You really have already spent six years? You really have reached the end of Lost? 
But there is no reason to despair. The nice thing about art is that the world does not disappear at the end. Remain. 

Moreover, they are still there and we know it complete. If they are good works, and Lost is-we can go back and reread them. I have done on several occasions (I have seen the first season about five times), but now for the first time begins the fascinating process of returning to the series now complete, knowing his end. Now is when we can draw from it all you can give us. 
And that process will last for years. 
In order to understand the exact meaning of the words of Juliet in the first episode of the season, his enigmatic "It Work" as he lay dying, commenting also go for coffee and half-pay. It is, as suspected, that the agonizing glimpse of the line X. But "it work" did not refer to the pump, as one might have thought, but a simple chocolate machine. When James Ford unplug and plug again, the trick works and you can pick up the chocolate (a chocolate Apollo, by the way, you know, as the god of light and sun). Immediately talk about going for coffee, before remembering the end. All this while he dies in the arms of Sawyer ... 

As we did not know the nature of the line X, was difficult to understand their relationship with the island. We thought that perhaps was referring to the pump because the line X the island is sinking and gives all the impression that the collapse occurred at the time of the incident. But it turns out that the line X is fundamentally false. 
Or, seen from another point of view, the line X is fundamentally true. 
It is false that is not part of our world. It is a limbo, an eternal present in which souls pass before taking the final step beyond. It is a meeting point and in this particular case, the meeting place of our lost. As explained by Christian Shephard, is a world consensus to bring together people who went through the experience of the island, the most intense of their lives and therefore fully defines them. For some characters, many years later, at the time of death, the island remains the most important thing that has happened. 

But from another point of view, that consensus reality that exists, as Christian explains, in an eternal now, is more real than anything else. It is a life of the mind. And are not our lives at the bottom mental realities, more or less complex states of our consciousness? If we experience something as real, is not real in itself? After all, the reality we know to exist and we could well be a shared illusion. The shadow of Berkeley does not go very far. 

In line X, each has built the world who would have liked to have, each lives the life that could have been. Kate, for example, is a fugitive from justice, but is innocent (and not tire of repeating). Nadia Sayid protects and prevents you from harm. Desmond is credited with Widmore. Jack has a son. Juliet gives birth healthy babies. Sawyer is a good one. Charlie has his band. Hurley is a millionaire and beloved by all. And so one after another. 

But it is a crossing point, a point in eternity. Or rather, is eternity. There is no beginning. There is no end. Our mind can not conceive without imperfect time, so we have seen the development of the X line as if it were a temporal succession, and probably also those who live and perceive.When you die, you go through this limbo. Then, when you understand what happened to you when you're ready to "let go", you're ready to go to the other side. It may take a second or a million years, but no matter, because in limbo only the present exists. You must accept your situation, you must learn to resign. 
For our lost, limbo begins on the plane. That is the reference point in their lives, the place where most of them were, where he began his adventure in common. The plane we have returned again and again throughout the series, and season six characters from the X line (can we call and Limbo?) Have continually returned to that initial moment. No wonder, because it is the birthplace of their world. 
Only in limbo there is no birth and no death, no beginning or end. 

Now we understand the references to being unprepared. Ana-Lucia Desmond says she's not ready, the process of withdrawal is not complete. And so it tells Eloise Desmond, although it has a more selfish reason to try to prevent the lighting of others, more understandably selfish.Eloise is also a bright, he knows exactly where he is, but want to enjoy more of your child, child on the island had to sacrifice. No one can complain. 
One of the recurring phrases of the Lost "which, incidentally, there are many in this episode, is precisely" Live Together, Die Alone ", a condensed version of Jack's recipe for salvation:" Either we live together or we die alone. " These people, who are last in the church, lived together on the island, shared an intense experience. And then he died alone. Each in its time. Because that's how we all must die. Solos. And everyone at the time. 
Kate and Sawyer, for example, escaped from the island at the end of his adventure. They were among the few survivors. They lived, it is understood, a happy life, or so we believe, perhaps together, perhaps helping Claire to raise her son Aaron. At the time, died. Kate with, say, 95 years, a lovely old lady who never spoke of that time spent on the island. Sawyer, 75, say, in a car accident, always liked fast cars. When he died, came to this limbo. 

Because they stay on the island forever marked. 

