t's obvious to me the whole stretching the finale out 3 hours was so they could provide competition to both Smallville's finale and American Idol.

Wasn't SV's finale last week?

There were also a lot of things said in various media as to what answers we can expect and that plain just didn't happen.

Yup.

Do we now know why all the main characters were in Sydney?

This is a stupid thought, but does anyone recognize what game Walt was playing on his GBA SP?

It looked like Metal Gear Solid, but the sound effects were obviously just looped in. I hate that. All fucking video games don't sound like beep-de-fucking-boop.

Maybe the security system is Metal Gear Rex.

I thought black smoke=no pope.

Now THAT'S funny.

Wasn't SV's finale last week?

They had 1 hour of Smallville last week and 2 hours of American Idol this week that they wanted 1 season finale of Lost to compete with. Answer? stretch it 3 hours. 1 last week, 2 this week.

Do we now know why all the main characters were in Sydney?

Jack- Retrieving his father

Hurley- Following the numbers

Boone- Retrieving Shannon.

Shannon- Shacking up with random guy.

Sun and Jin- Delivering watches for her father

Kate- On the run (though I don't think we got a reason for "Why Austrailia?" yet.)

Sayid- Blackmailed into spy duty.

Sawyer- To kill who he thought was the real Sawyer

Michael- To take custody of Walt

Walt- Was living there with folks

Charlie- Trying to convince his brother to restart the band

Claire- Lived there

Locke- Outback walkabout

Man are there a lot of characters. Did I miss any?

I only watched the las thirty minutes so I don't have a real opinion about the episode--however, I have no problem with not having the answers and a cliffhanger. If Lost answered the big questions -- what's the Lostzilla is, what's in the container, etc --- in the finale I wouldn't be interested in watching next season. Also I like all the personal stuff and getting glimpses of the previous lives and how they interact now is interesting.

The only thing I don't like and wish would go away is the montages at the end of every episode. A few times would be fine, but every single time is boring, and I want to hear what the characters are saying to each other during those moments.

Something I just remembered--the finale opened up on another close-up of an eye, only this time it was Turniphead's! For a minute there, I thought we would get a flashback to the womb from his perspective, but no go.

It was padded, and really, the only question that got answered was who brought the comic book to the island.

Oh, I don't know. In the simplest possible terms, one question this season was "Will they get the hatch open?" Yup. And we even got a peek inside. At least now we know it's *not* a handy air raid shelter equipped with provisions.

We also got a little more insight into why Jin went so ballistic about the watch, and was protective of Sun.

And, lame as it may sound, we also got a funny little illustration of Locke's whole destiny theory, by way of Hurley. As others have said, if ever fate was telling someone, Hey, listen up! Stay off the frickin' plane, it was evident with Hurley. So was it fate that he actually got on, or did he control his own destiny by making that plane?

AnthonyDe also asked why the black smoke, i.e. why would the Others make it known they were coming? Which is a good fucking question. Unless it's something as simple as a marker *for* the Others, i.e. we're heading out in the Incredibly! Convenient! Boat, we'll make a fire on the beach, and we'll know where to land when we get back.

The more I think about it, of course, the more the Others are bothering me. Because, hell, they had guns, and whatever was in that bottle that blew up the raft. They couldn't have stormed the beach and taken Walt whenever they wanted? Especially since every night, most people were sleeping?

Also, their whole shoot-and-explode-stuff M.O. doesn't so much jibe with the complicated "security system" on the island. Last night they looked more like the stand-guard-and-shoot variety instead of the sneaky, build-weird-traps type.

DX, you also said there should have been more. I guess it depends why you watch. No question, I want some resolution to the island's mysteries, too, eventually, but for now I'm just as interested in these people. I like the backstories. I like watching how a group of people who wouldn't necessarily have interacted otherwise are shown to have crossed paths before, and how their lives affect their behavior on the island.

Of course, I also watched The X-Files for eight seasons before giving up on the mythology making any kind of sense. (Signed, Big Fat Sucker)

Plus, Daniel Dae Kim with that longer, curlier hair? Rrowr.

At the DLA party Allyson and Kristen et all put on, he was very curly headed, and just too hot for words.

I thought it was a cruddy, disappointing finale and further proof that Abrams and the writers are more lost than the fans. But, then again, I thought that the Thin Red Line was a brilliant movie, so what do I know?

Kalshane, I've bookmarked your list post, thanks. (I was hoping someone would take the bait.)

What turned the smoke black? It looked like a simple fire to me.

How come everyone is so sure those Deliverance boat-folk were the Others? Did I miss something last night?