As much as you can wonder what the Island is and the actual purpose of everything - it doesn't matter. The show is a character-driven story. The Island isn't the main character. Life isn't about trying to deal with all of the random challenges - smoke monsters are a metaphor for greedy opportunities, having to be a 'protector' of something, feeling trapped, etc. They all worked together to overcome these challenges, although they lost some friends along the way.
Rather, Life is about the people you connect with along the way. The Original Timeline was indeed real. Everything that happened. As Christian said, that was the most important time of the castaway's lives. It was when their will was tested the most to survive, to "Live Together" so they don't "Die Alone."
The Original Timeline all makes sense. Well, at a basic level. Of course I have SEVERAL questions relating directly towards what happened - specifically with what was going on in The Source. I'll do that later. But this is my thought process for how it all worked out:
Desmond was somewhat misled - he believed that by pulling the plug (uncorking the wine bottle) that the Losties would teleport to the Flash Sideways. They would be fine. The Island would be gone, but who cares? Desmond was the only one in the Original Timeline that was somewhat aware of the Sideways timeline. He didn't know what it meant necessarily - not that we did.
So Jack makes the "ultimate sacrifice" to save the Island. Hurley and Ben stay behind, becoming the new Jacob and Richard. What happens after that is unknown, and we don't really need to know. The show has always been about Jack. It opens and closes with Jack.
But now the Flash Sideways. As Christian said, it was the alternate reality that the Losties made together so they could "move on" together. Think about how many people have died over the seasons - innocent people. The only people that deserved to die was Anthony Cooper and Michael. They all spent so much time together on the Island that they wanted to move on together - and that was the point of the alternate flash sideways. Everyone was living a life they SHOULD have had - but for whatever reason their flawed lives did not allow in the original timeline. Sure, not everything was perfect, but it was more ideal than previously.
Once they all became "aware" of where they had been, they all came together to move on, lead by a Sheppard of Christians - quite a play on words. They didn't want to move on without each other, so now they move on together, and that was what the flash sideways was all about. They had died at different times, I'm assuming Hurley and Ben died at a later point, along with Kate & Sawyer, but they all wanted to move on together. Anna-Lucia wasn't ready, because she didn't have enough of a connection on the Island to anyone. Michael was stuck because he killed his own people for selfish purposes.
You don't really need to understand everything about the Island to understand the premise of the show. It's about these flawed and somewhat broken individuals who ban together for a life altering experience on the Island - as a group.
In fact --- the Island detracted from the story. The episode "Across The Sea" was VERY interesting, but the episode took away from the story that we cared about. We just saw the death of Sayid, Sun, and Jin. We were upset. People cried. We needed "Across the Sea" to move the story to the finale, but it takes away from the point of the show.
Lost is a story about community. How they react, how they struggle, based on their past, how it establishes their future, and how these people are ultimately tied together forever because of the events that have taken place on the Island.
Random Thoughts/Questions I will forever have:
1) Really excited that it was Kate & Jack.
2) Smokie can't die until the Island is "uncorked?" Can he turn into Smoke or is he then mortal? And couldn't he be killed at the source? That would make the most sense. Is there a need for new Smokie once the form in Locke is gone?
3) Bigger thought/question - What was it that Smokie really wanted to go back to? Doesn't he realize that 2,000 years later his people were gone? What was he going to do when he landed on the other land? Start a blog?
3.5) Same for Richard - where is he going? And he seemed to be showing a gray hair, so he's mortal because Jacob is dead? He has nothing left there.
4) Why was the Source not as light when Desmond went in it? Was that because Smokie had most of the light (turned to darkness) ?
5) What was Ben staying behind for? I assume Alex/Rousseau, but who knows.
6) Still, what exactly is the Island? It was most definitely real, but what was it?
Overall, wow, what a series. I want to rewatch all of it knowing what I know now, but I have very little time to reflect, because tonight we see the end of Jack Bauer. It's like my child/college mainstays are all ending at the same time.
Everything only ends once, everything else is just progress.
I'll see you in another life brotha. (which takes on a whole new meaning)
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