C.G. Son is smarter than the average bear, er, LOST writer or fan. He says that at the beginning of the finale episode after Jack’s first flash forward, he said, “Let me guess. Five years earlier on the island.” Of course, I didn’t hear him say it, but he’s the genius nevertheless. He knew from the start that Bearded Suicidal Jack was after the island, not before.

SO we tried to work out a timeline, but it keeps getting more and more complicated and confused. (I know there are timelines in other places on the internet, but we like to work out our own thoughts.)

1970 The Dharma Initiative starts, sends people to the island to do utopian experiments.

late 1960’s Ben is born prematurely, killing his mom.

late 1970’s Uncle Rico Workman and Ben come to the island to work for Dharma. Ben makes contact with the Hostiles following the ghost (?) of his mother.

late 1980’s Ben grows up, goes to work for Dharma, and joins The Hostiles to kill the Dharma people and take over their town —and their identities?

about 1988 Danielle Rousseau and her team are led to the island by the numbers transmission. Danielle changes the numbers transmission to a distress call three days before Alex is born. Danielle’s team dies or she kills them; then the Hostile Others kidnap Alex and tell her that Ben is her father.

1991 The Gulf War. Sayid, and the guy who was in the hatch with Desmond are both in the Gulf War along with Kate’s father.

1991 or 1992 Soon after the Gulf War, Guy-in-the-hatch finds a job with Dharma and starts pushing buttons. (So Ben knew he was in there. Did Ben ever communicate with the guys in the hatch?)

1994-2000 Sometime in here Mr. Eko is running drugs in Africa, gets his brother killed, and becomes a fake priest. His brother’s drug plane crashes on the island.

2000 Around this time stuff is happening to the other Losties. Kate’s on the run, Jack’s having daddy issues, Sawyer is looking for Sawyer, and Locke is giving his daddy a kidney. In return Locke gets thrown out a window and becomes paralyzed.

2001 Desmond gets a boat given to him by Libby, enters a race around the world, and shipwrecks on the island. He becomes Guy-in the Hatch’s partner in pushing the button.

2001 Juliet arrives on the island.

2003 Hurley wins the lottery. Locke decides to go on walkabout.

September 22, 2004. Oceanic Flight 815 crashes on an island somewhere in the Pacific. Desmond kills Kelvin but misses the button pushing time. Ben sends spies to get names of all who were on the plane.

late 2004- beginning of 2005 Season 3 Finale—Through the Looking Glass. The Losties get rescued but can’t forget the island.

2007 Bearded Druggie Jack tries to commit suicide and becomes a hero for the second time when he rescues a kid and his mother from a burning car. Someone (Ben or John Locke?) dies, and Jack is the only one at the funeral. Tortured by his memories, Jack realizes that the Losties who were rescued must return to the island to finish what they started.

Here’s what we think the next three seasons will feature:

Season 4: Jack Shephard “herds” the LOST survivors together and convinces them that they must return to the island. The season 3 finale was the Losties “exodus” but they weren’t supposed to leave the island. They are now wandering in the desert, so to speak, but Jack/Moses will gather them and lead them back to Promised Island. We are treated flashbacks that explain what has happened to each of the Losties during the time they’ve been off-island and that show us something about what unfinished business they have on the island.

Season 5: The Lost Team finds the island again, encounters the enemy, and begins the fight for control and the quest to find the meaning of the island itself. Locke, who stayed on the island, is the leader of those who escaped deportation, and Jack and his people must confront Locke’s guys and the “bad guys” who have taken over the island.

Season 6: All questions are answered. All loose ends are gathered. All viewers are satisfied. But at the very end the writers leave us with a twist that makes everyone keep talking and buying the past seasons’ DVDs to see if there is something they missed.

It’s a theory, anyway. I like it, but I hope the LOST writers throw me a few surprises and conundrums along the way. I don’t really like the “alternate future” theory —too complicated and unworkable really.

Questions to be answered in future posts or future episodes:

What will happen to the rest of the Losties post-rescue?

Will Sun and her baby be OK since the baby was conceived on the island?

Is Kate pregnant?

Are Walt and Michael still alive? If so, where?

Did anyone stay on the island, and if so, who? Rousseau said she wouldn’t leave, and Locke didn’t want to leave and indeed ran away. Does Alex stay with her mother? What about Karl? Ben’s Others were going to the Temple, so I doubt Naomi’s boat people found them. Ben didn’t want to go, but may have been compelled by Jack. Does Desmond go on the boat or the helicopters, or is he too suspicious because of Charlie’s dying message?

Speaking of Karl, where did he come from? He’s about Alex’s age. If the Others can’t have children, and Alex is only there because she was conceived off-island, where did Karl get conceived and born?

Did Charlie really die? I think he did, but it seems that he thought he had to do so since there were several ways he could have tried to save himself.

Is Jack’s dad, Christian, alive? How? Where?

Who was in the coffin?

Is a Locke a Christ-figure or a cult leader?

Did Ben ever tell the truth? When he said they would all die if they called the boat, he was either mistaken or lying unless he meant that they would be subject to death back in the world. (Like outside the Garden of Eden.) Does the Island confer immortality on some of its inhabitants? Mikhail? Jack? Richard? Not Ben.

Who was it who would be wondering where Kate was when she met with Jack? Sawyer? Someone else?

Why is Kate free and not in prison?

What do the numbers have to do with the meaning of the island?

Who is Jacob? Is he in God-like control or is he a captive?

Who are the “bad guys” that Ben is so afraid of? What is Ben’s bottom line motivation for all he’s done?

Where is the island? How do you get there? How do you get away? What is so special about this island?

What happened to the plane Naomi said was found with all their bodies in it? Was it a fake? Who faked it? Why? Or was Naomi lying? Why?

Will all the Losties “get a second chance” or be redeemed in some way? What about those who died?

If you’ve written about LOST on your blog and would like to leave a link to the post, please do. If you’d rather leave a comment, you’re welcome to do that, too. How will we wait until 2008?