And we learned some very interesting things about the fate of the islanders.

Spoilers follow.

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So, this season we learned:

• How the Others are connected to the Dharma Initiative
• How Locke was paralyzed, and why he can walk again
• Some of what the Others are doing on the island, including why they kidnapped Claire
• The father of Sun’s baby
• The identity of the real Sawyer
• The fate of (most of) the Dharma Initiative
• We know at least some of the castaways will return to the outside world.

We also saw the resolution of a number of conflicts: The Kate/Jack/Sawyer triangle finally resolved into Kate/Sawyer. Rousseau and Alex finally met, uniting mother and daughter for the first time since birth. Charlie came to terms with his life (which, unfortunately, seems to be the kiss of death on this show). Penelope knows Desmond is on the island, and the islanders contacted the outside world.

Some unanswered questsions:

• Who was in the casket? I’m betting on either Sawyer or Locke, going by it being someone clearly important to Jack and Kate.
• What’s Naomi’s group really doing? Why is Ben afraid of them finding the island? And how did she end up with the picture of Desmond and Penny?
• What is Jacob? A ghost? How is he connected to Locke, Ben, and the Island? What’s his agenda?

It’s a shame to lose Charlie, but his death was at least handled well. He went out a hero, saving Desmond’s life and leaving him a message.

It was great to see Hurley save the day. I was also really worried about Bernard and Jin (not so much about Sayid). Think about it: You’ve got, what four couples among the group (assuming people know about Kate and Sawyer), and you stick three of the men on the dangerous missions? (I kept thinking of the “let us not waste lives” line from Les Miserables, when the students realize that no one is rising up to join the revolt, and Enjolras sends away everyone who has family.)

We both had the flashes pegged as possibly future pretty early on. I think the beard was the first clue, followed by Jack apparently being well-known already. The RAZR phone clinched it for me, and Katie ran the name of the funeral parlor against the anagram server and came up with “flash forward.” Then there was the structure: it actually felt like the island scenes, or at least the ones with Jack, were flashbacks from the city scenes.

That seems to be the “game-changing” element to the episode: We know they’ll get home (and possibly very soon). More importantly, it opens up the format. They can mix flashbacks with flash forwards. They can run a parallel narrative of the time on the island with future Jack and his companions trying to get back. They can even pick things up in the future (well, more likely it’s our present), and flash back to the island.

7-8 months until next season. *sigh*