After false lead after false lead, I finally found a version of the 12-minute Lost “epilogue” floating around online and I’m very glad I did.

If you want to wait for the official DVD/Blu-Ray version to find out what happened, stop reading now. In other words: SPOILERS AHEAD, DIVERT DIVERT DIVERT!

OK, so if you’re still reading, you either have watched the video or you want to know what’s in it (I won’t link to it here, as I don’t want to contribute to the takedown hunt — plus, for all I know, the version I saw has been taken down anyhow.)

So … were there answers?

Sorta. But enough more was settled that it made me feel even more comfortable with the ending as it was. Except I’d have loved to have seen Lapidus rappelling out of a helicopter or something. Not that it would have had ANYthing to do with ANYthing, but c’mon, that would have been great.

(Note: If you’re as big a Lapidus fan as myself, check out FYeahLapidus.)

OK, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system.

Here’s what I got out of the 12 minutes:
• Hurley and Ben have completely adapted to their island protector roles. Hurley’s at peace more than he’s ever been. He’s happy, I dare say. Ben, I think, is actually happy to not be running around deceiving and killing people.
• How much did you want to run in, grab that binder filled with DVDs that Ben had and run away?
• Polar bears were on the island due to their ability to withstand electromagnetism and their intelligence. Not of huge importance, but at least it explains why, specifically, polar bears.
• The Purge happened a pretty short time after the Incident – at least in outside world time. Those guys in the warehouse were hired 20 years ago to set up the food drops, and the Dharma Initiative ended soon after. The food drops were due to the Incident.
• Better for those two warehouse guys to think the food drops had been unnecessary for 20 years than to have to explain that there were, indeed, two guys on the island pressing a button, yada yada yada.
• Ben and Hurley are tying up all the loose ends created by the Dharma Initiative’s incursion onto the island.
• Poor Walt. Though the epilogue doesn’t exactly explain WHY Walt is special, it does explain that he is, and that he’s important to the island. I’d love to understand more of why, but at least it brings that full circle – a plotline that was so integral to the island for the first two years, at least getting its due. He obviously has some sort of ability to help the lost souls on the island move on to whatever it is they need to move on to?
• Obviously, the Dharma folks understood why women could no longer carry babies to term on the island – the Incident & the electromagnetism it unleashed. Why didn’t the Others understand this? They obviously didn’t, because they brought Juliet in to help. And if they did, they sure as hell didn’t explain it to Juliet.

So, what did I miss? Did it satisfy any of your burning questions? How much would you pay to see a Lapidus spinoff? Or a Hurley/Ben spinoff? I’d watch either. I’d love to see one-off episodes, a mystery of the week-type thing.