First Thoughts on The Variable

Holy crap... I haven't been too thrilled with this season so far. It's been good, but I much prefer new questions to getting answers. This episode makes me feel like I did back in Season 1.

Based on their actions in the future it seems pretty clear to me that Eloise, Charles and the Others are going to be trying to preserve the original timeline. I have to believe that the Losties are going to fail to change it because if they do paradox arises. If their plane never crashes then they are never on the island to go back to change time and prevent the plane from crashing. Not to mention that what would the last season be about.

But this is Lost so who knows... The last scene might just be the plane safely landing in LA.

One of the things that excites me the most is that the rest of the season has to take place in the next 3 or 4 hours after this episode. I am disappointed that Daniel seems to be dead. He was a great character and he will be missed.

Radzinksy continues to be the king of the douches. Every week I think I can't dislike him any more and then he proves me wrong. And unfortunately I know he can't die now because he has to shoot himself in the Swan in a decade or two.

So my predictions - the Losties are going to find the bomb in the temple. To do this they have to make friend with Widmore and son-killer Hawking. Chang is going to evacuate most, but not all, of the people from the island. Maybe one subload is all they can do in the available time. The Losties are going to try to detonate the bomb but will either chicken out or fail, the Incident happens and who knows what consequences that has. The Swan's purpose changes from a research hatch to a containment hatch and this is the beginning of the end for Dharma.

Now my crackpot theory - the Incident changes time and reunites the Losties. The people in the 70s go back to the 2000s to reunite with everyone else. The next season is the battle for the island where the Others and the Losties fight against the Shadow of the Statue. I still don't really have a good idea who the Shadow of the Statue are, but they are not Dharma, not Others... They are a new group we have never heard of, probably descended from the Temple Builders. And without Locke for the others to use as cannon fodder they will beat the Others (I don't know what else Locke can contribute).