I read the spoilers before I saw it so I knew what was going to happen at the end but I still enjoyed it. I think faraday is wrong about the variables. They aren't going to be able to change what happened. If they were his mom would have told him how he was going to die.
seems like the episode was trying to illustrate that exact point
faraday is the super genius of the group, and even he couldn't do anything to escape the fate -- even dying right after he made the speech saying that any of them could die. he came back to the island and did all the things he said he had to do (talk to chang, warn lil charlotte, etc) then his mom shot'em (presumably?) dead. i.e; fate can't be altered.
which, honestly, sorta confuses me (this show!?!?) -- if they
did successfully change fate as he laid out, and the plane never crashed, what would happen to jack n'kate n'company? they'd just *blip* appear in LA, 2004, like nothing happened? no memories of the island?
