Lost Watch: Goodbye, Dear Hatch

I’ve had a few hours to process my thoughts on last night’s “Lost” season finale- and overall, it pretty damn good. As expected, the producers are going to leave us loyal viewers with many more questions than answers- but it wouldn’t be “Lost” if that wasn’t true.

Last night’s finale did wrap up some pressing matters. We found out what happens when the numbers run out- airplanes crash. Desmond, the previous occupant in Locke’s hatch, returned and read a long print-out that showed when he almost missed entering the numbers- which happened to be the day that Oceanic Flight 815 passed over the island. Apparently, the intense electromagnetic energy that pressing the numbers controls caused the crash that brought our group of heroes to “mystery island” in the first place. Locke, after seeing the new orientation film in “The Pearl,” is convinced that pressing the button is a useless gesture, a task created by Dharma Initiative Scientists to turn human beings into lab rats. He convinces Desmond, who is understandably bitter about losing three years of his life to pressing the damn button every 108 minutes, to finally let the clock run down. But when Desmond realizes that Locke is wrong- that the button has a purpose- Locke has gone beyond the point of no return. He smashes the computer, finally and irrecoverably breaking up with the hatch for good, and Desmond pulls out a “fail safe” key. With an intense electromagnetic storm breaking out in the hatch, Desmond turns the key- and there is a very loud noise and a very bright light. What exactly happened, we’ll have to wait until next week to find out. Is Desmond gone? Are Locke and Mr. Ecco, who were in a dual over faith in the machine, alive?

Meanwhile, Jack and crew finally meet up with the Others- or as Desmond calls them, “the hostiles.” The fake-Henry Gale shows up and is clearly not just a lowly member of the group- he orders the rest of them around, letting Michael take Walt and a boat off the island, releasing only Hurley from the group he has led into a trap and telling him to send a message to the other survivors- don’t fuck with The Others. Considering the fact that Sayid is gonna be pissed when Hurley gets back, I doubt they will follow that advice. The Others also take Jack, Kate, and Sawyer with them- who knows where, but I can only assume that their whole purpose is to force the three of them to finally resolve their far too drawn out love triangle. I can just imagine fake beard guy begging Kate to just “decide which one of them you like, it’s killing us.”

So we’re left with a big pot of uncertainty to deal with until the fall. Where are Jack, Kate, and Sawyer being taken? Are Locke, Ecco, and Desmond alive? What exactly happened when Desmond turned the key? What the hell was that giant statue that Sayid, Sun, and Jin saw when they were sailing around the island to try and get a jump on The Others? And still- who exactly are The Others, and why do they keep insisting they are “the good ones? Do they work for Dharma (I think they do, but the Dharma guy Desmond lived with in the Hatch didn’t seem to like them.) Who is running this crazy experiment? Are Michael and Walt really going to make it off the island, or were the Others lying? Who is the “him” people keep asking for? As for the puzzling last scene- how does Desmond's girfriend know to look for electromagnetic activity in her search for him- is her father involved in bed with Dharma and is he the reason Desmond ended up on the island? If so, how did she find out?

The producers did a great job of answering enough questions to keep us satisfied and bringing up enough new questions to keep us talking through the summer. With the very elaborate “Lost Experience” viral marketing game blurring the line between reality and fiction even further, there is a whole ton of mythology to keep fans not just interested, but obsessed until the third season starts.

But I must submit my own theory for what is actually happening on the island. When Sayid pointed out that the weird statue only had four toes, it gave it away from me. Cartoon characters are usually animated with only four toes on each foot and four fingers on each hand- the broken statue is Mickey. That’s right, the island is a test facility for the newest, most advanced Disney park. The Dharma initiative is the most elite Imagineering team known to man, and The Others are disgruntled former Disney employees who have gone insane. Sure, the Research and Development they are doing on the island might be a little too intense sometimes, it might crash planes, kill people, and ruin lives- but those rides are going to be so awesome when the park finally opens.

After working at Disney for eight months, I’m thinking it’s a pretty solid theory.