lost

Please note; this article has no season 6 spoilers beyond the 2-hour premier. I'm just compiling this from what has already been addressed in previous seasons, and what that means for storyline's in season 6.


How time travel works on Lost
Its been a long discussed theme that 'whatever happened, happened' meaning that the time travel on Lost is presented as something that cannot be changed no matter what you do to try and stop it. This is called link which is time travel without creating a link. However, with every non-linear equation there is always a variable, and as Daniel Faraday put...

[Shot of Kate walking up the beach with bananas. She finds Sawyer's clothes and a paperback edition of Watership Down.]

SAWYER: [from the ocean] Hell of a book. It's about bunnies.

[We see Sawyer coming out of the ocean naked.]

KATE: [looking Sawyer up and down] Must be cold without your trunks.

SAWYER: You bet. How about you come a little closer and warm me up?

KATE: You sure know how to make a girl feel special, Sawyer.

[Kate walks away.]

[We see Sawyer in a hotel room in bed with a woman, Jess.]

JESS: You're incredible Sawyer.

SAWYER: I love you. Look at you. What do you want, right now?

JESS: How...