I think I crashed your plane, brother. (Lost finale, illustrated)

Episodes like this are why we watch. I'm still so stoked about this one I even did some screen captures. Viola:


If Al-Qaeda knew how to do this, we'd be screwed.


So Desmond comes back, albeit unwittingly, and his backstory reveals much about the mysteries of the island. For instance, we learn that pressing the button does do something after all--it discharges the build-up of electromagnetic force from Dharma's botched experiment there. And not pressing it has dire consequences, like sucking planes out of the sky. Oops. Does Hallmark make an apology card for something like that?

We also meet Kelvin for the first time, and realize we already know him...as the government agent Sayid worked with in Iraq. He and his former hatchmate were responsible for painting the blacklight map Locke discovered, and it turns out he has something to say about a self-destruct failsafe under the computer room. When Locke stubbornly refuses to push the button, it becomes Desmond's responsibility to "blow the dam."

As for Desmond's sailboat, it wasn't quite as destroyed as we originally thought, and it becomes useful in Sayid's plan to ambush the Others. And proving once again what a small world it is, we discover the boat originally belonged to...(drumroll please)...Libby's husband.


It was Earth all along! An Earth full of four-toed people, that is.


So Sayid takes Jin and Sun for a ride on Desmond's sailboat to the north side of the island (to engage what Desmond calls "the hostiles") only to discover something entirely new that's troubling: somewhere, somehow, a giant statue is missing a foot. And they have plenty of time to gawk since Michael isn't leading Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley anywhere near the shore. In fact, our party of five (sorry, couldn't resist the reference to another Matthew Fox show) stumbles upon a pile of notebooks from The Pearl's pneumatic tube delivery system. And on the other side of the island, Desmond proposes that maybe the psychological experiment being conducted there was really on the inhabitants of Station 5...which means maybe "the button" isn't a hoax after all.


The Others are really into bondage.


Meanwhile, Michael is able to complete his deal with the Others when they catch up to his hunting party in the jungle. Surpringsly, they make good on their promise to give him Walt and the motorboat and they even tell him what heading to take to get rescued. Hugo is freed as a cautionary tale, and Jack, Kate, and Sawyer end season two bagged and gagged at the hands of their captors, who include our friend "Henry Gale" in a suspiciously authoritative role.

The fates of Locke, Eko, and Desmond are also up in the air when Charlie is only one to return from the hatch after our merry button pushers blow it to hell in a flash of light and a deafening hum.

Oh, and one more thing. Desmond's long-suffering lover is Penny Widmore. Why does that last name keep popping up? Season two ends with a couple of Italian guys at an arctic monitoring station calling her after their equipment picks up the destruction of the hatch's electromagnet.

And scene. Fade to black.

To recap...

What we learned:

what the button does and the consequences for not pushing it

what caused Flight 815 to crash

Desmond's connection to Libby

who made the invisible map on the blast door

where the logbooks from The Pearl really go

What we still don't know:

just who the hell are the Others already and what are they up to?

is the Dharma Initiative still active or not?

are the two connected, as Sawyer suggests?

is "Henry" Him (their leader)?

what about the polar bear, the smoke monster, and the other miscellaneous unexplained phenomenon?

New things to ponder:

what's up with that statue, anyway?

who is Penny Widmore really and what exactly does she know about the island?

Until next spring, Namaste.