1. The Bomb Prevents Flight 815 From Ever Crashing
I LIKE BECAUSE: Well, I would hope we might get to see a lot of “what would’ve happened if” scenarios. Will fate still bring Jack and Kate together…or Kate and Sawyer? Would Kate have gone to jail? Who was the couple awaiting Claire’s baby?
I DON’T LIKE BECAUSE: It would seem to be a challenge to resolve everything we’ve seen up to Season 6. Will this render the entire Ben/Faux-Locke/Jacob storyline moot? What about Richard Alpert and the Others in the Temple? And are the Losties going to have to go back to the island yet AGAIN to set everything right? If not, is that the end of the island??? Not to mention, how will they show young Walt? And wouldn’t the creators had to have planned to get back most of the original cast members and have them all look five years younger right from the start? How would the show have continued longer if they hadn’t made the end-date? Nope, doesn’t feel right.

2. The Bomb Prevents Flight 815 From Crashing, But It Brings About a Mobius Loop
I LIKE BECAUSE: I can see how this might explain the skeletons. And supposedly, LOST was originally going to be titled, “The Circle.” The thing that gets me about the bomb preventing 815 from crashing is that it causes a paradox. If 815 doesn’t crash, how will Jack and crew go back in time to prevent the incident that caused it to crash? Even though the Incident happened in 1977, Jack has to go back in time in 2007 to change it. If he never ends up on the island, he can’t do that. Perhaps once they get to the point in 2007 where they are supposed to go back in time, they are suddenly back on the island in 2004 and have to start all over again. They are stuck in a loop or circle. May help explain why Jacob’s enemy says that it always ends the same. But then Jacob says it only ends once and everything that happens before that is progress.  Of course, an alternate timeline can possibly resolve the paradox, but that’s the next theory.
I DON’T LIKE BECAUSE: How will the story come to a resolution? The creators have said that once LOST ends, that’s it. No real room for a movie. So it seems like there is a definite ending. Maybe they can somehow break the cycle, but then what? Have the characters grown, or are they still lost?

3. The Bomb Prevents Flight 815 From Crashing, But Only In An Alternative Timeline
I LIKE BECAUSE: If the timelines somehow eventually link up again, this could be kind of cool. Have we been seeing the two timelines all along? Is this why sometimes characters have different eye colors, or why we see pictures on the walls change? Will we get to see some of the same scenes that left us baffled, but only now we’ll know why they are happening or get to see things behind the scenes?
I DON’T LIKE BECAUSE: C’mon, Lost is confusing enough as it is without two timelines! Nuff said.

4. The Bomb Prevents Flight 815 From Crashing, But the Losties Begin to Remember What Happened on The Island
I LIKE BECAUSE: What starts as major déjà vu could turn into major memory rush. Knowing the mistakes they made, will the Losties be able to set their lives right? Will the characters that had died have a new appreciation for life?
I DON’T LIKE BECAUSE: Even if they remember their island adventure, I still have the same issue with this ending as from resolution #1 which is that it kind of renders seasons 1-5 moot. Even if they remember everything, what was the point? Charlie is still a heroin addict, right? Shannon is still gonnna be a spoiled brat. I dunno, unless they can not only retain their memories but be the changed people they had become, it still falls flat to me, and if they are going back to the exact moment they had all their issues, I don’t see how they can really have changed.

5. The Bomb Causes the 1977 Losties to Flash Back on Ajira Airlines, Just Before It Crashes on the Island in 2007.
I LIKE BECAUSE: I just thought of this theory this week. I haven’t heard anyone else say it yet, but it seems to solve everything so nicely and works well with the theory presented in The Myth of Lost (#7 below). The characters have still gone through most of the growth they’ve experienced. And by landing on the island in 1977, we only have to redo some of the Season 5 storyline. We now know that Locke isn’t Locke, but maybe now other things happen differently. Maybe Ben doesn’t kill Jacob this time. At the very least, Jin and Sun will be reunited, as well as all the surviving Losties (perhaps Juliet is still gone), and they are all on the island so they don’t have to go back yet again. We can get to see who was chasing after them in the canoes (remember that?) And all issues can be resolved, including why Richard Alpert saw the Losties “die” in 1977: he just thought they were obliterated but they really flashed to 2007!
I DON’T LIKE BECAUSE: Wait, we have to redo part of season five? That could get old. And how will it resolve dead Locke? Locke better not really be dead or I’ll feel bamboozled!

6. The Bomb Caused the Incident to Begin With and the 1977 Losties Are Stuck in 1977
I LIKE BECAUSE: This could totally explain the skeletons since Jack and Kate know what’ll happen to DHARMA and might hide in the caves. It also might give us some more info on the DHARMA Initiative because face it, Season 5 explained close to nothing about them.
I DON’T LIKE BECAUSE: How is Jin gonna get back with Sun? Will he be 30 years older? Kinda sweet I guess if they can work it out, but feels a bit flawed. For that matter, how will the 1977 and 2007 storylines be reunited? Will it continue as two storylines? Seems unlikely. And how does this explain the alternate reality storylines seen at Comic Con? Even if that wasn’t canon, then how do you explain the cast line-ups for season 6 [I won't say what they are for spoiler purposes, but suffice to say it's hard to explain some of the actors/actresses if Season 6 will just be a continuation of 5, which is pretty unlikely].

