At this point, I think that what we're seeing in the flash sideways is what will happen if Flocke's side wins and Jacob never had any influence in the Losties lives. This is why Locke told Sayid that he can make it possible that Sayid can have Nadia back. Remember, the reason Nadia died was because of Jacob distracting Sayid when she got hit by a car.

Wow, Jatefan, this is the first hypothesis for the purpose of the FS that I actually totally think could be correct! We know from Darlton that the FS is not simply an alternate timeline or reality. It is more than that and we don't know the purpose of it yet. It could be this.

If you are right, then this really casts a lot of doubt on how good of a person Jacob is/was. See, things on the whole are better for the Losties in the FS. Not completely great, by any means, but they have more happiness, more acceptance of who they are, and more of an ability to grow as people. But when Jacob interfered in their lives in order to, apparently, protect the island, he caused more and more suffering.

Will it ultimately come down to personal happiness vs. protection of the island? Certainly we and the Losties would have to gain a clear understanding of what is so frickin' important about this island (the healing properties?).

I figured the flashsideways could also be seen as Jacob "wins". If Jacob really promised Dogen that his son would be okay, but he (main-timeline Dogen) would never see his son again, the flashsideways situation fits.

Yeah, for now this episode seemed to point slighlty in that direction... Flocke 'granted' Sayid's wish of being with Nadia, but, not exactly how he hoped for....

We basically have 3 options to explain the alternate universe:

1) It IS an PARALLEL universe that runs parallel to the original caused by the Incident

2) It is how things are gonna be 'fixed' by MiB (suggested by this epi) after the losties do whatever they are supposed to. Flashsideways = Season 7

3) It is how things were ORIGINALLY before Jacob intervened causing Flight 815 to crash in the new timeline to try to fix something on the island

I also wondered why Sayid agreed that MiB had offered him a "similar bargain" to Dogen's. Dogen's bargain was that the person he loved would be alive, but he could never see them again and would have to go to the island. I got the impression that MiB was offering Sayid the opposite - he could see Nadia again and could leave the island (go home). Maybe by "home", he really means the other reality? Does he know it exists, or does he want to try and create it?

My husband came up with the same theory during the show tonight! I really like this idea, and I like how it casts even more doubt on whether Flocke really is "evil incarnate." Even if he doesn't turn out to be good, I'm hoping he's a lot more gray than he seems right now...

I think this is an interesting theory. But if so, what then was the whole focus last season on the Losties detonating the bomb? It would render all those scenes meaningless, other than being just a big fake-out to all of us?

this theory really feels right.

That's a great theory and it adds a lot of weight to the flash sideways.

But... if that's the case, then I'd be disappointed that the main plot twist of the last season (Flocke turning out to be the good guy) got revealed to early in the game.

If what you said was true, then Locke would be dead in the flash-sideways.

At this point, I think that what we're seeing in the flash sideways is what will happen if Flocke's side wins and Jacob never had any influence in the Losties lives. This is why Locke told Sayid that he can make it possible that Sayid can have Nadia back. Remember, the reason Nadia died was because of Jacob distracting Sayid when she got hit by a car.
However, for this to be true, somehow the time difference needs to be corrected. The flash sideways stories are supposedly at the time of the original flight 815 in 2004. The timeline for events currently seen on the island is around 2007, three years after the losties first left.

more of an ability to grow as people

IDK, they seem to have grown a TON due to their relationship with Jacob/the Island... one could argue they have grown more BECAUSE of the island... HUGE case in point - Sawyer... I mean, ultimately, the entire show is about how the time on the island has changed these individuals lives... some for the better, some for the worse... but it's like that old analogy - "when you squeeze the toothe paste tube, what comes out? peanut butter or tooth paste?"... the entire point of th eisland is that these people have been put in extreme circumstances forcing their truest selves to the surface... I think that's a scary concept for we as viewers to watch and then have to think about ourselves, naturally we'd prefer to live lives untested by trials, simple and easy, rather than learning that we may not be who we'd hope to be at our core

