LOST was perfect, almost... by chewdoggus

I absolutely loved LOST from the first opening eye to the final moments as a Vincent and Jack lay in the bamboo field. The show was moving, at times funny, and always kept me thinking. Although I enjoyed "The End" as a stand alone episode, I did not love it as the FINALE of the entire show and the story that was told over 6 seasons. It was a great twist to end the ALT timeline as purgatory, but we only experienced this world for one season. What about the 5 previous seasons and the mysteries that were set up but never resolved. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want the producers/writers to just list every mystery and then answer it; but I feel as if one story was being set up over the first 5 seasons and than a different story was completed in the finale. Maybe this is the case, the writers were forced to change from the original path do to things beyond their control (fans figured out the secret too soon, casting issues, timing - not enough or too much). With that said I think it was possible to keep everything exactly as it was created, but add a few lines of dialogue to tie the 3 worlds/stories together and actully shine some light on some of the biggest mysteries.

So onto my theory: To me the story was always a circle, you are born continue living life. You crash on an island. You die: old, young, accident, murder, on island or off island, doesn't matter. Then you get to come back for another attempt- maybe from birth, maybe from some point else in your life; your consciousness flashes back into your life. Maybe you are completely aware of this "rebirth" (Mrs Klue, Patchy, etc), maybe partially aware (Locke - knowing when a storm is going to start, Sawyer saying I made the wish 3 years ago while kissing Kate, etc). When we were watching the story sometimes we were watching multiple attempts, which would explain many continuity errors. The picture frames were different when Miles was ghostbusting because we were watching 2 different attempts in one scene. The results of these attempts were often different leading up to the ultimate goal. I think this circle theory could explain alot of unsolved mysteries

They could have used this angle without changing "The End" very much. When Christian was explaining to Jack that they are in pergatory and Jack asks if he died too, he could then remember all the times he died (maybe some of them we saw) and Christian could explain the circle was over as he finally reached his goal and the rest of the episode could have stayed the same. They would still be moving on, as all their circles are closed. Just adding this extra level that they experienced these things multiple times.