**NOTE: When I wrote, “spoiler-free” I meant free from spoilers from the show, not my book. What follows is a spoiler for The Myth of Lost theory.**

7. We Think That The Bomb Has Prevented Flight 815 From Crashing, But Actually Something Else Has Happened…
I LIKE BECAUSE: Imagine at the start of Season 6, we see Shannon living her life at some time in the future. She’s married with a kid and not her 2004 spoiled self at all. Charlie is alive and drug-free and dating that rich chick Lucy and back with the band. Mr. Eko has been ordained as a real priest. Leslie Arzt is a happy and content college science professor working on an important experiment on the side. Yet, Jack and company are back on the island in 2007—reunited with the other island Losties. What’s going on? What’s going on is that the island was actually a computer simulation, created to recondition prisoners, mental patients and other deeply troubled rich people who could afford it. We come to learn that the numbers were a glitch, fixed by Jack and company going “back in time” within the program; the monster was a computer anti-virus that “killed” those who were ready to be ejected or didn’t belong there to begin with, the freightees were hackers trying to infiltrate the program, the whispers were the voices of the Losties’ loved ones who were outside the program to start with or got out after being “killed” and were talking to their unconscious family members(i.e., Boone talking to the unconscious Shannon before she was shot in the simulation). Why was everyone connected? Because they were really connected within the program, so their memories were entangled. How did Desmond time-travel? Only his “consciousness” time travelled. How did the Oceanic Six go back to 2007? They went offline when they crashed in the helicopter and went “Someplace Nice Back Home” in their minds. Who are Jacob and his enemy? They created the program and are testing it to see if you can “fix” humanity. Jacob says yes. How did he visit Kate and crew when they were kids? He didn’t. He only visited their memories much like a psychiatrist would—he regressed them to help solve early childhood issues! How is Locke dead if he isn’t? Because once the Locke character died, Jacob’s enemy was able to go back into the simulation and play Locke’s avatar. There isn’t anything this theory can’t explain. If you can think of something though, ask me on The Myth of Lost Facebook Page.
I DON’T LIKE BECAUSE: Some fans feel that this is a copout. I disagree because the characters have gone through real change. Unlike a dream, their experience was really shared and they went through true growth. The only reason I don’t like the theory, is because it was made needlessly complex. I’m not really sure why the time travel storyline was necessary, or why the Oceanic Six got off the island. To me though, no one theory neatly explains everything, and to date, “The Myth of Lost” theory is still my favorite. Admittedly though, I’m a bit biased.

Marc Oromaner is a New York City writer whose book, The Myth of Lost offers a simple solution to Lost and uncovers its hidden insight into the mysteries of life. He can be contacted in the discussion section of The Myth of Lost Facebook page.

The Myth of Lost is available on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com.

Remember back in the season one finale: when you knew that the show was about to end but you were waiting for that one final shot?  They would pan down, you would see whatever was in the shaft, and then “LOST” would flash on the screen and you’d have all summer to consider the meaning of whatever it was that you saw.  But that shot never happened (which, in retrospect, is amazing and brilliant.)  The season five finisher was similar.  This time though, as the clock ticked, away we knew that we didn’t have enough time to find out what was going to happen, so we’re left with everything to speculate about.  Heck, we don’t even know for sure that the bomb went off.

There was so much going on in this episode that I’ve decided to break it down by character.  I should start by saying that my thoughts are based on the assumption that, whatever does happen in 1977, 815 crashes on the island – because whatever happened, happened.

Sayid:  The man with the most to gain if the bomb changes history, and the least to lose if it doesn’t, may be a goner.  “Nothing can save me,” he said to Jack, and the look on his face said that he wasn’t just talking about his life.  Sayid has lost everything that he has ever cared about, was tossed aside by the man who sent him on a bloody but purpose-giving killing spree, and in trying to destroy this monster, ended up creating him.  I’d like to see him make it, and I’m not giving up hope – the island is powerful, and I’d like to think that Sayid’s purpose entails more than just shooting a child and rigging a nuclear device to explode on impact.  When the time-travelers take their final flash through time I hope that Sayid isn’t left behind like Charlotte was.  He’s much too kick-ass to be killed by a drunkard workman.

Kate:  Even as a child she was causing trouble…  And I thought that she might have been redeeming herself – she was the one voice of reason against setting off the bomb.  Then a bloody Jack walks out of the jungle and she caves, even though the man is trying to nullify everything that they had together, and in doing so ensure that Kate spends a hefty amount of time behind bars.  There’s one more season for this character to become, at the least, likable.  Something drastic needs to be done.

Radzinsky: “Hey, Stuart?  Remember that time that Dr. Chang asked you to stop drilling into that electromagnetic pocket, and you wouldn’t, and all hell broke loose and Phil got impaled and Dr. Chang lost use of his arm?  Oh, and the gunfire and all those people dying?  And you know how, because of that, someone has to live underground and push a button every 108 minutes or the whole world is screwed?  Well, you’re new assignment just came in…”

Sun / Charlie / Claire / Hurley: When I was rewatching season three and saw that Charlie’s DS ring was left in Aaron’s crib, I knew that it was going to make a reappearance.  Sun found it for a reason, and it’s a safe bet that, with Charlie dead, its use will have something to do with Claire.  After all, Christian may be some form of apparition, but Claire is still Claire.  As far as we know.

Or: Sun has the DS ring and Hurley has a guitar – two objects that a resurrected Charlie Pace would be very happy to see.  It’s probably just wishful thinking, but the ring and guitar are there for a reason.

