"Lost" pre and post

So the season five finale of Lost came and went last night, two hours of riddles, questions asked and posed, and a few genuine "WTF?" moments here and there. In other words, it reaffirmed Godhead status for me, and now I'll have to wait until 2010 to see the sixth and final season wrap up some of the mysteries.

Here's what I wrote before seeing last night's capper:

My assumptions are that the atomic bomb will detonate, causing the flood of electromagnetic energy that the concrete slab at The Swan will attempt to contain. Furthermore, the energy will push the time-displaced people ahead to the future, where they will band together to save the island from the newest plane crash survivors, who are most likely connected to the original '50s military presence in some fashion. People will die and stay dead, and some people will die and stick around. And there's a great possibility that everything I've conjectured won't happen, either.

The fifth season has been the most jumbled (the periodic bouts of time travel and new depths of characterization) and yet the most compelling, as the disparate narrative threads interlock together in a surprisingly smooth and (somewhat) believable fashion. Network television doesn't have a lot of epic dramas that so capture the imagination -- these days, it's pay channels like Showtime and HBO or the "edgy" basic cable channels like FX and AMC that do the job -- but Lost beats 'em all in scope and audience trust. There's no show that asks the audience to tolerate fantasy and ambuity at this level, which helps to explain the shedding of viewers from year to ever-more-complex year. But for those that have followed the twists and turns, the leaps in logic and faith, the tension and kinetic action both physical and mental, Lost remains a rewarding pleasure each Wednesday night, old-school style.

So what will happen in the next season? Some batshit-crazy speculation:

• The break in the ash around Jacob's cabin would point to the presence of a devilish force that has escaped, most likely to infect John Locke and possibly others. [Cool possibility.]
  
• Jacob's cryptic comments most likely indicate the impending arrival of a new batch of Others, but Others of an alien variety. [Not-so-cool possibility, as I'm not a fan of aliens-as-plot-point.]
• Desmond and Walt will return, each with a unique contribution to the safety of the Island and its inhabitants.
• At some point, Sawyer will sacrifice himself for Kate, earning her undying affection and screwing the pooch for a Kate-Jack combo.

And again, there's a strong likelihood that nothing like the above will actually occur. But that's part of the fun of Lost, as I just don't know what to expect, week in and week out. The only thing I can count on with absolute certainty is to be sad when the series reaches its conclusion, as we will not see the likes of it again.