'Lost' Finale: Mysterious Epilogue Leaves Viewers Debating

May 24, 2010 — -- Whoa. What a finale.

More than two-and-a-half hours after the epic battle between good and evil on "Lost" squared off for the final showdown, the fate of the Oceanic Flight 815 passengers was revealed.

Spoiler alert: This article contains information included in Sunday night's "Lost" finale.

As the six-year series closed, along with Jack's eye -- nice book-ending, producers -- we learn that the flash-sideways world we've delved into throughout most of the final season was a kind of limbo, or purgatory, until the survivors could be reunited one last time.

The general consensus across America in the moments after the credits rolled was a resounding "Wait ... what?"

Click HERE to watch the executive producers share their thoughts on the final episode with Diane Sawyer.

The series' final moments made it clear that Jack Shepherd had died on the island and reunited with his finally proud papa Christian. But the epilogue of the rest of the cast remained up for debate on the Internet this morning.

Some people believe all aboard Oceanic Flight 815 died when the plane broke apart over the Pacific and slammed into the island in pieces.

But faithful watchers will know this -- the island was real. Their adventures, the Others, the Dharma initiative, the mythology -- it was all real.

Sawyer, Kate and Claire made it off the island for good aboard the Ajira plane (accompanied by Miles, Lapidus and by the finally-aging Richard.) Hurley, Ben and Desmond stayed behind to protect the island.

Their fates will remain hidden, though we learn from the final gathering at the church that everyone eventually died, some before Jack, his father told him, and some a long time after.

Those who had previously died on the island -- Sun, Jin, Sayid, Shannon, Boone -- never got a second chance except in the afterlife.

And as the group gathered, both buoyed and amazed by the connections they remembered, they moved on together -- no longer stuck between worlds, able to finally find peace.

Way back when: the first season of "Lost."