[SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen the episode yet, don't read this post!]

Welcome to A’s Crazy Theory #2. For the past few seasons, the writers have employed a different narrative device each year. Season four was flash-forwards, season five was time travel, and, as we learned on Tuesday, season six is flash-sideways. What’s important about this is that these two timelines are not occurring simultaneously: our on-Island Losties are in 2007, while our non-crash Losties are back in 2004. Despite this three-year gap, the timelines are going to have to reconcile, somehow. We haven’t been shown enough of the rebooted timeline to make any sort of educated guess at how this might happen (will they come back to the Island? Will we see three years of this timeline and a slower progression of on-Island time? Will they all die in Reboot-Land?). HOWEVER. Much like how Flocke says, “I’m not a what, Ben, I’m a who,” I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that it will also be a who that leads to timeline reconciliation. So who are our three (yes, three) possible candidates?

Well, Desmond, of course. We learned quite a while ago that Desmond is special, and that “the rules don’t apply” to him. This hasn’t changed in Reboot-Land. The writers very specifically called attention to his disappearance from the plane–and I think that is what happened, that he disappeared entirely from the plane. Much like how Des flitted between his 1996 and 2004 consciousnesses in “The Constant,” he can flit between our two timelines.

Then there’s Aaron. We certainly haven’t seen the last of our Island baby, at least in the 2007 timeline. But will he even exist in the 2004 timeline? When we saw Claire in the cab, we didn’t see an inch of her torso. If she’s not pregnant, will she come into some sort of consciousness about him? Jack seemed mighty confused in the beginning of the plane ride–will everyone have a nagging sort of deja vu throughout Reboot-Land? Is this what could get Claire back to the Island? If she is pregnant, will she give up Aaron? Will she give him up to, say, Kate? I think that cab ride may have set up a Kate-Claire partnership for 2004.

Finally, we have Juliet. Juliet’s not so special, you say? Well, if you read our recap, you know that we thought Juliet’s whole let’s-get-coffee speech to Sawyer was eerily reminiscent of Charlotte and her time-travel sickness in season five. Plus, her (intended) dying words to Sawyer were that “it worked.” It looks like Island Juliet had some sort of knowledge about her rebooted self. Will Rebooted Juliet end up remembering our Losties and bring them together?