And there he met with all the others. Even Jack, who died many years before, as in some form was born, in a bamboo grove on the island. So Kate says she has missed, because he lived over sixty years without it. Because those people do not remember only his period on the island, but remember all his life. An obvious example, we know that Hugo will occupy the post of protector of the island, while Ben will be second in command. And precisely that Hugo refers when he tells Ben that was a good number two. 
(Is it me or the comment on number 2 is a reference to the series The Prisoner?). 
Ben, for example, noted that despite all his life, despite knowing he's dead, he prefers to enjoy more of your situation, you want to enjoy a bit more of a life that resembles normalcy. But we must understand that in no time Limbo. It may take a second or a million years. Whatever. 
But what we have achieved is to meet these people in limbo. Perhaps die alone, but the last step you can take together. In the final transit can be together. Can meet in the church, Desmond may be waking up one by one to those who are not awake. Rose, Bernard and he can help others to remember. And remember it is part of the waiver of the burdens of the past.Paradoxically, remembering is part of the process of leaving the world and moving forward.
 
And is Christian Shephard psychopomp it appears to explain everything, to tell us that the island joined them, now they are together as a result of that union, that the journey must continue. The ubiquitous character in the series, which reappeared periodically, we all knew would be in the final. The final light, the source and end all, an eternal light. Perhaps, as he commented on the previous episode, the same light of goodness. Possibly the same light as the island, which we know is death, resurrection and life. At the end souls will join again to light.What's in the light? Nobody knows, because it is an unexplored region from which no traveler returns no. 
It is a true end to the series. 
And besides, does full justice to its title: "The End". 
After that point, there is no more. 

Not that the series has not ever treated the subject of death. In fact, death is one of the most recurrent themes. There have been deaths of all kinds, from mass killings to personal deaths.People have died for all kinds of reasons, from sacrificing for something or being in the path of a bullet. There are even people who have had to die to fulfill his destiny, as Locke or Jacob. Or sometimes the death was the beginning of something, like the death of Claudia with the birth of their children. 
But even the life after death has been recurrent. From the outset, with Christian hopping around the island, many people who have come to tell you something. And even people like Hurley and Miles have been able to connect with them and talk. The magic of flashbacks we allowed to recover missing characters. And towards the end, Jacob himself briefly reborn in order to count the lost what to do. 
And in some ways, the ultimate nature of the line X is the last great irony of the series, a series full of ironies. One hypothesis from the beginning of the series was that the players had died and were in a kind of limbo. It turns out that not everything that happened on the island was real.What was the limb was exactly the X line, the line happy. 

And another great irony was that we thought we would see a final confrontation between the lost and the black smoke on the control of the island, but we had mostly was a final disposition of the characters, their dreams, about how they would like to have lived and the lives they had.Many lived a good many years after the events of the island. Others died long before it all ended. But in the final moment of the series, they remain important. It is they who reunited. It is they who are still together. Even in death. 
What did we know, perhaps we could imagine, is that we were to have even the journey of the soul, the journey from leaving the body to its final destination. In retrospect, from the end, is almost obvious. References to mirrors, missing children, the coffin that wanders through the world, the chances repeated. We'd heard the last of the old characters in flashback, told us what happened in the island and eventually decided to tell the end of them all. 
The important thing was always the characters. 
The rest could be seen in the series were things that passed. 
Or details of the environment, as the island itself. 
But nothing was really as important as the characters. 
Happy to see Locke eventually worth more than any explanation of the nature of the island. 

But the final, final, gives the line of the island, with the last scene. Jack, mortally wounded, having done its work, go back to bamboo and you tend to die. Possibly, as Juliet, and dying a glimpse of the other world and knowing smiles surrounded by friends. Sawyer, back at the end of the fourth season, he tells Jack "You do not get to die alone." And so in a way, because despite being physically alone, except for Vincent-company at the time of death is felt with his friends. Close your eyes, because now it is quiet and has no withholding obligations, and we see a closeup of an eye, like the one that started the series, except that this eye is closed. It's over. The cycle is complete. 
Vincent is at his side. Vincent was originally the Jack woke up from the same bamboo. He was awakened by an indication of Christian Shephard, saying he had work to do. And it was, had an important job. His sacrifice would be vital to ensure the success of the plan. Jack would give his life to preserve the light. The light which returns to die. 
But neither he nor we had understood the plan. 

When hatched the plan? At what point of time? It was after the creation of the smoke monster, of course, because the plan was to kill him. Perhaps Jacob was tired of their efforts, to convince him that humanity was fundamentally good-no avail. But the plan involves Desmond, so naturally, can only be after learning that Desmond was immune to electromagnetic radiation of the island. 
They may always knew, it is possible that only after the destruction of the Swan station. If it was always, Widmore treated him so bad to send to the island. If not, well, Widmore was a little protective of his daughter. In any case, it seems that this was what happened: 
At some point, knowing that Desmond was immune to radiation from the island, Widmore told Jacob to bring him back. Desmond left the island together with the other end of the fourth season. We should not have left because they were important. In particular, Desmond and Jack were. I do not know how he raised the issue Jacob Widmore, but I imagine it appealed to his responsibility to the island. Did you know Widmore's plan? He knew, of course, that Desmond was important, an ultimate weapon, because it could remove the internal mechanism of the light. Any other person, to approach here, would become a new smoke monster. 

