The alternate timeline was sort of like purgatory, but probably more buddhisty than Christian. They all sort of reached their happy ending there before moving on.
But everything that happened on the island was real and really happened.
I was hoping for some explanation of what the hell the island was, who put it there, who was that lady who killed Jacob's mom and raised them, where was the smoke monster trying to get to, etc. But they went with a sort of "it just is" on all of that.
The church scene was a bit hokey, but it was for the chicks in the audience.
Now comes the spin-off series. With Miles, Richard, Lapidus, Kate, crazy Clair and Sawyer living in LA with Aaron and the Sun/Jin baby, with nine-foot tall Walt playing for the Lakers. Hurley, Ben, Rose and Bernard still on the island, looking for a new smoke monster.
And whatever became of Faraday? And that creepy mother of his who killed him? Where the hell is she going?
One more season!
The writers were treading too close to an admixture of Eastern and Catholic “spirituality.” I wanted science fiction.
I think you answered your own question there, dead. LOL
Only a few of the many people in LOST showed up at the church. I am not sure we shouldn’t infer that some of the others might be in the church but the producers couldn’t work out principal photography contracts in time. Still, as you point out, Faraday isn’t there, nor is his mother, nor Michael, nor Walter, nor any of the others who didn’t click with any of our principals. Lapidus isn’t there and if anybody has developed from the beginning, he did.
So maybe they didn’t quite think things through enough, or, as you say, ran out of episodes and couldn’t be bothered to invite Jeff Fahey for the church shoot (we could safely infer his life in the sideways reality from that event, yes?)
I loved the episode but it didn’t answer the questions that have been with me since the beginning...I think that bodes well for a movie.