That was my thought as well, although, is it the world in which one of them has won, or is it the world in which there simply is no Jacob and no Smoke Monster (anymore)? The fact that FLocke can make Sayid get to Nadya could be a lie...or it could mean that FLocke can access this world. I've believed so far that the flash-sideways world is the world without cyclical time. It could be a world in which every source of exotic matter is destroyed, making it impossible to time-travel, and so, breaking the loop (with Richard's compass being the metallic continuity of the loop - and the source of energy under The Orchid destroyed.).
I can't decide if the flash-sideways show one team winning or both teams disappearing. Unfortunately, it will probably not be answered until we know if there is a third force at work, and what exactly this third force wants (the boy FLocke was chasing after could be that third force, but does he want the battle to end, the battle to continue along the rules, or does he want to make this whole battle with island and gods disappear?).

I suppose if you ask 10 people about the FS you will get 10 theories.

I have thought from episode 6.1 that the FS were a continuation of the island story - that it will be brought about by a decision that one or all of them make. Nothing has happened yet that convinces me otherwise.

It appears to me now it will be left to Jack and Jack alone, since according Jacob......"Jack has something he must do". Jack's decision will propel the story into the FS timeline, where Jack experiences a sense of deja vu (not once but several times), but no one else seems to. Jack's choice actually may be no choice at all - since conditions on the island grow increasingly grim. The FS timeline, which is no picnic, does represent some salvation for the hell the island has become under Smokey's increasing domination.

This means in the island timeline, one by one, they will all fall under Smokey's spell - as they must for Smokey to fulfill his desire - to leave his island imprisonment. Jack will be the last holdout - and left to exercise his "free will" to “save” them all from the island. Actually you could debate whether the new timeline represent “saving” at all. But I’m guessing that this is where we are heading.

Remember.....It only ends once. Everything else is just progress.

My two pence.

Yeah, for now this episode seemed to point slighlty in that direction... Flocke 'granted' Sayid's wish of being with Nadia, but, not exactly how he hoped for....

We basically have 3 options to explain the alternate universe:

1) It IS an PARALLEL universe that runs parallel to the original caused by the Incident

2) It is how things are gonna be 'fixed' by MiB (suggested by this epi) after the losties do whatever they are supposed to. Flashsideways = Season 7

3) It is how things were ORIGINALLY before Jacob intervened causing Flight 815 to crash in the new timeline to try to fix something on the island

I don't understand how 3 can be a possibility, as Jack had no son when Flight 815 crashed...?

I don't understand how 3 can be a possibility, as Jack had no son when Flight 815 crashed...?

in the original jack had a son. Jacob went back in time and starts manipulating the candidates' lives. Jack ends up NOT having a son, boarding 815 and crashing on the island.

I figured the flashsideways could also be seen as Jacob "wins". If Jacob really promised Dogen that his son would be okay, but he (main-timeline Dogen) would never see his son again, the flashsideways situation fits.

i don't think cause jacob was apparently the one who sent people to the island and in the alt timeline no one is on island! I still think the alt timeline happened because jacob died...in the show it begins the moment jacob died...

If you are right, then this really casts a lot of doubt on how good of a person Jacob is/was. See, things on the whole are better for the Losties in the FS. Not completely great, by any means, but they have more happiness, more acceptance of who they are, and more of an ability to grow as people. But when Jacob interfered in their lives in order to, apparently, protect the island, he caused more and more suffering.

I have a more in-depth theory about whether Jacob is the evil one here:
http://forum.thefuselage.com/showthread.php?t=121688

But taking off from this, even if true it doesn't necessarily cast doubt on how good a person Jacob is. It's the whole "Why does God/Jacob let bad things happen to good people?" argument. Just because God (or Jacob) allows bad things to happen to bring about his purpose does not then make God (or Jacob) himself a bad person.

Naw, I'm pretty sure that the LAX timeline is the TAPESTRY that Jacob has been weaving. It is his masterpiece work that will save the world.

