Thank you DV. Is everyone calling it this because Noel is? Didn't he run this by Donna for theological confirmation? The what-we've-been-calling-sideways-world does not meet the criteria for Purgatory, unless you reduce both Purgatory and the episode to that scene being about a sort of waiting room for Heaven.

DV, I like where you're going. The SF elements were part of the HOW, they weren't the WHY. This is why I vastly prefer "sociological" SF to hard SF. SF has been used/justified for a long time as a way to explore themes and characters by setting it in a world different from our own.

Nice post. Let's develop your science vs. faith idea further because there are clearly lots of commentors who liked/accepted the emotional aspect of this ep, but were still wanting a few more answers, just as there are plenty (the majority really) of scientists who are religious.

Nice Cheese. I was laughing with a friend of mine about how Locke and Ben's "awakening" came via physical trauma, then everyone got to touch someone's hand.

But what if "we're fucked, we have no idea how to end [do] this, so dont ask questions cause the answers will lead to more questions," is how to think about life. I'm only being a bit facetious.

When Cristian was talking all I thought was "Further on and further up." I forget which but Cuse or Lindelof is Catholic (and the other Christian) and I'm pretty sure that somebody on staff read Lewis' theological stuff in addition to the Narnia books.

Great catch.

I don't get some of the hater perspective. Lost was never a fully conceived and realized story with every element set in place beforehand. It's not a novel that could have early chapters rewritten to smooth out problems. It's a network television show that had to deal with at least:
1) No end point in sight for 3.5…

That's the thing that bothered me a bit about the "everybody gets to be with their love" element. Sure, everyone happy to see each other but Locke doesn't get to have his fiance?

BCBB, neither was Hugo, Desmond, etc. Remember what Christian said to Jack, some of the people died before Jack some of them far after. There are lots of unknown stories here (the whole Hugo and Ben long history that was very broadly noted).

I'm opposed to calling it that. Purgatory is a fairly specific facet of Catholicism that doesn't even officially exist anymore. The idea of it was a place for souls that weren't "bad" enough for Hell, but not "good" enough for Heaven to wait it out as a kind of detention. They were well aware that they weren't in…

I don't what y'all are seeing here that akin to BSG. There's no explicit invoking of a omnipotent, omniscient Supreme Being, no "it's all an endless cycle".

Sideways world was not purgatory, and I'd argue that the church wasn't really that either. My immediate thought was of the ending of the Narnia series. "Further on and further up."

According to Wikipedia (FWIW), he's 52 and always was pretty fit so I can buy that he'd still by muscley and trim. No protruding abdominal organs so probably no human growth hormone either. Stallone though? 64 and lots of hallmarks for the chemicals. Why do I care about this?

Yes on the Lost loophole-kill you reference, but wasn't the "I wish there was two timelines so I could be with Britta *and* Slater, you could be go to Delaware/not go to Delaware" a further reference to this year's sideways flashes?

Nil by disc?
Noel did you learn NPO from the show or did you already know that term? Either way, nice joke.

Blah ep
I'm with you on this being a boring ep. Uninspired from start to finish. Am I wrong that this was the only Quickfire that wasn't a repeat from Top Chef? Sure the challenge was a repeat, but I like them revisiting the Quickfire (not the blatant product placement ones though).

Cookie Monster, I enjoy your schtick. Keep it up.

If you quit listening to anything new, how do you know you were right? Hearsay?

Continuing on from Noel bringing up the EW Lost coverage, and this isn't a spoiler as they'd noted this before, it's practically stated outright by Darlton that their personal religious beliefs (Christianity) have influenced where they're going with the show. The words good and evil are thrown around and I was a bit…