Re critical reading: I spent a long time in undergrad and grad school reading film and literature analytically, and I find it to be a great pleasure. It is the highest compliment from me that a TV show achieves the level of engaging my critical interest. Most are not worth it!

I am not talking about the End when I say I'm disappointed in this episode. Whether the end will be fulfilling or not is irrelevant to whether this episode was all it could be. I think they have been putting in too much filler for a show with this many themes and so little footage left.

That doesn't mean I'm saying people shouldn't enjoy it if they liked it. I wanted a more complete story arc within the episode. Dr. Linus was an example of an episode where the arc was complete. This one they stretched out and I seriously felt that when the LOST logo came up that the episode wasn't properly finished. I'm just remarking on that.

I also think it's a little funny that Charlie had to almost die in order to see a woman who was actually on the same Sydney to LAX flight. Like, he could have turned around and seen her (or looked forward). That's probably a 14 hour flight. And he didn't see her in the boarding area either ... just saying.