Are the fires of hell a-glowing?

(click pic for full resolution) + my take on what prompts consciousness of both timelines below

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There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going. There's no knowing where we're rowing, or which way the river's flowing. Is it raining? Is it snowing? Is a hurricane a-blowing? Not a speck of light is showing, so the danger must be growing. Are the fires of hell a-glowing? Is the grisly reaper mowing? Yes! The danger must be growing. For the rowers keep on rowing and they're certainly not showing any signs that they are slowing!

--Willy Wonka

Here's Flocke looking very regal and macabre. I swear, sometimes we get promo pics that seem like they were just made for Twitter, which I gotta tell you, makes my work a hell of a lot easier. I barely did anything to this, just added texture and atmosphere. And that quote up there? From the promo for next week's episode (yeesh, it may be too creepy for a kids' movie if you can apply it to LOST).

So what did you think of last night's episode, "Everybody Loves Hugo"? Let's talk about those flashes of dual consciousness. They're really going full steam ahead with this love thing. My take? It may not be love at all. Love is just a catalyst, a helpful nudge, but it takes death to really open your eyes.

The two worlds seem to be more apparent to those who died on the Island. With the exception of Desmond (who, let's face it, is always an exception), all the characters who have had "memories" of the original timeline are dead in it. Charlie, Daniel, and now Libby. We even saw Juliet vacillate between the timelines just before she died. This would explain why Jack/Kate/Sawyer, Locke and Helen, and Sayid and Nadia haven't felt the feelings, haven't had the memories.

Perhaps there's a heightened sense of reality that can only be achieved by vacating one timeline, and it may be especially poignant in those moments between life and death.