Re-reading the first part. Left something off it.

Basically, I think that Jughead can be detonated in 1977 and the Swan can be built. Yet I also think that the losties going back to the seventies has influenced events in ways similar to Desmond in FBYE. Nothing they do, even Jughead, negates the Swan or Desmond or the button that brought them there.

The rock solid, unchanging theory for this week

Thanks to Apopheniac for the link corrections and pointing out that Des is also in different chairs in the different office set-ups.
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PART 2


What happened to the Losties?


It gets tricky to explain here. I'm confident in this as it exists in my head, translating that to the written word understandably may not go so well tho

Definition of terms:




In FBYE we see what happened to Desmond after he turned the failsafe key.

This is my interpretation of what happened to him.

Desmond wakes up in his flat, having fallen off the ladder while painting. He's disoriented, probably suffered some vertigo, which Penny, who comes in, attributes to paint fumes, beer and heights.

We see through out this flash back, leading up to Desmond's meeting with Hawking in the Jewelry store, moments of deja vu for Des. From the grocery store item scan beep reminding him of the button, to recognizing Charlie outside Widmore Industries.

We see Desmond recognize different things that have already happened or are about to happen.

-It starting to rain outside of Widmore Industries, which he calls. Knowing he rips off his tie and Penny later asks him where it went too.

-Knowing Jimmy Lennon is going to come in and whack the bartender in the head because of a bet. Knowing the song that was playing on the juke box, knowing the soccer team is going to come back from two goals down to win.

These things suggest to me that Des has already lived through this part of his life previously. That he remembers living through it, evidence by the pieces of memory he has of things happening, and that he's now re-living it. Evidence in that he remembers the island, the button, and Charlie.

Desmond has fragmented intel of his time on the island while in this past segment of his life. I think during this flashback, most notably at Widmore's office and outside meeting Charlie, that we're seeing two things.

imo, we're seeing both pieces of the original timeline, the first instance Desmond experienced those things, and a parallel timeline, where Desmond is re-living those experiences, because of the Swan failsafe and being at ground zero.

There are subtle shifts in certain scenes that are strange to me. They're strange because the scene's look like they're shot continuously, being in the same episode they would have all been shot on the same week of production for that episode, yet there's differences that I don't think we can chalk up to oversight.

Widmore's office. Painting locations. These screencap links are in the order they appeared in the episode.

Des enters the office

Painting is on his right. 2nd Office pic

Closer view of it.
2nd Office pic close up

Painting no longer on the rightside
3rd office pic

Consistent with previous office view.
4th

Desmond looking towards the sail boat on rightside of Widmore's desk.
5th
6th

The seventh is Desmond remembering his boat. After he got to the island, when it was in that inlet where Kelvin was fixing it.
7th

The painting that was on the right, is now on the left in these next two.
8th
9th

The first pic, imo, is desmond re-living the experience. He's detonated the Swan failsafe, he's here going through this interview again.

This first shot of the office is the same as the end ones. The only ones that are different are the ones where the polar painting, with Namaste writting on it backwards, are on opposite walls.

The 2nd pic and its close up, are the only ones that differ. This, imo, is from the original timeline. Desmonds first take on this interview.

I think when we're seeing Desmond look to his right, at the painting, we're seeing Desmond remembering his first time thru this.

But it's not just the paintings being on different sides of the room. Look at Widmore's desk in the 2nd screencap. The lamp and that glass clock (you can see it's a clock in 3rd screencap) move from one side of Widmore's desk, to the other.

Right to left from Dez's point of view.

Is this unintentional? Would the director and the film crew, shooting these scenes unintentionally/accidentally rearange things on set when so many other details remain in place?

The ties are the same on Widmore and Desmond. The suits. The decor is the same as well, just in different places.

Why would a scene, even if they took breaks during filming, why would the set be changed? Especially in an indoor, office set? This isn't the jungle. It's a highly controllable environment to shoot in. Why would there be a change unless it was intentional.

I know there's mistakes made in scenes, not everything is a clue, but in a scene that's less than four minutes long with clear changes in the set, I tend to think it's of significance.

We can look outside as well, for more of the same.

The lettering on the news stand changes. Again, why would it change? Why would someone go to the trouble of puting a different news stand up with different lettering? It makes no sense to me. Unless it was intentional.

Appearing in sequence in FBYE, outside. Desmond walking past. Look at the lettering
Newsstand 1
Newsstand 1 again
Grainy, but you can tell the letterings the same as
http://gallery.lost-media.com/displa...-1250-392.html
This, again, could be a memory Des is experiencing from the original time thru this. The lettering, in the background, has changed.
Newsstand 2 cap 1
Newstand 2 cap 2
Newsstand2 cap 3

Desmond having some memory of this part of his life, having lived it before, influences the slight changes we see, imo. He does things a little differently than he first did.

Desmond shifted events in the original timeline from the moment he flashed back there via the Swan Fail Safe. He still ended up on the island, thanks to Hawking and the curse of knowing events ahead of time.

By telling the bartender to duck, Des gets whacked on the head, something that didn't happen originally. Desmond told Donovan (and thus the viewers) what was going to happen. But it didn't. he changed it.

Des did nothing that altered reality, he still ended up on the island, 815 still crashed, but he didn't do exactly the same thing as what happened before.

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What we see in FBYE is this, imo:

Fail safe detonation. Des re-experiencing a piece of his life with memories of having done it before. Makes him just precognitive enough to allow an active change to previously remembered events.

Still ends up on island. More later

What I propse happens to Jack and the '77s is this:

Jughead detonating causes similar, though potentially stronger, phenomena where Jack & Co., end up at a point in their past.

Like Des

Remembering things that led up to the incident which caused their shift in pieces.

Des influenced his past in different ways, some overtly, some by just remembering. There shouldn't be second times around.

imo, Jack & Co. will end up in parts of their past, on the island in 2004, post-815 crash. Comic con intel



What I think is that we'll see new footage with Jack and the 77s (those from the crash anyway) going through the 2004 post-crash timeline. I think they'll remember pieces and bits from their lives that led up to the moment Jughead detonated. Like Desmond remembered moments up until he turned the fail safe key.




I look at Desmond turning the failsafe at the end of season two and I see Juliet detonating jughead at the end of S5 and it leads me to think that Desmond's detonation of the Swan and what happens to him afterwards, lays the groundwork for the detonation of the Swan work site and what happens afterward to the losties. imo