My take on some unresolved issues :-) by Stupot

With some of these I may have either missed the point or I may be stating what seems obvious to others, but here is my take on a few issues that were never specifically resolved in the finale.

What exactly IS the Island?

In the end it turns out the biggest question of them all doesn't actually matter. The island itself had no bearing on the ultimate ending of the show. It just happens that our characters had a bit of an adventure on a crazy Island before they died. This ending conveniently dodged the question 'What IS the Island?'.
Or did it?
I think we have been given hints the whole time. When Jacob described the Island as a cork keeping the evil out of the rest of the world I assumed he was talking about MIB. But then I remembered what Widmore said about everyone ceasing to exist.
The 'evil' that Jacob spoke of was what was causing the Island to crumble and had Jack not plugged the cork back in the hole, this crumbling would have not only sunk the Island, but would have spread around the globe, swallowing everything in existence, perhaps the universe itself, like a black hole of malevolence sucking up existence itself.

What was Widmore's role?
We never really did get a satisfying explanation as to why Widmore was so intent on coming back to the Island. I think we were thrown off by his conversation with Ben claiming 'The Island is mine!', suggesting he was just after the power and wanted to abuse the Island's mystic resources. In fact it turns out to be that he was genuinely trying to save the world.
We know Jaocb brought Widmore to the Island, so I think Jacob also shared with Widmore the information about the black hole and the need to protect it. The only problem was that the plug had to be pulled breifly in order for MIB to be killed. And Jacob knew this. He also knew that Widmore had access to the only man in the world who could pull the plug without dying... Desmond.
So really Widmore's role was more important than it SEEMED after watching the finale... and he was definitely a good guy in the end.

Why do hurley/miles see/speak to dead people?
Maybe pretty obvious, but I think they somehow had mental access to the ALT universe (AKA purgatory). I also think that the people in the ALT, once they 'awakened' were able to communicate to the real Hurley and Miles somehow. This would explain the visions Hurley had of Ana-lucia and Charlie when he was off-Island, and Michael etc when he was off Island.
Miles was able to communicate with people totally unrelated to the 815ers, but then again, he could only speak to the 'recently' dead, so perhaps he could only communicate with people 'before' they had moved on to their respective ALTs.

Why the time travel?
Again, this question doesn't seem to even matter in light of the series finale. The ALT turned out not to be a timeline at all, so it really renders the whole time-travelling saga rather irrelevent to the overall point of the show. However, I enjoyed the time-travel while it happened and glad it did. I just wish it was somehow tied in with the ending rather than being merely a cheeky plot device to get people where they needed to be.
Still, why does this magic light in a cave cause the island to travel through time when the wheel is turned? I'll have a go at answering this... I think it is simply because that is what MIB (before he got smoked) WANTED happen. The Island had a strange habit of giving people what they wanted. Like Ben's Magic Box, the Island seems to bend the rules of physics and logic as if someone has wanted it badly enough. I think the magic donkey wheel worked because one a man dress in black built it hoping it would work.
So 2000 or so years later, the wheel is still there and it still works.

The food drops?
So we know that the food drops were to supply the Dharma folk with stuff while they were on the Island. But it doesn't expalin why the drops were still happening 10 years after the purge, and if the Island was so damn difficult to find, then who was supplying the food?
Well... based on what I just said about the donkey-wheel, I think it was infact the Island who provided the food drop after the great scenes in Lockdown. There were enough starving people on the Island, HOPING/WANTING food to appear from nowhere. And the island (not wanting to let anybody die before their time) provided them with the food.
Why was it all covered in Dharma logos then? Well if Dharma were getting regular food drops while they were active, then the Island would know this. Perhaps the food drop in Season 2 was actually plucked out of time. I'm willing to bet that there was a food drop that mysteriously disappeared at some point in the 80s, and thats because it was brought to 2004 to feed our starving candidates.

Sorry if this was a bit long.
I hope I've given some people food (no pun intended) for thought.
Please discuss.