For our complete coverage of the Lost and the 2010 finale go here.
Every time the Lost season finale comes along, the die hard fans freak out a little, knowing that executive producers Damn Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are bound to throw us some kind of curveball-- sending us into the future, killing Charlie, making the island disappear, etc.
But this year the hints about the finale have been out of control, with Michael Emerson, a.k.a. the diabolical Ben Linus, promising "We have two kinds of huge shocks at the end of this one. Each one alone would be enough to keep an audience eating its own soul for the whole hiatus, but with two, I don't know what you can do with that."
So what's going to happen? We all have our own theories, so here are 10 of mine, along with what percentage chance I think there is of any of these things actually happening. Yes, some of them are a little contradictory, but this is Lost-- literally anything can happen at any moment. And that's why we love it, right?
Oceanic Flight 815 will land safely in Los Angeles. This is what Jack thinks will happen when he sets off the hydrogen bomb-- history will be reset, the island won't be there for them to crash on, and their lives will be like they were before. I'm still unclear why Jack wants things to change so badly, since his life wasn't exactly great before the crash, but his decisions as leader have never exactly been sound.
The problem with this ending, of course, is that is negates everything we've known about Lost thus far, from Desmond's time spent in the hatch to the deaths of all the major characters we cared about (plus Nikki and Paolo!) If the series ended this way, we'd all cry foul, but it's an intriguing possibility as the ending of this season. It fits with the suggestion that after this finale, we won't know how the show will go forward-- there is no show! But with another entire season to find the 815ers pulled inexorably back to the island, there's a lot of interesting things that can happen that won't have to pretend none of the previous seasons existed. Likelihood: 80%
It turns out that whatever happened really did happen. In other words, Faraday was right all along, and they can't change the past no matter how hard they try. This ending solves the problem of having to rewrite island history, and spending next season making everyone return to the island one more time. Then again, it doesn't do anything to fix the current circumstances-- some people are still stuck in the 70s, some people stuck in the present, and no one has Faraday's level of knowledge to get them out of there. Plus, it's not a very Lost-style ending. Likelihood: 40%
Juliet will die. First of all, Elizabeth Mitchell is already part of a new pilot for the fall, which will make her commitment to filming a TV show in Hawaii pretty difficult. Yes, they pulled it off when Nestor Carbonell, a.k.a. Richard, was part of Cane for its one season, but it's a lot easier to have Richard flit in and out than Juliet, a major character. Plus, for all the ways in which Sawyer and Juliet work well as a couple, Sawyer and Kate have been a pair from the very beginning, and the love triangle between them and Jack has always been way too appealing to the writers. Juliet's death would change Sawyer's character even more than it already has, and though it'll take him a while to fall back into Kate's arms, it might create a way for them to come together as a couple for real this time. Likelihood: 70%
Rose, Bernard and Vincent make an appearance. Come on, where are these guys? Lindelof and Cuse have promised that Vincent will survive the series, so presumably Rose and Bernard have made camp somewhere in the 70s, taking care of the dog and living a blessedly cancer-free life. I assume they'll show up before tonight's episodes are over, and somewhere other than the safe landing of Flight 815 that I'm assuming will end the episode. Likelihood: 80%
Jacob is revealed... and he doesn't exist. Locke is suggesting that this is the case, and we've seen before that the island is giving him knowledge that no one else seems to share. But have Ben and Richard really been faking us out this whole time? And how does that explain Christian Shepard? Likelihood: 30%
Jacob is revealed... and he's Locke. This has been speculated ever since Jacob first made that shadowy appearance in the cabin back in season three (doesn't this look like Lcoke in a wig?) That could explain why Locke is suggesting that Jacob doesn't exist, and maybe also why he's planning to kill him-- only one Locke is able to be in charge on this island. Likelihood: 60%
We find out how old Richard Alpert is. I feel confident that ol' Guyliner will survive whatever happens tonight, and live to be a mystical island oracle well into whatever season six has in store. But I think we're due for a little explanation of the guy, which will probably come from Jacob, or whoever is revealed to actually be Jacob. Likelihood: 60%
Just when Desmond thought he was out, they pull him back in. We all know there will be a lot more challenges to Penny and Desmond living happily ever after than Ben coming at them with a gun. But will we see them again tonight, or have to wait until next season to catch up with them, when, if I'm right, the entire timeline will have changed and Desmond may have proposed to Penny after that pub visit and all that. I say there are two hours tonight, so there will be plenty of time. Likelihood: 90%
UPDATED: Pierre Chang will record his Dharma time travel video. On the most recent official Lost podcast, Damon and Carlton admitted that they intended this to be show canon, but complications got in the way. So don't expect this after all! PREVIOUSLY: This is a tough one, because the video in question (embedded below) appeared at Comic Con and has never been referenced within the actual context of the show. But Lost is way too meticulously plotted and anal to leave out something like that entirely. Right? Right?? And yes, that appears to be Daniel Faraday speaking behind the camera, and no, I have no idea how they'll work that one in. Likelihood: 30%
Jack and Kate share some kind of gushy moment. Duh. This is the kind of thing we can't avoid in a season finale no matter how hard we try. Likelihood: 90%
For our complete coverage of the Lost and the 2010 finale go here.
