Season 6 constants by Edward Pye

So, I don't know about other people but I was a little disappointed after directly after watching the premiere of season 6, not because it was bad, but because I had been waiting so eagerly for the only complex show on TV to come back that I had formulated a bunch of ideas that I thought would be confirmed or rejected immediately. However, true to form and tradition the premiere threw out more questions than answers and really only confirmed a few of the things that we had all assumed from season 5, namely that MIB was smokie, he could possess the island dead and was now inhabiting poor old John Locke. It also took us far deeper in the mythological element of the show.

If anything the premiere reinforced to me that I have to be patient if I want to see results and after thinking about it (and watching the premiere again) I have dissolved my disappointment and now look forward to the weekly doses. Lost has become the television equivalent of the nicotine patch.

With all that in mind, I have some theories on where the show will go and how the new elements will incorporate into the story. I apologize if these have been previously stated...

So the most interesting new element in season 6 is the alternating time line which I assume is taking place back in 2004 while the island time line is somewhere in 2008.

THE GRAZE

Now, there is no way the producers (or the fans for that fact) would settle for a complete reset of the story. That is the equivalent of saying "it was all a dream..." The show has invested into too many story lines to pull that kind of finish. There are two essential parts of the premiere that tell me that they won't go that route. Firstly, that the reset happened in episode 1...if they were going to end the story with that then it would happen in the finale and we would all walk away going 'they pulled a Matrix.' But as it is, it has happened in episode 1 giving the characters a whole season to resolve the problems that we saw in their flashbacks through seasons 1-5.

The other reason is THE GRAZE on Jack's neck - very small I know but as we have seen so far some of the smallest things have had the greatest ramifications...
I believe the graze is indicative of a convergence between both time lines which will eventually play out the same way it did for Desmond in the episode 'the constant.'
As the season progresses I think the characters in the ATL will start having flashes of the alternate timeline and perhaps even interchange between them as Desmond did. As their existence is threatened in both timelines the characters will have to solve their issues by finding their constants - for Jack it will be Kate, Sawyer - Juliet and so on. I think we got a large hint at this with Juliet's last words about coffee. This to me is her relaying a meeting with Sawyer in the ATL.

THE DEAD...

That raises the question of the dead on the island...how will they jump between timelines if their personas are being used by MIB and Jacob?
Well perhaps their stories will be left to be resolved in only 1 timeline...still there is the question of who is controlling who...? Jacob obviously got to Locke first so who is actually controlling him? It all seemed a little to planned that Jacob allowed himself to be killed so easily...if this was all a part of the plan then perhaps Jacob wanted a more kickass body like Sayids...

Either way, I am now comfortable with waiting and everything being revealed in time.