Lost Season Finale

It may sometimes stumple its way through the middle, but Lost knows how to open and close a season. Last night's finale was exciting and fulfilling, but not in the way we've come to expect from previous finales. Usually they wrap up the ongoing storyline of the season, and give a brief introduction to what the next season will entail. So such closure this year. We still don't know if the losties arrive back in the present, and I don't believe the Dharma plotline was wrapped up at all. What happens with Horace, Radzinsky, Dr. Chang, or Amy? Seriously, what happened to Amy? The character seems to have been completely forgotten. Speaking of forgotten characters, Desmond didn't make an appearance at all, his plotline for the season apparently ending a few episodes ago when he survived Ben's attack. And what about Walt; he appeared in every previous finale, so why not this one. Is he still important, because the first few season spent a great deal of time suggesting as much, and where's Claire? Supposedly she's coming back next season, but I thought she'd make an appearance or two during the course of this season. The episode did set up a lot for the final season. We were finally introduced to Jacob and his unknown nemesis, who we didn't even know existed. Locke was revealed to be dead, which raises the question - who's taking the form of Locke? I'm guessing it Jacob's evil nemesis. It's kind of exciting to know the show's writers always had this bigger vision for the series - a battle between a good and evil force. Although, what exactly are these forces - men, gods, demi-gods, personifications - and how much power do they actually have? I cannot wait until next season.