Rose and Bernard: Good for them!  My only problem is that I was hoping that Bernard, as the last surviving member of the tail section group that joined the other 815ers, would have a greater purpose in the overall scheme of things.

Are they Adam and Eve?  Probably not.  For one, they don’t live in the caves.  Plus, Jack estimated that the corpses had been there for forty or fifty years – Rose and Bernard are living only twenty-seven years before the bodies were discovered, and they looked like they had plenty of time left.  Also, Jack found a small bag with two stones, one black and one white.  If the bodies were Rose and Bernard, then the mystery of these stones would come to nothing.

Jack: He wants to detonate a nuclear bomb on an inhabited island because he and Kate couldn’t cut it in a relationship?  Remember Jack the hero?  Remember the man who brought Charlie back from certain death?  Remember the live together, die alone speech?  What the hell happened to this man?  I have no doubt that they would only sink Jack this low so that he can rise back to his former glory in the final season.  Many people believe that it’s Jack, and not Locke, who is the chosen one (I hope it’s Locke,) and no true hero can have his glorious victory without first descending to a point of misery.  Odysseus was imprisoned on an island and thrashed for days by the sea after watching all of his comrades perish, a one-handed Luke Skywalker was reduced to tears in front of his terrible father before coming into his own as a Jedi, and Captain Malcolm Reynolds saw everything he knew on the brink of extinction before finally releasing the Alliance’s horrible secret to the ‘Verse.  Jack will rise again.  Will he be the new leader of the Others?  Will he be the new Jacob?  He has faith in Locke, and that may be the first handhold on his climb back to greatness.  Whatever happens, I hope it’s worth the wait.

James: Not Sawer.  Sawer was a product of James Ford’s unresolved issues with the man who ruined his family.  Then he strangled this man to death with a chain.  Sawer doesn’t need to exist anymore, even if the woman he loves (not Kate) is dead.  All he wanted was to be left alone so that he could be happy.  Then came Kate, the woman who he had fallen in love with, and who loved him back whenever Jack wasn’t around.  It’s easy to forget that, prior to her leaving the island, he only knew Kate for about four months.  He was with Juliet for three years.  We’ve seen him as a loner con-man, then as a responsible and committed leader (and lover.)  If Juliet is dead we’ll see another side of James.  He’ll be angry, and not least of all at the woman who came between him and Juliet.  But the positive changes that his years in the Dharma Initiative allowed to happen won’t completely abandon him.  When it’s time to choose sides, he’ll pick the right one, and he’ll be determined and ready to inflict punishment on the bad guys.  He won’t be quite so nice as he has been, and he’ll be one of the most dangerous forces on the island.

Juliet: That scene tore my heart out.  You know the one I mean.  James wanted to hold on to her, both physically and emotionally, but the forces acting on them were just too great.  I don’t want her to be dead, but if she is, then at least she died in a moment when she was taking charge.  She was lured to the island where she existed subject to Ben’s whims, then carried to a time where a reunion with her sister, the one person who she longed to see again, was impossible.  But in her final moments she was finally in control of her destiny, and she chose to take action.  If a touch from Jacob means protection or survival, then Juliet is truly gone.  That sucks.

Richard: So we know that Jacob is the source of Ricardos’s lack of aging, but we still have no idea how long Richard has been on the island.  I was half expecting to see him, at least briefly, on the Black Rock.  Without that shot, however, it’s quite possible that he had been on the island long before the ship arrived, possibly along with a group of Others.  And how did 1977 Richard know where to smash in the wall in order to enter the house in the barracks?  This would suggest an intimate knowledge of the layout of the Dharma village as well as a deep familiarity with the temple.  And if the temple is so near the island’s surface, how is it that construction of the barracks didn’t accidentally unearth the tunnels?  Unless someone who designed the barracks was also associated with the Others – that would also explain the convenient proximity of the tunnel and basement.  Could the Others have infiltrated Dharma?  Possibly even before the Initiative began working on the island?  Jacob brought the Black Rock, and possibly Oceanic 815, maybe he also brought the Dharma Initiative.  Maybe the “very clever fellow” who built the pendulum in the Lamppost is the same man that leads the Others.

Ben: He never saw Jacob and doesn’t know why.  It can be assumed that his intention once gaining leadership of the Others wasn’t to deceive them, but it became a necessity once Jacob refused to show himself.  But perhaps he was chosen by Jacob, and his purpose all along was to deliver the fatal blow when they finally did meet.  He was a perfect choice – such a brilliant liar and manipulator would be so confident in his abilities that he would never suspect that someone was manipulating him.  He always had a plan, was always in control, and therefore made the perfect pawn.  But, in the end, he performed his duty well, and may be rewarded for his years of loyalty to the great leader who refused to acknowledge him.

The real Locke: When Lapidus asked what was in the box, I jokingly said “Three spare John Lockes.”  I had no idea how close I would be to the horrible truth.  It was wonderful to see John confident and in charge, and then we find out that it wasn’t really him.  The possibility that John Locke is gone for good is unthinkable, and it would royally piss off a whole lot of people – including me.  But I don’t believe that he’s gone for good.  The island healed his spine, and it looks like Jacob brought him back from the dead during their encounter after Locke’s fall – and that gives me hope.  Jacob – who also isn’t dead – will need a general, and who better than John Locke?  He will return to regain his identity, and though he probably won’t be leading the Others, he’ll have an important role to play in the events to come.