I am convinced that the plan was always that. Desmond had to disassemble the mechanism of the island, which would deprive the smoke monster of their powers, what would become human, maybe even temporarily overriding all the powers of the island. Of course, there are risks, for stopping the mechanism of the island involves turning off the light, and turn the light on the island involving the death of all humanity. But if done well, at the right time, it is possible to kill the smoke monster, because now is purely human. Unfortunately, then somebody has to go down to fix the mechanism. Who? As the protector of the island, which is sacrificed in this way.

Without knowing it, or perhaps aware of the danger but more interested in the possibility of destroying the island, Flocke points to the idea of carrying Desmond to the source of light. That was the great contribution of Widmore just before he died, telling him that option Flocke. Did you know why he died? "He thought he was betraying Penny Jacob and saving or always knew what his role? Should he die to pay for his sins? 
The Desmond is even more curious. Desmond X, meeting Penny, after being properly managed by Charlie and Daniel, recalled life in the island. No, not true, he remembered all his life until his death, we do not know when it happened. The last thing we know about him is that Hugo and Ben were preparing to send off the island, with his wife and son to live in peace. He died, we believe, many years later. In any case, reminded all that to meet his great love. 

Sometimes love is. It is sometimes death. Sometimes it is contact with a new life. Any of these routes is good to remember. And the memory is the first step toward forgiveness, forgive Ben Locke, and also a prerequisite for getting rid of loads. 
Desmond glimpse of the island X line and thought it was a real world. He thought nothing had happened there, that the plane had not crashed and that he had not spent those years going to a button. I thought that going to the source of light could enter into that other world. I was happy, because they knew weapon, final action was known and knew that there would end. End up right where he believed he could escape. 

But the line X does not exist in this regard. It is a place after death. 
And Desmond will not die. Just have to be alive to do what he does. 
For a moment stop mechanism of the island, that combining water and electricity to run their alchemy. And that stops the smoke monster. Briefly it again becomes mortal. A mechanism that essentially looks like a much larger version of the mechanism that Ben used to invoke the smoke monster. 
Jacob said the island was holding a huge source of evil. I imagine that the powers of black smoke arose from that source of evil. Stopping the mechanism, the connection was broken. At that time Jack was able to attack and harm you. 

Flocke The final confrontation takes place on the cliff, just above the cave of Jacob, with all the island's crumbling around him. The ship's flight-to Flocke, or salvation, for others-is near. 
Shortly before have fallen to the depths of the island to stop the mechanism, as one descends into the unconscious. The fight then on the surface, occurs just above the cave that seems to represent internal drives. And the fight between Flocke and Jack is more of a struggle between instincts. There is both good and evil, as the instinct of survival against the desire to die. An absurd battle that should not occur. The island is sinking and if not settled, the world ends. 
And it is Kate who shoots and ends the fight. Is it sufficiently incapacitated that Flocke to Jack finished with him. This is what the series has always defended and is manifested again and again in this final. The need to be united, the participation of all to achieve the intended purpose.It is true that it is Jack who sacrifices himself for everyone else who has been stabbed, who is bleeding, soon going to die. But without the other could not do anything. If Jack is a hero is because it rests on the sacrifice of many others. 

And so it is in limbo. The awakening of a bunch of lost (and on the plane, the entire conversation between Boone and Locke make a lot if we think that Boone and was lit at the time, he already knew. The same goes for what he says to Jack Rose) is due to a collective effort. Desmond starts it, but then will require the collaboration of many others. The last to wake up, Jack, requires various interventions, until the final speech of the coffin of Christian Shephard, to achieve enlightenment. The "let go", with its echoes Buddhist, is a complicated task. 
Subsequently, it is Jack who must descend into the bowels of the earth, the heart of the world, to reactivate the mechanism. And again, you must do together. In fact, the whole plan is a huge collaboration-voluntary or not, among hundreds, even thousands of people. Beginning with Jacob, through the Other, Richard, of Widmore, by Ilana and ending with the lost, the plan is common. 
I said before the plan was to stop the machine, stop Flocke and implement it again. 
But that's say, the final part of the plan, an implementation detail. 

The plan actually was to forever. Show the man in black there is goodness in the human heart.Show that it is possible that humans cooperate and sacrifice for something more important, for the good of all. 
When Jack put back the stone and reactive mechanism, what you are doing, apart from saving humanity, is to put the last letter of a message for the man in black: 
Jacob was right. 

