[Buck]

Originally Posted by Mile High Mania

I think it's hardly that...

I've had mixed thoughts on the ending, but as I think about it more... I really do think you could interpret about 4-5 solid ways to sum of the meaning of the show. I don't have the time to go through them and at some point, I'll try to wrap my arms around them and type them.

However, I do think that the notion of this just being all in Jack's mind is a bit simplistic... it's too obvious. Remember what Flocke said to Jack when he realized he was the replacement for Jacob? He said something like "You are the one? Don't you think that's a bit too obvious?" Something to that nature... then as we find out, it wasn't Jack after all ... it was Hurley. Jack had to be the 'intermediate replacement' in order for Flocke to become mortal, then Hurley would ultimate take over his role.

So, I think once things settle and I can digest it more... I'll be able to make more sense of it.

Did Ben not go into the church because Danielle and her daughter weren't there - meaning they had not died yet? Where were the kids (Aaron, Sun and Jin's baby, Desmond and Penny's child).

Ben didn't go in because he wasn't ready to move on yet, he wasn't ready to give up on living with Alex and Danielle, which he didn't have enough time to do while he was living. He is already dead in the real timeline by this point, IMO, they all are.

What's the deal with Locke saying to Jack (twice) that he didn't have a son (this was after the surgery). What's the story there? Who was the kid then and how would Locke know?

IMO, Jack created the son in his head because of all the father issues he had, and he wanted to do the right thing and prove to himself he could be a good dad, a better one than he had.

Same with Walt, he wasn't there because he had not died ... we learned previously that Michael said he was essentially "stuck on the island... part of the whispers". Where was Ecko... was he there with Michael - trapped?

Again, I think Walt was dead by this point in time (lets say it was 100 years into the future). I don't think that Walt, Michael, Eko, Mr. Friendly, Mikhail, Nikki, Paulo, etc. were there because they weren't as important to eachother as the rest of them. Like Christian said, they all created this place because they needed eachother, they needed to remember before they could move on. They didn't need those people to do so. I think they could have gotten away with having Walt and Michael there, but it worked just as well without them.
I think it's interesting how the Jacob/Richard roles wound up being Hurley/Ben in the end...

I think "seeing this through Jack's eyes and it's all a dream" is a bit too simplistic. Sure, it's a definite possibility, but I think it's just one of several ways to interpret it.

Yeah, no. The Ending is what it was, and End. The episode was called "The End." It was time for their story to be over, so they (the characters) ended it by finding eachother before passing on. The Alt was basically in the future after they all died. If you remember, Hurley said to Ben, "You were a great #2." (Or something just like that)...This means that Ben was no longer a #2. Hurley had to have died too, everyone there was dead.