Ilana and friends: When Jacob visited Ilana in the hospital it was made clear that they were already acquainted with one another.  If an “Other” is defined as a follower of Jacob, then there could be several branches.  We know that there are Others off-island, and Jacob clearly isn’t confined to the island’s borders.  Jacob knew that some stuff was about to go down and put Ilana on Ajira 316 because he knew that she, as well as Bram and the others with them, would be useful in the events to come.  This also explains why she brought Sayid: Jacob knew that he needed to be back on the island and wouldn’t return by choice.  After finding the “note” in the cabin, both Ilana and Bram recognized the statue, and at least one of them knew exactly where it was.  Could Ilana be the off-island version of Richard?  Not really a leader but someone knowledgeable about what’s going on and there to guide those who are in charge?

Frank: He may be a candidate.  For what?  Maybe for leadership of the Others.  Ben was ousted and Locke is dead, so there is no leader.  Jacob might have tasked Ilana with being on the lookout for a new leader.  Next season we could be seeing Jacob the Great and Powerful instructing Leader Lapidus and General Locke.  That definitely works for me.

Jacob and the Adversary: “They come.  They fight.  They destroy.  They corrupt.  It always ends the same.”

“It only ends once.  Anything that happens before that is just progress.”

This has been going on for a long time.  From the sound of it, whatever the survivors of Oceanic 815 are in the middle of has been going on long before the Black Rock made its way to the island.  Jack, Locke, and friends came, did a lot of fighting, and their fare share of destroying.  As for corruption, I guess that’s part of the bigger picture.  The big question is: is this the ending, or just more progress?  Considering that this is the only occurrence that a television series has been made about, I’d think it’s a safe bet that we’ll see the ending of whatever it is that these two mysterious characters are talking about.  Someone is finally going to resolve things – probably Jack, but I hope it’s Locke.  Or maybe they’ll throw us a curve ball and it will be James, or Frank… or Bernard.

Jacob brought the Black Rock to the island, and based on his appearance in the lives of our friends, he brought Oceanic 815 and Ajira 316, as well.

I can’t begin  to guess just who these two men really are.  They are probably very ancient, and more than likely not human.  Gods, perhaps?  Left over remnants of the Egyptian pantheon?  Or ancient people who were given gifts and assigned the tasks of protecting/destroying something that the fading ancient gods could no longer influence.

The white and black clothing was intentionally obvious, saving us from debate over who is really good and who is evil – evidence that is supported by the rest of the episode.  Not-Locke doesn’t seem very trustworthy, and they did all they could to make Jacob feel benevolent.  His touching of the passengers of 815 was significant, possibly marking them with a type of protection.  With the exception of Rose and Bernard, who escaped to find peace, and Claire, who has temporarily vanished, those that Jacob touched are the only ones from 815 alive and on the island.  Or possibly he was marking them for a safe return, ensuring that Ajira 316 would go where it was supposed to.

I don’t believe that Jacob is dead.  There was no surprise when the Adversary showed up in his home, and, knowing that Ben was capable of killing him, Jacob seemed to goad Ben into taking action.  My thought is that Jacob’s treatment of Ben – his refusal to speak with him and the sacrifices that Ben made – were all done to ensure that Jacob was killed.  What lies in the shadow of the statue?  The answer translates to “He who will save us all.”  That has a very prophetic feeling about it.

I think that maybe both Jacob and his Adversary are monsters.  We’ve seen the black smoke monster many times, but in season two Locke described the monster that he saw (during season one) as a “beautiful white light.”  Jacob wore white, and maybe the monster that Locke saw was actually Jacob, showing himself to Locke to help cement Locke’s faith in the island.  The smoke monster we’re used to is the black-clad adversary, who took on several forms in order to accomplish his goal of killing Jacob: he was Yemi, and killed Eko so that Locke would receive the sign from Eko’s stick; he was Walt, to talk John out of the Dharma grave and into killing Naomi; he was Christian, accomplishing, among other things, making sure that Locke turned the frozen wheel; and he was Alex, ensuring that Ben would follow not-Locke and do whatever he said.

Ilana said that Jacob hadn’t been in the cabin for a long time – it could have been the Adversary that called “help me” to Locke – we don’t know when the ash line was broken, or what it’s true purpose was.  Was it to keep someone in, or to keep danger out?

I just rewatched the scenes with Jacob and his “friend,” and got the idea that they could be working together.  His friend says that he wants to kill Jacob, but maybe that’s what has to happen for the “progress” to turn into an ending.

There’s a loophole, though: Jacob can only be killed by someone who truly believes in him, and who follows his word, and this person has to do it of his or her own free will.  Enter Benjamin Linus.

Jacob’s friend says that one day he’ll find a loophole.  Jacob replies, “Well, when you do I’ll be right here.”  And he found his loophole, which was the alienation and torment of Ben Linus.  A chosen leader who was kept away from Jacob, and who had to sacrifice his daughter, and the island itself, for a man who would not even meet him.  And Jacob was waiting patiently to die.

Jacob’s friend used the appearances of Alex and Locke to push Ben over the edge, making him want to kill the man who Ben told, “I never questioned anything.  I did as I was told.”

Jacob made sure that it was Ben’s decision; “Whatever he’s told you, I want you to understand one thing: you have a choice.”  When he said “What about you?” to Ben, it wasn’t said with malice, but almost with pity.  He knew that Ben had been used – he wasn’t proud of it, but it was necessary.

