We didn’t. Somebody dubbed him Esau as a nickname in last season’s finale thread, since he was Jacob’s nemesis and we needed something to call him. 
Possible, since the color of the water was mentioned to be different, yet apparently still did the job according to the Japanese guy’s reaction to it.
After last season’s finale, I’ve been thinking that Esau was the one taking the form of Christian Shepherd, too – in order to manipulate events to last season’s conclusion. Like when Christian told Locke to turn the donkey wheel, sending him back to the mainland on on the hopeless quest that got him dead.
Some things to point out (if you mentioned this already, I’m just compiling it into this message. If I’m missing something please feel free to add to it).
1.) Jack’s and Charlie’s hair are different
2.) Jack and Rose have apparently switched reactions to the turbulence on the bizarro flight
3.) Jack only has one bottle of vodka to add to his drink.
4.) Desmond is on the plane.
5.) We didn’t see Claire or Shannon (or Libby and Ana Lucia) on the plane, yet we see Boone.
6.) Juliet was like 3 feet into the ground although the original blast left a crater where the Swan was.
7.) The Fountain of Otherness’ water was not normal when Sayid was drowned in it.
8.) The translator is sketchy as hell. (Not really a point, needed to get it off my chest ;P)
9.) Hurley considers himself the luckiest guy in the world.
10.) Esau wants to “go home”
Anything else?
However, Esau doesn’t possess Locke; he merely takes his form (and quite possibly his epic knife throwing skills).
Deep in the heart of the island is the Heart of Gold. The island built up around it, shielding its (current) final resting place. The “pocket” of energy was really built-up energy from the Infinite Improbability drive… which clearly explains the island jumping around in space and time, the Hurley bird, the quantum split realities (higher levels of improbability due to direct Incident exposure), Richard not aging, crazy forest whispers, Walt talking backwards, Shannon not being killed by the rest of the castaways on Day 3, Rose’s magical cancer healing, and Vincent (that dog KNOWS things…)
Then somebody set up the underwater station to project an S.E.P. field around the island, to keep the outside world from finding it.
Oh, and Sayid, you’re turning into a penguin. Stop it.
I really liked tonight’s episodes.
Based on the show’s history and telegraphed messages from its promotions, I believe the last season ultimately will reconcile the two timelines with the dead John Locke (who is alive in one time stream) facing off against the ‘god’ John Locke and end with Jack waking up to the consequences.
woohoo! My first ever Lost episode in real time! I don’t have anything much to add, but I was definitely entranced by the multiple (I’m assuming) timelines. Did anyone else think for a moment, when Bernard came back from the bathroom and Jack went in, that the plane would go down with Jack as one of the tailies, and we’d get to see more from that perspective?
No? Okay then, just me.
11.) When we see Kate for the first time after the explosion, she sounds like she is underwater.
12.) We don’t know if Juliet really relayed the message “It worked.”; Miles could be hiding something to keep himself from getting a hardcore ass kicking from Sawyer.
13.) There were sound effects playing while Miles was “contacting” Juliet.
14.) Rose and Bernard weren’t fighting on the bizarro flight.
15.) The smoke monster lived or roamed really close to the Temple.
16.) Sawyer and Kate have chemistry (seemingly, anyway) off the bat in bizarro world.
17.) Cindy was more prominent of a character in the new episode.
18.) Jack has blood on his neck.
19.) Christian Shephards body is LOST (:D:p)
Did this episode feel like Cliff’s Notes to anyone else? Not that I didn’t enjoy it, but I’m feeling like a kd who unwrapped a PS3 on Xmas,;did they actually take care to answer some questions tonight?
Enjoyed it, loved it, looking forward to more.
Agreed. I hated Michael from the beginning. Walt happened to follow suit. Vincent is still cool in my book 
Instead of ash circles, can we call them ash holes?
The pool is actually a Lawyer Friendly version of a Lazarus Pit, so should we really be surprised if Sayid didn’t come back exactly right?
And this season we finally learn the answer to the eternal question:
Well, “what/who is the smoke monster?” has been answered. Well, the who but not the what, anyway.
For the moment, but The Amazing Fenris predicts:
[ul]
[li]Jack sees/tries to fix Locke…can’t (and maybe Locke dies on the table–probably not though). Jack becomes pathetic-hairy Jack of S5.[/li][li]Sawyer cons Hurley…Sawyer has the “cursed” money which screws him up and Hurley remains cursed by The Numbers anyway.[/li][li]Claire gives little turnip-head up for adoption OR she dies after getting involved with Kate.[/li][li]Jin/Sun split…asshole Jin goes to jail or turns stool-pigeon.[/li][li]Kate kills her cop–is on the run for the rest of her life.[/ul][/li]
Huh–typing that out…what would be uber-lame: what if…
[ul]
[li]Jack cures Locke. Locke and Jack of Earth-2 become friends. Cured-Locke convinces Jack to go on a walkabout. They get on a plane for Australia.[/li][li]Sawyer cons Hurley with a story about an Aussie opal mine. They both get on a plane to Australia.[/li][li]Kate, in disguise as a stewardess or something gets on a plane to Australia–who’d think she’d go right back to where she was caught?[/li][li]Having given up Turniphead (or not…she might freak out at the last minute agan), Claire goes home…to Australia[/li][li]Jin and Charlie are both deported back to Australia (this one’s weak–maybe Jin if there’s no handy L.A.->Korea flight…maybe it has a layover in Australia…Charlie? Maybe the Aussie authorities want to find his heroin supplier. [/li][li]Boone? Goes back to pick up his Sis…again. [/ul][/li]And by some weird miracle of fate they all end up ON THE SAME PLANE!!! :eek: and guess where it crashes?
That’s because the explosion screwed with her hearing. As her hearing returned, the sound became normal.
Despite it looking like what’s going on is your theory #3, I’ll bet you’re right with theory #1. We might be watching their lives from some future point after the events of this final season. In this sense, the “flash-forwards” would be an epilogue of sorts.
Theory #2 is interesting, but might introduce some story problems with Shannon, Anna Lucia, Libby, Michael and Walt, et al, not being on the plane.
Wrong. When Juliet set off the bomb, it turned into neither a sperm whale nor a bowl of petunias.
So, we’ve got corpse-Locke on the beach, alternate-Locke in his wheelchair in LA, and Esau-Locke badassing around.
I think they should generate an additional Locke in every episode, more Locke!