The finale of Lost is the most misunderstood of all time.

Upon its airing in 2010, the divisive two-parter sent a large sector of disappointed fans away with a painfully incorrect chorus of “they were dead all along.”

Fortunately, we’re on hand to debrief you on what actually happened in that final scene so that the next time someone makes the above statement – most probably after working their way through the series now it’s been added to Amazon Prime – you can roll your eyes and direct them to this.

BEWARE – major spoilers for the ending of LOST follows. If you haven’t seen, we suggest you buy the box set and watch right away while following along with new podcast ‘The Lost Boys’

The final ever scene of Lost – in aptly titled episode “The End” – is intercut between events on the island and an alternate timeline known as the flash-sideways – scenes that replace the flashbacks and flashforwards for the entire final season.

These flash-sideways scenes are presented as a result of Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) detonating the hydrogen bomb in the closing moments of season five and show what would have happened had Oceanic Flight 815 landed safely.

All season long, viewers see the characters rubbing shoulders with one another in LAX, unaware of events shown in the previous five seasons.

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Eventually, events draw these characters together, something that sparks them recalling their time on the island, which leads to the final scene’s revelation: they are actually dead in these flash-sideways sequences, which is essentially a netherworld the survivors created in order to congregate so they can move on to “whatever comes next” together.

So, to clear up the confusion – in the flash-sideways scenes, these characters are dead. But no, they were not dead all along.

It’s the flash-sideways that depict an afterlife which the characters constructed for themselves, due to their time on the island – which was completely real from start to end – being the most important part of their respective lives. The characters present in that final church scene are characters both dead and alive in island time, meaning several characters (Kate, Sawyer and Claire included) went on to live a full life beyond the series finale.

These flash-sideways scenes are where they come when they finally do pass on, whenever that may be. When broken down, it’s a beautiful and reassuring depiction of the afterlife.

The plane crash, the smoke monster, the hatch, the island – it was all real.

Of course, it almost all ended rather differently...

If you’re a longtime fan of Lost or simply looking for a new series to start, subscribe to new podcast The LOST Boys following two of our writers’ respective journey watching from the very beginning – one for the first time, the other for the eighth.