The End: Ian Rogers Live Blogs Lost

7:01 p.m. — Okay, folks, this is it. Here we go!

7:05 p.m. — September 22nd, 2004… can’t believe the show has been on for six years. What the heck am I going to watch after tonight? “Kate + 8”? Only if the Smoke Monster is a guest star.

7:15 p.m. — Btw, I should introduce myself. My name is Ian Rogers and I’ll be your blogger this evening. I’ve been writing “Lost” articles for BIFF BAM POP since Season 5, but I’ve been a fan since the beginning. Okay, not quite the beginning. My wife and I didn’t start watching “Lost” until we picked up the first season on DVD, but we were immediately hooked. And I’m glad to say, this is the last episode we will have to watch with commercials!

7:17 p.m. — Ahh, Matthew Fox… you’ve come so far from “Party of Five.”

7:18 p.m. — Wouldn’t be a clip show without showing the Sawyer-in-the-buff scene. Ohhhh… Sawyer, never stand next to me in public, okay?

7:20 p.m. — Live together, die alone. That might be the big message of the show.

7:22 p.m. — My wife thinks “American Idol” would be better if Randy went to the island and was attacked by the Smoke Monster.

7:24 p.m. — What show will I blog about once “Lost” is over… Or maybe I won’t blog about anything and finally finish my novel…

7:38 p.m. — Loved that they kept the subtitles in the Sun/Jin stuff. Make TV viewers read! Print is not dead!

7:42 p.m. — I’ve always been impressed with the “Lost” clip shows. Probably because they aired them at the beginning of each new season, when viewers need a good refresher.

7:44 p.m. — Maybe I could blog “What Not To Wear.” Not shortage of subjects here in Peterborough. Ohhhh… snap.

7:46 p.m. — Are we ever going to find out why the Smoke Monster tried to drag Locke into that hole at the end of Season 1? Did he want a backgammon partner?

7:47: p.m. — Desmond Hume… the heart of the show. Pretty amazing considering he wasn’t even introduced until the second season and only appeared in a handful of episodes. And yet, viewers wanted him to get off the island and reunite with his beloved, Penny, more than they wanted the survivors of Flight 815. That, people, is good TV.

7:50 p.m. — “My name is Henry Gale… I’m from Minnesota!” Such a great intro of one of the best villains in TV history.

7:52 p.m. — Final scene predictions from Andy Burns: “Victoria Principal opening the bathroom door.”

Yep, and the shower stall opens to reveal… the Smoke Monster. Those soot stains are murder.

7:55 p.m. — I love that the actors are just as big fans of the show as the viewers. Why is that? Damn fine writing. We’re never going to see a show this good again. Unless they bring back “Match Game.”

7:57 p.m. — All the book references on “Lost.” Glad they mentioned it. I think ABC.com has its own virtual store for all the books featured on the show.

7:59 p.m. — Sawyer teaches Jin English. Wonder what Sun thought of that?

8:00 p.m. — “Not Penny’s Boat.” Classic twist. Who saw that one coming?

8:03 p.m. — One hour to go until the finale. I should have bought some mangoes. Or tracked down some of those Apollo bars online.

8:05 p.m. — My actual prediction for the final scene is Jack and Locke on the beach reciting the same dialogue Jacob and the Man in Black spoke when we first met them (“Do you know how badly I want to kill you?”).

8:07 p.m. — The first flashforward. Absolutely brilliant. It rejuvenated the show after the infamous “people in polar bear cages” season.

8:08 p.m. — Daniel Faraday, probably the most interesting of all the Freighter People. But Lapidus has the best name.

8:11 p.m. — The freighter blows up and Sun and Jin are separated for the next three years. Only to be reunited and then killed almost immediately thereafter. I guess the island was done with them. But what about their daughter Ji Yeon?

8:17 p.m. — Sawyer and Juliet. The best thing about Season 5. Totally unexpected and yet it ends up being one of the best relationships on the show, second only to Desmond and Penny. Kate? Kate who?

8:19 p.m. — “Lost” seventies style! The Dharma years. Now THERE’S a spin-off! Muttonchops and sonic fences!

8:21 p.m. — Did Eloise Hawking know that sending John Locke’s body back to the island was going to result in the Smoke Monster using it for his own purposes? Hmm.

8:25 p.m. — The sidways world is clearly more than just a reality where Flight 815 didn’t crash. The entire lives of the Losties are different. Is this a world where Jacob never interfered with these people’s lives? Did the bomb sink the island? What happened to the Dharma Initiative? Are they all working at the museum in the sideways world? That’s where the benefit concert that everyone is headed to in the finale. Interesting…

8:28 p.m. — Desmond on Flight 815. Trippy.

8:29 pm. — So in the sideways world, the island is underwater… is Jacob still down there? What about Smokey? Is he the Soggy Monster?

