In general, “Lost” viewers are an intelligent group. You have to have some brains to keep what’s going on straight in your head – or at least what you think is going on. Do any of us really know? No.
But after the season premiere of season 6 I’ve been reading some comments, theories, etc. that tell me people are focusing way too much on the minute details and forgetting the big picture.
SPOILERS AHEAD. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN EPISODES 1 AND 2 OF SEASON SIX, STOP READING NOW.
I’ll add some buffer space. If you don’t want spoilers, get out now while you still can.
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Okay, you were warned. 
Okay, the bomb went off and it worked…and it didn’t. We have two times lines. Yay! Double the angst, glowering looks and “son-of-a-bitches.” One where the bomb did work and the plane did not crash and the island has sunk; one where the island did not sink but all the Losties were booted into the present – Jacob is dead so we know they’re in the same time period as Ben, Not-Locke and Richard Alpert.
In the timeline where the bomb worked and the plane didn’t crash, we are seeing differences – major differences. And for some reason, this is confusing people. Desmond was on the plane – and he was wearing a wedding ring. Hurley is the luckiest guy he knows. Boone failed to retrieve Shannon.
We have to remember that detonating the bomb didn’t just zip our characters back onto the plane – it changed everything related to the island from 1977 to the present – well, 2004, anyway. (Remember, that’s when the plane crashed.)
So it makes sense for Desmond to be on the plane. Even if he went on his life-affirming boat race, there wasn’t an island to trap him. Hell, maybe he won and proved his worth. Then again, it might not even be Penny he’s married to. Maybe he and Libby hit it off and got hitched.
Because the island is on the ocean floor it may no longer be affecting any of our characters and therefore, anything could be different. Granted, I don’t buy that it would have any effect on Shannon but that change was most likely due to the fact that the actress wouldn’t come back for the final season.
My curiosity isn’t about the major changes we’re seeing, what I’m most curious about is what we’re NOT seeing. I know the actor playing Walt is way too old to play himself from 2004, but we didn’t see Michael at all. Our favorite exploding science teacher made an appearance but we didn’t see see Libby or Nicki and Paulo.
Oh come on, wouldn’t it have at least been amusing to see our least favorite island couple return even for just a cameo?
Michael may have been left out due to acting conflicts, the whole thing with Walt’s age or something else. Personally, I’m taking Libby’s absence as a sign that my original opinion that Libby was in fact an Other may be correct.
We shall see…and I can hardly wait.
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