They definitely have to tie the two together somehow or why show us the other timeline at all? The only thing is what about Claire? She seemed pretty normal in the new timeline although she is pretty well in smokey's grasp. I guess things could change. Also, why is Jin mixed in with gangsters? How does that corrrelate to Smokey?

I kind of suspect you might be on to something but maybe not exactly on, I suspect it will start coming into focus real soon though. hard to believe there's only ten episodes until the final already!