1. You bring up a good point, and that reality means my brain is all muddled in terms of who said what. But one thing that I’ve noticed now that I think about it is that The Man in Black (let’s call him Esau) seems to be entirely on the side of reason, or at least against faith. He seems entirely uncomfortable with the idea of mystery, and I found it telling that in the premiere he declared “the saddest thing you’ve ever heard” to be the revelation that Locke died saying “I don’t understand.” He encouraged Ben to demand answers from Jacob and goaded him into killing Jacob because the whole thing was just so mysterious.

2. I’ve been using science and reason interchangeably when I discuss Lost’s conflict but I suppose you could be right…

3. “That would show that, when we come to that decision in our lives, it is ultimately divine intervention and our response to that intervention that determines how our lives turn out.” Ooh, I like that. I’m becoming increasingly suspicious that the nuclear blast never actually happened, and that instead there was a sort of divine intervention that spawned whatever that was in the season premiere. Neither realities seem to be perfect for the survivors, so it’s very possible that their happiness and contentment may be based around their response to the intervention… how this happens or what this means is anyone’s guess.

1) Can we truly still talk about Locke as if he is actually the John Locke from earlier in the series? John Locke was killed by Ben Linus, and the figure that ended up with Ben and Jacob in a cave doesn’t seem to be the real John Locke at all. Rather, it seems that Locke’s body is possessed, for lack of a better term, by the Man in Black, or that the Man in Black is making himself appear as John Locke for some reason. The Locke of season 6 is not the same man of faith from previous seasons, in my opinion. What does that do to the faith v. reason argument?

2) The key conflict between Locke and Jack early on was not exactly faith v. reason, but faith v. science. From Locke’s point of view, his faith was entirely reasonable. From Jack’s pov, his science was the reasonable position. If we take ‘reason’ as meaning simply ‘a thoughtfully defensible position’, is it possible that ‘reason’ is the middle ground between Locke and Jack, between science and faith?

3) I just wanted to chime in with my dream ending for LOST – From the very beginning of the show, the Island has represented, for me, a place or time of decision that each of us come to at some point(s) in our lives. Each of the main characters has a flaw or past sin that their experience on the Island gives them the opportunity to either reinforce or overcome. The fact that several of them escaped the Island but were inexplicably drawn back to it shows that we cannot avoid these times/decisions in our lives. We have to face them head-on. Ideally, I’d like to see the characters avert disaster, find redemption and reconciliation, but have it all happen through some event that is completely outside of their control, and also seemingly intentional on the part of some greater being or power. That would show that, when we come to that decision in our lives, it is ultimately divine intervention and our response to that intervention that determines how our lives turn out. I think it would be difficult to accomplish that with a scenario where all the events of the show were erased, and the characters got to start over, but retained their knowledge and memories of what happened. As you stated, it would be too easy/likely that some other choice or decision would lead events down a similar, or even worse, path. I’d like to see the show end with the characters redeemed, but the Island continuing on as a symbol that the important character-shaping choices we face in life will always be there.