Lost? So Am I, Hurley, Jack, Kate, Sawyer ...

I've been watching Lost for nearly six years and sometimes I feel like I know less about what's going on than I did when Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Hurley and the other survivors first crashed on the beach. I say "first crashed on the beach" because some of them have crashed more than once. "What?" you say incredulously. "How can one person be in two plane crashes on the same island?" Welcome to the bizarre and fantastic world of Lost.

A Primer For Newbies

You haven't been watching for the last six years? That's really not a problem. You can jump in now during the final season and be just as confused as the rest of us with only a small bit of background, Brother. Here's a direct line through the plot to where the show is now:

Oceanic Flight 815 was en route to Los Angeles from Sydney, Australia when it crashed on a small island in the Pacific. There were a number of survivors but the only ones we ended up really caring about were Jack, a doctor, Kate, a captured fugitive, Sawyer, a con man, Locke, a paraplegic given back the use of his legs by the Island, Sayid, a former torturer for the Iraq Republican Guard, Hugo, a lottery winner, the Kwons, a Korean couple, and Charlie, a has-been rock singer and heroin addict. The crash survivors soon found out they were not alone on the island - the Others resided on the other side and terrorized the Flight 815 survivors intermittently. There was also a black smoke monster that seemed to arrive randomly and kill anyone in its path.

Five other important characters were on the island before the crash. Desmond, shipwrecked on the island and convinced by a team of scientists there to stay underground and push a button every 108 minutes to "save the world." Ben, leader of the others, master liar and a downright evil person. And Richard - it's hard to know what to say about Richard except that he never ages.

You're saying, "That's only three characters already on the island. What about the other two?" For more than a century there has been a struggle on the island between Jacob and the Man In Black (MIB). Jacob (who also doesn't age) has been meddling in the lives of the survivors throughout most of their lives. He has a lighthouse where he could see into the lives of as many as 360 people (including Flight 815 survivors) and has been narrowing that list of people down to appoint his successor on the island - the "candidates" have been whittled down to six. Ben kills Jacob at the MIB's insistence, but it's unclear that death has limited Jacob's influence. The MIB, who is also the smoke monster, now walks around as Locke since taking over his corpse (long story, don't ask). MIB Locke wants off the island, but if one of the candidates is chosen as Jacob's successor, he (or she) could apparently prevent that. So MIB Locke has put together a group to leave the island.

Oh, almost forgot. Through machinations still unclear, there are two alternate realities. In one reality Flight 815 landed in Los Angeles and the passengers have continued on with their lives (which are intricately intertwined with each other). In the other, the survivors are still on the island. But the Los Angeles reality seems to be breaking down. Charlie, who is dead on the island, has flashes of the island reality and seems to have sparked the same flashes of another reality or dimension in Desmond.

The Real Mysteries

You could spend a lifetime unraveling all the mysteries of Lost. What was the Dharma Initiative really all about? Who controls the island's magnetic power? What caused Flight 815 to crash? Are the survivors of Flight 815 dead and in hell (a theory espoused by Richard)? But some of these questions are red herrings and others will just give you a headache. As we head into the last half dozen episodes of the series, focus on the real questions.

Who are the Candidates?
After burning out the pause and rewind buttons on the DVR, the best guess at the list of remaining candidates is: Hugo, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Sayid and one or both of the Kwons. MIB Locke is trying to get the candidates to leave the island so that the one selected cannot hold him there. So far it appears Kate, Sawyer and Sayid are prepared to leave the island with MIB Locke. Who the selected Candidate will be, who will select them and how the selection will be done is anybody's guess.

How will the two realities be reunited and merged?
Desmond has been taken to the island and seems to be the key to joining the two realities. Without much else to go on but a hunch, I think that when Jacob's successor is chosen from the Candidates the island reality will cease to be and the Los Angeles reality will remain.

Who or what are Jacob and the MIB?
The MIB has been referred to as the devil and an evil that would destroy the world if it got off the island. As MIB Locke he has seemed both menacing and collegial. The MIB as the smoke monster is a creation of hell right out of the Book of Revelations. If the MIB is the devil, is the island hell or the gateway to it? And what does that make Jacob? Malik, Uriel, Raphael or some other angel that guards the gates of hell to contain evil? If he is an angel, why was it so easy for Ben to kill him with a knife (a special knife provided by MIB Locke though) and why does he need a successor?

There should only be a half dozen or so episodes remaining. The producers of Lost have promised real answers to the many questions they've left dangling. If the series ends with some unsatisfying episode like the last episode of the Sopranos, there will be a cadre of unhappy Lost-ers to contend with. It's hard to imagine how the show will wrap up all the loose ends in the short time remaining and as satisfying as it will be to know those answers there will also be the melancholy from knowing the island holds no more mysteries or surprises for us.