FP, good catches on the difference with Ethan. And Ben of course. From a master manipulator he has become a civilized man who is a bit particular and fussy. (Not that he's wrong about the etiquette of dumping the old coffee filter!) The scope of his life is much smaller. This is assuming that Ben is not playing a game, and really is no more than what he appears.

As for Locke, the fact he is with Helen tells us perhaps that he never pursued his father obsessively, and his father didn't push him out a window. Without Jacob he wouldn't have survived to be in that chair, would he?

We haven't seen Sayid's new life yet, but I wonder if he's going to be an ex-torturer or something less extreme. Nadia was the home inspector on Locke's home purchase, so she may be right in that area and Sayid and Locke may intersect.

michel, your idea that it's a world without Jacob is interesting. I hadn't thought of that. I mean, we don't know for sure but that may well be true. If it is lacking in miracles of faith, there's also less malevolence in the air.

About Jack, he seems to have a private practice now, even though he's associated with the hospital? It seemed before that he was full time engaged with the hospital hierarchy, whereas now he has a practice with hospital privileges, which is not exactly the same, is it? (FlowerPower?) Like before he was Mr. ER ...

I am interested to see if he's still married to Sarah. Did anyone notice if he's wearing a ring? Jack seems much less driven.

All in all, they are now a group of people who wouldn't necessarily make great TV. Even Kate is not much of a desperado.