Im LOST, who is with me?

In one short word, this TeVee drama is simply ‘brilliant’ and season three (especially the season finale) provided much food for thought to just what will be the end game result for this great show. Frankly, I am just as lost as ever. (just as I was at the end of season two, and the end of season one) The writers/producers of this drama most certainly understand the term ‘cliffhanger’.

Season three took up where we left off, 68 days after Flight 815 had mysteriously crash in the island. Some 30 days later, we saw the events of the season finale and the question and answer sessions till season four can commence.

The season finale centers around Jack and in a genius twist instead of the familiar ‘flash back’ stories about the character, ‘flash forwards’ are used. There are numerous hints to this fact. 1) the cell phone Jack uses was not introduced to the public until late in 2006. The funeral home's name is an anagram for FLASH FORWARD. The date of the newspaper where Jack finds out someone he knows has died is April 5, 2007. It maybe a coincidence, but when Jack is driving to the funeral home, he is listening to a Nirvana song, and April is the month of Cobain’s death. Lastly, when Jack meets Kate at the airport, he tells her that ‘we have to go back’, referring to the island. But I am getting a bit ahead of myself (pun intended)

Who died, and who is in the coffin?
Probably the greatest cliffhanger since ‘who shot JR’ and ‘what is in the hatch’. Jack reads an obituary from the newspaper and is compelled to go to the funeral home in what appears to be a run down and socially deprived part of L.A. When he enters the viewing room, he finds it empty and is informed that no one had attended the viewing. He also states that he is neither friend nor family to the funeral home director. The main clue we have so far is the newspaper clipping and what can be deciphered from it.

"Man found dead in downtown loft.... The body of J___antham(definitely antham) of New York was found dead shortly after 4:00 am in the _______ of grand avenue.", "*somebodies name* a doorman at the tower heard loud noises coming from ______antham's loft."…….. " uncovered the ______the ____ from a beam in the _______."

First thing that comes to mind is that so far there has not been a character introduced with the first name starting with a ‘J’, and last name ending in ‘antham’. However, there are a couple of possibilities for this. 1) Since it is in the future, a character could have changed their name. 2) It is a new character.

There are only 3 male characters from New York, Michael Dawson and his biological son Walt Lloyd, and Bernard Nadler, the husband of Rose. Assuming that the flash forward truly is in April of 2007 that would mean three years have past since the ‘satellite phone call’ was made to the freighter (we don’t know yet if the result of this phone call actually rescued the Losties however) and would place Walt in the 13 to 14 year old range as he was ten years old at the time of the crash. Since the newspaper clipping described the death of a ‘man’, this should rule Walt out. Bernard should also be ruled out of the ‘plainness’ of the coffin and simplicity of the funeral home and viewing. One would think that a successful dentist would have had more of a nest egg to fall back on. That leaves Michael. He is the most logical choice of the three and because he had committed crimes on the island (murdered Anna Lucia and Libby) and betrayed the Losties, he did have reason to use an alias upon return to the ‘real world’. Kate also has little interest in attending this viewing when she states, ‘why would I go to the funeral?’, even though Jack feels like she should have. They both know this person and Kate still has animosity towards him. So right now, my money is on Michael. But the first question would be, where is Walt and we wouldn’t he attend the funeral?

Adios Charlie!
It appears the Desmond’s visions finally came to pass without Desmond interfering. It also appears that Charlie had come to terms with his own fate and that his destiny was to sacrifice his life to save the Losites, and more importantly to him, Claire and Aaron. I think he realized his true destiny when the code for the jamming device was revealed and that the code was something that only a musician would be able to understand. Some feel that Charlie could have shut the door from the outside, thus saving himself, but watching Desmond’s reaction to hearing Penny over the incoming transmission prevented this. Had Charlie not acted quickly and sealed the door, the risk of Desmond dying would have been more of a chance. Once again, it appears that Desmond has another purpose in this story. Since he is the only one alive that knows that Naomi’s freighter is not connected to Penny Windmore, he maybe the key to early next season. So yes, Charlie has truly perished, but he also fulfilled his destiny.

Our hero Jack
So Jack stops his car on a bridge and appears to be contemplating suicide by ‘Peter Panning’ off the side of the bridge. About that moment there is a car crash and once again, Jack is at the right place at the right time, and is labeled a hero. But just who is this woman and her son that he saved? Once again, assuming that the year is early 2007, many think that the women could be Juliet’s sister, Rachel Carlson. But there are a few problems with this theory. We know that on the day of the crash, Rachel’s son was a little over 2 years old. When the chief of surgery of the hospital was speaking to Jack about the ‘details’ of the crash, he mentions that the boy he pulled out was ‘8 years old’ and Rachel’s son would only have been 5 years old at the most. Also, the name used for the woman and on her chart does not match (although she could have had a last name change via a marriage) So this mystery is something that there maybe only cryptic clues at this time.

Where do we go from here?
That is the genius of LOST, there are so many possibilities and encrypted messages that we probably do need till February of next year to digest this whole season. Just who shot J.R. anyway?