Listen to the words and tone of the conversations between Jacob and his friend.  They can easily be interpreted as sinister, but that’s what we expect when one person wants to kill another.  There’s nothing overtly malicious.  They could be two people working together to ensure that one of them dies.  “They’re coming,” could have been a warning to his friend, who clearly understood who he meant, and, after he kicked Jacob into the fire (which was necessary to cleanse the body for whatever step comes next,) that look on false-John’s face could have been because of what was to come – whoever is coming means trouble.

I’ll end here, as this is getting a little long.  My hope is to follow the viewing schedule set up by the good people at DocArzt.com and give my thoughts on any unanswered questions (as well as general complaints about Kate.)  Thanks for reading.

First things first: I’ll be referencing the preview for next weeks episode, so if you consider that kind of thing a spoiler, you may want to stop.  Not that there were any major surprises or reveals in the preview… but there it is.

Okay, this isn’t easy to say, but I’ve got to say it: I agree with Kate.  That’s something that hasn’t happened in a very long time.  In traveling to the past the 06ers have entered a world of reckless insanity and fruitless trying-to-change-the-future madness.  And so far every attempt has done nothing but ensure that very future that we have all come to know: Sayid’s attempt to kill Ben turns Ben into the sinister madman that Sayid was trying to get rid of; Daniel’s attempt to make a difference and keep adult Charlotte from returning to the island leads to her memories of the scary man who told her to stay away, and fueled her archeological career (and even though we didn’t see him tell her to stay away, I think it’s pretty implicit that that’s what happened.)  And it was Mile’s reluctant admission to being Dr. Chang’s son, and his support of Daniel’s warning, that led to Dr. Chang forcing his wife and son off of the island – the very event that created Mile’s ill opinion of his father in the first place.

And now Jack is going to attempt to use Jughead to stop the incident, and I think we all know how that’s going to turn out.

And all because of Daniel.  I’m still bitter about his death.  The one person who could explain why the light scatters differently on the island and reveal the meaning and mechanics behind the time difference between the island and freighter…  And his grief over Charlotte’s death led him to a kind of madness, where he recognized free will as the variable able to change the course of events, but failed to realize that, being in 1977, those variables had already been set in place.  He was a fantastic character who should have been around for next season, and was given an inglorious death at the nadir of his logical and scientific reasoning.

His ideas inspired Jack to take action, and Jack used the grief of Eloise’s recent filicide to lure her into cooperation.  Otherwise I think he would have had a difficult time in getting help.  Why Richard tagged along is anyone’s guess, unless he knows that it’s a futile task and is working to ensure the inevitable future.

I have no reason for thinking this, but I’ve got a feeling that Sayid might not actually be in Jack’s corner.  This runs contrary to all evidence (his attempt to kill Ben, the fact that the plane landing means that he could be with Nadia,) but there was something in his look after he emerged from the water that made me think that Jack better keep an eye on him.

That Phil’s a jerk, huh?  Even Radzinsky looked shocked by his attack on Juliet.  You can’t blame Phil for being bitter, though, considering that his good natured attempt to hear Jim’s side of the events documented on the tape was rewarded with a fierce punch and some time locked in a closet.  Still, I’m a Juliet fan and it wasn’t very nice.

I was hoping that Jim had a plan.  His deal to get Juliet and himself on the sub was a perfect way to buy some time, and the moment before he climbed into the sub hatch had what was undoubtedly the intended effect of making me think “NOW he’s going to do something bad-ass!”  But his “Good riddance,” tossed all that out the window.  But it seems that he’s not finished with the island yet.  There’s nothing to indicate how or why Jim, Kate, and Juliet get off the sub, but it seems unlikely that the Dharma members would turn around to let them out of their own free will.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the island intervenes and flashes them back to dry land.  Either that or Kate’s going to spoil Jim and Juliet’s would-be happy (but boring) ending by doing something rash and forcing the sub back to the dock long enough for them to make an escape.  Something extreme enough might make the Dharma folks force Jim and Juliet from the sub, whether they want off or not.

Hurley is still lugging around the guitar case, which means either that there’s something more important than a guitar inside or ghost Charlie (who I believe told Hurley to be on the plane) told him to hang on to the guitar because it would be needed in some way.  I suppose that a reunion with a resurrected Charlie isn’t likely, though it’d be welcome by me.

If not ghost Charlie, then maybe Bram of the Children of Dharma got in touch with Hurley and somehow convinced him to be on Ajira 316.  According to Eloise’s reasoning, this would improve the likelihood of the plane crashing on the island, plus put Ilana, Bram, and company closer to whatever their goal is.  This doesn’t explain the guitar case, though.

Now we jump thirty years into the future!

Something’s up with Richard.  I think he knows more about what’s going on than he lets on.  He told Sun that he saw everyone she pointed out in the photo die, but this seems very unlikely.  Maybe it looked to him like they died – maybe there was a giant blast or flash of the Incident occurring and he didn’t see them get swept away into the stream of time.  Or maybe he’s not being honest.  If he has some kind of deeper understanding of whatever is going on throughout this period of time he might have thought it necessary to lie to Sun.

