Chang has a prostetic arm in only the videos filmed after the incident.

The question is what happens on the island after the Losties flash to 2007 (which speaking of timelines really should be 2008–the copter and freighter is roughly Christmas 2004, they’re not rescued until a few weeks later, and then three years pass. Aaron is speaking complete sentences by the time Kate leaves).

It implies there’s a third (second?) timeline in which everyone in the Dharma initiative dies, after 1978 since there’s a photo for 78 on Christian’s orientation wall.

This is the timeline where ghost Christian meets Sun and Frank, and perhaps where Sawyer is–in the abandoned Dharma barracks, which were never taken over by Ben and the others. Perhaps because Ben is teaching European history in LA X.

And if Peter Avellino really worked for Widmore like Ben claimed, then how is it possible that he didn’t even recognize Sayid before getting shot by Sayid on the golf course? Unless Ben was lying about who Avellino was, in which case everything that Sayid was doing for Ben off the island is still a big mystery. But something tells me that we’re never getting back to any of that. Was Ilana working for the same people who attacked Sayid at the safehouse and tried to take him? The guy at the hospital who was going to kidnap Sayid also had Kate’s address in his pocket. Was he going to kidnap her next? If so, to what end? Was Widmore trying to kidnap them to keep them OFF the island or to force them to go back or did he have nothing to do with it? Will any of that stuff ever make sense or was it just fun at the time and best to be forgotten?

2.) ETHAN’s timeline. They reveal in season 5 Ethan was born in 1977. Flight 815 crashes in 2004. You mean to tell me that when he infiltrates the camp, that Ethan is only 27??? Really? C’mon man! And where did he get all of this medical experience if no one is allowed to leave the island? In a deleted scene, Ethan even tells Jack that he had a wife who died during childbirth; while this could’ve been a lie, I don’t think that was the intent, what with him working to cure the fertility problem and all. The only reasonable explanation for this would be some kind of off island accidental time travel and he aged when returned sorta thing, but that’s a huge stretch.

3.) Michael & Walt’s off island adventures: The timeline between when they leave and when Michael returns is absolutely absurd, not to mention all the stuff that happens in between. So if you do the math, only 2 weeks, maybe 3, pass between when Michael & Walt leave and when Naomi parachutes onto the island from the freighter, which Michael is on. Now keep in mind that it probably would have taken a week for the freighter to even get to the vicinity of the island from California, where I am guessing they must have left from; not to mention the day of flying Michael would’ve had to do to get there, because I believe he lived in New York. Anyways… In that time frame, Michael & Walt steer their crappy little boat to rescue(which they never explain), or if you find it more plausible, let’s say in a day’s time they manage to hit another island. Okay, then how with no money or passports do they get home? They couldn’t have taken a flight or any legitimate means of travel without the red flag of flight 815 survivors going up. So you would assume that unless there was some help from the Others(which would be totally contrary to the story), then they would have probably had to have stowed away on a freighter or something just to get back to the states undetected. Which in itself is ironic, because the best way to have explained the whole thing would have been for them to have been picked up by Widmore’s freighter, Michael just simply tells them he’s a flight 815 survivor and about the island, they hold him against his will onboard to help them find the island and take Walt (via helicopter) off the freighter and to the nearest island (since the actor was now a teenager and couldn’t be on camera). Maybe even the boat Michael had taken off the island had instructions from Ben about the freighter and what he would have to do and say when they picked him up, and I’m sure the writers could have found some way Ben could’ve connived him into doing it. I am an amateur writer, and that is a way better explanation and would have also been easier and cheaper to film, but this is what we got; In 3 weeks Michael & Walt manage their implausible journey back to the states undetected. Michael drops Walt off with his mom, and manages to get a job, an apartment, and car, without accessing his own bank account(once again, red flag) and tries to kill himself a few times, and is visited by Mr. Friendly, who also if you do the math out, should have been killed at this point by Sawyer. There is no way, Mr. Friendly could have left the island, met up w/ Michael, and gotten back in time to be killed by Sawyer. Ugh… Man I’m getting exhausted just thinking of every angle in which this plotline was god awful. Once again if you wanted to see what I’m talking about watch seasons 3 & 4, do out the math of the days, and everything that happens and you’ll see what I mean.

There are many other huge plotholes and problems with the continuity; some which are the faults of the writers (like the setup of Pierre Chang to be the Montand who is missing an arm Rousseau talks about in season 1, and he shows up w/ a prostetic arm in season 2, but never actually loses an arm and the 2 are never connected?!?!); and some which weren’t the fault of the writers, sorta(like most of the religious overtones and the church that never gets built, because at the height of his fame the actor who plays Eko, decides to leave the show to make and star in an autobiographical movie about his own life which then becomes a straight to dvd movie released only in select countries, mostly 3rd world. Way to go with the career choice there buddy).
Now I know it sounds like I’m bashing the show and the writers, and maybe I’m bashing the writers a bit, but for a show that relies so heavy on continuity and purposely has the audience looking for little things that tie the story together, these things that I’ve mentioned are just major plotholes that could’ve been easily avoided if more care was taken. Having said that, I still love the show, and I will even go as far as saying I think it is the best sci-fi show and primetime drama of all time, with an amazing cast; but you take the good w/ the bad, and this is just me pointing out the bad.

Who knows.