I think the FS could be granted by whoever replaces Jacob. My thought (even though he may not have been a candidate or was crossed out. not sure) is it will be Desmond, and that's why he, much like Jacob showed up, reading a book and was gone.

If what you said was true, then Locke would be dead in the flash-sideways.


I was playing with this theory as well and came to the same stopping point.

Lets suppose they were granted a wish, but unbeknownst to the Losties the wish comes with a caveat, be careful what you wish for.

-Sayid wishes for Nadia to be alive, she is alive but is his brother's wife.
-Kate wishes she didn't kill her stepfather, she professes her innocence to Claire in the FS, plus the comic-con video
-Jack would wish to be a better father than his own, but can't be a better huband and struggles to have a relationship with his son.
-If we can look beyond the fact Locke should be dead, his wish would be I wish my Father ddin't push me out the window or steal my kidney, but Locke ends up paralyzed anyway yet has an amicable relationship with his father.

I think it can work and answer a few questions about the changes in the FS, but the locke part is a hitch.

I also like what someone pointed out above that the trigger for the FS was Jacob's death not the blast(as I still think the bomb was always the incident)

One problem with the Lighthouse from last week and the concept of Jacob touching the candidates, the reflections Jack saw for Sun and Jin and Sawyer were reflections of the places Jacob touched them, yet for Shepherd it was the house he grew up in yet Jacob touched Jack as an adult at the hospital.

That's where we saw Jacob touch Jack. I think he touched him as a child, like maybe when he removed his appendix. Jack could have been going to die then. and Jacob rushed in. He just needed an extra push later, because he wasn't doing the right thing.
I just think of the FS as what would have happened without Jacob messing with their lives.

I was playing with this theory as well and came to the same stopping point.

Lets suppose they were granted a wish, but unbeknownst to the Losties the wish comes with a caveat, be careful what you wish for.

-Sayid wishes for Nadia to be alive, she is alive but is his brother's wife.
-Kate wishes she didn't kill her stepfather, she professes her innocence to Claire in the FS, plus the comic-con video
-Jack would wish to be a better father than his own, but can't be a better huband and struggles to have a relationship with his son.
-If we can look beyond the fact Locke should be dead, his wish would be I wish my Father ddin't push me out the window or steal my kidney, but Locke ends up paralyzed anyway yet has an amicable relationship with his father.

I think it can work and answer a few questions about the changes in the FS, but the locke part is a hitch.

I also like what someone pointed out above that the trigger for the FS was Jacob's death not the blast(as I still think the bomb was always the incident)

One problem with the Lighthouse from last week and the concept of Jacob touching the candidates, the reflections Jack saw for Sun and Jin and Sawyer were reflections of the places Jacob touched them, yet for Shepherd it was the house he grew up in yet Jacob touched Jack as an adult at the hospital.

I like your thoughts here, but help me out. If Jacob's death in real time (pretty realtive now, but 2007 is what I mean) triggered the FlashSideways, it wouldn't negate all his interactions in the past, so how would that work?

I like your thoughts here, but help me out. If Jacob's death in real time (pretty realtive now, but 2007 is what I mean) triggered the FlashSideways, it wouldn't negate all his interactions in the past, so how would that work?

For it to work and have it be that the only thing that created the FS was that his death caused some kind of unraveling where his past interactions were wiped out. However the fact that the island appeared to sink post DHARMA indicates that all his interactions were not wiped out. So maybe his death opened some kind of door/access for smokey to go and have his own influence on the candidates past.

My real motivation for the bomb not being the catalyst is that we spent so much time with "What ever happened, happened" and even though Dan is a Physicist and I am not, I did not buy the logic of his plan.

I'm liking the idea that the losties had an opportunity to change an aspect of their lives and even with their wish granted their lives are not that different, and that is what fuels the FS. I'm really interested to see Sawyers FS and if Clemintine will be involved, which I think would add more fuel to this theory.