Abracadabra

Any halfway decent magician knows how to pull off a simple magic trick. Sleight of hand, "now you see it, now you don't", just a little classic misdirection. The real trick is getting your attention diverted for the time it takes to make a switcheroo.

For 5 seasons we've been led to believe John Locke was something special. The miraculous healing of his legs, the man of faith who believed in the island. We were led to believe that because Richard Alpert visited him numerous times in his youth, because he was born of a woman named Emily as a preemie that he was somehow special. How many times has John been told by other characters in this show "You're Special, John", you will be the leader of the others?

Turns out John was just a chump all along.

The same thing could be said of Ben Linus. Surely when his character was introduced he was not supposed to be the leader of the Others. But as his character was well received, he was written in as a major player in this epic story. Once again we were led to believe he was of some major importance. Born premature to a woman named Emily, visited by Richard Alpert at a young age, taken to the Temple to be healed after he was shot, then becoming leader of the others and keeper of the islands secrets.

Or so we thought.

Turns out both Locke and Linus are nothing more than pawns in a game played by two characters we've never seen before and know nothing about. Oh, I know we saw a glimpse of Jacob in the cabin back in season 3. But now we know it wasn't really Jacob in that cabin after all.

I'm calling double dog bullshit on introducing these behind the scenes characters this late in the game. This smacks of Deus Ex Machina.

I am a little angry at being snowballed by writing that has to be resolved via "Jacob made me this way". All the little loose ends are now going to be resolved this way?

It's not really a story about plane crash survivor's after all. It's not about redemption or faith vs. science. It's not about Hatches or Dharma or Sawyer killing a con man. Turns out it doesn't matter if Kate winds up with Jack or James or Hurley or Vincent. None of it matters because
IT"S ALL ABOUT 2 GUYS WE NEVER SAW BEFORE.

This is probably the first show in history that has virtually every scene freeze framed, scrutinized and theorized to death. The writers have taken advantage of this and led us down the garden path with so many tangents and false clues that it has been hard to keep track of the way everything is supposed to fit together.

My favorite tangents:
1.) Ms Hawking knowing the man in red shoes was going to die. umm how would she know this? How does she know Desmond is going to make it to the island to push the button?
2.) Pictures on the wall changing. See episode where Miles pays visit to grandma's house. look at pictures on stairs as he goes up and again when he comes down. This is not a continuity error.
Actually there are a lot of examples of things changing, some I can attribute to continuity (moving bullet wound), but this one is too blatent (and they know we scrutinize everything).
3.) What about WALT!, What about LIBBY in the nut house, What about ANNIE? A whole season in Dharmaville and no Annie? Srsly?

After being spoon fed all the hints about "The Wizard of Oz" and "Through the Looking Glass" and how they both end in Alice/Dorothy waking up from a dream, I was all set to see this series end in similar fashion. Not that I'm dissapointed that it doesn't end in some variation of this theme, I just don't like having a god from the machine appear in the last scene to solve the plot.

We were told by the producers that the show is like a puzzle and we were just getting new pieces every week. We consistently didn't have enough pieces to complete the picture. But we now know that they gave us extra pieces that didn't fit, and were never going to fit. Try doing a 1000 piece puzzle when you are handed 1500 pieces. On top of that, after 5 seasons, they are going to change the picture on the box. Surprise! it's a new puzzle.

We just had the rug pulled out from under our feet, people.

Answer me this riddle, BATMAN

How did Ben Linus know Jacob would be at the cabin? As Ben told Sun and John in the finale, he never met Jacob. Richard would always bring written notes to Ben with instructions from Jacob. Now we know that Richard is aware that Jacob lives in the foot of the statue, so where would Ben get the idea that he would find Jacob in Goodspeeds little shack? What was the purpose of the ash surrounding the shack and who put the ash there?

I doubt Richard would send Ben out to see the mysterious man in black, especially since he said he works for Jacob. Ben was on the island before Goodspeeds shack was built, why would he assume Jacob would move in there? Wouldn't he assume Jacob would hang out at the Temple?
Who or what is at the Temple? Are we gonna get yet another mysterious GOD figure in the series finale to wrap everything up nice and neat?

In Conclusion:

The whole business of this long con, getting Locke's body back and convincing Ben to Stab Jacob seems awfully contrived. Are you telling me that in all that island history, Man in Black couldn't convince anybody else to pick up a knife and stab Jacob? Hmmmm?
The island isn't that big that Jacob could hide out for long, especially since he told MIB that he'd be waiting for him right there.

The whole show is just one long misdirection?