The general idea of this end theory is not mine, I read it, but I really like the concept and it makes me feel better about the entire ending and experience. I’ve expanded a few things.

Technically, the Flash Sideways of this final season was just an extreme flashforward, a hint of the proto-afterlife/purgatory. Despite all the flashbacks and different storylines, the absolute main character has been about Jack Shepard. This flash sideways was his “staging reality”, created between his death and his admittance into the afterlife.

During the course of the season we did get glimpses of other people’s “realities” such as Sayid being with Nadia but not as her husband as he did not feel worthy of her. Or Kate’s where she proclaimed her innocence and was finally able to help Claire. In Locke’s, he was with Helen and had a relationship with his father. Hurley is able to find good fortune and the love of another, Libby. Desmond is successful and has the approval of Penny’s father, Charles. We never see the full stories but we see many of the main characters come to grips with what they were missing most of their pre-island lives.

It all comes back to Jack however. In order to move on, he had to come to terms with any issues he had, primarily whether he could be a good father and finding peace with his own father Christian. Because this was Jack’s “reality” the people and places (primarily in the finale) are as he remembers them:

* He never knew Sayid with Nadia, only with Shannon, which is why they were true loves in this scenario.
* He only knew Aaron as an infant, so that is how he appeared.
* He felt a connection to Juliet at first, but at the end knew she was Sawyer’s love.
* He ends up with Kate, who he has loved all along.

Jack’s son, David, only existed in this staging reality to resolve an issue and was not needed to “move on.” Also why Jin and Sun’s baby was not there as Jack never knew the child first hand.

It is also why some people: Richard, Lapidus, Daniel, Charlotte were not in his final scene because they weren’t as important to him in his life. Each person’s “staging reality” may be different. You may be in my reality because of your importance to me, but I may not be as important to you and therefore don’t appear in yours.

Jack REALLY did become the protector and REALLY did die in the same spot he started his island journey. From the moment his eye closed, start the flash sideways from that point and it would be chronologically correct.

As Christian said, everybody died at different times. Some before, some after. The biggest evidence of that is Hurley and Ben’s interaction where they said “You were a great #1.” and “You were a great #2.” It’s clear they have lived together and experienced things together up to their own deaths when they reached this point. Likewise, everybody who escaped the island on the plane (Richard, Lapidus, Miles, Sawyer, Kate) could have lived far into their old age. We don’t see that however because it is in Jack’s perspective. Another example of this is when Kate says to Jack “I’ve been waiting for you for so long.” indicating she may have lived her own long life and never forgot about him.

While we didn’t get all the answers from their real time on the island, that’s because Jack never knew those answers either. Nobody ever gets all the answers in life and it’s just as frustrating as some fans feel that they don’t know why Walt was “special” or why The Man in Black became a smoke monster. The mysteries of life are taken to the grave. And I am okay with that. Could any explanation truly satisfy your curiosity? Why was there a polar bear on the island? They probably had several types of animals in cages to do experiments on and it escaped. Does it make you feel better? I don’t think it mattered in the overall retrospective of life, just like when you are close to passing you won’t wonder about the small mundane things that occurred during your time.

So the finale truly indicated the final death of Jack, who ironically enough was supposed to die in the very first episode, but other people lived on and had experiences past Jack. We should appreciate the journey we shared with Dr. Shepard, his life, and all the amazing people he met along the way.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 25th, 2010 at 10:38 am and is filed under multimedia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.