The opening shows alternating scenes between the sideways timeline in 2004 and the original 2007 timeline, in which the alternate ‘sideways’ timeline of 2004 turns out to actually be a type of purgatory, where the characters remain until they are reunited with those most important to them, and according to Christian Shephard are ready to “let go” and “move on”. All former series regulars who appear (Ian Somerhalder, Dominic Monaghan, Jeremy Davies, Maggie Grace, Cynthia Watros, Rebecca Mader and Elizabeth Mitchell) are restored in the main cast in this episode. Also, guest stars L. Scott Caldwell, Sam Anderson, Fionnula Flanagan, John Terry, Sonya Walger and François Chau as Dr. Pierre Chang are upgraded to the main cast in these final episodes. This is the first time François Chau has ever been credited on the show in any capacity.

2007

Following the events of “What They Died For”, Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), Kate Austen (Evangeline Lily) and Hugo “Hurley” Reyes (Jorge Garcia) head to the heart of the island while James “Sawyer” Ford (Josh Holloway) goes to the well to help Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick). At the well, Sawyer is confronted by Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) and the Man in Black. After the Man in Black reveals of his plan to destroy the island, Sawyer steals Ben’s rifle and reunites with Jack’s group. Jack then tells Sawyer that he plans to confront the Man in Black at the heart of island. At the same time, Desmond, having been rescued by Rose Henderson (L. Scott Caldwell) and Bernard Nadler (Sam Anderson) (who have also travelled through time in “LA X”), is confronted by the Man in Black. The Man in Black threatens to kill Rose and Bernard if Desmond does not come with him, and Desmond agrees to go with him. Meanwhile, Miles Straume (Ken Leung) finds a now aging Richard Alpert and they set to destroy the Ojira plane. Along the way, they rescue Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey) from the wreckage of the submarine.

On the way to the heart of the island, Jack’s group encounter the Man in Black, Ben and Desmond. Jack tells the Man in Black that he is going to kill him, and together with Desmond, they travel to the heart of the island. Jack believes that Desmond can kill the Man in Black because he thinks Jacob brought him back not as bait but as a weapon. Desmond tells Jack that destroying the Island and killing Locke doesn’t matter because he is going down to the heart of the island to the other reality. Jack and the Man in Black lower Desmond down to the heart of the island and he reaches a chamber, leading to a glowing pool with an elongated stone at its centre. Immune to the pool’s electromagnetic energy, Desmond manages to remove a giant stopper in the centre of the pool. However, the light goes out, and as the Man in Black predicted, sets about the destruction of the island with the unforeseen side-effect of making both Jack and the Man in Black mortal again. After a prolonged fight, Jack is able to kill the Man in Black after Kate shoots him. However, Jack is mortally wounded in the process and after professing his love for Kate, he decides to return to the heart to prevent the destruction of the island. Sawyer and Kate decide to leave the island while Hurley and Ben follow Jack.

Kate and Sawyer travel to the site of the Ojira Airlines plane where Lapidus, Richard and Miles have been quickly trying to make it air-worthy. After convincing Claire to leave, Kate, Sawyer, Richard, Miles, and Frank board the plane, which successfully takes off. Jack leads Hurley and Ben back to the heart of the island, where Jack offers an emotional Hurley to take over as the protector of the island. Jack goes down the light and rescues a barely conscious Desmond from death but cannot save himself. Jack manages to restore the light and is enveloped in the light that surrounds him. Hurley, in his role as the new protector of the island, decides to help Desmond get home and asks Ben to be his right-hand man. Hurley also decides to change things so people can come and go from the island at will and not be stuck there like in the past. Jack reawakens outside by a river and walks toward the spot where he woke up for the first time on the island. After collapsing, Vincent the dog approaches him as he happily watches the plane fly by, and he slowly closes his eyes, mirroring the first shot of the series of Jack’s eye open.

Flash-sideways

Desmond continues to gather the Islanders who begin to recollect their time on the Island. Each member begins to recognize one another based upon close contact with a person or object that was important to them throughout their time on the Island. Eventually most of them congregate inside a church, with Ben being the sole member who elects to stay outside. Kate instructs Jack to enter through the church back, where he encounters his father’s coffin. The coffin acts as the anchor for Jack’s memories after earlier contact with Locke and Kate met with resistance on his part to believe what he was seeing. He then opens the coffin and discovers it to be empty. Christian Shephard (John Terry) then appears to Jack, who asks his father how he is here. Jack then realizes that he must have died, and is emotionally embraced by his father, who reassures him that the people he has met and the events leading up until now not only happened, but that “The time you spent with these people was the most important period of your life.” Christian states that “you made this place so you could find each other”, independent of the time at which they died, and move on to “the next phase” together, as in that place time had no meaning. Jack and Christian go out into the church to meet the others.

After an emotional reunion, Christian opens the front doors of the church, which releases a bright light, not unlike the light at the heart of the island. It eventually blankets everyone inside the church.

Epilogue

Uniquely throughout the entire run of the series, instead of being displayed upon a black background the closing credits are shown alongside various shots of the wreckage of Oceanic 815 resting on the beaches of the Island.

“The End” is the series finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 17th and 18th episodes of season 6. It is also the 120th and 121st episodes overall. The episode aired simultaneously on ABC in the United States, CTV in Canada, Fox in Italy and Portugal, Fox and Cuatro in Spain, DiziMax in Turkey and Sky1 in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland at 9pm Pacific Time on May 23, 2010. It was written by co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse, and directed by executive producer Jack Bender. Unlike the previous season finales, which were two hours long with advertisements, the series finale was expanded by half an hour; running two and a half hours starting at 9/8c, with a retrospective of the past six seasons running for two hours, starting at 7/6c.

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