or...Jin is Alive

If you take a look at the footage of the explosion, Jin was standing at the end of the boat where the heliocopter had taken off from. The explosion came from the center of the boat and tore it in half. From where Jin was standing, he could have easily jumped (or more likely, blown into the water) as you can see. Also, if were to take this as the heliocopters view of the explosion, that's pretty far away to see if there are survivors.

Additionally, the writers of Lost rarely seem to do anything without a purpose, and therefore there must be a reason that Daniel was on his way to the boat in the dingy. Daniel is the scientist who seems to know the most about the time and space displacement that the island seems to experience. You are correct, though, his boat was full and that there would logically be other survivors, but from a cinematic perspective, Jin is the only named character other than Daniel, so if they develop some story of how he gets on the boat and connects with Daniel, that will then provide an additional story line for us to follow for some period of time.

Of course, Daniel Dae Kim (Jin) did get a DUI recently in HI, and we all know what happens to people when they have runins with the law in HI. Michele Rodriguez for instance.

Ah...wait...epiphony...Sun blames Jack (presumably, we know there are two, the other being Paik) because he was their leader and ordered them to fly away instead of saving Jin or looking for his remains. And it's Jack's job now to convince all of those from the island to return to the island. If Sun hates Jack for the death of her husband, she would never return to the island. And since he is supposed to be dead, Jin could never live in the real world openly with Sun, so what if Jin survives and Jack reunites them, I think that Sun would return to the island with everyone else. Wow, things are coming together now. I'm going to send in my application to be a lost writer.

Jin is Dead

As much as I'd like Jin to survive, I'm not sure.

I'd have to rewatch the scene again, but the helo was still pretty close to the ship when it blew up. I am assuming that Sun never took her eyes of Jin. She would have seen him jump if he had.

Also, there were lots of others on that ship, with life preservers, getting ready to jump overboard. If Jin got off the boat, at least some of them would have had to have gotten off as well. Someone riding in the copter would have noticed this and not forgotten about them.

However, let's assume the people on the copter had their eyes closed and didn't see anyone escape. So we've got a bunch of people in the water.

Now let's assume that Daniel finds the survivors. His boat is already full. Maybe he can squeeze one or two more on. The rest would have to just stay in the water and hang on to the boat. Which means they can't really move the boat too fast, if at all.

Assuming they can move the boat, they then still need to find the island or some other land mass. Not an easy task. Meanwhile, the folks still in the water clinging to the boat are becoming snacks for the dharma shark.

In summary, I don't think they can logically save Jin at this point.

John Locke/Jeremy Benthem = Revolution

*** Spoiler Alert ***

So Locke it the man in the coffin. Since the end of season three, the big question of who was in the coffin that only Jack would go back to see because of his desire to return to the island. Then the season four finale begins and speaks his name: Jeremy Bentham. For the entire episode we hear about this new man who has been going around to all of the survivors and telling them they need to return to the island and we are left wondering "who is this man." Then in the final scene we see Jack back at the funeral home and Ben appears behind him (which killed my theory of who was in the coffin) and then the reveal, Jeremy Bentham is John Locke.

So there have many different ideas floating around the blogs and boards, maybe he's a clone, maybe a "Bad Twin" (tying in the with the less than stunning book that was published several seasons past), maybe it's smokey or Jacob. Of course it's hard to tell where the minds of Darlton and writers are planning to take us in the last to seasons, but for the first time it does feel like we are moving forward with answers to the multitude of questions that have developed over the last four years. So taking that momentum, it's time to let the mind wander and/or channel the great Darlton to guess what is ahead in season five of Lost.

By now, most people probably know that John Locke was an English philosopher who believed that people were born with inherient natural rights and without any preconceived knowledge, a blank slate so to speak. It was his faith that people left to their own devices would through be lead through natural order. In the first three seasons, this was more or less the case with Locke as the man who would commune through nature and the island would provide for him (giving him his legs, successful hunts to feed the tribe, priviledged knowledge of the islands wants.) Then he was shot and left for dead.

Jeremy Benthem was also an English philosopher, but was opposed to the natural order philosophy that the John Locke, the Revolutionary Americans and French were touting. Instead he belived in utilitarianism. Therefore any act could be justified for the betterment of the group. So when Locke climbed out of the grave in the finale of season 3, he may have already become Jeremy Benthem. His first act after climbing out of the grave was to throw a knife into the back of Naomi to stop her from calling the frieghter.

So what does this all add up to? In the course of 4 years, or 100 days in Lost time, Locke has gone from live off the land hippie to revolutionary leader. Interesting fact, the Jacobins (notice the name Jacob, probably not a coincidence) of the French Revolution were originally called the Benthom Club. Following that thread and the comment that Jack made at the end of the episode to Ben (that Jack was told he was to blame for all of the bad things that happened after he left the island) might we have a revolution on our hands.

If that's the case, was it Ben who was playing the role of Mirabeau and Widmore and King Louis XVI. If so, that would make Locke - Robespierre, leader of the Jacobins - and the start of the Reign of Terror. I wonder if that makes Jack - Napolean Bonapart? Hmmm...

Since the flashforwards have begun, they have concentrated only on the Oceanic 6. It seems logical that Season five will now follow those who have remained on the island. I would expect to see a few flashbacks giving us more on Daniel, Charlotte, and Miles. Additionally, I would expect to see what becomes of Sawyer, Juliette, Jin (yes I said it, Jin is not dead, but rescued by Daniel in the dingy that he was taking out to the freighter, but that's another post) and of course Locke.