In the synopsis on Lostpedia, they are calling it a “flashsideways”. That would be consistent with the two realities, and what I was thinking was going on while watching it.
Well, if the bomb really did sink the island, then it’s possible that all the Others died. Which would mean no Widmore and Hawking, and no Penny or Daniel. Which would mean Desmond would never be training for his race and would never meet Jack.
I’m curious as to what’s going to happen to Desmond. As Hawking said, the island isn’t done with him yet.
They’re playing backgammon. They’ve got a new dark/light with Sayid and John.
Yeah, they’ve gone down different legs of the Trousers of Time.
They went into DefCon5 when they heard that Jacob was dead. My theory is that so long as Jacob lived, he protected them from Smokey; once he died all bets were off.
But Smokey/Locke has been seen in the Temple before: he dragged Rousseau’s friends down into the hole under Temple, and Ben went to the tunnels under the Temple to summon him. I thought that was where the Monster lived, in fact, if it could be said to reside anywhere at all. Now we have a Monster-free Temple, where a bunch of Others live. (We know that Cindy and the kids became Others, so I’m assuming that the rest of the people there are Others as well.)
Somehow, these residents of the Temple seem different to me than the Others we’ve known before, the residents of New Otherton and the group in the fifties led by Richard and in the seventies by Eloise Hawking. They’re not dressed in the usual Western clothing, for one, and other than guns, they use very antiquated technology (eg the bamboo framework used to launch the fireworks.) Are we sure these are the same Others, or are they a group that didn’t exist before the bombing?
The key points here are 1) She’s talking about the two flights that went to the island, Oceanic and Ajira 2) She’s talking about the whole group, not just Jack, and 3) She’s talking about the flight she herself was on with them, Oceanic.
First of all, we only saw the Monster in the catacombs - crypts? - underneath the temple, not the inhabited inner sanctum.
Second of all, they probably had no fear of the Monster so long as Jacob was alive, but now they were making sure it didn’t come back. I think the Monster and Jacob had some sort of symbiotic arrangement - perhaps they cancelled each other out - but now that that’s broken down, the Others have cause to fear it.
A couple thoughts and a question:
a) It is less a battle between good and evil, than it is between free-will and fate. Though of course there is a certain intuitive “goodness” to free-will and “darkness” to fate. But if FLocke believes only in the certitude of fate, then at this point why doesn’t he simply sit back at let things proceed in their predetermined manner?
b) Since season 1 I’ve felt that the island is a stranded alien spacecraft. Jacob and FLocke could be aliens? “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Ah never mind. I think I actually like the idea of them being Gods in some way. What is a more intriguing question of religion than fate vs free-will? (Other than that pesky afterlife question of course.)
Do we have any Down-under Dopers reading this thread? My daughter is moving to Australia and wants to know when LOST is broadcast there. (I note up-thread that it shows on Fridays in the UK.) She’ll be in Perth, after a couple weeks in Sydney.
I like the idea of the island being a sentient being, or even an alien AI, that has, over the millenia, developed a split personality, of which Jacob and Esau are the personifications.
Hmm, I get the sneaking suspicion that when FLocke says he wants to go home, he means back into the temple.
But in order for things to be predetermined, doesn’t there need to be a “Predeterminator.”
Perhaps FLocke is the predeterminator and needs access to the temple to arrange things.
My hunch is that he means something like “the mortal realm”. As far as we can tell, he’s a prisoner on the island.
Yeah, that looked worse than the submarine at the end of last season. But at least they had the Dharma shark that attacked the rafties down there. lol
a) The Monster lived in the tunnels underneath the walls SURROUNDING the Temple, not the Temple itself. I think Ben said the Temple was about a mile in from the wall.
b) Richard did say that some of the Others were at the Temple. And Cindy was shown to be a part of the regular Others. I think the Temple dwellers just have a special job. And we’ve seen the Others change how they dress depend on where they are. Like when they’re out in the jungle or living in the barracks.
Why did Jack have the burn marks he was examining in the plane bathroom’s mirror?
This is in the “fixed” timeline, obviously.
Misfit is back, and it appears the long offseason was tough on him.
Where was Rob McElhenney?
In Philly?
But seriously. Was he just an extra at LAX, or some tertiary character… Perhaps one of the Temple Others? He seems too big of a name not to have a strongish role. When I watch again, I’ll have to look out for him.
I was a little disappointed in this episode, but I have always thought the first episode of each new Lost season have been slow. They typically take an episode or two to set up the season and then hold on to your hat.
Most of my points have been covered, but here are a few responses.
And why would Desmond be on the plane?
My wife and I discussed how all of the 2004 Losties were on the plane for depressing reasons. I think we discussed this five years ago.
NO SHIT! 
If I had a nickle for every time a shaping shifting smoke god tricked me into releasing it by pretending to be a hot naked chick who was good to go, I’d have herpes.
If it is #3, my wife’s head will pop. This time travel metaphysics has pushed her to the ends of her SoD. I’m worried the “solution” might be Matrix 3-ish.
Speaking of oddly out of place people, there was a weird looking guy standing up as the passengers were exited the 2004 flight. He looked like a member of ZZ Top.
Other posters have commented, but I just wanted to suggest that he successfully summoned him once (to fight the SoF) and failed to once (when he wanted to be judged).
How long do sharks live?
Highly speculative in most cases, but it is believed that some can break the century mark.