"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

I agree with your other hand, but it didn't detract from the overall awesomeness for me.   This has been a show where you've always had to suspend your disbelief somewhat.  The Sawyer-Juliet-Kate-Jack relationship had been brewing all season, so it was kind of a relief to see something actually happen.

J- I saw that theory about the smoke monster somewhere else too.  It would make sense but I don't know that we have a whole lot to support that (do we?).  I think this deepens the mystery of Richard Alpert quite a bit though.  So Richard appears to be working for Jacob, but he also set in motion Locke dying and then apparently being used by Jacob's enemy.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

I think I would have actually enjoyed the emotional relationship stuff if it wasn't the main deciding point over whether to blow up a hydrogen bomb! Does this not seem slightly immoral to anyone else? Blowing up a bomb for the sake of a hunch... And Jack's argument was that he was gonna save people by doing it!?

The first Season was pretty fluffy, Season 2 only a little less so, and admittedly I just had fun mocking the relationship setups and the predictable action -> slo mo sappy music sequences to grab as much viewership as possible. If someone had taken the DVDs away, I wouldnt have missed it.

Season 3 More characters were introduced and became completely unpredictable. I think I called two or three things that happened. I kept watching just for the structure; unfolding in reverse, with all the flashbacks-- so many that it got annoying. My friends were PA's on part of this season, so it was fun hearing their stories. Especially about Matthew Fox being a dick.

Season 4 Too many new characters, but still. I loved having yet another change in environment. Great psychological stories, a lot of dramatic tension here. Cut short by the writer's strike, these characters became more meaningful in 5.

Season 5- Halfway through, I was hooked. Every seed of what was currently happening had been planted in earlier episodes. Just masterful writing.

So--- like TP, it challenges the mind. And, like TP, you can't start in the middle or miss an episode, or you're, well... lost. And though I'm not attached to ANY of the characters like I was in TP (Lost is far, far more plot driven and much more carefully executed in that regard,) some of them grew on me a little.

*********** As for the S 5 finale, I agree with giospurs about the lameness of the motivation of the leads. I think I called them all emo sissies. You think they'd been through enough that their petty interpersonal crap would make little difference and they'd have some developed a little bit of rationality. They actually seemed more reasonable when they first crashed.

As for coolsprings suggestion about the black smoke, I think this is right on. I developed a Biblical reading of this thread of the mythology. If this is true, Jacob was the physical manifestation of an even greater being that represents an ambivalent "good," and the black smoke/man in black is the necessary "evil" (that is to some extent under control of this force of creation.)

'Liked Miles and Farraday alot, and the physics of time travel was very well done. Hurley is the Albert of the show in that he has all the best lines.

Mr Boob Tube Dude's blog said everything suddenly revolving around Kate, yet Kate having no will of her own, either, was stupid and that he half expects the Swan to turn out to be named for her beauty.

http://video.hollywoodreporter.com/services/player/bcpid769343686?bctid=1544597630

Yet he says there will still be questions left unanswered that they don't plan on explaining later, never to be returned to. They say they are quitting while at the top of their game. So will Lost message boards survive as long as this one? Time will tell!

So, who watched the season premiere?

A lot of people seemed to love it, but I was slightly disappointed. I certainly wasn't thrilled when I first realised they're new form of storytelling was gonna be. It was well executed, but it didn't seem like the way to start wrapping things up; instead it's just producing more confusion (in me anyway).