’Lost’: Countdown to the final season

Following an "explosive" finale of nearly two hours, we have sent "Lost" to its final hibernation period. These eight months will not be easy ones as we prepare ourselves for the greatest phenomenon in recent pop culture since the release of the final Harry Potter book, the sixth and final season of "Lost."

Anticipating answers to half-baked time-travel questions like "Will the castaways be able to rewrite their own histories?" or "Did whatever happen really happen?" in the final two episodes of the fifth season of "Lost," we were surprised to have come close as ever to some of the major mysteries of the island’s history and its mythologies. We were sure that in the final minutes, we would get a taste of the next season, as we did in the game-changing final scene of the third season. But to no avail, we were left dumbstruck and a little bit frustrated as we saw "LOST" written in black over a white screen for the very first time.

Leading us in a totally different direction for weeks, once again "Lost" managed to surprise us with its very first scene. We were introduced to a character we were not expecting until the final episode of the series, the divine resident of the island, Jacob. All theories on the real identity of Jacob (Jack, Locke, Christian, even Vincent the dog) vanished in couple of minutes as we saw Jacob in the charismatic body of "Dexter’s" Mark Pellegrino.

What lies in the shadow

In an opening scene teeming with religious and mythological references, we saw a flesh-and-blood Jacob sitting on the beach, watching the mysterious ship the Black Rock sail toward the island, marking the date in the mid-19th century. As Jacob, dressed in white, engaged in a cryptic conversation with a man in black, we realized that the constant references to black and white since the pilot episode of "Lost" had deeper meanings for the history and the mystery of the island. The early conclusion we got from the first scenes was that behind the mysteries of "Lost" lies the ancient mythical and religious clash of good brother/bad brother, God/Satan or good god/bad god.

The flashback stories in the two episodes featured the histories of the castaways as they met with Jacob in different times in their lives, proving that there was really a reason all along for the castaways to crash on this island. Jacob, looking not a day older than he did one-and-a-half centuries ago, visited each of the castaways in their now legendary past stories. He saved the child Kate from the consequences of an innocent shoplifting incident just before she and her best friend, Tom, buried their time capsule, comforted child Sawyer at his parents’ funeral, advised Sun and Jin on love and commitment at their wedding, resurrected Locke after his tragic fall from the eighth floor of a hotel and saw Jack after the fear-inducing operation he had told Kate about in the pilot episode. One thing we noticed in each of these scenes, something that is going to be at the center of the final season, was the conspicuous touches Jacob granted to each of the castaways. The producers have said on many occasions that the final season will not have any time travel, and that it will focus on the original characters, the Oceanic 815 castaways. At this point, another question that comes to mind is whether the explosion of the hydrogen bomb helped rewrite history and stop the crash of Oceanic 815 on the island. There is one piece of crucial information to remember here: Oceanic 815 was six hours off course when it crashed. So even if the hydrogen bomb stopped the electromagnetic anomaly that caused the crash, there is a high chance that the plane would still have crashed. But this time, it would have come down somewhere in the Pacific. So might the fake Oceanic we believed to be planted in the ocean by Charles Widmore all along be the real one?

It seems that the dominant themes of the first three seasons of "Lost" Ğ free will, destiny, faith, second chances and redemption Ğ will play important roles in the final season as well. The final two episodes of the fifth season were filled with lines like, "You have a choice," "It’s meant to be," "What’s meant to happen" and "What’s done is done." As foreshadowing goes, these lines will define the grand war of the sixth season.

Clash between good and bad to mark the fınal season

We now know that our castaways will play a pivotal role in the clash between Jacob and the man in black, between good and bad, light and dark or free will and destiny that is going to mark the final season. We might very well see that the castaways are the descendants of Jacob, and his touch either has given each a chance to cheat death, or the ability to protect Jacob.

The final words of Jacob, "They are coming," most probably refer to the Oceanic 815 castaways Jacob has touched in the past. One question popping into our minds is, "Why did Jacob touch Hurley and Sayid after they had returned from the island, unlike the others?"