The LOST finale established a bunch of major plot points. (Spoilers after the Macho Trio.)

Tres Amigos y sus armas, muy macho.

They’re not in purgatory. They’re not in a post-apocalyptic future. The Swan Station Hatch, computer, and electromagnetic anomaly were all real, and not just a behavioral experiment. The Pearl Station was the behavioral experiment. The plane crashed because of the Hatch Magnet. The boat is Desmond’s, via Libby. Kelvin made the blast door map. Desmond looks a lot better clean-shaven with short hair. Locke cries like a girl. The Others were faking the whole “primitive village” thing. Not Henry Gale is a Higher-Up among the Others.

The former Island Mystic Shaman, after being told what he cannot do.

Here’s what I’m wondering: Did Libby get committed before or after giving Desmond the boat? Why is Charlie so flippant about Locke and Eko disappearing with the Hatch — is it something to do with his disillusionment with both? Where’s Rousseau, is the sickness real, and is the vaccine really necessary? Four toes? The Whispers — are they the thoughts of the Others? What are Walt’s powers? What’s up with the Hurley bird? Where’s the black smoke lately? Why couldn’t Dharma technicians just automate the keystroke-execute sequence to reset the magnet, rather than need people? And the question that has remained unanswered since Season 1: what do the numbers mean?

This Island was once inhabited by the Simpsons.

A few other notes:

Desmond refers to a “snow globe” — cute little reference to Tommy Westphall there, possibly a red herring to point to the “it’s all a dream” theory. Other than that, it’s possible the island is inside a self-contained cosmological loop, closed off from the rest of the world to keep it hidden — except, perhaps for that thin filament at heading 325, towards which Michael is heading.

Charlie’s loss of hearing is a potential source of inner conflict for the third season: he’s a musician, remember. Now he can’t hear his own guitar.

As evidenced by the big snowy ending (I’m guessing Antarctica), LOST Island is in the real world, and Penny Widmore is searching for it, I guess so she can find Desmond. Poor girl.

All in all, a pretty good finale. As I expected, it raised more questions than it answered, which should keep the fans hungry for more when the third season starts this fall. I guess the pause gives them enough time to go rush to the bookstore and slog through Dickens’ “Our Mutual Friend.” Have fun with that.

More from Crapfilter, Isoceleria, TheoryMonger, TVSquad, Entil’zha, Channelsurfer, My Gift is My Song, and Mostly Muppet. Add Widmore Labs to the list of viral sites.

Heh, slight goof with the Others: Alex accidentally felt up Kate’s boobs.

They’re real, and they’re fabulous.

This entry is to fulfill my LOST entry quota for last week’s episode before the finale comes on tonight. Spoilers follow, of course.

Update: Of course we can’t go on without DCeiver’s latest Pompatus.

First off, they need a typography guy to look over the Hatch Computer font. It’s all over the place: a simple san-serif for “Numbers” mode, and at least two different serifed fonts for “Hatch Chat” mode. Note in the third screenshot (from “Three Minutes”) how the letters have higher stroke weight contrast and thicker stems, and the letter “W” middle strokes overlap in a way they do not in the second screenshot (from the final scene of “What Kate Did”).

I’m with “DocArzt” of TheTailSection on the insufficient plot treatment of Michael’s motivations in betraying the LOSTies. I’d thought he had been completely compromised, i.e. had joined the Others, but instead we’re shown him languishing in their camp for ten whole days before Ms. Klugh shows him his son. Based on that, he is willing to lie and kill for his boy and a boat. It doesn’t seem to be enough to drive him to the point of shooting Ana Lucia and himself (Libby having been a trigger-finger accident). Yes, yes, I know the writers want to show that a father will do anything for his son, but somehow the twist doesn’t work for me.

Another Michael thing: how come the compass worked? I thought the island was affected by an electromagnetic anomaly which made compasses go crazy, so how come Michael can suddenly tell which way is north with a compass? Couldn’t he have just been shown using the sun as a guide? And if “true north” is different on the island because of the anomaly, as was said earlier in the series, wouldn’t he be able to tell that he wasn’t actually going north because of the sun?

Eko in the Hatch: he’s a Numbers fan now, just as Locke now isn’t — but he’s not a believer the way Locke was. I think Eko’s aware that something is up, and he’s figuring out something about the button and the computer that will come to a head in the finale. Charlie’s scene with him was excellent — “get your own things” indeed.

As for Charlie, we’re seeing a rehabilitation of character, not quite a redemption from his Locke-directed anger, but a maturing, a shedding of idols which began with his kicking drugs and continues with his rejection of Locke and Eko as mentor figures. Hence the scene of him throwing the Mary statues out to sea while Locke watched from afar. Claire seems to understand this too, which is why she gravitates back to him. (Whatever happened to the Locke-Claire plot point that Sawyer once pointed out? That would have made for an interesting conflict.)

The Jack and Sawyer “I screwed her” scene should make the Jawyer shippers happy. Sweaty men and their guns in the Hatch, talking about sex, ending with a begrudging admission of masculine friendship and a cocked rifle, I mean, there were enough homoerotic undertones to fill a sequel to Top Gun.

That’s all I have to say. Finale should be fun. I bet Desmond’s on the boat.