Okay, so recently my family started watching all the seasons of Lost on DVD. For those of you who don't know, Lost is about a group of people whose plane crashes on an island that has many mysteries and dangers, blahblahblah. The show never fully answers most of the mysteries, so fans often create their own interpretations. So, discuss away! (also, i couldn't find a thread about this, so....)
Right now, I just finished Season 3. What I think the island is:
A gateway between the physical world and the afterlife (tho i'm not sure if it's heaven or hell...). Which would explain why there are people who have already died, smoke monsters, and the like. Any other ideas??

I have not watched the show, but from what I've heard about it, I would just completely hold off on anything until you've seen the entire series. There are so many plot twists and pieces you still haven't seen yet.

And any interpretations that anyone who HAS seen the entire show posts are probably going to contain major spoilers.

that's a good point... well, anyone who has seen the whole thing can still post here (i just won't read it, in case of the aforementioned spoilers )

Just watch it all, it's amazing.

I never wanted to watch it because of all the hype, but now that I have and it's over, I feel sad.

Sorry for the minor necromancy, but I figured I would go ahead and see if there was anyone else who would like to discuss this.

Anyways, I have finally finished watching seasons 1-6. IT. WAS. AMAZING. So, here is what I think happened:
Highlight to view spoiler.
The Island is exactly what Jacob said it was: the only thing stopping Hell from spilling over into the real world. However, I think that it's not just Hell that borders the Island; rather, the Island has some of the energy of Hell and Heaven. The golden light from the Cave, for example; that's Heaven. But when the stone is removed, Heaven becomes disconnected, and a vital balance between the two is broken; Hell begins to spill through, and that's what causes the red light seen in the finale. When Jacob chooses the Candidates, they all somehow wind up on a plane together; their being candidates allows them to come to the island; if they weren't Candidates, I think they probably would've either not gotten on the plane, or died in the crash or something like that.

The flashes sideways: it's a sort of side timeline in which everyone got what they wanted. hurley was lucky, sawyer wasn't a criminal, jack... had a son, which didn't really make sense, but w/e. After all the survivors died, their souls met up in this world; it was probably meant to show them that nothing in their lives was really worth it, because they didn't have each other. Which is kinda touching, in a way.

Other than that, I can't really think of anything to talk about... the Smoke Monster is uncovered, who Jacob is, etc..... If anyone else wants to chat about Lost, just post here!!