As you might expect, this article contains many spoilers.  If you have already seen the finale, then click to:

I've heard a lot of bitching from fans over the course of this season.  Basically what it comes down to is, people have expectations, and those expectations weren't met by whatever episode they are bitching about now.  But here's the thing: it's not their show, they aren't in charge of it, and it's going to do what it wants to do.  

My experience this season has been pretty great.  I came to each episode without any expectations, and each week I was surprised and intrigued.  I think time will be a lot more kind to this season than the fans have been.  Each episode had at least one earth-shaking moment, several minor revelations, one significant question answered, and something shooting off in a direction you couldn't have seen coming.

Did you expect Sayid to be killed, and to fall into the magic pool, and to come back without a soul or something, and spend the season dead-eyed and creepy?  Did you expect Claire to have gone uncomfortably, aggressively insane without her baby?  Did you think that Locke would really be dead, and the smoke monster would incarnate in the appearance of his body?  Did you think that Rose and Bernard would somehow manage to carve out a peaceful, "Gilligan's Island" style existence on the beach with Vincent?

The same can be said for the finale. First of all, you know a lot of people are going to be upset with it, because it is going to end the show.  That's understandable.  No one wants it to end.  But given that it IS the end, it answered a lot of questions.  For one thing, it answered the big question: What's The Deal With The Island And Everything.  

There's no law that said they had to answer that question.  In fact, I didn't think they actually would.  I assumed it would all be left vague and open-ended.  Imagine my surprise when Jack's father just up and tells us what The Deal Is.  And best of all, it's something that the show had been hinting at from the very beginning.  I remember by halfway through the first season, a lot of people were speculating that all the characters were dead, and the island was a kind of Purgatory.  Six years later, those theories are proven correct.  

Frankly, I would not have been surprised to learn that the whole thing was just a figment of Walt's imagination, or something.  Those of you who are old enough will remember the season finale of St. Elsewhere, when a long-running and beloved show was revealed to be all the dream of an autistic child.  

Talk about an "Eff You."

The Lost finale was not an "Eff You."  It was a love song to the show, the characters, to life, and the island itself.  The final scene, with Vincent lying beside Jack's lifeless body, is nothing short of iconic.  And that's as it should be.