I haven't seen anything related in this episode regarding this topic, so here goes. Locke has done a good job in screwing things up in preventing people from leaving the Island (besides the Boone incident).

1. First, he knocked out Sayid when receiving a signal in Season 1
2. Then he prevented Mr. Eko and Desmond from pushing the button, which supposedly stopped certain communications in the Season 2 Finale.
3. In Season 3, Mr. Locke did two major things which prevents more things: he blew up the Flame, and now he blew up the submarine; preventing communication with the outside world and the chance to leave the Island.

The Game-changer has been set. Jack almost had a chance to leave (and boy, is he pissed!), and he also would have attempted to come back to rescue his compadres. So what now? Is hope all, ('scuse the overused pun) ... Lost?

Is there anyway to leave? And if so, then how? Will the birds from Par Avion bring hope? Will Mike and Walt come back for help? Or is Penny of any help? Or are there any other possibilities for a chance off the Island?

Give me your thoughts! :)

I'm thinking that the whole thing with Penny trying to find the island is going to come into play sometime, hopefully soon. It's kind of a bummer that they set that whole story up very intriguingly in the season two finale and then haven't come close to revisiting it yet this season.

I think there's a good chance they will never leave the island. For most of the first season, I imagined the series finale as the day the rescue team shows up but I think it's almost too complicated for that now. If rescue does show up eventually, I can't see it working out well for all of the characters. Kate will most likely face a lifetime in jail and Locke may lose the use of his legs again. I think it would be really sad if things somehow ended up that way.

How? Don't know.

When? Last eppy of the series.

Locke? Won't be leaving. He'll be the last sacrifice the Island demands.

Thanks to Princeex86, the Others still have a sailboat, the one that belonged to Desmond. Here is the thread http://thefuselage.com/Threaded/showthread.php?t=73293

This means they still have some form of travel, and hopefully will bring hope to the Lostaways if two conditions are met: 1) they get it back, and 2) Locke is stopped from blowing it up.

I'm sure they can still leave via boat if they want to. Walt and Michael were told to follow a certain heading and they would be picked up.

I think there is more to Locke sabotaging everyone else's chance to leave the island than just "he doesn't want to go back into his wheelchair". Or he wants to be free from his dad once and for all. I mean theoretically, even if everyone else was rescued why couldn't he remain on the island? It just seems like from the very beginning he has put way to much calculated effort into knocking people out, blowing everything up, etc.

My thoughts are that if "they" found the island once, they can find it again.
Mikhail said that since the sonar is out, no one can find their way back to the island again, but it would make sense that once the island was found the first time, there must have been at least one trip away and back to the island again to set up the sonar - and then it could have been accessed that way - But i'm fairly sure once "they" (Hanso/Dharma, etc) figure out something has gone wrong which they undoubtedly will, they'll find a way to get to the island.

Hey couldn't they just wish for it and maybe another boat/submarine will wash up?

I think it's possible they get rescued and go home. We get to see these stories of them coping back in civilization as well. The flash backs could then be all the missing pieces to the island puzzle we will see in flashbacks after they are saved. Then of course they all end up in Oz and get on a plane, flight 815 i think, and they crash on a mysterious island with strange people that take the young ones. Then they find this hatch with a scotsman in it....