'Lost': Chat live about 'What Kate Does' Tuesday, Feb. 9

Good point about Whatever Happened, Happened. And I suppose lots of Kate could potentially mean we learn a bit more about what's up with Claire.

JEFFC: "@'concerned': As I mentioned in the previous post, I'm also a subscriber to the epilogue theory...."

JEFFC: "@Mike in RI: But they aren't happening concurrently. What I'm saying is the 2007 timeline isn't happening at the same time as the flash-sideways 2004 timeline. That's only what you're meant to believe..."

I agree completely with your (well articulated) thoughts. Though the fact that Ryan is so convinced that the "parallel timelines converging at vanishing point" theory is correct makes we worry that we're going to end up with some serious eggtown (!) on our faces.

(And if he also ends up being right about circles, not ash, being what provides protection I don't know what I'll do.)

But in for a Penny, in for a pound, I say, so I'm sticking with the theory that the reason Juliet said (according to Miles) that "it worked" was that she had no way of knowing (right?) that the reason she was having coffee with Sawyer in 2007 was because of what happens in S6, not (just) because of the bomb. (Though I guess the bomb certainly helped by getting them back from the seventies to 2004.)

And speaking of the coffee klatch, if it does indeed take place in 2007 then that is further evidence that the "sideways" timeline isn't going away anytime soon... and thus to me it seems that it is further evidence also that the 2004 timeline isn't parallel, but epilog.

I would further suggest that that things like the use of the name Dogan, the airing of the premiere on Groundhog Day, the referring to the new 2004 timeline as flash-sideways, etc., are all red herrings to keep people from realizing too soon what JeffC and I (and a couple of others I think) are saying is true.

(Unless, of course, they are doing double-reverse psychology to just make me think that! If so, eggtown here I come!)

Speaking of DARK TOWER, someone (Andrei?) recently asked if those who have read it should refrain from giving away its secrets. I would say yes, for the sake of those (such as myself) who haven't read it yet, even if it turns out to be (as I suspect) a red herring.

(I only saw the TV movie of The Langoliers, but I didn't care for it and thus I further hope that LOST doesn't turn out to be like that.)

Oh, speaking of red herrings, as I mentioned a long time ago I wonder if the casting of Michelle Forbes as the Oceanic Rep (that we first see in the plane containing the Oceanic Six) was a reference to the new Outer Limits episode "A Stitch in Time" which involved multiple timelines and serious nosebleeds. (I'm hoping it turns out to be more of a red herring and homage than a direct rip-off, however.)

Finally, got to tip my hat to "fifty pence" for the thoughts concerning Hurley's "friend" Dave being dead, not imaginery (and, as others have suggested, Libby's dead husband), and for the possibility that the reason we haven't got a name for TMIB is because it is Aaron!

I don't think these are true (especially the latter), but you got to admit they make you think!

It's probably obvious, but the previous long comment was by me. (Forgot to fill in the "Name" field.)

KRISTA: "I think MIB was trapped in the cabin and bad Christian woke Claire up in the middle of the night and had her disrupt the Ash around the cabin and release MIB..."

KRISTIN: "Anyone have any thoughts to the theory floating around that Jin and Sun aren't actually married in the new timeline?..."

Excellent observations and thoughts!

Also, I can't help wondering why, if polarbearsohmy and others are correct that Rose wasn't wearing the ring around her neck (is it possible it just wasn't visible?), if that was just a (rather significant!) production error, or if it really means something. (Can imagine what, though.)

ZAP2ITRYAN: "I took 'I'm very disappointed in all of you' to be very much part and parcel of his general disappointment with humanity, as evidenced by his conversation with Jacob in 'The Incident.'"

Oh, okay. Now it makes more sense! (As others have already said, I didn't understand this line either.)

TECHNOTARD: "The scene last season when Faraday generated sudden "new" memories in future-Desmond really pissed me off. The writers essentially cheated logic, and created a conveniently linear sequence which made no sense at all. Based on that convention, this 'flash sideways' stuff could fly off the rails in any number of ways. Hell, they could even ride invisible rails over vast expanses of bubbling lava."

Exactly! I couldn't have said it better myself (though I've tried)! This is one of the reasons I'm so hoping that Darlton has "course corrected" from the sins of the past ("The Variable" and such) and NOT doing an arbitrary (or so it seems to me -- and I think JeffC) "sideways" timeline.

(I think I'm remembering correctly that "The Variable" was the episode where our heroes seemed to go out of their way to get into unnecessary gunfights, and then Faraday went out of his way at the end to get himself shot -- after saying what he had said before about "what happened, happened" was BS, right?)

(God... when I think about that episode I fear we may be headed for "invisible rails" and eggtown on our faces after all, JeffC.)

All I know about time travel I learned from 12 Monkeys ... mixed with a little bit of Bill and Ted and this one cartoon one time.

The way I figure, you can't change anything that's already happened, no matter what. Time will always course correct it, because whatever you could think of trying, you already did try and it already didn't work.

But, time travel isn't worthless because it can give you a new appreciation for what's already happened and you can plant the seeds of something you want to use in the future.

At the same time there's an internal clock to the world. You and everyone from your time are on the same clock. Even if you go back in time, you still exist on that clock, so up until Daniel told Desmond to find Eloise, it never happened and was never a memory, but the moment it did, it followed through time to Desmond, in no small part thanks to his special nature.

It was something that couldn't affect anything that had already happened and Desmond is specially attuned to changes through time. It didn't occur to him to look for her right after he got off the island, because technically he hadn't been told yet.

I've decided to stop trying to scratch my time travel itch... just sit back and let it flow over me. After all, it's Darlton's ballgame; we're just in the bleachers. Might as well enjoy the pretzels and beer.

I was just glad to see Desmond sitting in that seat, however briefly. They had me convinced after last season that they were gonna give him the old "Walt Special"... but it appears he's not only back, but integral to this bizarro-815 timeline.

I can't help but think that Des' appearance was either some sort of memory flash/hallucination, or we're going to get some scene in a future episode that further details his presence there, and what he might have been up to. Much too important an event to have him just "pop in" for no other reason than to confound Jack... or was THAT all it was.

Red herrings, you say? This junk is keeping me awake at night, people.....

Ya know, people who are instinctively reacting to a Kate episode in a negative way are forgetting one important thing; as Claire is currently WITH Kate, the first thing we're going to get to see is if she's pregnant in Los Alternales or not, and just maybe, Kate will let her go just in time to meet Aaron's mystery adoptive parents!

OtherSean: you beat me to the punch. In tomorrow's "Letters," I look at whether or not Claire's actually pregnant in the sideways timeline.

Ryan and Other Sean - Why don't you think claire is preagnant in the alternate timeline? And wouldn't that mean the island would be, in the words of the tranlating Other, "in a lot of trouble"?

I AM FAMOUS! LOST IS COMES CLOSE! WE WILL SEE!