Ok, this is my biggest question of everything I've seen in the season opener. All off-season I assumed that when the O6 return, three years would have gone by for the O6 and the islanders. I was really looking foward to an emotional reunion. Think about it. All these people spent 3 insane months together and then are apart for 3 years. Also, that's 3 years of thinking they died on the freighter. Then they show up one day. Wow.

Now I'm thinking that while 3 years pass for the O6 off-island. Maybe our left behind islanders won't have to wait 3 years to see the O6 again. With all this time skipping, if the island jumps into the future to 2008/9 (whenever the O6 are currently in) and they return to the island during the "Event Window." Will the islanders have only experienced a few hours or days VS the O6's 3 years.

Imagine Kate and Sawyer embrace and Kate says I haven't seen you in 3 years. Then Sawyers replies "Son of a Bitch. Have you lost your mind, Freckles. It's only been 2 days." I'll leave it to the writers to figure out better dialogue.

haha,

you know what kinda irritates me....The O6 have been off the island for 3 years, and never tried to get rescue for those left behind. Now I realize they had to lie and why they did it...but C'mon. I hope Sawyer gives freckles a swift kick to curb when he realizes 3 years has passed and she didnt do crap to get him off the island...and they got a boat load of $$ too.

haha,

you know what kinda irritates me....The O6 have been off the island for 3 years, and never tried to get rescue for those left behind. Now I realize they had to lie and why they did it...but C'mon. I hope Sawyer gives freckles a swift kick to curb when he realizes 3 years has passed and she didnt do crap to get him off the island...and they got a boat load of $$ too.

Uhm. The island disappeared. They can't just go back and rescue people when they have no idea where to look...

So everything we saw of the oceanic six has been a flash forward so far. They've been off the island for three years. Now, how are they going to quickly explain what the island survivors have been doing for those three years when the six finally return?
I have a feeling these time jumps will factor into it, with it essentially cutting three years out of their lives, by jumping about, making their timeline seem pretty short.

I'm thinking there are 3 years in real off island time. But island time has picked up right where it left off at the end of last season. It's still helicopter/freighter/Keamy day on the island as far as the Lefties are concerned, except now the island is jumping around.

I think that when the Oceanic Six return to the island, they'll arrive as if only a short period of time has passed for the Left Behinds, probably only a few days or weeks.

Yeh, that will be it, but it does seem like a massive cop out.

that would be great for the losties. i'm going with that. the three years are off the island and a short time on the island.

Thats going to be confusing for the 06ers and left behinds. The Oceanic 6 have changed over 3 years and would be different people to the left-behinds, to them they have been gone for what a week or two.

Plus the 06ers are now 3 years older than they were when they left the island, left-behinds haven't aged a day or gotten older. lol might explain why Richard never ages.

that would be great for the losties. i'm going with that. the three years are off the island and a short time on the island.

It throws things off when the O6 do return to the island, but I believe in this, too. I'm sure once they return it'll be fun explaining how Aaron is now 3 y.o. and not still an infant.

what's really interesting is that when richard was talking to locke, he told him that the o6 were safely back home, yet the frieghter had just blown up.

what's really interesting is that when richard was talking to locke, he told him that the o6 were safely back home, yet the frieghter had just blown up.
Right. So is Richard jumping in time? Or is he able to witness events in some other way? Or did he run into the losties/lefties at another point in time in the future? How about the O6?

Maybe that Richard was from the future, two/three years ahead. His eye sight could have deteriorated by then, hence the glasses.

I'm in agreement here. I think one of the contributing factors in 3 years passing is allowing Walt's and Malcolm David Kelley's age to coincide. The time difference could be explained using the time travel by explaining that the island's future (post Freighter) ceased to exist until the O6 returned to the island, or at least moved at a snail's pace. For some reason I think back to the Freighter doctor as a clear hint that this will happen.

Maybe that Richard was from the future, two/three years ahead. His eye sight could have deteriorated by then, hence the glasses.

This could very well be. Locke may have flashed into some point in the future when Richard would know that the O6 made it home. Just like when Sawyer, Dan and company were standing at the site of the exploded hatch site that could have been who-knows-how-far-into-the-future. We only know that it was at some point after the hatch exploded, but not how long after.

I'm also of the mind that when the O6 return not that much time will have passed on the island. It will give new meaning to Jack's line to Juliet last season (right before he went after the chopper) that he would see her "in a few hours." ;) I always thought that line was in there either for dramatic irony or because it was true.

Maybe that Richard was from the future, two/three years ahead. His eye sight could have deteriorated by then, hence the glasses.
I don't think Richard ages...I think he just needed reading glasses or whatever to look at Locke's leg and take the bullet out.

and i agree that he doesn't age, but i think it's funny that he'd need glasses on an island that makes us healthy.

Time jumping seems incredibly dangerous. No food, no shelter, and people attacking you all the time. Unless there's some kind of stasis, no one will survive more than a day or two (from their perspective). So I predict that when the 06 arrive, it will be 3 years later from their point of view and 3 hours later from the survivors point of view.

Good eyesight doesn't necessarily equal health and vice versa. :laugh: