if this is what happens, I hope the writers don’t cop-out and avoid explaining any of our current mysteries by simply saying “eh, it didn’t matter, because it never happened after all, because desmond pushed the button, and the plane never crashed.” that would be a huge disappointment.

one issue with your theory, though, where you discuss the penelope scene looking for electromagnetic anomalies: the chess-playing scientists manning the station mentioned something about missing it “last time” or something to that effect. I think that fact pattern would fit with the scene we saw occurring at the same time as the hatch implosion, and the “last time” would have coincided with desmond’s failure to push the button and the plane crash.

-There were certain things we knew from the very beginning. Independent of ever knowing when the end was going to be, we knew what it was going to be, and we wanted to start setting it up as early as season 1, or else people would think that we were making it up as we were going along. So the skeletons are the living — or, I guess, slowly decomposing — proof of that. When all is said and done, people are going to point to the skeletons and say, “That is proof that from the very beginning, they always knew that they were going to do this.”-

This is a good idea, and could be part of the story, but where do Dharma/others/hostiles come into it?

I think the point is…Dharma/others/hostiles are just part of the story(what is happening until Dez realizes he can change things). Maybe, in the end, what Dez does actually changes a factor(s) in the Valenzetti equation that save the world from Pen’s evil father(Jacob?).

It’s not clear to me how this “time pendulum effect” actually works and how the writers could explain it during the show.

I must be missing something. If Dez doesn’t let the plane crash by not pressing the button, then how would an electromagnetic anomaly register with the guys Penelope hired?

But the idea of nullifying all the story and consequence of the time spend on the island would be a waste in my eyes. Yeah its purpose would be to help desmond save the world but in the process it would ruin the viewers story.

All the weirdness, intrigue, viewer participation etc etc would just end up being a way to nullify what we were intereted in the first place. hmmm i dont know….

interesting theory tho

the admonition from the psychic to Claire that no one else should raise her baby falls apart, she just proceeds to California and gives up the baby.

Kate goes to jail.

Locke is still paralyzed, and doesn’t fulfill his dream about doing the walkabout.

Sun never gets pregnant.

Rose dies of cancer.

Michael goes on raising Walt who has some psychic ability that is never explained.

This is not much of a payoff for characters you think will be followed over a course of 6-7 seasons.

I think the plane crash is not what it appears to be. How did the Losties survive a mid-air breakup? Why was Ben so confident that Ethan and the other Other would find survivors?

Also, I don’t think the ending is going to be exactly like Bruce predicts… he’s just onto something.

But can I wait a few more years to find out? I don’t wanna!

We don’t know the mythology of the island yet, but I think we can guess the moral of the story: the Losties’ get redeemed.

Each of the Losties are flawed, which made their lives in the real world problematic. (I think we have the seven deadly sins well represented by the bunch.) But here on the island it works to their advantage. Jack’s pride and arrogance ruined his marriage and his relationship with his father (and probably mother, too), but it helps him stand up against the real evil of the Others/Hostiles. Kate is a person of action. We have seen how she’s the first to volunteer for the each dangerous mission on the island.

I think the whole time travel or alternate quantum dimension travel opens up too many possible plot lines.

I can, however, definitely wait a few years to find out what happens… I don’t want the show to end. Then what will I do on Wednesday nights? And what will I talk about all day Thursday?!

I have complete faith in the writers and producers. Lost will go down in history as one of the great tv mysteries. One that will end in a most satisfying way. I don’t think we should worry about that at all…

i agree with xtracrispy…in a sense i think if the plane didnt crash and the losties continued on to their destination many of them would be worse of in many ways. they all seem to have been “healed” in some way since being on the island…whether its physically, emotionally or by repairing a significant relationship. even shannon, boone and ana-lucia made their peace before dying on the island. it would be almost MORE tragic to have the plane not crash in the finale, and to have all of these characters not resolve all of these issues that they had pre-flight 815.

sidenote: i’m really excited for the eventual, full-circle, pen-dez reunion.

How would it work though? Wouldn’t Desmond have to be dead in the present to be dead in the past (like Back to the Future, space-time continum)?

But wouldnt that be a bit of a letdown overall for the series? ‘the island is one giant positive karma machine, now be on your way and live happily ever after’

are the lives of these people so important that all these events are happening just to help them be better human beings?

