LAST EDITED ON 02-04-10 AT 04:40 PM (EST)Do you think Locke actually did go on the Walkabout? I don't think we know the extent of differences necessarily. Maybe they did let him go. (Or maybe he was lying to Boone, who knows, he's a good a liar as Ben.)
Shannon wasn't on the plane, either, so that was a fairly big difference, too. She didn't leave the boyfriend.
ETA: I'm not ready to say that Smokey is evil, either. We've seen so much twisting of what is good and what is evil and crossing of the lines there, that we don't really know who's good and who's not.
One more thing - did anyone notice that on the plane, Jack was dressed in black (with a small amount of white) and Locke was dressed in white (with the think black tie) ? Subtle, but lovely as I am sure it's intentional.