Keamy was probably a fake Keamy Jin and/or Sayid brought into the Sideways, like Aaron, like Jack's son, and quite possibly Rousseau, Alex, Nadja etc. Clearly, both of them still had issues/regrets to have failed to deal with Keamy on the boat, and all that happened as a result. I think Sayid wanted to see the good that came out of his final sacrifice too (ie: Jin and Sun happy together), so he got a less tragic chance to save Jin and Sun, and Jin got a chance to save Sun in a way that didn't end in tragedy. He also got to share the moment when Sun saw Ji Yeon for the first time, which probably was a huge regret for both of them, as Sun hid her pregnancy from him at the time on the Island.




I'm guessing the full circle effect was indeed one of their motivations for that scene (which worked great). As for the rationale, Jack was thrown out pretty much on the spot the body of MIB was found by Jacob. I'm guessing we're supposed to understand "the light" deposed Jack there and it had deposed MIB's shell after Smokey stole his soul, and this becomes the second motivation behind that scene: to show that something is different and killing Locke wasn't meaningless, that for entering the Light Jack did not become another smoke monster. He was pure, or maybe Evil was for now destroyed (I begin to see the evil energy the light protected from as something that acccumulates over time, like a charge, and it's the evil/bad/tainted parts the souls leave behind as they rejoin the Light - what made me think of this is how the "doomed" earhbound souls who refuse to enter the Light now and must face their mistakes to move on, like Michael, used to be attracted to Smokey a lot - they were often heard when he was around. By throwing MIB in, Jacob allowed this evil energy to incarnate itself and get out). Whatever Jack and Desmond did, it seems to have " sent all evil safely back underneath the cork, so all that remained was MIB-in-Locke, no longer with any supernatural power (significantly, he never turned into Smokey after that).



I really enjoyed that and the other surprises through the finale. For the most part, plotwise it really didn't went as expected, except for a few details. (and I should have stuck to my hunch about Hugo (which I had dismissed completely).



I'm guessing some of them might live like Rose and Bernard, only elsewhere. Some of the last nameless survivors had regrouped with Locke and the others and got killed at the Temple by MIB, and others were among his followers that Widmore killed with his mortar attacks.

I really liked the Rose/Bernard touch (I had lost track of them, to be honest, and wondered when they had died). I love how it's all implied subtly that they'll become part of the Island's next mythology. For a while, they'll be hermits à la Rousseau on the island.

Another thing I liked a lot was how they chose to imply that Jacob's beliefs, powers and methods were his own, and a reflect of who he was, and when he lived and how he understood/saw the Light. Mom's magic involved sorcery and spells etc., Jacob's was already lot more mystical with some remnants of early shamanism, and he made rules like a game, and imposed them to those who would follow him (we're left to believe Jacob had forbidden Ben to kill Widmore, simply enough, and by inviting Ben to kill him Widmore knew if Ben did he lost the island for good). Hugo's far more likely to be a benevolent hodge-podge of christianism, Star Wars and other similar stuff he caught on TV and comics. And Jack probably wouldn't have developped any power to speak of at all unless his worldview and beliefs changed a lot, because he didn't believe in mystical forces at all (I think this may be why Jacob's magic, like his gift to Richard, vanished while Jack was guardian).

And I really, really loved where they went with Ben in the finale. That was a fantastic, and credible, ending for him, down to the fact he feels he still has issues to face and don't join the group at the end, which was a good reflect of all the errors he needs to face. I also loved that moment where they toyed with us again, and made the guardianship within his reach after he witnessed how it's done - he just had to manipulate Hugo, who was quite distressed, into making him the guardian - but instead Ben redeemed himself and abandonned his greed and jealousy for real). I really loved how the group saved him from under the tree (a sign they considered him redeemed too), and I really loved how Hugo asked for his help, and the light on Ben's face when he did. Emerson was really spectacular in all the phases and states of Ben in this series - I really hope to see him in some major part again soon.

My only minor gripe might be the abruptness with which the long standing Widmore/Ben story arc ended, though the senselessness of it all makes sense in the context of the show. I would have liked something a bit more momenteous, I guess, but then it seems I had imagined there was more behind it then their rivalry to be the leader of Jacob's followers, and the big void losing the Island had left in Widmore's life and which turned into his obsession. I presume that like Ben, Widmore fitted Jacob's pattern of a loner who had not much to hang to in his life.