With the big reveal only a few episodes away, we find ourselves speculating on Lost’s last life.

For those who’ve stuck with it, Lost has baffled, frustrated and bemused us for six years. Monsters, Others, hatches and brothers we’ve sat through a lot of TV to get to this point, so just what might the end really reveal?

Purgatory

Let’s get this one out in the open straight away. Ever since the final minute of episode one people have been speculating that in fact the islanders all died in the plane crash and are therefore stuck in some kind of middle-ground between heaven and hell.
Pros – The religious metaphor of Jacob/Black Smoke man would support this and Richard himself, told us all that the island is the gateway to hell.
Cons – It just seems too easy, too obvious. And if characters are already dead, how can they die again on the island before being given a final destination?

After life

So if they’re not stuck in purgatory but still dead then the obvious theory goes that they’re already in some kind of hell; let’s face it their back stories reveal none of them are angels and Hurley’s Mr Cluck’s Chicken Stack certainly deserves to go with them.
Pros – Doomed to a life of insufferable pain and torment, the island certainly throws up its fair share of biblical apocalypse, and that’s just Jeff Fahey’s chest hair.
Cons – But they’ve got off the island at times haven’t they, Michael, The Oceanic Six, Ben. Just how damn big is this afterlife?

Pre life

So if they’re not dead then one interesting theory goes that none of them have been born yet. The island is a place for new life (Clare’s baby, Danielle’s daughter) so perhaps the island is some kind of preparation of the soul ready for the world proper.
Pros – It would certainly explain the “testing ground” metaphor Jacob explained to us, perhaps only allowing those with good souls to make it to the real life.
Cons – So what lives are all these flashbacks and sideways flashes created from – dreams? Please don’t tell me we’re going to end Season 6 with Jack waking up and finding Patrick Duffy hogging the shower!

Loopy Life

As the last two seasons have suggested, Time is a very important factor. Perhaps the islanders are now stuck in some kind of time loop where we’ll discover they’re actually seeing different versions of themselves at different points in their life.
Pros – It might explain how when anyone tries to escape or plan anything they’re always foiled by an ambush team sporting an array of weaponry – they’ve already got the knowledge.
Cons – If Jack, Sawyer and Kate have older versions of themselves on the island, where are they, and which one is the now slim Hurley. Widmore?

Sideways Life

So eschewing the idea they’re not stuck, nor dead, nor dreaming it all in their cosy beds, a real alternative is that the island life they’ve been living is in fact their real life and the flashbacks, flash sideways the dream world they’ve invented, or like The Matrix been led to believe.
Pros – Several times in Season 6 characters have commented about having an “other life” (notice the word ‘other’) where they can act out their dreams, either as a rock star (Charlie), a brilliant surgeon (Jack), a lottery winner (Hurley), able to walk (Locke) and so on.
Cons – Well The Matrix sort of beat them too it and then screwed up the ending. Is this JJ Abrams way of showing them how it should have been done?

At least in a few episodes time we’ll all know.

Or it's just a six-year sequel to The Truman Show - Ed

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