Lost Season Finale Shocks Viewers

If you didn't watch last night's season three "Lost" finale, chances are you'll be in a world of hurt around the water cooler in the upcoming days and weeks.

After weeks of producers and television columnists promising fans a finale that would go down in history as one of the most memorable season finales of all time, "Lost" delivered on Wednesday night when they introduced the series' first flash forward.

"Lost," the ABC mystery series that has become a cultural phenomenon since its debut, has teased its viewers with a web of mysteries surrounding a mysterious island and the survivors who found themselves on the un-plotted island following the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. With season three's finale providing a number of long-awaited answers, viewers found those answers opening up even more questions.

One question that was answered by the finale, titled "Through The Looking Glass," was the fate of one of the series' most enigmatic characters, John Locke. Left for dead earlier in the season, fans wondered if the character, played by Terry O' Quinn, would survive the gunshot delivered to him by series villain, Ben Linus, expertly played by Michael Emerson. In true "Lost" fashion, the character of Locke found himself miraculously healed as the episode hurtled towards its climatic final scene.

However, the season finale did mark the goodbye of one of the series' most beloved characters, Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan). Though his death had become somewhat expected after clues given throughout the season, fans still littered the internet after the episode's airing with mournful tributes to the deceased character and even a few hypothesizing on how the character was still actually alive. "We didn't actually see him die," mused one heartbroken fan on Dominic Monaghan's Internet Movie Database messageboard.

Perhaps the biggest shocker of the finale was the series' first flash forward. With three seasons under its belt, "Lost" has become known for the character flashback in which each character reveals a little about their history before the plane crash. Last night, however, producers dealt a punch to unspoiled viewers as they revealed in the last scene that the presumed flashback they had been watching was actually a flash-forward, supposedly revealing what would become of the characters of Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) and Kate Austen (Evangeline Lily) after their rescue from the island.

The obvious question on many fans minds: Is this a true look into the future or is this simply a red-herring?

The flash-forward opened up many other debates such as why Jack was under the impression that his father was still alive (was it simply the Oxycodone talking that Jack had become addicted to since his rescue or something more sinister) and who was it that died thus causing Jack's complete mental breakdown? Viewers were only teased with a shot of a closed coffin and what appeared to be an obituary clipping that Jack held throughout the episode's flash-forward.

Whatever the answers, many viewers who had declared their distaste of "Lost's" season two have since found themselves reinvested in the show that was experiencing a drop in ratings just earlier this season. What viewers might not be ready for is the series' long hiatus. Following in the footsteps of FOX's "24," "Lost" will not return until January 2008 when it will resume with 22 uninterrupted episodes.

SOURCE: http://www.abc.com