What could this mean for the series as a whole? I haven’t quite figured that out yet. A big shift like this is not only jarring, but exciting, because it brings us to a point in the series that’s completely unexpected and unpredictable. We all thought Lester’s misdeeds would catch up with him; we just didn’t know it would take this long. By jumping ahead we’re not only seeing how all of these lives have been affected by the first timeline’s events, but we’re left with an almost unbearable feeling of dread. As Molly’s conspiracy wall suggests, there are many issues here that have gone unresolved and many mysteries that remain to be solved.
The longer time passes, the harder it will be to tie up loose ends and connect all of the dots. So, essentially, the stakes are much higher now, and in a way we are dealing with very different characters than we were before. Molly is a mother now, and has more to lose by confronting dangerous men like Malvo and Lester. Lester, on the other hand, has become the man Lorne envisioned he could be; by not only getting away with murder, but taking that freedom and running with it to become the guy he always wanted to be (you know, the kind who attacks teenagers with a stapler and tries cheating on his new, hot wife).
On the other hand, a time jump also allows us to witness events that a 10-episode series normally wouldn’t have the time for. I expected the show’s events to all take place relatively quickly, spanning merely weeks, or months, in total. What comes after those events would simply be an epilogue or the hint that these lives would continue along their normal course. What this jump has done is show us that normalcy can still be accomplished, but with it comes the burden and the weight of past events.