I suppose saving the characters could be the key to saving the world.

New thought on Desmond and the equation. Not a countdown. Redemption and Reconciliation, makes me think of Clive Barker’s Imajica. Each number greater than the one before, but none sufficient.

Desmond is a savior, the 7th piece, the 7th number in the equation, which is incomplete (unpublished or unknown or unknowable to Dharma). When do you most often obsess or repeat a number sequence?

When you’re trying to figure out what comes next?

Dharma wanted to assemble savants (Walt and others like him) to dream the number. Dharma brought Juliet to bring a miracle creation for the same purpose–to produce a Desmond. Fate always seems to trump intervention.

a crucial part of this theory is that desmond will be able to continue to go back and adjust things, which i’m not sure will be possible if we believe what damon/carlton have said about ‘flashes before your eyes,’ that they were doing something with the flashbacks they’d ‘never do again.’

it’s because of this that i’m holding to my theory that this one trip back in time caused enough of a ripple for penny to eventually put pieces together and begin her quest for des.

it’s a major story thread, but i don’t think it’s the ‘key.’

Perhaps Dez’s decision to press the button (thus saving the Oceanic passengers) will be his ultimate act of sacrifice. In other words, he’ll forgo any chance of being saved by Penelope by pressing the button earlier. This decision would be consistent with Dez’s messiah complex — his determination to save Charlie, Claire, etc.

Under this theory, I also wonder if Dez intentionally did not press the button on time the first time in order to bring the Oceanic passengers to the island. . .

Very cool theory.

I was just on abc.com bored, looking around. And they had this clip of when Jack first met Desmond running up the stairs. When they sit and chat, Desmond seems to know things…this would really fit in nicely with this theory. He asks Jack “what if u did fix her” about Sara. And his coy mention of “see u in another life”. Which then makes me wonder–when he says “bit of advice, u got to lift it up”. What is he saying? Is it future advice for the island?

Oooh, well this one just gave me goosebumps. Good recall! This ties in nicely to Desmond’s “flashes”, both past and future. I know the producers have said they likley won’t do that kind of thing again with flashbacks, but they have clearly identified that Desmond is stuck in some kind of time pendulum (as note at the beginning of the thread). These comments make perfect sense now. I’m inclined to go back thru all the Desmond eppys to see if there are other clues like this.

Thanks!

Which then makes me wonder–when he says “bit of advice, u got to lift it up”. What is he saying? Is it future advice for the island?

My memory fails, but isn’t that what Jack needed Tom to do when Jack needed help during Ben’s operation? Hold something up? Might be a stretch.

Desmond, I believe, says “see you in another live” twice to Jack. The first time when he and Jack run up the stairs in the stadium. The second time, when they meet again on the island and Desmond asks about Sarah (how the surgery turned out). Just before they part, Desmond says “see you in another live”.

Is it too farfetched to think that Desmond is in the process of becoming “aware” or “enlightened” (in the buddhist sense) and experiencing the awakening of his senses to the true nature of the universe? [Per wikipedia, Dharma or Dhamma is the underlying order in nature and human live and behavior considered to be in accord with that order… beings that live in accordance with Dharma proceed more quickly toward Nirvana].

We know every scene and easter egg by heart, so when we see a small difference, we’ll know it’s “not quite right”.

I think Nikki and Paulo have taken Rose and Bernard’s place due to some small change that happened when Desmond “went back”. We’ll see tomorrow…

i have my own theory about the end of lost.
There really was a plane crash and Jack will wake up in a hospital from nikoma (or however they spell it) and we’ll all realize it was just a dream. The survivors of flight 815 were all just the last faces he saw & the others plus desmond and danielle are all just people from his past. I like that theory better than the snow globe one.

The Lost authorities have already said they arn’t going to cheat us of a good ending with something like that. No snowglobe, no “it was all in so-and-so’s head”

Very cool theory.

Dez’s not pressing the button the first time was not intentional. If memory serves, he was confronting Kelvin at the discovery of his boat, had the fight resulting in Kelvin’s death, grabbed the override key, and then had to scramble back to the hatch quickly only to find it in “system failure” mode.