lost in Lost- latest (conspriacy) theories

I can't help myself... Just watching Lost each Tuesday night (when I refuse to go out) and arguing about it with my grandma for a 1/2 hour after it (as we each say to each other 'what the hell just happened?') just isn't enough. I have to also come up with all these ideas and theories too. You can already imagine the painful withdrawal I'll go through when the series ends.

So what is it about this series that confuses and confounds even its fans? It's a larger than life series for sure, one that demands a lot from any viewer, as opposed to many other major network shows, which are lowest common denominator insults to your intelligence. I didn't even start getting into it until the 2nd season and even then, I was ready to bail on it for being so confusing. But anyone who likes a bit of a challenge and can go along with non-linear plots gets rewarded by the fascinating and conflicted characters, wonderfully spooky and weird atmosphere and compelling twists and turns that the series keeps serving up.

In this last season, they're masterfully building suspense, making us wonder how the threads are going to be tied up (or not) and who's going to survive in the end (shades of The Sopranos for sure). The producers promised to answer many of the lingering questions but not all of them and that's fine with me- if you've given yourself up to the show this far, you can live with some mystery. The one thing that they'll have to explain in some form or another is what's the whole story with the island itself and what are the people really doing there. Again going back to the Sopranos, my guess is that the ending's gonna be a big surprise and that not everyone is gonna be thrilled with it. That's fine with me too- why try to please everyone like most TV shows do so pathetically?

And so on to the latest episode! If you're behind and wanna catch up on the plot, the Lostpedia is a great resource.

So... Smokey (aka Man in Black) as Christian Shephard brings up interesting questions about when he directed Locke while in Jacob's cabin- he was obviously lying about speaking for Jacob and told Locke to move the island (with the donkey wheel). The later makes sense now, especially since that was meant to fool Widmore. Also, was it Smokey all the time in the cabin otherwise and never Jacob then? If so, what kind of instructions was Smokey giving all that time to Benjamin (and the Others) under the guise of Jacob to meet his needs?

I'm also wondering about the alternate timeline now, especially as the show's producers have said that it'll eventually converge with what's happening on the island. In the alt timeline, the flight passengers are starting to gather together but I'm wondering which timeline is going to collapse into the other and how. Widmore keeps warning that the island world is in peril, making us think that if Smokey leaves there, that particular timeline vanishes and it's the alt-timeline that's gonna be the permanent reality. By the end, one of the two realities is gonna be toast. That's unless, the producers decide that the two meld together to form yet another reality (which would be kind of interesting).

Two other things I noticed. First, in the previous episode, while Sun was digging around Ilana's remains, she finds one of those special bags of ash that's used to thwart Smokey and she keeps it for herself. You can bet that she'll use it later somehow to keep him at bay.

Also, in the (earlier) 2004 timeline, it seems that the LAX passengers have brief meet-up's before going on their merry way and then have the same meet-up's later in a much more substantial way- Jack and Locke (discussing the surgery and then doing it), Desmond and Claire (meeting at the baggage pick up briefly and then going to the lawyer's office together), Sawyer and Kate (meeting in the elevator and then the arrest). What's the significance?

See how caught up you can get in this?