I had no problems with Richard until this episode, but now I’m having a hard time knowing what to think about him.  He seems to be autonomous from the leadership of the others, taking the side of the island when Widmore was angered over the saving of Ben’s life.  If Jacob and the island are one, as I had thought, and Jacob/the island chose John as the new leader, why would Richard make the comment “I’m starting to think John Locke is going to be trouble,” to Ben?  If John was chosen by Jacob, wouldn’t John’s decision to take the Others to Jacob be what was wanted?  Could Locke be throwing a wrench into an intricate and decades-spanning plan concocted by some combination of Jacob, the island, Widmore, Eloise, Ben, and Richard?  He did seem genuinely surprised when Ben said that he had tried to kill John, and I really want Richard to be a good guy…

What about John?  He’s certainly more confident than he has been in a long time (a welcome change.)  There’s little doubt that he’s actually communing with the island, considering that he knew just when he and Richard needed to be at the downed plane.  His accusation that Ben has never seen Jacob came as a surprise, further cementing the idea that Ben was never supposed to lead, but forcefully took the reins from Charles Widmore.  We know that Locke has seen Jacob, if only for an instant, which supports him being the true chosen leader.

Even if Ben hasn’t seen Jacob, he knows that he exists.  The flying objects in the cabin would be evidence enough, but we also have the ring of ash, which likely acts to confine Jacob to the cabin, and the fact that Ben shot Locke when Jacob revealed himself to him.

That was genuine shock on Ben’s face when Locke said that he was going to kill Jacob.  And when Locke says “kill,” I believe that he means it in the literal sense.  I don’t think that he’s turned on the person (or spirit) that asked for his help, but that he’s taking a cue from his own experience and intends to kill whatever fragment is left of Jacob in order for him to be reborn anew – whole and alive.  This may have been the help that Jacob asked for.  Maybe Locke’s resurrection wasn’t meant to serve so much as a rebirth for him (after all, he was communing with the island way back in season one,) but was meant to reveal to him what must be done for Jacob to be saved.  He means to kill Jacob and have the Others witness it, so the true power of the island (and John himself) can’t be denied.  The Other’s will no longer have to take it on someone else’s word that Jacob’s will is being followed.

One last thought, then I’ll stop: the season-ending “game-changing” twist!  It’s not something that I’m going to speculate too heavily on, both because I believe that it’s most likely a useless task (because whatever happens will likely be way out of left field,) and because I don’t really want to watch expecting something to happen – I want to be as struck dumb as I was when I realized that bearded Jack was living in a flash-forward!

I do think that there is a slight mislead, however.  The Incident will occur, and something will get all of our stranded castaways back into one time period, but I don’t think that the twist will directly involve any of the main characters.  Whatever will happen will involve Ilana, Bram, and Lapidus, and will most likely have to do with whatever is in the crate.  If the new arrivals are somehow involved with Dharma, then they may have access to machinery which could take advantage of the unique properties of the island.

I know that I said I wasn’t going to speculate too much, but I’ll end with this, only because it occurred to me as I was typing the above paragraph: Whatever is in the crate will utilize the properties of the island, perhaps linking with the device behind the frozen donkey wheel, and cause the final time jump of the season.  Everyone currently on the island (with Ilana and crew) as well as the time-travelers in 1977 will find themselves together in one time period – a long time ago, under the shadow of a fully intact statue.

And there you go.

First off: is Daniel dead?

I want to say no, but I’ll have to stick with probably, but maybe not.  He seems to have died, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything.  However, Eloise did look very sad as she told Daniel that he should accept the job offered by Widmore, and when Widmore mentioned his sacrifices, her reply was “I had to send my son back to the island, knowing full well that…” before she was interrupted.  It could be that Daniel didn’t die – maybe the shooting would ruin any mother-son relationship that they could have, and that saddened her.  Or maybe he received the same treatment as the wounded Ben – maybe Jacob chose to heal Daniel, thus changing him from the person that he was.  Eloise could have caused the event that would have changed Daniel from the son that she knew.

But, as much as I hate to admit it, he’s probably dead.  Or will be soon.

Now on to variables, and the bigger question: is Daniel right?  Can the past be changed.

The short answer: no.  It can’t.

Daniel stated that people had free will and that they have the power to change their destinies.This is true, but there’s a catch.  Daniel, Jack, and the other future-ites have free real because they are existing in their own present – therefore they can make their own choices.  However, they are existing in the island’s, and therefore the world/universe’s, past.  So the decisions that they make in their present have already occurred in the universe’s past.  When 815 went down in 2004, their free-will-based decisions (though they hadn’t made them yet) had already been chosen, and their impact felt.  Basically, the free will of the time travelers had already shaped past events.

Whatever happened, happened – and their free will in the 1970s had cemented itself in the timeline, making the choices of the time-travelers a part of their destiny.  Their destiny was partially created by themselves.  Yeah, it’s complicated, and it might hurt the brain a little, but I’m convinced that this is the case.

Daniel gave some evidence in favor of this.  In spite of his insistence that he would not talk to young Charlotte, he does so anyway, because “I didn’t think I could change things, but maybe I can.”  By trying to change the past, he fulfilled his destiny, giving Charlotte all the fuel she needs to tell Daniel, in her own future, about the creepy guy who told her not to come back.

It seems that Jack might carry on with Daniel’s plan to stop the incident, thus performing the very actions that lead to the incident taking place.  Daniel was wrong: Jack and the gang were supposed to go back to 1977 – if not, why would the island have taken them?  Why not leave them in 2007 with Sun and Locke?  Jack was supposed to go back because his actions are necessary to set in motion the events that lead to the crash of 815.  It’s Daniel’s attempt to prevent these events that cause them to occur.

