I think the “J” in the coffin is Sawyer, AKA James Ford. He would have had few friends back on the mainland, I think, and his death would have probably evoked the same reaction from Jack.
Heh. I came on the this thread specifically to share my suspicion that it was Michael in the coffin at that funeral, only to find out that John Mace beat me to it. He’s sticking to his guns, so am I. Here’s why:
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When Jack pulls up across the street from the funeral home, we can several black guys congregated outside a barbershop.
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Jack goes to funeral home, staffed by an African-American funeral director. Since we see this is across the street froma barbershop, this suggests that this is a black neighborhood. Jack mentions he is neither friend or family. At this point, I laugh at the “family” part, based on the clues so far
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Walt show up back on the island. Which led me to wonder what happened to Michael Dawson?
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Jack shows Kate the clipping in the newspaper. This meant whoever it was was an Islander Kate knew. Intensely angry, she asks Jack why should she care if he was dead?
Mike didn’t appear to have much of a family support system before he died, so it’s no wonder no one turned up at the funeral (It does make me wonder who’s paying for it, though.) Mike is the only other islander who wanted off enough badly enough to make a deal with Ben and trade off Jack, Hurley, Kate and Sawyer in exchange for a boat and his son Walt. It’s no wonder none of them would attend his funeral… he basically kidnapped them and killed two people doing it. Jack can probably sympathize enough with that to attend his funeral; but he no longer considers him a friend. This may support the notion that the former Lostaways are discovering that post-island living may not be the bliss they’d hoped it is: I will further predict that they will find that they are not even if they world they knew, but in another alternate “lost” reality where another flight 815 took off and crashed and all lives were lost; but that they have somehow found their way to this place that has enough minor differences their lives will prove problematic… like Jack’s dad still being alive. I suspect that that Sun and Jin’s island miracle baby may not prove viable off the island, or that Hurley’s back luck has come back in full force, that Rose and Bernard’s cancer has returned.
Next season will begin by showing us how the Lostaways are handling their new lives and may not take place on the island at all except in flashbacks. I think that the principal islanders will all find a way back to the island to tie up loose ends, perhaps financied by multimillionaires Hurley and Penny Widdmore-- her link to Hanso needs to be explained and explored.
I agree that the season finale can be viewed as a flashback with just a few minutes off-island in real time.
There is no way John Locke or Ben left that island unless they were forced to.
The Jacob-in-a-coffin theory is intriguing.
That was an awfully short coffin for Sawyer. I think that, coming war between the Hostiles and Dharma, Locke’s legs get blow’d off and then, after rescue and later death, he is buried in a short coffin.
Maybe he doesn’t make it in time, and Jack and the others get rescued by Naomi’s folks only to discover that they really are the bad guys and Ben was telling the truth–necessitating the return trip to the Island. 
Another funny bit when Sawyer and Juliette were walking back to the beach – Sawyer asks her “How much longer?” and she says “About an hour.” I looked at the clock and it was 9 p.m.
Is that too geeky? An hour left to the end of the episode? Okay.
I’m pretty sure that you’re right. I noticed the absence of the whooosh sound at least once when the scene cut to Bearded Jack, and noticed the sound’s presence at least once when cutting back from Bearded Jack to the Island.
Not much to add other than I thought it was amusing that “drugged-out” Jack sports a mangy lengthy beard, while “Island” Jack manages to maintain that 4-day stubble. Neat trick!
Jack didn’t go for the funeral itself, he went hoping to find other Losties, and especailly Kate, whom he especially expected to go.
Kates reaction could be read two ways :
1.) I hated the guy, why would I bid him farewell
2.) I am trying to forget all that crap, why would I want such a dark reminder of it. (even moreso if she’s also longing to be back on the island.
Unless Sawyer - sorry James - really pissed Kate off, I doubt it is him… I think it more likely just to be any ‘random’ lostie that we haven’t met yet, and perhaps one of the first to go.
I think the writers have left it open to speculation so that they can fill the casket on an “as needed” basis when the time comes.
I STILL want to know why Kate is a free woman in the flash forward when a year ago she was a fugitive. Presidential pardon?
Matthew Fox looked really run down. I guess those last days of filming were rough.
Anyone know if the actors playing Kate and Charlie are still dating?
I agree that Bernard was a jerk, but I find it very highly unlikely that he’d betray his own wife to save Sayyid. Telling the Others where the group was heading would have meant that they would have gone off searching for them, including Rose.
So, what was eating Jack so much that he went into a severe depression? My guess is that he had to make some sort of “deal with the devil” to get off The Island. This deal probably entailed leaving certain Losties behind-- maybe those who were on “Jacob’s list”. And the ones who got off The Island also probably have something being held over their heads so that they can’t say anything about Dharma, or anything that happened on The Island.
One also has to wonder why Kate isn’t in jail. Is Dharma that powerful that they could get her cleared? If she were still on the run, she wouldn’t want to be seen anywhere near Jack.
Maybe Kate rigged it so it looked like she died in the crash and is hiding out under an alias.
The casket shown is a regular full-sized one. The perspective used just makes it shorter.
In general, short adults don’t get caskets fit to them. There are smaller caskets, but they are used for infants.
From going to my share of funerals, viewings, and burials, casktets always look smaller than you think they would be and the holes dug for burial are also smaller than you think they should be.
My WAG: Jack is coming to grips with metaphysical reasons why he and the other survivors in Oceanic 815 weren’t supposed to leave the island, which is why he can’t simply return except by the desperate way of flying back and forth over it and hope something happens to him to take him back to the island. Using my spoiler theory, he probably CAN’T find any other way back to the island… but i somehow doubt there will be another plane crash on this show.
Kate is probably assumed to be dead. Jack said something about being tired of the lies, remember? This would be a biggie. She probably used an alias of another deceased female passenger to escape immediate scrutiny, then lammed it.
Still engaged, according to all news sources. 
As for Bernard… well, he’s not Rambo. He’s a dentist. Jack’s a surgeon, Sayid and Desmond are ex-soldiers, Jin’s… well, if not a hitman, has certainly done some dirty work in the past, Sawyer and Kate are fugitive criminals–all of these people have dealt with high-stress situations before. Bernard’s the normal, average, middle-class guy who’s never been anywhere like this in his life. It wasn’t a good thing to do, but at least he didn’t turn out of malice aforethought.
I just re-watched a few segments. The “whoooooosh” was there when making the transition from Island to Future and from Future to Island. Now that I think about, I believe that has been S.O.P. for this show.
It’s an .88 Magnum. It shoots through schools.
I thought it was interesting how for the switch to be flipped, Charlie would have had the one to be down there. If Desmond had not gotten the flash-forward, and told Charlie his fate, no way in hell would Charlie ever volunteer to go. And once they were down there, the only clue they had to the code was a Beach Boys song, which of course Charlie would be the only Lostie to know. Charlie had to be the one down there to get everyone “rescued.” (did this make sense?)
I think Mikhail is part of the original Hostiles and we know they have some sort of amazing life-extention (aka, them not aging, etc) so I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Mikhail again.
You fargin’ bastage!
–FCOD
I admit, I was hoping that the three would get the drop on the surviving Others, just to hear this:
Bernard to Tom (while holding a knife and looking at the blade) “We’re going to all go to meet up with the rest of our group. Now, I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to remember that I’m a dentist.”
“Is it safe?”