So, predictions for next season? The format of the show is going to have to change again. Neither the previous flashback nor the newer flashforward formats will fit in.
At first I assumed that the next season would start with the Oceanic Six returning to the island, but then I realized there were some important details that prevented that, namely that nobody knows where the island is and that not all of the O6 people WANT to go back. So there will have to be some episodes of them working towards getting back. Does this mean the format will be that the "current" scenes are of the island after the O6 leave, and the flashes will be of the O6 fighting to get back? I suppose that makes the most sense, but there are problems. The O6 storyline would be boring, especially since we've already seen a significant portion of that very struggle. In this case, it would be in their best interest to get them back on the island ASAP, and doing this would ruin their flashy structure, since it would kinda suck to have both the current and flash stories taking place on the island.