Christian Shephard's coffin arrives at LAX

As the series finale opens, we see Christian Shephard's coffin arrive at LAX and gets removed from a plane and placed in a van.

While this happens, we see Jack in his office looking at Locke's x-ray. Ben is making himself a cup of coffee, his arm still in the sling. Locke is being wheeled off to surgery on a gurney and looks at his empty wheelchair. Sawyer prepares for another day at work and looks at himself in the broken mirror he punched in "Recon."

This sets up our characters as we enter the finale. I'll include the island shots from this montage in the next post.

Ilana makes Ben dig his own grave, tells Sun she could be a candidate

Back at the beach camp, Ilana is gathering bits of wreckage to later tether Ben to a tree. While doing that, she reveals to Sun that either she or Jin or both of them are candidates to take over Jacob's job and it is Ilana's job to protect them.

We then see Ben, going through Sawyer's old stash. He picks up a copy of Booty Babes magazine and the book Justice In Truth In Action by Benjamin Disraeli. There is also the book The Chosen by Chaim Potok in the stash too (a little nod to the candidates being chosen).

Ben pulls out an Oceanic water bottle and says to Frank that he remembers the plane crash like it was yesterday. Frank then reveals to Ben that he was supposed to fly the plane and the reason he didn't was because he overslept. Ben notes that the island got Frank in the end anyway.

Ilana then points her gun at Ben and forces him to the graveyard. She tethers him to a tree with the items she'd been gathering and tells him to dig his own grave.

Jack wants to fix Locke + Oceanic loses Locke's knives

After Jack is presumably talking to him mother on the phone about Christian's coffin being lost, John Locke rolls into the Oceanic office because they lost is case full of knives.

Locke tells Jack that Oceanic didn't lose his father, "they just lost his body." This seems to comfort Jack a little. Locke then tells him about them losing his knifes prompting Jack to ask him if he's "some kind of salesman." Locke replies "Something like that."

As Locke's about to leave, Jack asks him why he's in his wheelchair, and Locke says that surery won't help him because his condition is irreversible. Jack replies "Nothing's irreversible" which causes Locke to give a slightly intrigued look on his face. Jack then gives Locke his card and offers him a free consult.

Locke seems a bit like his, cocky, smoke monster persona. Is it possible in this timeline that Locke is a bit smokey? When he uses the word "irreversible," it seems like when Smokey Locke was talking to Ben and called John Locke "irreparably broken." This scene seems like it could be guide point to this season's story, but we'll have to wait to see how it plays out.

Oceanic loses Christian Shephard's coffin

After Oceanic 815 lands, Jack is called to the courtesy desk where he is told that his "cargo," Christian Shephard's coffin, is not in Los Angeles and the airline doesn't know where exactly in currently is. This will likely be a huge plotline in Jack's new timeline.

So, where the hell is Christian and what will Jack end up doing to find him?

The group boards Ajira flight 316, flight takes off

Jack and Hurley go to board the plane and are greeted by one of the flight attendants, Rupa Krishnavani. They board the plane and Sayid, Ilana, Kate and Sun are already on the plane. Jack is seated in row 8 (hello numbers again). Sayid seems surprised to see Jack on the plane but quickly checks his reaction. Kate's eyes are red and she has obviously been crying again. Hurley boards with the guitar which we can still only assume has something to do with Charlie.

Ben rushes to the plane right as the flight attendants are about to close the door. Sayid seems really shocked to see Ben board the plane and Hurley freaks out when he sees him. Hurley screams "No, no he can't come!" while Jack tries to calm him down. Hurley then says "No one told me he was going to be here." Ben replies "Who told you to be here Hugo?" Jack manages to calm everything down before Rupa gets too involved and then she hands him Locke's suicide note which was pulled from the coffin during the security screening. Once they reach their seats, Jack asks Ben what is going to happen to the other people on the plane and Ben coldly replies "Who cares."

When the plane takes off, an Oceanic airplane can be seen taxiing in the background (photos 13 and 14).

After the plane is in the air and seat belt sign is turned off, Jack gets up to talk to Kate. Jack tells her how amazing it is that Hurley and Sayid are on the plane and asks "How did they end up here?" Kate's reply is "They bought a ticket." Jack thinks it means something that they're all back together on the plane. Kate says that they're on the same plane but that doesn't mean that they're together.

At that point, a familiar pilot's voice comes over the intercom. Everyone, even Kate, seems shocked when he introduces himself as Frank J. Lappidus. Jack gets up and asks Rupa if he can talk to Frank because they are old friends. A few moments later, a clean shaven, sober Frank Lappidus emerges from the cockpit. Frank apparently picked the gig up eight months ago and regularly flies this route. He stops in mid-sentence when he notices everyone else in first class. Then Frank pretty calmly says, "We're not going to Guam, are we?"

That's a lot to taken in. There are a lot parallels between this flight at 815. Ben is late just like Hurley was. Sayid is in law enforcement custody just like Kate was. And last but not least, Frank is flying the plane and he was supposed to be flying 815.

Who told Hurley to be on the plane and who did they tell him was "supposed" to be there? Kate is still being distant while Jack seems to start embracing the "man of faith" role even more. And you have to love how cool Frank is about the not going to Guam thing and it was great to see him again.

Sun is stopped by Charles Widmore at Oceanic gate

We saw Sun trying to board an Oceanic flight to Los Angeles before being stopped by the woman at the ticket counter after she scans her passport. She is pulled aside by security in a secure room and Charles Widmore enters to tell her that he deserves her respect and to question her abou their common interests. Apparently, Sun wants Ben Linus dead.

Sun's passport like the like on tombstone last season confirms that Sun was 24 when the plane crashed.

Does this prove that Charles Widmore controls Oceanic Airlines. He says to Sun as she's trying to get out of the room "They only do what I tell them to do." Hopefully we'll find out more soon.