"Because Now You Know this Show is Willing and Capable of Killing Anyone"

That's what the producers of Lost said today. [Spoiler Alert] So brace yourselves. I think everyone might die on the island. Maybe only Jack will survive as the new Jacob until the day he brings (or they come or are sent) all the  Lost progeny to the island (Aaron, David, Charlie, Ji Yeon?) to once and for all kill the Man in Black. Remember, you can only stab him if he hasn't talked to you. I don't know. That's just one idea off the top of my head. Here are others:

Next week I think we'll find out that Jacob and the Man in Black are brothers. That seems fitting. We'll get to see their whacked-out mom and who knows, maybe the Man in Black will kill her. Maybe Man in Black will be presented in such a way so as to create some sympathy for him, but I doubt it. There's not enough time. I'm pretty sure he's just plain evil. The main thing I want from next week's episode is to find out the "rules" and details of the "game" we're all so into. That's what I need to know.

Sun and Jin's deaths were sad but fitting in the context of the island. People die when their issues are worked out--remember how Charlie died after beating his drug addiction? Sun and Jin's issues have been worked out. They fixed their marriage. I thought it was quite lovely, in fact, that that was their purpose, and that was enough. I guess the Lost producers believe in the sanctity of marriage. Good for them--I do too. Jin and Sun also have a baby who might become important later. I keep coming back to this: Which Kwon is a candidate? It's Ji Yeon--the baby who is now an orphan being raised by her grandma but who will be born into a happy family in the alternate time line.

Speaking of the alternate timeline, what is it? I believe that if I think about it hard enough and long enough I can figure it out. The producers have told us that the relationship between island time and alternate time is THE big secret. I have puzzled out a few guesses.  The alternate timeline could be what happened when Juliet detonated jughead. Jack said they had to do it and if it worked "none of this would ever happen" so maybe it's that. Juliet did say [through Miles who has a gift at divining this sort of thing] "it worked." I believe it did work and we will see Juliet in the end and her cryptic ramblings about going dutch for coffee will make sense. And her hips will be wide, her stance manly, and her lips pursed.

My current pet theory, however, is that the alternate time line is actually after whatever is happening on the island "now" and is the result of whatever they do now on-island which will include Desmond messing with time to create(?) the alternate time line. Since the island is on the ocean floor in the alternate time line it makes sense that all the hullabaloo happening on the island with pockets of unstable electromagnetism will somehow result in the island being buried with water in the ocean. Maybe the alternate time line is a loophole for the good guys--a possible future which makes island sacrifices bearable and worthwhile.  This seems right, but I don't now why or how. And their awareness/memory of the island time line is going to make them do something (like raise their children or appreciate their soul mates) to defeat the Man in Black. Or maybe they all go to hell.

Another idea I had was that the alternate time line is a world where Jacob doesn't interfere at all--he's not pulling strings to get people to the island. This doesn't really make sense.

Of course another possibility is that the alternate time line is something I haven't thought of and can not even comprehend in the same way that I could not comprehend Marty McFly getting his own parents together before I saw Back to the Future. I hope so. But I also hope I'm right about something because that is truly satisfying. Case in point: Sayid blew up just like the Professional. As I predicted--It's the only fitting end to a repentant assassin.

For me the saddest part about last night's Lost is that it's almost over and in three weeks I will be forced to live in an alternate reality where Lost does not exist. Life might not have meaning there. I don't know yet. I also don't know if I will be in a wheel chair there.