There's No Place Like Home, Part 2

And just like that, there you have it -- no more Lost until 2009. But it went out on a very high note, worthy of the spectacular season they've had this year.

I'll start by mentioning the great character gems within the episode. With so much plot to tell, there wasn't room for many of them, but what was there landed solidly. Sun's anguish at losing Jin was painful and terrifying. On the other end of the spectrum, Desmond's reunion with Penny was beautiful -- a truly rare happy ending for a character on this show. And a quiet, but also tender moment was Hurley's chess game with the unseen ghost of Mr. Eko. Plus the callback between Jack and Desmond of their "see you in another life, brother" moment.

New connections were made in the overall story. We learned "who was in the coffin" we saw at the end of last season. (Actually, it was quite neat to pick up tonight's installment exactly where that third season finale ended.) Many had suspected it would be either Ben or Locke, and it was fun the way the writers revealed it by actually having Ben arrive at the funeral parlor to talk to Jack.

Speaking of Ben, we got a fun connection to his flash-forward earlier in the season; we know that he arrived mysteriously in the desert, transported a year into the future, immediately after having moved the Island as we saw tonight.

But answers always come with more questions on this show, and tonight the questions were very intriguing.

First, I find myself wondering about the nature of the show overall. We've now covered everything up to the rescue of the "Oceanic Six," and learned that the flash-forwards we've been seeing take place three years in the future. We know that Ben is trying to gather them all up and get them back to the Island. We know terrible things have happened on the Island in the intervening time.

Given the way the narrative of the show has always jumped around, it seems to me quite likely that the time we find ourselves in now, "three years later," will be the "present" for the show in the coming season. I think the "missing three years" on the Island will very likely be told in flashbacks of coming stories, just as events before the Island used to be told in flashbacks of the first three seasons.

There will be a lot to fill in, too.

Start with Locke. He's assumed his mantle as leader of the Others. And we've seen that will end decidedly not well for him in a few years time. But how? Especially when the Island was moved "to be safe?" What compelled him to even leave in the first place?

What about Claire? Her appearance in Kate's dream, like her appearance with her/Jack's father in the cabin, implies once again that she has died. But how did that just happen? And is there anything more going to be made about the Australian psychic's original prophesy that bad things would happen if anyone other than Claire raised Aaron? (Because that's exactly what ended up happening.)

What about Farraday, last seen stuck on a raft somewhere between the Island and the frieghter? Did they make it back to the Island? Were they lost at sea? It seems unlikely the lot of them would survive, as that would result in another Oceanic Six or Eight or So to have to explain. Yet I also find it hard to believe that so much pipe would be laid on the character of Farraday only to have him end without explanation like this.

What about Michael? Christian's proclamation "you can go now," feels pretty unambiguous to me, given how much Michael had been wanting to kill himself. And yet all that ado about getting the character back on the show, only to have him appear in three episodes and then die? It seems to me they could have had him do some recurring guest spots for that rather than make him a regular again.

And if you even for a moment entertain the notion that Michael not be dead -- proposterous though that seems -- you then have to wonder about Jin as well. Like I said, preposterous. And yet you kind of can't help but wonder...

What about Desmond? He got a "happy ending," but it seems unlikely that it will end just like that. He's now with the daughter of the man trying to find the Island at all costs. It seems all too probable for him to be pulled back into the story once more.

Even the more minor "regulars" got built up some tonight, with the revelation that Charlotte had been on the Island before, and may have been born there. There will be more to tell with her character in the next season.

Is Sun trying to play Widmore in some way, or is she betraying the Island to its enemy?

All this and more, plenty to keep your brain spinning until Lost returns for its fifth season in 2009.

Unless of course that possible actor's strike happens. Dammit.