As for Richard, he may not have had flashbacks or forwards in previous seasons, but he had an entire episode this season and has been along since the beginning just about. I liked him as a character more than probably 90% of the survivors, and I don’t buy that I’m the only one to feel invested in that character. :D

As for using the “we weren’t invested in them” excuse as to why they weren’t there at the end… well, there were plenty of people there who I didn’t really feel invested in. Besides, are we to believe that the Lost afterlife determines who shows up based upon the investment in folks’ lives by people in an alternate, higher reality (ours)? If Lost wants to have a grand reunion with everyone, then there needs to be some story element which explains why there are notable characters missing. Otherwise, the conclusion comes across as poorly thought out and incomplete.

“But where were Michael & Walt? Where was Mr. Eko? What about Ethan? I don’t recall Richard or Lapidus being present either, and while I don’t recall Miles being at the church, he was at least present in the after life as Sawyer’s partner.”

Michael, Mr. Eko and Ethan were probably not in there because the actors couldn’t actually make it. The actor who plays Walt was 12 when the series started. He’s now 18. Since nobody seemed to age after they died even though some of them (presumably) died of old age, they couldn’t exactly put him in the last scene since it’d be awkward.

As for Frank, Miles and Richard (and you forgot Charlotte and Daniel) none of them had their own flashbacks or flashforwards from seasons 1–5. We haven’t exactly invested our lives into them as much as we had everybody else…including Juliet, Ben and Desmond.

“And how did Hurley die? Last time we see him on the island, he was endowed with the duty to pro tect the island, pre sum ably as an immortal (or as “immortal” as Jacob was, at least).”

You said it yourself. He’s as immortal as Jacob was. And Jacob’s died too. Besides, there’s nothing to say that someone didn’t come to the island that Hurley didn’t eventually pass the job to. But I do agree that I would have liked to have seen more than this.

As for everything else, they weren’t dead the entire show. (though that was a theory of mine for a while) They were only dead at the end and only in the “alternate universe” or flash sideways (can we call them “dead flashes” now?). If Desmond had killed them all back when he turned the failsafe then the rest of the series has no point. And no matter how much you feel season 6’s dead flashes were a copout, I have to believe that the writers weren’t writing for absolutely no purpose to tell a story that didn’t really happen for 3 seasons.

I mean something like that happened in one episode in House and that’s about all I could handle.

Up until the “we’re all dead” reveal, I had the thought that Hurley, being the new protector found a loophole for how they could all leave the island and live happily ever after, by transferring the consciousness of the island characters to their counterparts in this alternate reality/dimension. There Sun and Jin could enjoy their pregnancy and baby, Claire and Charlie could be together and raise Aaron.…That would be a happier ending, though perhaps not as “thoughtworthy.”

I also kind of like the theory that they all actually died with the bomb or when the numbers failed (perhaps, dare I say, even at the initial plane crash). I will admit that was an initial thought I had upon first watching, and that the island itself was a kind of purgatory, That, to me, explained why the previously dead were walking around. I think that was a common early thought.

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