No but I figure that if Desmond can show Jake Kate, Sawyer Juliet, Hurley Libby and Said Shannon they will realize that thier reality is unraveling too.

Charlie and Daniel realized the problem first BECAUSE they are dead...they should not be

I think he wants Desmond to detonate another EM pocket to destroy the MIB, but Des realizes that the first EM detonation created the false reality of LAX

Interesting thing about Eloise...she still is a brilliant physicist who for a while lived on the island in the alt timeline, she might also have still murdered Daniel in the ALT timeleine in the 50's before being forced off the island and knows about the 1970's explosion.

She realizes the paradox because she met the time travelers and can put 2 and 2 together.

Question is, does she not want Desmond to find out because in the Alt timeline Daniel is alive and she will accept a 'fake' reality?


THE most important line in the series (I cant remember who said it) was either Kate to Jack or Juliet to Sawyer. They asked something like "Is it worth blowing up the island if we never get to meet (and fall in love)".

Jack or Sawyers answer is that the dead people deserve to live. But as we see from this episode, the dead want thier moments of true love back, and thier new 'life' is wrong, hollow.

So the answer to Juliet/Kate's question is NO

Good catch. What's up with that?

That's what she said.

It's almost like the writers have had a master plan this whole time!

(I firmly believe they have, and I believe this episode finally near-proved it -- the rest of the season is shaping up to confirm it beyond any doubt.)

Sayid had a gun and clearly wasn't messing around. My impression was that Desmond was doing his best to act as if he was ok with following him, while realizing that it's not a good situation at all.

Either that, or part of Widmore's plan was for Desmond to infiltrate the MIB's group for an attack, and this seemed to fit into the plan nicely.

Joke's on you: U6C84 dropped out after the 9th grade!

Hasn't Darlton said before that neither of the timelines are 'real' or 'alternate,' but just two timelines showing our characters? If that's the case, I would think that the timelines would intersect, cross, or reconcile. My guess is Desmond is attempting to do this.

Also, I rewatched the episode, and did anyone notice the painting in Widmore's office of the scale with the white and black stones on it? Interesting.

Probably a mistake. There are a few they've fixed on later airings/DVD's. For example, in the first broadcast of "Orientation" (S2, Epi. 3), the woman originally in the Desmond/Penny photograph was not Sonya Walger, as she was only given the part near the end of S2. But if you rewatch that episode on DVD, the woman in the picture is Walger.

http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Bloo...tinuity_errors

So, they might digitally erase it for home video release.

This makes me wonder if John Locke will somehow sacrifice his better life in the alternate time line, after he has a vision of what his other life was like in the original time line. He might see what is happening on the island, or what happened to him on the island in the original time line, and decides to somehow save everyone or help in their situation on the island.

I'm telling you guys, John Locke's story isn't done. The Island isn't finished with him either. Bank on it.

There was also a prolonged shot of him staring at his refelction at the courthouse as he arrived to pick up Charlie.

I've just skimmed through this thread so I'm not really sure if anyone mentioned this.

I thought the pivotal scene from last night's ep was when Daniel and Desmond had their little chat. Daniel obviously knows something about the two timelines because he states he's responsible for setting off the nuclear bomb which created the alternate world they're in and which shouldn't exist.

Sideways world is obviously the timeline of events subsequent to the bomb going off. I think the bomb going off also "un-corks" the island and releases the MiB. I suspect that Daniel (and Eloise and Widmore) will want Desmond to go back in time (again?!) to prevent the bomb from going off. Thus sideways world will disappear and we go back to the single timeline.

So they're (Carlton & Co.) right -- the two timelines aren't really parallel worlds. The sideways world is presented as what would have happened had Juliet succeeded in setting off the bomb. But Desmond will stop that from happening, and we're going back to a single timeline.

But the bomb sends everyone back to 2004 as well. No bomb=1977. Which means that the 2004 Season 6 timeline doesn't exist either. The bomb produces both timelines.

