I'm still gutted about Faraday's death
Same here. The writers said they liked to kill off people when the fans would still say "how dare they?!", and they definately did it here.
I can only imagine for the final season, the episode structures will become less rigid. You won't get as many flashback or flashforward episodes, and they will only become centric by having one character on screen more than most, if at all.
Still waiting to hear who will comprise main cast for 2010! You have to think Richard and Ilana, at the least.