Things Erased from the Alternate Timeline/Question About the Ending
Obviously the passengers would all prefer the original timeline to the new one, but there’s so many “positive” developments in the alternate timeline that created so much progress that are basically just erased from reality and the memories of anyone who wasn’t a passenger.
Eden, Drea and Jared’s relationship/baby, Michaela and Zeke’s relationship, Drea and Michaela’s friendship, Michaela and Jared’s friendship after their split, TJ and Olive’s relationship, etc. are all just gone. I know that there’s a backdoor setup for some of these things, and that some of the developments simply could never happen (TJ and Olive mainly, but it still hurts how he remembers her but she doesn’t remember him) but there’s just soooo much good of the new timeline that is cut, and it doesn’t even seem like the passengers care all that much.
It would’ve been much harder for Michaela to walk away from Jared, and more or less say “just trust me bro” to convince him of her thought processes, especially when it puts their professional and platonic relationships in limbo as well. She doesn’t know that they’ll remain friends or colleagues. She doesn’t know that she’ll ever get to be partners/friends with Drea. There are plenty of barriers for the passengers (Michaela and Ben in particular) that they lose in the original timeline. And even if some of these instances eventually transpire in a different capacity, their friends/family (Jared, Zeke, Drea, Cal, Olive and Grace) will never know about the alternate timeline that actually made it all possible. I guess I understand why this is, but you can’t tell me it doesn’t suck in a way that none of them will ever know the positive progress made in the alternate timeline. If I was a passenger on that plane it would agonize me that my loved ones could never recall 5 years worth of experiences that we shared together, and could never be told about them without the passenger seeming absolutely insane. Saanvi lucked out with this though, as there is no sacrificed development of hers that is worth mourning. She gets all the glory, unlike Michaela, Ben and TJ.
Something else that I genuinely do not get is how 11 passengers (plus the original PILOT… hello?) turn to ash and everyone else is just able to walk off the plane free of investigation? Is it just me or is that not legitimately MORE suspicious and worthy of investigation than returning years after a disappearance? Maybe I’m just crazy but I do not get how that could ever fly, no pun intended.