A few questions remain.  Why does Daniel believe that 1977 Eloise can get them back to when they were supposed to be?  When confronted by Locke and Jim, Richard didn’t seem to be familiar with time travel – why would Eloise be?  Daniel told Dr. Chang that the incident at the Swan would occur six hours from the time of their conversation.  How could he know this?  If he was stuck in the 1970s, with access to 1970s information, how could he know the time of the incident?  Maybe future Eloise does know a bit about time travel and somehow travelled back to her past to give Daniel some information.  But that seems a little far-fetched.

And now for the upcoming war.  Or, more specifically, the sides in this war.

I’m convinced that there are two sides to this war, and Ben, Eloise, and Widmore are all on the same side.

It was Widmore’s actions that brought Desmond to the island in the first place, and, in “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” Eloise ensured that Desmond kept to his destiny.  Widmore offered Daniel the job that would get him to the island, and Eloise encouraged Daniel to take it.  It also seemed that both Ben and Widmore wanted the Oceanic 6 to be on Ajira 316.  They weren’t working together, but their separate attempts got everyone (except maybe Hurley) onto the plane.

My guess is that they are on the same side, though they’re not very happy about it.  Ben and Widmore’s war could have been for control of the Others – for leadership in the real war to come.  Perhaps this scuffle is why the island chose Locke to be the new leader.  If Widmore returns to the island (and I believe that he might,) he and Ben won’t have to fight over who’s in charge, because the island has made it fairly clear that it’s John Locke.  Not that Ben and Charles will ever get along, though they will likely reluctantly work together for the greater good.

It seems that Ben and Charles Widmore have been working toward the same goals, while remaining willing to attack and kill each other’s operatives in the process.

The other side in this war?  The Children of Dharma.  Ilana, Bram, and others who were on flight 316.  Their goal just could be to make the island visible to their associates, who can then arrive so that the real war can begin!

I’m thinking that there’s a hierarchy to the Others that extends beyond our sight.  Ben was clearly in charge of the Others on the island, but was he truly the only one that could see or hear Jacob?  Eloise was off island and seemingly working on her own, though was still involved with business pertaining to the island.  There seems to be Others in various parts of the world – Jill was in the butcher shop in California, Greta and Bonnie (though secretly stationed in the Looking Glass) were thought to be in Canada.  There’s a lot to the Others that we haven’t seen.  If Jacob is the leader on the island, does he have an off-island counterpart?  Does he exist simultaneously on and off-island?

We subtly entered a new chapter in this episode.  Eloise Hawking confided to Penny, “For the first time in a long time, I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”  So far, someone had some kind of control – some knowledge of what’s really going on.  Now it seems that everything is up in the air.  Eloise has reached the point where her knowledge of events has run out, and now anything can happen.  Maybe “The Variable” refers to this new stage, where events have stopped being predetermined and the island can truly be won or lost.

Let’s start in grid 334, once and future home of the Swan.

Poor Alvarez, who took a filling through the brain thanks to the unique electromagnetic properties of the island.  Jack mentioned his fillings aching when he walked past the wall back in season 2…  Is this due to the natural properties of the island or some machinery that’s being built for use in the Swan?  Perhaps to enhance the natural electromagnetic energy to serve whatever purpose the Swan is to have.  The button only has to be pushed after the Incident, meaning that the mysterious looming event could have something to do with a malfunction of this machinery – either as a cause or an effect.

It could be that the Swan is the cause of and solution to the potentially earth-shattering electromagnetic buildup – which could potentially throw off the Earth’s magnetic field and lead to planet-wide disaster.

I’m guessing that the failsafe was constructed as an absolute last resort, with the Dharma engineers having no idea just what would happen if the key was turned.  Maybe everything would be okay, or maybe it would enhance the problem and destroy the world.  If something went wrong, as it did when Locke busted the Swan computer, a 10% chance of salvation with a 90% chance of destruction beats the 100% chance of everything going all to heck.

And the dreaded numbers are a serial number that was placed on the hatch door.  Maybe that’s all they ever were.  They weren’t cursed, as Hurley believed – the only “curse” was what the island did to him to ensure that he ended up on the plane.  Back in “This Place is Death,” when I first heard the transmission in what I believe to be Hurley’s voice, I was disappointed and in denial.  I didn’t like the idea at all.  But now I do.  It has a kind of poetry to it – the numbers belong to Hurley.  If he’s the one whose voice is on the transmission.

It could be that the numbers had no real importance to the Dharma Initiative, and the only reason that they had to be entered was because, after the Incident, Dharma needed something to enter into the computer, and those numbers were waiting innocently outside of one of the entrances to the Swan.

Speaking of Alvarez: after Miles enquired about the body, Chang responded with “What body?”  Was this just Chang’s way of reminding Miles and Hurley to keep quiet, or was the body literally gone?  Could the demise of Alvarez have been a convenient opportunity for Dr. Chang to use the body in an experiment at the station?  The exterior is still under construction, but we don’t know how much of the sub-level is complete.  A teleportation or time travel experiment could have destroyed the body – or left it lost somewhere in time or space.  Or possibly it was just examined and destroyed.  The point is that Dr. Chang had interest in it, so something was up.