I remember a few people suggesting sometime during the first 3 seasons, when we were dealing only with present-day island time and flashbacks, that it would be interesting to go back once the show is complete and arrange the story in chronological order.

Knowing what we now know and having seen what we've seen, anyone still chomping at the bit to take on this project?

Interesting theory on Lostpedia:

The detonation of Jughead was the problem, as it fractured time in two. The solution, weirdly, is from the linear time past -- Desmond failing to enter the Numbers causing the use of the Failsafe Key, which imbued him and only him with the ability to PHYSICALLY travel between the two timelines via a swap. Which has led to the critical point we reached last night: Sideways Desmond and Island Desmond switched places and are fully aware of each other. Sideways Desmond on the island must sacrifice himself because in order to merge the two timelines into one again, Island-Des-In-Sideways-world must get his cross dimensional genius brother-in-law to build an identical version of the machine Charles had last night, and send Sideways Juliet, Locke, Charlotte, (maybe Charlie?) and Daniel through to the Island timeline. They are able to traverse physically because in Island time, their counterparts are already dead. Island Desmond's sacrifice will be that his Sideways self must become the only Desmond after the merge and Sideways Desmond may or may not have or receive the memories of Island Desmond. So after the merge, the only Desmond may or may not be in love with Penny and be the man who fathered little Charlie Hume. Nobody knows until the merge takes place. Thus the sacrifice Charles is asking Desmond to make is to essentially die so that his Sideways self, now on the island, can be the singular Desmond once the merge occurs.

Once Island-Des-In-Sideways-world assembles his away team of Juliet, Locke, Charlotte (Charlie?) and Daniel together, he must send them to island (probably hidden aboard the Ajira flight), where they must stop Juliet by killing her during one of the time flashes. If they kill her, she never sets off the bomb and splits the timeline.

stories that are told in a non-linear timeframe are done so for a reason.

I watched Memento in chronological order and it sucked that way.

One summer we re-cut Pulp Fiction chronologically and it also was terrible in that order.

I was the one that suggested that way back when. While I agree with you that the initial showing is better the way it's created, this is such a complicated show that I think seeing it for a second time in chronological order--knowing what happens--would be fascinating.

Search YouTube for Lost Chronological and you'll find one guy who put the boarding of 815 and the crash in chronological order, comprising several episodes over time, proves it's a very compelling watch.

Another guy has put the whole life of John Locke in chronological order. Interesting stuff--but I agree that it's only interesting if you know the series well.

Here's one example:
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I'm confused, but loving it.

My point was that it would be extremely difficult to determine what the chronological order of this show is, at this point. Especially when it comes to Desmond warping around mentally.

LOL well, that's true. You'd probably have to create an "original timeline" chronological order, then add a "secondary timeline" chronological order once it starts existing.

I'm just saying that the writers tend to break up scenes all over the place and it would be interesting to see at least large sections in chronological order. Think of Jin just last episode in the cooler and an episode or two before that we saw him in the same cooler. Would be interesting to see those scenes all together so our minds can easier wrap around what's happening with our castaways.

I know a lot of people watch the episodes multiple times, get the DVDs, etc. I've only seen each episode once, when it aired, so things like this really put the show in perspective for me, especially when you're talking about characters who show up again in a flashback that we haven't seen in 2 years. :P

Yeah, I'm thinking if you die in one timeline, you wake up in the other...like Juliet going to the ALT timeline, and Charlie apparently heading to the original timeline before Jack saved him.

that's the thing, we NEVER knew who Penny's mother was/is...

so it works out in both timelines

and yes Widmore was Daniels father in the original timeline. He acknowleged it on the episode where he met Eloise outside the hospital and the fact that he's been watching Daniel closely and funded his research

Not Locke though, his whole sideways timeline throws a lot of the theories off. But with MiB in play through Locke, it's hard to know how he can possibly fit into the 'structure' of the timelines.