He's Our You

This is pretty much what my face looked like at the end of last night's LOST. (A bit less furry, but otherwise spot on.)

Sayid shot Ben! When I read the program info about the episode about one of the Losties "going rogue" and taking matters into his own hands, I suspected it would involve Sayid trying to kill Ben. It never occurred to me that he might actually succeed. We've been told over and over again on the show that nothing the time travelers do can change the past in any significant way - whatever happened has always happened and always will happen. Now it seems that Sayid HAS changed the past by shooting young Ben right through the heart.

Only I don't think Ben is really dead. It reminds me of when Ben shot Locke and left him for dead in the mass grave. The Island took over and healed Locke. I think something similar will happen to Ben. The Island will heal him - or Jack will. He'll survive, and he'll remember in the future that Sayid tried to kill him. It sure would explain a lot of Ben's actions toward Sayid, and his conviction that no matter what future Sayid says, he is a killer. The title of next week's episode? "Whatever Happened, Happened."

There were more role reversals last night. Sawyer brought Sayid to be tortured by Oldham, when in the future Sawyer is tortured by Sayid (although I have to say that Oldham's way of doing it is much nicer than Sayid's.) The opening scene where Sayid kills the chicken for his brother reminded me of when Locke was told that to become the leader of the Others he had to kill his father, and he got Sawyer to do it for him instead. It also reminds of Mr. Eko's flashback where he killed an unarmed man so his brother Yemi wouldn't have to. Now Sayid is taking this role - doing what has to be done when no one else wants to do it. Juliet tells Sawyer "we're done playing house, aren't we?" which recalls Kate asking Sawyer "How long can we play house?" in the season 4 episode "Eggtown." And Sayid drinking MacCutcheon whiskey was a nod to Charles Widmore.

What are your thoughts? Any other ironies I missed? And is Ben really dead?

Namaste

I wish I could find another way to begin these Lost posts other than "Wow," but this season is making it tough. Each episode keeps wowing me! "Namaste" was no exception and I feel the story picked up a bit after the slower pace of "LaFleur."

Seeing Flight 316 go down recalled the first episode of the show; the turbulence followed by the sudden plunge toward the ground. The copilot even says "You're going to rip us apart!" when Lapidus struggles to pull the plane up. Lapidus was supposed to be the captain of Flight 815 - I wonder if the plane would still have broken apart if he had been the one flying it?

One of the biggest questions I had was why the returning Losties arrived at different points in time. Why did Jack, Hurley, Sayid and Kate all go back to 1977 when Sun and Ben did not? Here's one theory. Maybe Ben couldn't go back to 1977 because he was already on the Island in 1977 as a kid. Sun wasn't there that we know of, but in a past episode we did see Pierre Chang feeding a baby - could it have been her? It's a stretch I know, but I kind of like this idea.

Another question is, *when* are Ben and Sun? I'm guessing it's not in 2007, since we saw a time flash as the plane was crashing (it was night, then after the flash it was suddenly day.) Could it be even farther in the future? Or even more out there - could it be an alternate future? We've seen a lot of the Dharma barracks on the show and they never looked the way they did when Sun and Lapidus found them; dilapidated, and with obvious Dharma relics still around. When the Others lived in the barracks, there was very little evidence of Dharma ever having been there (not that I can remember anyway) - and definitely not signs that said "Processing Center" or group photos of DI recruits. So alternate future? Maybe.

Did anyone else TOTALLY see it coming when Ben brought the sandwich to Sayid? I loved the role reversal in this scene. When Sayid meets Ben in the future, Ben is a prisoner falsely claiming not to be one of the Others; this time, Sayid is the prisoner and falsely claiming to be one of the Others. In the future Sayid "questioned" Ben, now young Ben is questioning Sayid, albeit much less violently. I predict that Sayid will try to kill young Ben; now that he knows that Ben is the one who killed Nadia I can't imagine him just letting him be. I don't think he'll be able to do it (à la Michael trying to kill himself) but I think he'll try.

Another juxtaposition that I thought was cool was the Juliet/Jack/Kate/Sawyer love square. When Juliet first joins the Losties, she's an outsider vying for Jack's affections and Kate has the upper hand. Now the roles are reversed, but it's Sawyer, not Jack they both want. Jack seems to have learned some humility (or maybe it's just been forced upon him) since Sawyer is now running the show and he has to be a Workman. Poor Jack. Although I am proud of him for going a whole episode without crying.

The ultimate irony is that the Losties (especially Jack and Hurley) were motivated to get back to the Island largely because they were tired of living a lie. And now that they're back...they're still living a lie. It remains to be seen what going back will actually accomplish.

Shocker of the night - Christian Shephard appearing to Sun and Lapidus. (Although once again, I do wish they wouldn't display the guest actors' names during the opening credits, because that gives it away.) Just who/what is Christian Shephard? How was he able to come back from the dead? And what is it about him and Locke that made it possible? I think this is one of the last questions that will be answered on the series. I won't complain if the show doesn't end with everything all neatly tied up, but I really hope they will answer this one. I don't have any theories that make sense. During this episode they seemed to be implying a connection between Christian and the smoke monster, and there is definitely a connection between him and Jacob (whoever Jacob is!)

Bring on next week! I'm hoping for more Sayid/Ben drama and more Locke. Lots more Locke.