Thanks Drones, all stuff I am only starting to think about. I've watched most of LOST without thinking too hard about the endgame, more enjoying the journey.Yes, it seems like each season, for all its tangents, has a simple story line to cover (like the entire Season 4 dealing with the freighter arrival and the escape), and this season will be the story of the progress to selecting the final Candidate and the resolution for everyone else.
I would differ by saying Locke is not so much satisfied as resigned. He accepts his position but acknowledges that it could be better, But he is no longer the guy who will risk everything to strive for his fulfillment on all levels. So he settles for a more tranquil but also more mundane existence.
I do not see the LA X life as better, so far. It is less full of strife but not nearly as interesting. Hugo is a successful businessman, but how many of those are there in the world? Wasn't the other Hugo funnier and more enduring, with all his fears? I think so. Don't know much about the others yet.
I believe the love triangle between Jack, Sawyer, Kate will go to the end, even though right now Sawyer is having none of it. I don't care about it, but a zillion fans do, and so do the writers, so it's got to figure in the ending.
I don't really see Sayid as THE candidate. For me there are two logical candidates among the original Losties on the wall. One is Sawyer, because other than Locke, he is the one who didn't want to go back to the life he left. He made a life for himself on the island. Right now he hates the island because Juliet died.
The other is Jack. He's the one who accepted responsibility that he shouldn't have left and made everyone come back. Plus Jack loves to save things. However, Jack has never been willing to believe that the island is an entity, unlike Locke. Right now Jack is learning that miracles really do happen there.
I have heard people propose that Frank Lapidus would be Jacob and it turns out he wasn't. Some think he could be the candidate because Iliana and Bram wondered if he was a candidate.
There are a lot of theories about Frank. His middle initial is J. and his surname is in Latin form (Alpert's language), and means rock or stone. Also a Roman general (Lepidus) and one of the Ajira people was Caesar. There is a theory on Lostpedia that when the smoke monster saw Seth Norris was piloting instead of Frank, that's why he got angry and killed Seth. We did not see Frank's name on the wall, but he is wandering around ever since the beginning of Season 4 and is now on his way to the Temple. He was hired by Widmark for the freighter team, and he was put in as pilot on Ajira for some reason. So we shall see.