) was not?  Ben didn't join because this was not really his community?  Not Michael who is still whispering on the Island.  I guess so, but why did he need to stay but Ben could go?  It does make sense that Walt was not there since he was not so crucial after the first season (puberty is a bitch, dude).  Frank and Miles were missing as they apparently had other important communities to hang with.  Perhaps the freighter folk had a separate one for Naomi, Charlotte, Daniel, Frank and Miles? 

I guess this is the ultimate in intersubjectivity--you are a member if both you and the others think you are, and you are not a member if you don't think so or if they don't think so.  And so it turns around again--us and them.  The Others were called Others.  It turns out that those inside the church were all us and the rest of humanity were Others.  Michael betrayed the core group, and Ana Lucia never assimilated whereas Libby was close enough to one to fit in with the others.  You cannot have Desmond without Penny, who was a presence for much of the show, a distant one, of course.

I guess I am still kind of disappointed that the sideways world is what it is/was/will be, but I see why they did it this way.  It is all about redemption through community--you can only help yourself by asking for others to help you.  Hurley asked Ben for help protecting the Island.  Jack needed Kate's help to kill Smokey.  Frank needed help to get the plane off the ground, etc.

Ultimately, it is the show of Carlton and Damon, and they did what they wanted with it.  My problems with Battlestar were more than just the ending. It had great bits, but too much stuff in one reality ran against itself, especially but not exclusively the ending.  This show moved me more and made me think more, and, for that, I am grateful.