Can The Past/Future Be Changed On Lost?

The question is one I think will be answered tonight. Lost has worked all season to bring us to this point. Quite frankly, it's worked the whole show. The first season ended with Locke and Jack having their "man of science"/"man of faith" discussion/argument and, at the end looking down the hatch. The second ends with Locke and Jack battling about what to do with the button, but ultimately separated at the end as Jack goes after Ben, the leader, while Locke decides not to push it and leads to a big explosion. The third season ends with Locke and Jack separating the camp and shows Jack in the future with what we find out to be Locke's casket. The fourth season ends with Jack leaving the island and Locke staying while Jack learns from Locke in the future that he needs to return to the island.

And now in the 5th season we have Locke and Jack separated by space and time. Jack can continue with the status quo and let history take it's course, but he wants to set of an H-bomb to change the future/past. This is very symmetrical to Locke at the end of Season 2. Except the roles are reversed. While in the past Jack led a team of Hurley, Kate, Sawyer and a traitorous Michael to get rid of Ben, the leader of the Others, Jack is trying to lead a team of people for which he is the defacto leader, to kill another leader (Jacob).

Will Jack be successful and Locke not be this time? Will Jack realize he was wrong and Locke become a captive of the island (as Jack was to Ben after his failed attack)? Or does Locke have more of a plan? Did Jacob's "help me" from a previous season lead Locke to believe he needed to kill Jacob to get him out of his misery? Or is Locke trying to elminate the only person on the island he believes is more powerful than him? Or will Locke reach Jacobs cabin to find someone he recognizes there? Will that person be Jack or Chrisitian or Richard Alpert or Locke himself?

As for the death at the end of the season...well...I've been going back-and-forth about it but I believe it will be Juliet. Why? I think they've set it up perfectly. She's had multiple chances to leave but has been derailed every time. She wanted to leave Dharmaville but Ben convinced her to stay. She was supposed to get on the sub with Jack but Locke blew it up. She wanted to leave in "LaFleur" but Sawyer convinced her to stick around. And, finally, she seemed to be headed off with Sawyer and put this past behind her when Kate shows up on the sub. How much do you want to bet she follows Kate and Sawyer back to the island? And that seems like a move that will be the end to her.

But that doesn't mean she will be killed. Maybe Jack is sucessful in stopping the incident. And maybe the incident is what stopped women from having babies. And maybe now that they can again, they won't need to bring a certain fertility doctor to the island.

Lastly, one thing I would love for them to answer tonight and need them to answer by the end of the series is "what's the deal with Christian Shephard?" One thought I had today: maybe he learned the fate of his son like Eloise learned the fate of hers. Maybe he started drinking because he knew he had to send him to this end and was so tough on him because he needed him to follow a path like Faraday. And maybe he tried to change that path by going to Australia and knew someone (Ben? Widmore?) would try to stop him so he brought Ana Lucia along to protect him. And maybe he didn't die from a heart attack but was killed by someone (I'm leaning towards Ben) who wanted to affect a certain outcome (like a spinal surgeon showing up to fix his spinal tumor). And maybe, like Locke (and, oh, like that Christ guy from which he is named), he was reborn on the island.

But maybe the Losties weren't supposed to get there yet. And maybe this was Christian leading everyone he came into contact with to a course correction.

Maybe we'll get to see Aaron and Sun/Jin's kid all grown up (or maybe Charlie of the Penny/Desmond variety). Maybe we'll find out what lies in the shadow of the statue (Jughead? A person?). Or maybe none of this stuff will happen and I'm way off.

But it will be fun and I will be excited and I will hate life a little at the end knowing we have until January to get more answers and see more Lost.




-Andrew