Looking towards the end of the series...

[Rick Schu]

The creators have already stated that the lost crew will get off the island eventually. I was thinking exactly how would you end such a great series?

It seems that each of the main characters has made choices that have resulted in great pains in their lives. But they are choices that cannot be changed and it's too late to do anything about it, even if they get rescued tomorrow.

Jack's father will still be dead. Kate's childhood sweetheart will still be dead and she will still be a criminal. Locke's kidney will still be gone as well as Helen (assuming she's dead). Sawyer still has to live with killing an innocent man.

No matter how they change as characters on the island, they will not be able to do anything about these prior choices. Which leads me to believe, that they will be given a chance to rectify what they did wrong. By guessing how it will all end, it will help to explain the mystery of the island, even this early in the series.

Obviously this would involve something paranormal. If this is not the case, then I believe that at least Kate, Sawyer and Locke will elect to stay on the island ("tell them that we all died on the island"). Michael and Walt, Jin and Sun, Claire, Shannon, Sayid and possibly Charlie have the ability to come back to civilization and make profound changes in their lives, based on how they've grown through their experiences on the island. Jack and Hurley, on the other hand, I'm not so sure about. Jack will probably go where Kate goes. Hurley, is screwed either way, because the numbers are on the island and back home.

[TheBigCat]

Sorry, Rick, but I find your thesis short-sighted. As Christ said "Go, and sin no more" (impossible, I know), the concept at the heart of making amends is not setting right all of ones past misdeeds, but setting right those wherever possible and changing ones attitudes so that those misdeeds are not repeated. While it will not be possible for Sawyer to ressurect a man he killed, he just might learn to deal with his rage for the real Sawyer and stop being succeptable to con men who would use his rage for their own ends.

To view the series as a study in redemption sounds like a good idea to me. If anything, we might find at the end of it all that some peole have found redemption, that others have rejected it, and that still others will find that option still open at a later time.

[LostInWilderness]

The creators have already stated that the lost crew will get off the island eventually.
Go tell that to Boone.

[Rick Schu]

Sorry, Rick, but I find your thesis short-sighted. As Christ said "Go, and sin no more" (impossible, I know), the concept at the heart of making amends is not setting right all of ones past misdeeds, but setting right those wherever possible and changing ones attitudes so that those misdeeds are not repeated.

Good point about Sawyer - he does have a further choice when he gets back.

My statement was more of general question about how you think the series will end given that they will be rescued (leaving out those who have died or will potentially die of course. :p )

Let's say that they were rescued tomorrow. Who has grown as character and is likely to lead a better life for it (Michael/Walt, Shannon, Jin and Sun) and who might just be the same (Charlie - if he sucumbs to the Virgin Mary temptation, Hurley) and for who is it uncertain (Jack, Locke, Kate)?