It's going to be a long eight months to season 4

This tidbit from the Associated Press says it all:
(AP) - The average viewer of the 'Lost' season finale two-hour episode said "wow," "whoa," "what the f***?" or "no they di'in't" 32.6 times Wednesday, night according to the latest Pew Foundation survey.

I mean …
Did you see …
And that one part where …

Cripes. Where to even begin.

First off, one huge mystery - Jack was on Oceanic Flight 815 to bring his father's corpse back from Australia. So why why why do we have this flash forward in which Jack makes a couple different references to his father seemingly being alive? Anyone?
Am wondering if we will have more flash forwards in seasons 4-6 - an interesting plot device, though I makes me a bit sad because it seems that at least for Jack, ostensibly the main hero, life goes into the big ol' downward spiral to the point he is channeling Jason Patric from "Rush" and popping hillbilly heroin left and right. Fascinating though that Future Jack is so obsessed with getting back to the island and torn up inside from the lies he and Kate seem to have told (about what happened there)?
And then there's the mystery of who is in the coffin that set Jack off even worse than before. Ben? Sawyer? The funeral home was in what appeared to be a poorer black neighborhood - is that a clue? Michael?
This raises another question - in the past, the flashbacks have seemed to be the Losties thinking back to their pasts, right? So this flashfoward, was Jack actually seeing this, the way Desmond does?

Lotsa death last night. Charlie - not surprising, ultimately, but still kinda tragic. He did redeem himself in the end, though, going from junkie to hero of sorts, giving his life to try to get everyone rescued. How sweet was it that his dying action is to try to warn Desmond with the Sharpie? Realistically, could he have survived - opened the hatch or tried to swim out the blown window? Maybe. But that ain't TV drama.
Then we have a boatload of Others buying it, including Tom. The "Pringles You Can't Eat Just One" award goes to Sawyer, who apparently is finding each subsequent killing to be a little easier.

I would assume that season 4 is going to focus on Naomi's group that has been searching for the island. And one would presume that at least some of what Ben said about them is true, or else we wouldn’t have drama and conflict. My guess - the Hostiles/Others have this long long history of being servants/protectors of the island from outsiders as the island has some huge significance/importance. Maybe it is dangerous, or something there can be used in a wrong way. That would explain why they were at war with Dharma, and why the Others have been so paranoid and secretive with the Losties. Now I'm wondering if the Losties and Others will have to join up to protect things from this outside force, the Naomis.
If Naomi's group wasn't working for Penny, how'd they get that photo and why did they have it? Once the island jamming ended, why did a transmission go through straight to Penny Widmore?

And who saw her death coming? Not I, said the duck. Am presuming that Walt we saw was not Walt astral projecting but Smokey as Walt. And I realize that sentence encapsulates everythign awesome and stupid about that show. Meanwhile, since when did cute little Walt become a 6''8 24-year-old?

Hurley kills someone. Hooray. Jack and hottie Juliet kiss. Hooray. Creepy Rousseau and daughter bond by tying up Ben together. Hooray. Maybe the best father/daughter scene ever - Ben saying he was brainwashing Carl to keep Alex from getting pregnant: "Maybe I went a little overboard." He may be creepy/evil, but Ben gets the best lines.