Quite liked this episode…
So that mark on alterna-Jack’s neck is back and rather more prominent this time. Surely it has some connection to the other universe and perhaps in the next [and last :(] episode he’ll get a mark like that?
Desmond’s plan seems to be going pretty well in the alternate dimension; he’s made Ben remember stuff by punching him, just like he punched him before. 😛 He also seems to have some recollection of Alex; or perhaps he was simply touched by the thought of being a father-figure.
Hurley is clearly completely aware of the island timeline since he recognized Ana Lucia, and Des has freed Kate, Sayid & himself. I assume he’s getting them to do something before everyone meets up at that concert thingy?
Oh, and Jack’s ex-wife is so gonna be Juliet.
Richard’s probably still alive; he only got thrown a little distance (for tv stunts, anyway) and he’s most likely still immortal.
I appreciated the answer as to why Kate had been crossed off; I had been wondering about that, and why they were there full stop. Jack’s the new Jacob, God complex and all 😛 and Desmond is a failsafe (I thought of the failsafe key, myself)… which Lock is gonna use to destroy the island; unless Jack gets in the way somehow…
Something that’s been bugging me though: I can’t help but wonder about the “Rules” between Widmore & Ben. Back in season 4, in the episode where Alex gets shot, Ben visits Widmore’s place and when replying to “Have you come here to kill me Benjamin?”, Ben replies “We both know I can’t do that” and then goes on to say that he’s gonna kill his daughter — Penny; well, he didn’t get around to doing that, and for Desmond’s sake that was a good thing….
But, in this episode, he just kills Widmore? Okay, what he said after made it slightly more acceptable — “He doesn’t get to save his daughter”. Did he just break the “rules” because Widmore already did?
Well, next up is “The End” – on Sunday; 2.5 hours of well, hopefully… awesomeness. And then it’ll all be over. 😦 😦 😦 😦
/
Josh Anderson's Blog 
My theory about the finale. Desmond will get thrown into the hole with the “light” and because of his resistance to electro-magnetism (which is what the light is) it’ll destroy the island. My theory though is that it will also be the cause of the alt-timeline, so Jack will have to sacrifice everyone by taking Desmond to the light.
Yeah, it seems really likely that Desmond is gonna go through that cave. Though I’m not sure it will destroy the island. Perhaps it’ll balance the evil released?
I think the alternate timeline was caused by the bomb going off though which created a paradox… erm, and that they’ll merge somehow…? Not sure.
I think the alt timeline will simply be the happy ending and they’ll just all meet up, remember and leave everything dandy. On the island though, everybody dies… with the possible exception of Jack.