Felix “told” Miles that he was delivering papers to Widmore – the same photos and purchase order that Tom (a moment of silence…) showed to Michael (and again…) to convince him of Widmore’s deception on the world.

It’s safe to assume that Felix was killed by the others, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that Widmore staged the fake plane crash.  This could have been done by a mysterious third group (more on Bram in a bit,) and Felix was only delivering the evidence to Widmore.

I want Bram to be a good guy, but he’s with Ilana and she hit Frank, and that puts her on my bad side.  I thought that they were working with Widmore – another attempt by him after his last group failed – but I’ve been proven wrong.  And we’ve been given no indication that Ben had anything to do with Bram or Ilana, so it appears that they’re not working with the others.  The only affiliation that leaves (that we’re aware of) is Dharma.  Could Bram and Ilana be connected to Dharma?

If Miles and his mother were sent off the island because Dr. Chang learned of the upcoming purge, which I suspect, then were others sent to safety as well?  Could the Children of Dharma want to continue the war that the Dharma Initiative lost?

Widmore said that a war was coming, and I assumed that it was between Widmore and the others for control of the island, but that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.  The war could be between the others and the Children of Dharma.

Widmore knew that the Oceanic Six had to return to the island because he knew that some of them were present in the days of the Dharma Initiative.  When he was banished he left the island on the sub, which was in control of ther others, which means that Widmore was still the leader when the purge took place (assuming that his banishment and loss of leadership occurred at the same time, which I do.)

Ben and Charles Widmore are fighting each other, but the entrance of a third side could force them to work together, possibly under the leadership of John Locke.  The Dharma Initiative knew that the island was powerful, and it’s possible that the Dharma Kids know enough of what the DI knew to be formidable opponents to the others.

The giant crate being lugged across the island could have equipment left over from the DI days, possibly developed with the assistance of the island’s abilities.  Could it involve them trying to change the past?  They may attempt to stop the purge from ever happening, which just may be the cause of the Incident.

Kate, Kate, Kate…  Oh, Kate…  I’m with Roger: mind your own business!  Juliet said it best after Roger stormed from the room: “Well, here we go.”

Things are going to go downhill fast for the visitors from the next millennium.  Here’s where we’re at, from the Dharma Initiative’s point-of-view: Ben disappeared, or was taken, and Juliet, the doctor on duty, didn’t report it; Kate, who has only been on the island for a few days, has shown an unusual interest for Ben – enough for Roger to be suspicious; Jack admitted to being friends with Kate, insinuating that he knew her well, even though they were supposed to have met only a few days previous; Phil knows that Jim and Kate were involved in the disappearance of Ben – and that they crossed out of Dharma territory in the process – though Phil is being held captive by Jim and Juliet.  Nothing good can come of this, and all of it is linked to Kate, who just can’t seem to stop causing trouble.  But the show would be a lot less interesting if she did just mind her own business.

Our friends are about to be exposed, which could end up with them toughing it out alone in the jungle, or possibly seeking shelter with the others.  This would introduce them to Charles Widmore, making him familiar enough with Kate, Jack, and Hurley to recognized them when the 06 are rescued.  Plus, if Sayid met up with the others, who knows what information he passed on to them.

I believe that the Incident has something to do with the reconnection of those stranded in 1977 with Locke, Ben, and Sun in 2007.  I can’t even imagine what the details of this might be – maybe something that Locke has to do in the temple, which may still be housing the others after Ben sent them there.

As Miles and Hurley are heading to the Orchid the song “It Never Rains in Southern California,” by Albert Hammond, is playing.  That seemed to be a bit of foreshadowing: “It never rains in California / But girl, don’t they warn ya / It pours, man it pours.”  For three years Jim, Juliet, and Miles lived a fairly calm and comfortable life, but now that their friends are back, it’s about to get rough.

Daniel is back!  His 2004 knowledge of physics had to be a great help to the Dharma scientists in Ann Arbor, and it’s likely that he was vital in the development of the Swan.  The notes that Caesar was leafing through in the Hydra were the same as those that we saw in Daniel’s notebook in “The Constant,” so he obviously shared what he knew with the Initiative.

For an episode that was centered on Miles, I don’t have a whole lot to say about him.  He has daddy issues, which puts him in league with just about every other character on the show.  Were his powers a result of being born on the island?  Maybe that’s why the others had an interest in Aaron.  He was conceived off-island, so it doesn’t seem that he would have been much use in determining a solution for whatever is killing women who conceive on-island.

It could be that anyone born on the island has the potential to be special in some way.  Maybe that’s why women who conceive on the island can’t survive: whatever was done to prevent children being born on the island was done to prevent them from being special.  But would that mean that Ethan was special?

And does the Incident have something to do with expectant mothers dying?

We did learn that Miles’s primary motivation seems to be money.  He wanted 1.6 million dollars from Ben to match the money that Widmore was going to pay him.  Of course, spending three years living in the same community as your dead parents and younger self might have an effect on your priorities and motivations.

And finally: Hurley.  Not much to say other than how much I loved that he was writing The Empire Strikes Back, “with a couple improvements.”  Seriously, how great can this character be?

That’s about it.  I do have this theory that Dr. Chang already knows that Miles is his son, but when I tried to put it down in a logical form everything went haywire.  I still think that he might know – I just got that feeling.

I think I’m going to watch the original Star Wars trilogy this weekend, and maybe wonder what might have happened if Luke and Vader had had a nice father-son talk instead of a hand-amputation and a leap into the abyss.