Alright folks, tell me what you think of this theory. If you’ve already watched the film clips from Comic Con and/or already know the general direction season six is going, this is purely speculation on my part and I wouldn’t consider it spoilery. But if you want to remain 100% spoiler-free for next season, stop reading now.
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Based on the Comic Con videos, it’s strongly implied that season 6 is going to be at least partially in an alternate reality where Oceanic 815 doesn’t crash, Hurley has excellent luck, and Kate doesn’t kill her stepdad. My first thought based on the last two episodes of season five is Jack’s plan works, Jughead detonates, the Swan is never built, therefore 815 never crashes. But what if it’s the other way around? Suppose what we’re thinking of as an alternate timeline really is the way things happened the first time around (i.e. the “real” timeline) but then something or someone changed events such that a new timeline spawns off (i.e. the one we see in seasons 1-5). This could even be what Jacob is doing when he touches people in the flashbacks in the season finale.
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I could very well be totally off-base here, but it seems like the sort of twist we’d get from Lost.