After 2,000 years, he showed he was right. 
And unfortunately for him, the man in black was wrong. 
That's what defeated him, not understanding that capacity for good. He believed that by threatening, forcing, bribing could achieve their ends, could escape to the island. We can not throw it in my face. He had very bad experiences and it is logical that did not understand the loyalty, love and friendship. Having been betrayed by the people he loved most, it is normal not understand. 
Hurley and Jack to help Ben down into the island. Knowing that his minutes are numbered, Jack asks Hurley as the new protector. Do not want to leave this matter unresolved. And down, take your time to help Desmond, who has already suffered more than he deserved. 

Even the flight of the other lost, escaping in the plane, who drives Lapidus. Would be able to turn the world into a paper airplane, "is the total product of the collaboration. Richard and Miles Lapidus help condition the air. Kate and Sawyer stop to convince Claire to go with them. Even in the midst of disaster, there is time for goodness, to help others. Time to take risks for others. 
Jacob finally found a group of people willing to behave humanely. 
And that's when you start many people were unfriendly, solitary, unwilling to interfere. Even selfish. But the years on the island have been good for them. At that Jacob was right, too. They needed more to the island of what the island needed them. 

In a way, Jack is the last component of the system of Jacob, the last of the guardians of the island has to deal with the problem of black smoke. Hugo was clean and gave an island, an island on which you can build something important, an island that is no longer marked by the stain of black smoke. In a way, yes there is a big reset in this series, but it occurs to replace the stone. In some ways, the island begins again, renewed. Hugo can now create their own rules, having been wiped out earlier, with the help of a Ben definitely now beginning their journey of redemption. The control of Hugo will be more humane and people-oriented. The war is over and the martial rigidity is no longer necessary. 
And it has been throughout the series. The long process of redemption of the characters, they learned to sacrifice for each other. All were part of the plan, all their grain of sand to show that humanity is capable of doing good. They shared the same experience. It was his great work collectively. And that unites them. 

The last thing you see before you die Jack is escaping the plane. In it are several characters who live their lives from that moment (going to say that unless the plane crashes, but pilot Lapidus and that plane did not crash or even run out of fuel). On the island are Ben, Hugo, Desmond, Rose and Bernard. But these people are no longer their problem, but Hugo, the new humanized protector. For the first time in many years, the island will cease to be a battlefield and lead a man of peace. 
The war is over. 

But contrary to what usually happens in most wars, mankind it has been strengthened. 
The series closes with the happy death of Jack goes into limbo until now called the line X. Now that we know what it was, the anteroom beyond, the space between life and whatever lies beyond, we can understand some of their characteristics. Chance, even greater than in reality, continuous crossing characters. Even the fact that the line seemed half done, continually readjusted to meet the expectations of its inhabitants. Even the Platonic reading because the characters actually remember what happened to them in life as if the line X was an illusion, that somehow it is. 
The series had already made many references to religion. Priests had already left had already left miracles and spiritual beliefs were out of all kinds. But I think the final meeting in the church aims to recognize the efforts of these individuals, the sacrifice they made. Together preserved the island and therefore deserve to be accompanied. In its limb there are echoes of the Egyptian beliefs, which they considered life in the afterlife as a reflection of Best-of life that the person had been. Hence probably the continuing appearance of mirrors. 

What was the meaning of the line X? I think he has been to preserve the characters. X line allowed us to see them in other circumstances, their personalities changed by the island. If the first season flashbacks allow us to see where they came from, the line X allowed us to see how much had changed and how different their lives would be if any lived with his new vision of things. 
Because Lost was always a series of characters. It was what attracted us and what the pilot kept interest over the years. These people in particular were more attractive than any mystery.The island, its origin, its nature were simply less important. Even the smoke monster, which seemed a purely mechanical mystery is finally revealed as a tragic character caught in a destination that had not chosen. Was not that better? Would we have changed the history of man dressed in black for a list of atomic weights? 

He could have made another final, actually. But the series had already chosen theirs. X line and we had focused on the characters again, so it was clear that they would be the protagonists. In all other cases, as made clear "Across the Sea" or "What They Died For", the explanation is supernatural or mythological nature, drawing on the myth has resonances with our understanding of the world. From the point of view of the series, the light and the ultimate nature of the island, do not have much interest. Or rather, skip the explanation is that the result is better, because it places a story of sacrifice in front of a huge fund extraordinary precisely because it seems not to understand. 
I only regret that we did not see the limb of Jacob, the man in black and their mothers. I would have been interesting to see them get rid of their burdens, forgive each other to see them. What place would have chosen to join? A beach? 
Even within those parameters, I expected a certain end to the series. I am pleased to say that the final offer is much better, I find it much more touching, more human and more interesting than I had imagined. It is a final full of details and subtleties of human behavior that emphasize the fundamental complexity of the universe of Lost. I am glad that the writers have resisted the temptation to offer any other final. 

I'm glad you think above all of the characters. 

This not only closed the show brilliantly, but also has become a work that we revisit and discuss for years.