My attempt to piece together next season's timeline

Lindelof & Cuse said that it will be hard for fans to figure out, after the season finale aired, when the "present time" will be in Season 5, and boy, they weren't kidding. The island has disappeared - probably into the future. Ben has jumped ahead in time about ten months, but we've already seen what he's been up to afterwards. And we'll probably catch up with the Oceanic Six immediately following Jack and Ben's conversation the night after Locke's funeral, which happens at some point after September 2007.

And lest you forgot, Faraday may or may not have gotten swept up with the island. Same goes for the probably-alive Jin.

Let's use Lostpedia's constantly-helpful timeline for reference:

-December 30th, 2004: The freighter explodes and the island disappears.

-October 24th, 2005: Ben pops up in the Sahara Desert near Tunisia.

-The only flash-forward time frame we're given is courtesy of the newspaper Jack is reading while living with Kate, which features an article about the Yankees beating the Red Sox and is dated August 31st, 2007. (Yes, plenty of time has gone by: Hurley is back in his mental hospital and has been seeing visions for quite some time, while Kate has gone through her entire trial (which happened in 2006) and has reunited with Jack.

-Everything thereafter isn't dated, so sometime from September 2007 on, Jack goes in downward spiral mode and Locke resurfaces off the island to go visit Walt and the Six.

Lost's fifth season would seem to have two main timelines:

The Off-Island Timeline: We follow the Six, Walt, Desmond & Penny, possibly Frank, and Ben during their off-island adventures, starting on the night of Locke's funeral and ending with their return to the island. Flashbacks will indeed still be part of the show, and will fill in stories that happened pre-September 2007 but we haven't seen yet: Nadia's death, Kate contacting Cassidy & Clementine, etc. Late in the season, there'll be a big episode chronicling Locke's brief experiences in California, contacting the Six and meeting his demise.

The On-Island Timeline: The big question is when this actually is. Conventional wisdom is that the island jumped ahead in time the same distance as Ben, and reappears on October 24th, 2005. BUT, it's implied that Locke was only in California for about a week before his death (which, again, happened in either late 2007 or early 2008). Seasons on average usually span about a month in Lost time, and we're looking at a possible two-year time frame (Fall 2005-Fall 2007) for Locke to hang out on the island before heading home. So perhaps the island actually resurfaces later, or maybe Locke jumps ahead in time by doing a little Frozen Donkey Wheel rotating himself?

I like where I'm headed with all this, so expect more ruminations soon...

TAGS: Season 5, Timeline
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