Have the rules changed?

Okay...here are my interpretation of the rules of LOST in seasons 1-3:

1. Lost has a "present time" narrative which is shown through "on-island" events.

2. These on-island event show points of view from many different characters in order to move the plot of the on-island events.

3. There are Flashbacks (FB) and one Flashforward (FF) of a specific character showing their point of view of these FB/FF events. These occur to show some type of mirror of island events or parallels or motivations for the on-island character or for some other purpose. The important part is that it is centered on one character from their point of view.

4. In the FF or FBs there are crossovers or cross connections between multiple on-island characters, but still according to the rules where it is primarily from the point of view of one specific character.

So, season four opens on some guy making his breakfast. He starts with ice and vodka - breakfast of champions. He then dilutes it with some OJ. And speaking of OJ (as in Orenthal James) cue LAPD chase scene on TV. Oh, and then pour more vodka - jeez dude, slow it down there. Zoom out to reveal that it is L.A. doctor Jack watching the chase scene on TV and, maybe it's the excitement of the breakfast double screwdriver, but he seems to know who is in that speeding Camero.

We are viewing things from Jack's perspective. Ah, it’s a Jack -centric FF. Cool. Oh, wait…no. Now we are seeing it from the Camero driver's perspective and that driver is none other than Hurley. Holy crap, it’s a Hurley FF! I guess Cheech got the camero running after all. Way to go cheech!

And the rest of the episode goes on according to the original rules as a FF from Hurley's perspective. Even when jack reappears at the end, this goes along with the rules as it is within the context of Hurley's point of view.

Anyway…did they break the rules? Are there any rules? Is this a new rule? I don’t know. Can they start a Hurley FF with a Jack FF? Hurley didn’t know Jack was watching TV with a breakfast screwdriver - it doesn't correspond to Hurley's perspective - this can only be seen from Jack's perspective. Has this happened before? I don't remember it happening before.

I loved this episode and the direction they are taking the show, btw. I was just curious if anyone else thought that it was unusual that they mixed the FF's like that - even if only for a brief moment.

i think they would have to be flexible in the story telling at some point in order to forward the plot. they would run out of angles if they followed rigid "rules". also, by making us come to expect certain things, then totally changing them without warning...well, that's exciting! thats why we love this show!!!

I do beleive the rules have changed, because everything changes when you least expect it.

"rules" and Lost..don't add up

the only rule is: there are no rules

hhaahahhahaha

I like it, I like it...good points to all y'all.

The first rule of LOST is, there are no rules of LOST.
The second rule of LOST is, THERE ARE NO RULES of LOST.
The third rule of LOST is, rigid rules make boring storytelling.
The fourth rule of LOST is, everything changes when you least expect it.
The fifth rule of LOST is, rules and LOST DO NOT add up.
The six rule of LOST is, LOST will go on as long as it has to!

Well, regardless, I'm loving this show. And obviously they put in some other leeways by showing a brief flashback of a supposedly dead woman (Naomi) - which isn't normal to the aforementioned 'rules.'

Well another thing to consider is this:
Untill the season 3 finale most all the off island scenes were exclusively flashbacks. There are a couple of exceptions like the two guys playing chess in the artic station and their call to Penny. Anyways... with flashbacks the 815 passengers hadn't meet each other. (there are prob some exceptions to this to but thats not the point)
With flashbacks we are getting information on one character, but with flash forwards we can get info on more than one character and their relationship after the island.
For example Jack meeting with Kate and Jack meeting with Hurley.

The flash forward in the season 4 premiere is definitely Hurley centric, but since it is a flash foward they can also show what Jack is doing. It shows that Hurley and Jack don't normally hang around with each other since they have gotten off the island. It shows how Jack knew where Hurley was. (he saw it on the news)

The only trickery involved is the normal stuff we should be fairly used to by now.
They start off with Jack and get us to think it is going to be a Jack centric episode then sneak in Hurley and keep us fans on our toes.

I thought it was great.