5 Questions Lost Better Answer Before It Wraps

With five episodes left in the final season of the masterpiece that is Lost, we the loyal few find ourselves mesmerized, frustrated, and frequently blown away. How it will all end is anyone's guess at this point. But one thing is for sure, a show which has largely been driven by winds of mystery and speculation needs to answer a few questions before it wraps up.
This season, we've already been privy to quite a few doozies: where did Richard Alpert come from (cool), where did the Blackrock come from (underwhelming), what's inside the temple (disappointing), and other whoppers. But other larger issues remained unaddressed. These are the five questions this blogger needs to have answered or else he will haunt Carlton Cuse's footsteps forever:

1. What is the Smoke Monster? We know he has mommy issues and, according to Jacob, if he gets out he will turn the world into a living hell. Yada yada yada. But what is he really? He has a habit of taking the form of dead people. And he has the incessant, almost mechanical, clicking sound. So, if he's not a nano-cloud and he isn't a security system created by some extraterrestrial race, then what the heck is he? What exactly is his relationship to Jacob or to John Locke, for that matter?
2. Where did all the old stuff on the Island come from? Seriously, all we've been shown are a bunch of ancient Egyptian-esque structures with a bunch of pirate-looking Others hanging around them. From the Temple to the Lighthouse to Jacob's statue to the Frozen Donkey Wheel itself, where did these things come from? Who built them? What, if anything, do they have to do with the paranormal properties of the Island? Specifically, how does the Island have the ability to warp around through space-time? If they just leave it at "electromagnetic energy" I am going to put a brick through the Bad Robot's front window. Seriously.
3. What is the Sideways world? I suspect it is an artificial construct of some kind, what with every person who ever inhabited the Island suddenly conveniently placed in the Los Angeles area. I trust they are headed toward reconciling the two, but if they don't, so help me...
4. What is up with Walt and Aaron? So Walt is probably like 25 years old by now, but I need some closure here. The kid had spooky powers. The Others just had to have him. It was one of the key conflicts of the first season, as was Claire's baby Aaron. And now both of these mutant kids are just off the hook. I don't think so. They better get back on the Island, stat. We need some answers.
5. What is the Island? The Island has been a character with a will of its own independent of Smokey or Jacob apparently. So what is the Island? What is the intelligence that drives this insanity, this need for candidates? And what is it that gives the Island to reach out across the ocean and guide Fate itself anytime and anywhere. I will feel very slighted if they just toss us some ambiguous line and leave us to wonder for the rest of our lives.

Even thinking about these questions has got my blood pressure up. So I will leave you with these, dear reader, and the hope the Misters Cuse and Lindelof deliver on all of the promise they have built up. For some last minute tidbits from the Dynamic Duo before we plunge into the last 5 episodes ever, check out Jeff Jensen's fabulous podcast.