I don’t think it is either so much… I believe what we we saw in the finale was a preview of the current state of what we are seeing on the island. different people have been drawn to the island for different successive purposes. The egyptianishes contributed what they were brought for… black rock peeps for their part… dharma for its part… lostaways for theirs… 316ers for theirs… like the man talked with jacob about… he has kept(continued) bringing people there… what the man in black lacks is jacob’s vision of why and for how much longer.

it’s like chess, stacking your pieces for plays to come…. er, or should I say backgammon.

The egytians were just pieces. It looks like the board is, or is just about set for whatever the final play is (which might also be to deadlock mr. black for stasis).

A quick glance at doc jensen’s supercomputer reveals some interesting details about backgammon… one of which is:

“The objective is to remove (bear off) all of one’s own checkers from the board before one’s opponent can do the same.”

and other good reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backgammon

I was almost convinced when he said Jack “We are the good guys”

It may also be that he is surprised at the stupidity of Ben and others. Ben may have been repeating what someone told him, or more likely an application of his own interpretation of Smokie and other aspects of the Island. UnLocke may also be surprised at Ben’s accurate guess – or at Ben’s error. It could explain some of those surprised looks. He may well be Smokie and surprised at Ben’s ignorance. We don’t know how Ben has any of his information.

I am of the belief that both Ben and Locke have been victims of unLocke’s manipulation during the entire events of Lost. Ilayna mentioned that someone else had been using Jacob’s cabin, for instance, and then burned it.

How Richard could not have been aware of unLocke’s presence or involvement, I’m not sure. We still don’t fully understand his role or just who he is in the Lost scheme just yet. More and more he seems to be a Watcher type figure: He designates the Others’ leader, and allows them to make decisions, but then also overrides some, or at least questions them in order to influence a change. But then, he knows where Jacob truly resides and obviously has met him.

Although, Richard didn’t go in with unLocke and Ben, did he.

The second is that the O-6 are consciousness time-traveling. It doesn’t seem that way because of the view of the events that we’re given. They don’t seem disoriented in these ’77 episodes. But it is an interesting suggestion.

The Darlton have also said the DI will not be too important, at least to the extent they have been, in the final season. S-6 may well be a fast-forward of the 90 days (?) the Losties were actually on the Island and the three years of S-5 never happened.

But more likely to a 2009 crash. And frankly, that doesn’t work for me. Although I hope they some how make it work, convince me that somehow the past five years…happened!?!

Classic.

But you can only do that once.

As for Lost, I think the series finale will be reflective of the quality in the previous 5 seasons of Lost. In other words it will be satisfying. If their is one thing the TPTB are aware of it is what’s expected of them considering the sub-par(in some peoples opinions) conclusions of other t.v. series. With this at the forefront of their approach and with the appropriate sense of responsibility, they will do the best they can.

As for current events, I am going with a tangent universe a la Donnie Darko, which is created from and at the point of the jughead explosion. The first 3 eps of season 6 will be correcting this “problem”. After, we will get down to Island WAR with no flash anything.

My opinion is that it did detonate but not strong enough to complete the job, which is why the computer was installed to control the electro-magnetic build up and release it’s build up in energy every 108 minutes. Desmond’s key was to another bomb, maybe the rest of jughead, which ultimatly finished the job.

We know what happened to Des and his mental time travel due to being in the proximity of an electro-magnetic explosion as our losties were. The thing is in the past he was convinced by Eloise to not see Penny, he could have changed the course of everything right then and there but it was his choice. When he woke he knew he screwed up. Our losties are going back in time as Desmond did, we will see S1 and S2 characters because of this so the writers saying we will see some old faces will be true, but briefly just enough to say goodbye as they die again.

Although I don’t think this way, I’m applying this in the context that is Lost: Nadia was “meant” to die anyway. Like Charlie, when is only a matter of particulars (although in Charlie’s case it had much more meaning the way it finally happened, for him and the story).

What Jacob did, that informs us if his goodness, was to keep Sayid from being manipulated by Ben. I think. Ben, who may or may not have been manipulated by Esau/unLocke, all along.

And she died in as happy a state as before, so her personal development is unchanged.

I think.

Just because Jack and Sawyer and Kate and Sayid and Hurley and Jin and Miles are a part of those old lives/flashbacks in relationship to the original Losties, they, for me, are no longer relevant.

I want to believe, really I do. But I can only stretch that so far.

Please inform us how you think those arcs are not negated by change. Perhaps a “free” post could enlighten us – if you have the time and Doc be willing!

I’m starting to think, though, that what happens happened. You can’t change the future. Er, the past.

Uh oh, I’m so confused.

Second, don’t know if it’s true or not but I’ve read that Ben’s character was not meant to be as substantive as it stands presently. SO the Ben part of the story would seem irrelevant.

Finally, Jacob didn’t sound too fatherly: “What about you, Ben?” And that land “beneath” the holy city – that don’t be sounding so good. Sounds like Dante’s Purgatory!

Thanks for that Ben connection, though. Interesting. And makes me wonder how much of those stories about changes to the Lost story are real, the ones about because of the great actors…etc. etc.

As a writer, I almost always have a beginning and end to a work before I start on one, and rarely does filling in all that middle change an end. But then, Hollywood tends to compel change, doesn’t it!!

Just, you know, can’t get that dirty Seinfeld taste out of my mouth.