Occasionally Jon and I have friendly arguments over how many events and plot twists the writers of LOST plan out seasons in advance and how many the just make up as they go along. I’ve always been of the opinion that a lot of the story line has been planned from the beginning of the show. Jon is more of the opinion that the writers are tying some things together as they go along.
Well the latest post over on a LOST Easter Egg site contains some quotes from the creative minds behind the show that indicates some things were planned out from the beginning.
Q: What is the meaning or significance of the two skeletons that Jack and Kate found in the cave of season 1?
CUSE: The answer to that question goes to the nature of the timeline of the island. We don't want to say too much about it, but there are a couple Easter eggs embedded in [the Feb. 7 episode], one of which is an anagram that actually sheds some light on the skeletons and hints at a larger mythological mystery that will start to unfold later in the season.
LINDELOF: There were certain things we knew from the very beginning. Independent of ever knowing when the end was going to be, we knew what it was going to be, and we wanted to start setting it up as early as season 1, or else people would think that we were making it up as we were going along. So the skeletons are the living — or, I guess, slowly decomposing — proof of that. When all is said and done, people are going to point to the skeletons and say, ''That is proof that from the very beginning, they always knew that they were going to do this.'
– Source Entertainment Weekly
Now there is all kinds of speculation as to who these two skeletons are. Jack and Juliet? Sawyer and Kate? Desmond and Penelope?
I’m just glad the writers are thinking about some things in advance. This usually means a stronger, more coherent story line as the show progresses.
Also, Jon has put together an interesting theory on why people can't leave the island. You can read it here.