I hate "The Constant" too, but mainly just because it was told pretty poorly, especially the climax, and the plot was just so contrived and ridiculous, and filled with holes that I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone when I argue about the existence of. But moving on....
Could you elaborate on what, specifically, you don't like about The Constant? I'm of the opinion that it's far-and-away the best episode in the series. Which parts do you think are 'told pretty poorly? Not to mention being contrived and ridiculous. Desmond's story arc referenced and utilized ideas from Slaughterhouse-Five and a few other time travel/Sci Fi stories, but not to the point of contrivance.
The thing with Lost is, I completely agree it was a whole different show until the end of the Season 3 finale, and I completely agree it was much better then too. But I think a lot of that was the almost painful level of mystery and suspense, and no matter how you start answering questions, you're going to lose something when you do. The show always had something dancing on the edge of supernatural. They could've revealed it all to be smoke and mirrors, and that wouldn't have been completely satisfying. They've currently revealed it to be a combination of pure science fiction and some sort of ancient Egyptian curse.... or something.... and that isn't entirely satisfying either, but I still prefer it because it's so cool on a primal level. It would've been nice if they could've done some extremely cryptic, subtler and still have it answer enough for the whole show to be worth it, but I guess that was almost impossible to hope for.
If they'd pulled all this stuff out of nowhere, it would've been a lot worse, but since they had two somewhat lackluster(but still pretty great) seasons to ease us into it, it's not so bad. I would've loved if they'd never done all the time-travel stuff, the talking to ghosts stuff, and to be totally frank I'm still not ****ing over the death of Charlie, which is neck and neck with the first Flashforward for the moment it became "The New Lost". But as it is I've long since gotten used to it and can just enjoy this home stretch for the buffet of dramatic unmaskings it is.
I don't think that anyone would argue that seasons 1-3 are thematically and stylistically different than 4-6 (so far), but the show can be divided even more finely than that. In fact, I would (and have) argued that season 1 exists as its own entity, separate from the rest of the show. The literalism of the science fiction/fantasy elements that so many fans complain about really begin with the unveiling of the Hatch and exploration of DHARMA/The Others. There's still cryptic surrealism utilized in the show, but it hasn't been a definitive element of the plot's trajectory since "Exodus", much less "Through The Looking Glass".
Then again, like I said before, I love the unraveling of the mysteries, time travel, ghost-talk, magical island Gods and all. I do, however, realize that many fans preferred "old LOST" (so to speak). My own mother being one of them...
I liked last night's episode, though. Both 'Dr. Linus' and 'Recon' were disappointing for me, so I'd place 'Ab Aeterno' on the same tier as 'Sundown' and 'The Substitute'. Season 6 hasn't had any episodes that I've found to be independently brilliant, so I'm hoping that it's going to work more effectively as a single, contained narrative, in the vein of season 5, though even
less episodic. I think it's going to take at least a few more episodes for us to really buy the Flash-Sideways as an absolutely necessary storytelling tool, since they haven't really become cohesive yet...we're starting to see a bigger picture, though, which is good (Ab Aeterno contributing to this on the Island, rather than the alt-LOST universe). There wasn't much in this episode that I hadn't figured out for myself, but I really think it worked overall, and gave Richard's character some much-needed development.
I think that we can be reasonably sure at this point that Jack will be Jacob's replacement. One of my friends suggested that season 6 will end with Jack (as Jacob) and Locke (as the Man-in-black) sitting on the beach, drawing an obvious parallel to the season 5 finale. It's a good idea (and somewhat probable), and, at the very least, the idea of these two fulfilling these roles will probably play out in some way or another.
If the island is keeping MiB from leaving, and the island blew up in the flash-sideways episode, does that mean the sideways world is MiB unleashed and it's not as bad as we think?
I think that the Flash-Sideways universe being utilized to showcase the inherent necessity of Jacob and the island keeping Smokey at bay. Initially, it may seem that the majority of the characters have a 'better' life off-island, but it's contrary to what they were meant to do. That is, uh, safeguard a magical island that contains the physical personification of evil. Their lives in the Flash-Sidewasy-verse will probably be utterly ruined by the Man in Black's machinations (whatever they are). But for that to happen effectively, we have to see them being genuinely happy first, so that our expectations can be properly subverted. I'd imagine that's what the first half of season 6 has been for, hence the startling lack of development/explanation.
To loop this all around to my initial point, though, I predict the entire supporting cast dying (as has been rumored) both in the Sideways-verse and on The Island, leaving Locke and Jack to argue about whether or not the plot of entire show has been indicative the 'progress' that Jacob spoke about in the beginning of 'The Incident'. And I think that the first three seasons being so different from the latter three is qualified by Jacob's monologue on wanting to let people function and make the right choices on their own. The Smoke Monster's place as an existential menace in the first few seasons represents his attempts at corrupting them, much in the way that Jacob mentioned he is prone to because of his bitter misanthropy. So, will the writers come out and tell us whether or the principle cast was capable of being 'good', in spite of the Man-in-Black's intervention? I doubt it. But I'm sure Locke and Jack will have dialogue about it after they fully assume their roles.