8:31 p.m. — So glad they brought back Katey Sagal. She’s great as Locke’s girlfriend/fiancee.

8:34 p.m. — Are Sun and Jin going to make it to the concert in the sideways world? Doesn’t look like it.

8:37 p.m. — What is Desmond’s agenda in the flash-sideways? He’s gathering the Losties together… but for what? Collision of worlds? A bbq? Some sort of Amway scam?

8:40 p.m. — Twenty minutes and counting.

8:42 p.m. — “We’re in hell,” Richard Alpert says, voicing a popular fan theory. One that has been debunked. Also, the island isn’t heaven, or purgatory, and it isn’t a microcosm inside a snow globe.

8:44 p.m. — The island is a cork. “The only thing keeping the darkness where it belongs.”

8:45 p.m. — The Man in Black is one angry dude. If he only had a puppy.

8:48 p.m. — This has really been the season of the Smoke Monster. I’m hoping tonight we’ll actually get a shot of Locke transforming into Smokey.

8:50 p.m. — Ten minutes and counting.

8:52 p.m. — The advertising peeps at ABC have done a good job of keeping the spoilers to a minimum in the previews. I know absolutely nothing about tonight’s finale and I love it!

8:55 p.m. — Damon and Carlton are great. They’re as much fun to watch as the show itself. If you haven’t been listening to their podcasts, you’ve been missing out. Three words: Ezra James Sharkington.

8:58 p.m. — How are the remaining Losties going to kill the Smoke Monster? Does Desmond hold the key to its destruction? We’re about to find out, folks! Grab your drinks, hit the bathroom, this is it!

9:00 p.m. — Previously on “Lost”…

9:02 p.m. — Christian Shephard finally arrives…

9:03 p.m. — His body is still missing in the main timeline, and in the sideways it’s finally found.

9:06 p.m. — “I want to leave,” Desmond says. Where? Does he want to go home? Like the Smoke Monster?

9:07 p.m. — Hmm… immortal Jack looks suspiciously similar to regular Jack.

9:08 p.m. — “He’s worse than Yoda.” Ahh, Hurley, you are the audience’s character. Dude.

9:09 p.m. — So what will happen if Smokey dumps Desmond into The Source? What’s really down there? I’m thinking we’re gonna find out.

9:12 p.m. — Sayid and Hurley back at the hotel with a tranquilizer gun. Ahh, symmetry.

9:13 p.m. — Look how happy Hurley is to see Charlie.

9:15 p.m. — “Oh well.” Ha! Nice one, Sawyer.

9:17 p.m. — Locke wants to sink the island. Ehhh, I called that one. Probably the only one I’ll get all night.

9:18 p.m. — Rose and Bernard! And Vincent! Looks like they did flash with everyone else after the nuke went off.

9:20 p.m. — Can the Smoke Monster even find the Source? As the Man in Black he spent thirty years searching and never found it. How will he find it now? Google Maps?

9:24 p.m. — Ehhh, Richard is still alive!

9:26 p.m. — And that’s how Desmond is going to get the cops (Miles and Sawyer) to the concert…

9:28 p.m. — JULIET!!! She’s there to check on Sun’s baby! Of course!

9:29 p.m. — A memory chain-reaction!

9:30 p.m. — And they speak English! Very cool!

9:31 p.m. — Sawyer is on his way to the hospital… for a rendezvous with Juliet?

9:33 p.m. — Wow, there are a lot of commercials. Wonder why that is… $$$$$$ Good thing the finale is two and a half hours.

9:34 p.m. — Sawyer gets off another nickname. “Bigfoot.” How many will he deliver before the finale? Bets? Will he have one for Smokey?

9:35 p.m. — “See you on the other side,” Jack says.

9:36 p.m. — Jack and Locke… these characters have come so far.

9:37 p.m. — Richard is aging.

9:38 p.m. — Lapidus!! I knew he was alive!

9:42 p.m. — So how is Jack going to kill the Smoke Monster? Harsh language? Shotgun? Make him sit through “Speed Racer”?

9:44 p.m. — The finale is all about bringing the characters together, in both worlds.

9:45 p.m. — Juliet is Jack’s wife! I knew it! And she has a near miss with Sawyer! D’oh!

9:46 p.m. — There’s a storm coming…

9:47 p.m. — Desmond seems to be aware of his self in the sideways timeline, and vice versa. See you in another life, indeed.

9:48 p.m. — Enter the Source and…. commercial. Dang it.

9:54 p.m. — Wow, Shannon… never even heard she was coming back. Almost forgot she and Sayid were together. Season 2 was so long ago. But now Sayid has his memories back!

9:59 p.m. — And the camera moves down the hole away from Jack and Locke in a nod to the final shot of Season 1 with the camera headed down the hatch. And the first hour is over!

