thoughts on LOST finale

SO. Now we know. Jacob is a real person. Even though the opening scene is set in the past (it must be set in the 19th century, since it looks like the Black Rock is approaching), I think Jacob has to be from the future. He talks too much like any cubicle-working, Starbucks-going dude from the 21st century. And, as someone on my LOST e-mail chain pointed out, he is obviously using hair product while in the 19th century (see photo)! Ha!

There are so many things to think about for the next eight months. I'm curious to know who is this bad-guy-cum-Locke. Why couldn't he kill Jacob himself? It seemed like he couldn't kill him in the 19th century - does he physically need another person (i.e. Ben) to kill Jacob for him? And what was the "loophole" Jacob mentioned - was the loophole a way for the guy to come back to the island (as Locke), or is the loophole a way for Jacob to get killed?

ALSO, I wonder how this bad guy is connected with the island. If smoke-monster-cum-Alex (or maybe it really was just dead-Alex) appeared to Ben and told Ben to follow everything that "Locke" told him to do, does that mean that the island and/or smoke monster support this "Locke" dude? Could this bad guy somehow be connected to the Smoke Monster (or perhaps even BE the smoke monster, with the "loophole" connected to his ability to embody Locke?)

My sister-in-law and I are convinced that Richard was a sailor on the Black Rock. He mentioned that Jacob made it so that he could never age, and we know that he has been on the island a long time. Even though this was an English trading ship, I wonder if he was a Spaniard on the crew (since Ilana called him "Ricardo.") And mems how Richard was building a boat in a bottle that was similar to the Black Rock?

So, I'm starting to think that the Whidmore/Ben battle might be a Jacob/Whidmore battle (and Ben has been caught in the middle, even though Whidmore might also hate Ben for kicking him off the island (per Jacob's instruction?)). During the finale I remembered that Bram (one of the guys in Ilana's group that overturned the crate with Locke's body) was the same guy who abducted Miles in a van, right before Miles joined Whidmore's crew. That makes me think that this is really a Whidmore/Jacob conflict.

But my theory has also made me wonder about Whidmore's motives to kill Ben - could it be that Whidmore wants to kill Ben so that Ben won't be able to kill Jacob? If so, that might further complicate things if this is a Whidmore/Jacob conflict. Maybe this is a Whidmore/Jacob/Ben conflict (and Ben only knows half of the issues?).

And, speaking of Whidmore, I want to know why he was so interested in purchasing that shipmate's journal from the Black Rock (it was sold at auction during the penultimate season - click on Black Rock link above to read more information). Was Whidmore solely interested in this journal for nostalgic reasons, to remember the good times he had on the island? I think not...

AND the big question: did Juliette change the future? I think she did. I'm curious to see what happens. (And how 'bout that totally awesome ending, where the screen went completely white (instead of black, like the usual opening credits?). So awesome. What a great finale.