Did ‘Lost’ lose the plot on finale night?

Thursday night’s two-hour “Lost” finale either marks a stroke of genius in the series that just keeps shocking, or it marks the beginning of the end of logic. The event-filled season sendoff, which finally showed just how the famous Oceanic Six met their fate, packed in so many twists and turns, it was hard to keep track of them all. And, as usual, it left more questions than answers.

That’s just what fans have come to expect from the island drama. But it’s not quite the same this time around. This summer’s headscratchers don’t end with the requisite “how will they get out of this one?” and “who’s behind it all?” No, now viewers are left to ponder where the island went and if resurrection is possible. As for the show’s creators, they’re left to figure out a way to make it all make sense next season. That’s a tall order.

Land mass on the move
When Jacob, the shadowy mystery man pulling the island strings, passed on his latest bit of wisdom to Locke, it included the directive to move the island. In “Lost” a statement like that can rarely be taken at face value. Except when it can.

Now it’s obvious that rather than simply using some electromagnetic hoo-ha to change the island’s coordinates or cloak it from view, Jacob was going for the literal meaning. He wanted someone to go down to the island’s “basement” and spin the built-in burrow wheel until the island popped over to a new locale.

OK. A move like that is going to require a lot of “hows” and “wows,” more than one of those Dharma orientation videos can explain away. There needs to be some kind of logic and reason behind it, and while past reveals have proven creative in tying up the loose plotlines, it’s hard to imagine how this one will ever pass muster.

And let’s not forget, the island isn’t the only thing on the move. Ben told Locke he wouldn’t return from his relocation excursion. In fact, a recent flash-forward showed the other leader in the moments after the wheel-turning scene (sporting the same Dharma issued parka and arm injury), suddenly waking up in the desert. Teleportation: it’s not just for islands!

Locke in the box
Sometimes even the explanations just raise more questions. Case in point, the questionable coffin dweller from last season’s finale was just revealed to be none other than the resident man of faith, Locke. That in its self isn’t too hard to wrap one’s mind around, but given Ben’s creepy instructions to send the body back to the island (wherever that is), it seems pretty clear where things are headed.

If the island still needs Locke, even a post-mortem Locke, then a case of reanimation appears to be in the cards. Sure, the dead have been strolling around the island for ages now — just ask Jacob’s favorite mouthpiece, Christian Shephard, but ghostly visages aren’t really the same as flesh and blood.

Are viewers now expected to believe the island can not only cure cancer and bring motion to the lame-legged masses, but it can even restore life? Or will Locke just join Christian and the rest of the undead gang, popping up as needed to creep out the beachgoers. Maybe the plan for Locke, after he completes his role as the new Ben, is to just take over as the new Jacob.

Science meets fiction
In the early days of “Lost,” back when purgatory theories abounded, producers assured the show’s followers that the island’s events weren’t the stuff of magic and mysticism; instead everything was explainable. Well, now it seems they either changed their minds or it was just a great big misdirect, because they’ve clearly stumbled into it-can’t-happen territory and then some.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing for a sci-fi show, but this is a mystery, too. Half the fun of a good mystery lies in the fan’s ability to try and parse the details and figure out what’s behind it all. When it seems like virtually anything’s possible, all bets are off. Suddenly the show has turned into Ben’s “magic box.”

Remember that one? That’s how Ben explained the island appearance of Locke’s bad dad Anthony Cooper — you wish for something, the box brings it. Except even Ben later admitted the magic box was just a metaphor.

In the end, Locke still believed in the box, he even questioned Ben about it again at the Orchid station. It’s likely enough that fans will embrace the box, too. “Lost” is off the map, and as long as the drama and intrigue remain, they’re not turning back now. They stuck through rough times (otherwise know as the second and third seasons) and a little lack of logic won’t turn them back now.

And who knows? Maybe it’s shortsighted to assume this won’t all turn out to be some unimaginably cool (and totally explainable) direction. (Please, magic box!) It could happen.

Ree Hines is a regular contributor to msnbc.com.

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