the only reason richard was given the gift of never ageing was because jacob said he could not make it possible for him to see his wife again but he could make him live forever, which is what richard wanted because he had been told he was going to hell (he can't go to hell if he never dies) but obviously if he has died of old age as he has lost his gift, it would've been interesting to find out a bit more about whether he still believed he was going to hell (when he tried to blow himself up - he said it was because he had lost faith in the one thing he had dedicated his life to) or if he had gotten over losing his wife ....... thinking about it, this may have been clarified in the episode when hurley could see her ... hmmm i really should watch these again
Err, I thought Jacob said he could bring the wife back to life and she could live a normal life, but the cost for that was Richard had to stay, help him, and he would make him ageless to complete that task, it wasn't a reward, it was a cost, it was however long of almost slavery as a cost for saving his wife.
THe Boon trip showing Shannon dying, wasn't Shannon dying, it was him tripping as the island tried to show him something/teach him something......... why/how/why/why/why/how and one last why the island could teach people show people, change things and wanted to teach people was unclear. Its assumed he was a candidate and it was part of the test to get him closer to accepting the job of caring for the island, I assume thats what it all ways. But considering they didn't explain how Jacob could do this, or how the island could do this, where their power came from, what the power was, why it was important to protect the island/source, what would happen if the island went down, what would happen if MiB got off the island, well, we didnt' get any of those things answered.
It was assumed, well they intimated the world might end, everyone would die, no one would be safe if the island went down........... but MiB lost his powers, wasn't a smoke monster and wasn't unkillable after the source was, "unplugged", so at that stage, the island was going to sink and MiB could live a normal life somewhere if he survived the boat ride somewhere. They again didn't explain why the island needed protecting or why MiB leaving was such a bad thing.
I still think they created the entire purgatory thing, after it was suggested as a possible idea for what the island actually was in the first place(after it was clear they had no idea what/where the show was going after it got a second season) just so they had a beginning and an end to a major storyline in the final series/final episode to statisfy the easily duped.
Is it just me or, if MiB loses all power with the island gone, with the island safe at the bottom of the ocean at an unknown location, likely with the "source" power gone, with no people to bring to the island for games to be played between Jacob/MiB and no one trying to find out/steal the power source, wasn't the island better off on the ocean floor?