I'm curious how they'll play out the fate versus choice scenario, too. I mean, Charlie's whole storyline seems to indicate that he was doomed whatever else anyone did or tried, but he chose his fate in the end.

My take on the Charlie situation is basically that Desmond's "visions" weren't entirely random - Desmond did get the flashes explicitly to save Charlie, up to a certain point, because without Charlie, they couldn't have turned off the blocking signal (unless Bernard is not only a morse code fiend, but also knows his musical cues). In other words, fate or the island are rather manipulative, because both Desmond saving Charlie rather than letting him die and Charlie working up the courage to sacrifice himself are very predictable outcomes of their situations. The good thing for Charlie here is that he was able to make peace with his death and come out as a hero.

That said, I don't much like this interpretation, which is why I initially had hope due to Young Locke's refusal to be pigeonholed as a scientist. Of course he still can't escape his destiny but at least he can choose his outlook. I do wonder if Locke not giving in to the island this early caused Ben to be chosen as an "interim" leader, though, and whether that had unforeseen consequences.

Lucas/Ben showdown: I knew there was something I still wanted to watch...*goes searching for AG*