"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" - Arthur C. Clarke

Oooh! So true, too. I still don't get how, like, cell phones work.

I did think it was a crappy finale that accomplished pretty much nothing that couldn't have been accomplished in a regular 46 minute episode.

I guess I'm just a slut for the pretty. I'd rather watch two hours of Sayid and Sawyer and, yes, even Jack, than anything else. The pacing could have been quicker, but I didn't mind it as I watched.

I just took it as Hurley being happy as all get out that he made the flight

Yeah, could be. I was just having fun imagining what else it could be.

What happened between Walt and Hurley (at the airport presumably) that resulted in that thumbs-up look from Hurley?

Ah, but Hurley wasn't at the airport (without running) long enough to interact with anyone on that plane beforehand. I'm thinking that if the thumbs-up wasn't just a "Dude, I made it!" thing from Hurley (which I don't think it was, otherwise why would he just make it to Walt?), that there might have been a connection made between them somewhere in Sydney. We don't know why Hurley was in Australia, do we? I'm thinking we have some good flashblack material coming up next season.

Oh, and I'm with AmyLiz in that I loved last night's ep, and am also loving the lingering questions. If they provided too many answers last night, I would have been either seriously ticked off, or worried that the producers wanted to wrap things up before being cancelled.

Salon has their review of the ep up, and they had a few good comments:

Wait -- did the creepy jungle bird actually screech "Hurley!" as it flew away? Yes!

Hurley is the show's most endearing character, the most grounded, the least addled by murky personal preoccupations and regrets, so it makes sense that he's got the freakiest secret to keep.

Then there's the "monster." Is it invisible, or what? Why, as Karen Carpenter might ask, do trees shoot into the sky every time it stomps by? [Hee!]

Once upon a time, a month ago, these people were strangers, the [airplane] scenes seem to be telling us -- and they were nicer to each other then.

It would be weird, but appropriate if "Lost" turned out to be like "Deadwood," a story about the mystery of how people manage to live together given how maddening people can be. (The French woman, named after yet another famous philosopher, stands for the alternative, and look what it's done for her.) The finale's chief plot twist -- that the Others only thought they wanted Claire's baby, which explains why they tossed her back to Charlie after a few days -- made less of an impact than the trauma that resulted from it. Seeing Walt kidnapped from the deck of the S.S. Deathtrap while Michael, once so eager to give him away, looked helplessly on, was a heart-breaker. As dismal as that damn raft looked, it turns out there are worse things.

See, I just took it as Hurley being happy as all get out that he made the flight, noticing Walt looking at him (the last passenger on the plane), and giving him the thumbs up because he was so glad to be there.

That's exactly how I read that moment, DX.

Ah, but Hurley wasn't at the airport (without running) long enough to interact with anyone on that plane beforehand.

He did run into Arzt at the checkpoint, but I agree that it seems unlikely that if the look between him and Walt indicated a past encounter, that it happened during his mad dash to catch the plane. He did cross paths with Charlie at the hotel, so it makes sense that he could have seen Walt there.

Once upon a time, a month ago, these people were strangers, the [airplane] scenes seem to be telling us -- and they were nicer to each other then.

Well, except for Shannon deciding to ruin Sayid's day.

We don't know why Hurley was in Australia, do we?

Tracking down the numbers, talking to the mental patient's army buddy's widow with the artificial leg. In the middle of nowhere.

Maybe I'm not snarky enough by nature, but I was just reading the TWoP forums, and there are some seriously pissed off people there. I don't know about anyone else, but I loved last night's finale, and I didn't expect *every* single question to be answered because, hello, no reason to watch next season then, right? I don't know -- I didn't think it was a waste of time at all.

Neither did I. I was surprised by all of the "OMG I want those two hours of my life back" comments. It wasn't The Thin Red Line, people. That's some time I could use back.

Did Ethan take Claire, or Rousseau? Because Claire's extremely brief memory flashback showed her scratching Rousseau, yes? Does Rousseau know Ethan? Were they together in some way? Did I miss something?

It didn't occur to me until someone here said something, but we also don't know how Claire escaped - which could as plausibly have been Rousseau's doing.

I don't know about seriously pissed off, since I never lent it my heart, but I did think it was a crappy finale that accomplished pretty much nothing that couldn't have been accomplished in a regular 46 minute episode.

I'm with Allyson. It was padded, and really, the only question that got answered was who brought the comic book to the island. There really ought to have been more.

This is a stupid thought, but does anyone recognize what game Walt was playing on his GBA SP? We've seen in the past that events tend to happen based on what he's done (read a comic book about polar bears, talk about a bird that decides to fly into the window), and I was curious if the game's plot had anything to do with events that happened.

Or, it could mean nothing.