Quote Originally Posted by DaiTengu View Post
3-4 years ago a question was posed to Damon and Carlton was something like "Are the characters all dead and the island some kind of afterlife?"

"No!" they emphatically stated.

Fuck you guys.

Although the alternate endings were 100% pure awesome. Anyone who thought they'd be REAL ACTUAL alternate endings on JIMMY KIMMEL is a fucking retard.

Regardless, I'm really kind of let down by the "ending." The final scene, however, was perfect. The episode was good, and the character interaction was fucking amazing.

I dunno, Maybe my tiny brain still hasn't wrapped itself around exactly what happened. maybe I should watch it again, or maybe I should go online to read half-baked theories about it. I'm still a little confused, I guess.
Here's my interpretation:

Locke and Jack used Desmond to uncork the Island, so to speak, and it started to sink. But in doing so, it made Locke and Jack both mortal. Thus, they engaged in Mortal Kombat, with both men victorious, but Jack more victorious.

Anyways, the flash-sideways was everyone dead. Not necessarily dead on the island, and not necessarily dead in the 10, 20 or 30 years after Jack's death. It was a timeless place where they all gathered after they died so that they could remember their deaths and pass on. It's implied that Hurly and Ben ran the Island for many many years after Jack's death. When Jack remembered his death, it completed his group, and everyone moved on together.

So no - not everyone died in the initial 815 crash. People that think that are completley fucking bonkers and grasping at straws. The purgatory angle has not persisted through the entire show, just this last season, and I thought it was great.