I think that they were trying to tell us that the plane actually crashed and it was all real. The losties dying on impact would mean that the hole show was based in a purgatory where you can time travel and die.
Christian tells Jack that he needed these people to help him remember and let go which means to me that they died in the crash but that doesn't make sense in a lot of ways including the quote in my signiture. Why would Michael tell Hurley not to get himself killed if Hurley was already dead?
I thought this had 0 significance whatsoever to what actually happened in the show... I figured it was just a shout out to the Pilot episode, and the original crash which is really THE iconic image of the entire show and one of the most iconic images in TV history.
The thought that it could have been anything else never crossed my mind. It occured in the end credits, not as part of the actual show.
I think that they were trying to tell us that the plane actually crashed and it was all real. The losties dying on impact would mean that the hole show was based in a purgatory where you can time travel and die.
This is what I'm leaning to, I'd really like to not have this whole thing be about a magic purgatory.
I think it was just a way to bookend the series. It was a bit much, especially after they had Jack, who died in the cave, walk to the point where he woke up to start the series to lay down and close his eyes to end the series. They even had him walk past an 815 shoe still stuck in a tree.
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