The immensely popular Lost ended its six-year run in 2010 to mixed reviews. Some were satisfied with the ending, while many others maligned it. In the interest of clarity: no, they were not dead the whole time. In the final episode it was revealed that the alternate timeline flashes seen in the final season were to an afterlife, where each character went after their individual deaths. Everything on the island really happened to them in their lives.
The finale also saw Jack lose his life after battling the Man In Black. This prevented the evil the MIB represented from leaving the island and spreading. In the flash-sideways timeline, Jack is the last to enter the church and let go, departing this life along with the most important people from his past.
People like to claim that the writers had no idea what they were doing and never paid off any of their setups. However, there were many hints to the final episode throughout the entire show.
One Is Light, One Is Dark
In the very first episode, John Locke plays backgammon with Walt Lloyd. John holds up two of the game pieces and explains, “Two players. Two sides. One is light. One is dark.” In the finale of season five, “The Incident,” these two players making moves throughout the series were revealed.
They were Jacob and the Man In Black, representing light and dark respectively. Jacob was later killed and the Man In Black took on the form of John Locke. The resolution of their game took place in the series finale, when Jack, taking over for Jacob, defeated the MIB/Locke. Light finally defeated darkness.
See You In Another Life, Brother
Considering his often-repeated line, “See you in another life, brother,” it’s fitting that Desmond is the one to bring everyone together in the afterlife. Desmond had strange abilities, which allowed him to perceive the world in a different way to others and made for some of the show's best episodes. In “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” exposure to electromagnetism sends Desmond’s consciousness back in time. In “The Constant,” Desmond’s mind begins skipping between the past and present.
Throughout the final season, Desmond seems to know something everyone else does not. He goes on a mission to show them. In the finale, it is revealed that he was the first to see through the construct of the flash-sideways and brought everyone together after helping them remember their original lives. His phrase, “See you in another life, brother,” could have been winking at the audience throughout the show that other lives would come into play down the road.
You Can Let Go Now
In the first episode of season six, “LAX,” Jack is sitting opposite Rose on flight 815. This is the alternate timeline of the flash-sideways, where the plane does not crash. As turbulence hits, Jack clasps the armrest of his seat.
When the turbulence passes, Rose says to Jack, “You can let go now.” This moment at the very start of the season foreshadows the end, when Jack will be the last to let go of his past life.
Jack’s Wounds
Throughout the flash-sideways of the final season, Jack notices he is wounded. These mysterious neck and abdomen wounds made some fans fear he wouldn’t survive the show. His neck bleeds at least twice in the final season and the abdomen wound is addressed as an appendectomy.
In the final episode, during his fight with the Man In Black, Jack’s neck is cut and he is fatally stabbed in the same place as the supposed appendectomy scar. These wounds eventually end Jack’s life in the closing moment of the show.
You Just Don’t Have What It Takes
Jack gets hurt a lot. In his first flashback episode, “White Rabbit,” he is beaten up as a young boy. This is because young Jack is defending his friend from bullies. His father is disappointed, telling him “When you fail, you just don’t have what it takes.” His father is not unhappy that he defended his friend, but that Jack has such a hero’s mentality that if he can’t help people, he never lets go.
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This theme of Jack not letting go is later repeated throughout the story. Jack is unable to accept Boone was going to die, almost amputating his leg to save him. When he gets divorced, it destroys Jack and he stalks his ex-wife who he had previously saved. Finally, in the last episode, Jack is the last to let go of his former life.
What I Saw Was Beautiful
In season one, John Locke is the first character to directly see the smoke monster. This begins his journey throughout the show and his faith in following the island’s path. In an episode filled with foreshadowing, “White Rabbit,” he tells Jack what he saw.
“I looked into the eye of this island… and what I saw was beautiful.” Other people have been shown things by the smoke monster, but what Locke saw was not revealed until season six. In the final episode, the true heart of the island was seen. The heart glowed with a piercing white light that we can conclude is what Locke saw.
Who Died?
In the final season flash-sideways, many characters comment on death. Bernard says “I almost died.” James asks Miles, “Did somebody die?” and in the finale, Kate asks Desmond, “Who died?” as they are sat outside the church. These are all hints to the audience that the nature of their reality relates to death. This is only confirmed in the series finale.
Mirrors
In the flash-sideways, many characters pause to look at themselves in mirrors. This gives a sense that the flash-sideways had something to do with confronting themselves. The island gave them all chances to move on from their past traumas – Locke’s father for him and Sawyer, Charlie finding heroin, Kate’s horse, and Claire’s baby being taken because she didn’t want it.
The flash-sideways gave them a chance to relive their lives and get past their earthly pains so that they could let them go and move on in the finale. Their moments of pause when looking at themselves in the mirror hint at this theme.
The Cork
In season six’s “Ab Aeterno,” Jacobs explains to Richard that the island acts like a cork in a bottle of wine. The island keeps the darkness (wine) contained, as the light of the island keeps evil from running rampant in the world. In the finale, there is a literal cork in the heart of the island which, when pulled out, allows the darkness (the Man In Black) to leave the island. Restoring the cork reignites the light and defeating the Man In Black stops his dark influence from spreading beyond the island.
Black And White Stones
In season one’s “House of the Rising Sun,” Jack, Kate and Locke find a cave. In this cave there are two bodies, who Locke dubs “Adam and Eve.” Jack finds two stones on one of the bodies, one black and one white. This was a long-standing mystery, with the identity of the two characters being revealed in season six’s “Across the Sea.”
The stones were game pieces, played with by Jacob and the Man in Black as children. The coloring of the pieces indicated their coloring and natures, also hinted at by John Locke when explaining Backgammon. This conflict of light and dark is not resolved until the series finale, further evidence of the writers looking ahead from early on.