" a) What qualifies someone as a candidate?"
That's a tough one since they all seem to be from completely
different backgrounds.
" b) Is the Man In Black actually the baddy or will there be a
twist where it turns out he is "good" and Jacob is "bad"."
There are so many different twists and turns they could make. I
read online that at the end maybe we will see Jack and Sawyer
sitting on the beach just like Jacob and Smokey were doing in one
of the past episodes. Maybe they will be chosen to be the good and
bad guys, but like you said, who is good and who is bad. Now that's
the question!
" c) What kinda alternate timeline is that if the characters are so
different from BEFORE they stepped on the flight (i.e. Hurly being
so much more optimistic and a stronger person, and Locke not being
the sad character he was before and actually having his longtime
love Helen still in his life)."
Even though the plane never crashed they all are still connected -
Jack meeting Locke, Locke meeting Boone, Claire meeting Kate,
Sawyer meeting Hugo etc. Did you also notice that the wheels were
turning in Sawyer's head when he heard Hurley was a millinoaire?
Lol. Watch Hugo getting robbed by Sawyer in the future.
I really wanna see what role Sayid will be playing. I hope he gets
a lot of power and take control, let's not rule him out just yet.
And what's up with Claire?