10:01 p.m. — Maybe I should blog about “Eclipse”… nope… I’d have a whole bunch of 12-year-old girls gunning for me the moment I left the theatre….

10:03 p.m. — Daniel and Charlotte meet. And…. she doesn’t remember.

10:04 p.m. — There’s Eloise…. oooh, what is she going to do….

10:05 p.m. — Charlie and Claire make eye contact. And Aaron starts kicking… is the baby coming? Will his arrival have an effect on the sideways world?

10:06 p.m. — Desmond is at the center of the island. There’s a stone… a cork?

10:08 p.m. — The water drained and the light goes out. “If it goes out here, it goes out everywhere.” And the island may be sinking… and the Smoke Monster is mortal… damn, this is finale is smoking! (pun intended)

10:12 p.m. — Desmond, who has been so sure of himself since he came back to the island, is looking a little perturbed now that he didn’t flash to the sideways world like he thought he would. And what the dillio with all those skeletons in the pit?

10:13 p.m. — Looks like Kate is going to be there for Aaron’s birth… again.

10:14 p.m. — Desmond isn’t going to take Daniel with him. Some people can stay in the sideways world? Where they’ll live/be happier?

10:15 p.m. — Kate and Claire… memories returned. Next!

10:16 p.m. — And Charlie makes three! My wife may be crying a bit.

10:17 p.m. — And here comes Desmond, aka, Jimmy Stewart.

10:19 p.m. — Looks like Ben is going to get to stay on the island after all… pinned under a tree.

10:20 p.m. — WORST COMMERCIAL BREAK EVER!! Come ON!!!

10:21 p.m. — Who would win in a fight? Jack vs. Locke. One of the polar bears vs. the hippo from the Telus commercials.

10:27 p.m. — And Kate does something useful. This episode is full of surprises.

10:30 p.m. — So who’s going to fix Jack and get him his memories back? Umm…. Kate?

10:35 p.m. — Jack isn’t looking so immortal anymore. That didn’t last long. Is it because the light at the Source went out?

10:39 p.m. — A last kiss for Jack and Kate?

10:41 p.m. — I keep looking at the clock and thinking the episode is over at 11pm. There are rumours that there will be an extended version of the finale on the DVD.

10:47 p.m. — Sawyer and Juliet are going for coffee!!!!

10:52 p.m. — Here comes Kate, Jack! You’re the last one left! Time to start remembering.

10:53 p.m. — Jack is still resisting the memories. He has to let go.

10:55 p.m. — Jack is going to make Hurley the next protector of the island. Called it!

10:56 p.m. — Is Hurley going to make Ben his new adviser? His new Richard?

11:01 p.m. — Wow, I was really expecting that plane to explode when Lapidus started it up.

11:03 p.m. — Jack just put the cork back in. If the Source refills and he’s still inside, will he become the new Smoke Monster?

11:05 p.m. — Please don’t explode the plane… that would be so mean.

11:07 p.m. — Maybe Jack will be a good Smoke Monster, since he doesn’t have the anger the Man in Black had when he was changed. Now THAT would be a good spin-off. “Hurley and Jack the Smoke Monster: Island Adventurers.”

11:11 p.m. — The connection with Kate didn’t work. Maybe Jack is going to get his memories back after seeing the body of his father.

11:13 p.m. — And Locke is walking… again. Nice apology, Ben. It actually felt like you meant it this time.

11:14 p.m. — I’m waiting for Jack to come out of the cave as a column of smoke. White smoke? A nicer sound? Trumpets?

11:18 p.m. — Guess it makes sense. It was Christian’s death that put Jack on Flight 815. Stands to reason the show should end with Jack finally making it to the funeral. Ahh, closure.

11:20 p.m. — I’m guess this is Eloise Hawking’s church, the one built on top of the Lampost station. The one that leads the way to the island. Are the people who attend the funeral all going back?

11:21 p.m. — Oh boy. Christian alive. Didn’t see that coming.

11:22 p.m. — Are they all… dead?

11:27 p.m. — Oh thank god, I thought Christian was going to say they all died on the plane. That was close to ruining it!

11:28 p.m. — Full circle for Jack. He’s going to die right where he woke up on the island in the very first episode.

11:30 p.m. — Fantastic finale. Like all great finales, it was a total surprise, but once you see it, you realize it couldn’t have ended any other way.

Now the discussions will begin. Why didn’t Ben “move on”? Did he not die yet? Is there something more to moving on besides dying? Some kind of acceptance? redemption? I promise to get to all of these once I’ve had a couple days to absorb this truly monumental episode. The only thing I know — the only thing that matters — is that I wasn’t disappointed. I loved it. I was right about a few things, but my predictions for the last scene were totally wrong. And I couldn’t be happier. Stay tuned for my final article, which should be online within the next few days. Thanks for tuning in. Namaste.