And keep in mind we are dealing with things occurring and happening in present time and past tense. HOWEVER, until something happens to someone in the past the future version does not know about these events.

For example Desmond did not know about finding Daniels mother, until Daniel told Desmond to go look for his mother, then at that IMMEDIATE moment the memory was created and then guess what Desmond awakes with a memory!

Therefore, until Sayid shot Ben, Ben had no recollection of it, now going forward I am sure Ben will know what happened to him in the past.

If Jack stays true to character he is not going to HELP Ben, so I believe Juliet may be the one to save him and that is where the “you look so much like her” comment comes in.

REMEMBER they were told EVERYONE needed to come back for everything to return to normal or something would happen which was unknown. That includes Walt and Aaron. So, All of them not returning created this unknown situation that is currently evolving.

Also, did anyone think Sayid may dislike Ben, because he may have found out that maybe Ben is truly behind his wife’s murder.

No. If Ben dies as a child, he does not live to do all those things. Ben cannot and will not die at this point.

“Why is Kate back? Here’s my bet. Because Ben came to her off island, and explained that she had to get involved, because she needed to be on the island or something very bad would happen (possibly to Aaron). Perhaps he straight out tells her “you need to go back and make sure I don’t die” —Aaron.

This is certainly along the lines of what I’m hoping for, something closer to the central mythology than mere blackmail or, even worse, a base appeal to toy around with the paralovagram. Kudos to whoever authored that term though.

“This is making me feel more strongly about my theory that the universe is trying to recreate a series of events that happened (or will happen.. the ‘incident?’) that dislodged the island from normal time/space…” —Pete

I like to call this “the master scene” that all the repetitions of situations and language that regularly occur reflect in broken fragments, but that will one day come together to some unknown effect. I think it may reveal the truth more than cause an “incident” to happen.

“Anyone mention that Sayid might have still been under the influence of the mind altering drug when he shot Ben?”—Keith UK

Side effects? I’ll have to review, but it does seem now that the interrogation scene might have been Sayid’s moment of crisis in which he determines his purpose and course of action. For some reason though, I think he may soon be receiving visitors as a consequence instead.

“All of this talk about Ben having these experiences and knowing who’ll be going back in time and working towards that goal leaves out a very important element. How DOES Ben know what to do? Growing up knowing a certain man shot you in your youth and then meeting him when you grow up doesn’t tell you how to get that guy to go back in time and shoot you.—Michael 281

Definitely. Future Ben would have had to have visited present Ben or he would have had to cycle through this loop many times while retaining his memory.

On retaining memory: Faraday’s card trick still bothers me. I’m holding to the theory that the present is in a state of flux. Was he trying to recall a past or a properly ordered reality with this test? The cards keep changing just as the picture on the box kept changing. We saw Faraday disturbed when he saw the news footage of 815 as if somewhere in his brain he had a memory of what happened. We also have the “Charlotte rule” whereby memories of the past that have not yet been created by the flashers can still be recalled. So is this what’s going on with the card trick? The other possibility is the study of parapsychology referenced in one of the DI orientation videos.

“At first I thought young Ben was shot dead. Then I remembered it wasn’t raining.”—Steve. Good call.

Well that has put a hole in your paradox theory hasn’t it? Young Ben said that he wanted to join the hostiles so I think that he gets found by them, is somehow ‘mended’ and then begins his Others -v- Dharma life.

That would work perfectly for him killing his own father in the van also.

I can’t believe how many things are tying back to series 1,2,3&4 with the runway, 4 toe’d statue.

Re: Kate’s reason for going back, could it be as simple as Ben does get cusody of Aaron and makes Kate go back to the island in order for her to get him back?

Kind of a weird symmetry, since Penny would be as much Widmore’s daughter (not) as Alex was Ben’s….Somewhere Widmore and Hawking split, Widmore got Penny and Eloise got Daniel, but Widmore must have been paying support (as evidenced by his paying for the care of the women who went crazy during the time research). Note we’ve never seen/heard of Daniel’s father or Penny’s mother…

Sawyer will be so bummed to find out his future son is dweebish.

They’ll come back when they have something to add to the story, or when they’re needed. I’m sure the writers haven’t forgotten them.

Ben is absolutely not dead. This incident (Ben not dying) will prove once and for all that “Whatever Happened Happened” and it cannot be changed. I do think this sets up a self-contained cycle; as Nate in Ohio succinctly describes it: “Sayid shoots Ben, which causes him to turn evil and torture the losties and manipulate Sayid into killing Widmore’s associates, which causes Sayid to want to kill little Ben.” I don’t consider this a paradox, though — merely a loop that we will undoubtedly see a lot more of. This seems to me to be within the “rules”.

I think the reason Sayid is so out-of-his-mind angry at Ben is that he found out (as many of us suspected) that Ben was responsible for Nadia’s death, and then used that death to lead Sayid on a world-wide killing spree.

And of course, to answer some of the questions around here, Ben totally recognized Sayid when he saw him in Season 2. He probably expected the plane crash, and knew those people he’d seen before. He may have had a crush on Juliet before.

-Widmore knows her well, since he has her information at the ready to give it to Desmond in “Jughead”
- Daniel recognizes her as someone familiar in “Jughead”, and Eloise is his mother (as well as his former lab rat)
- In “316″, when they are in Eloise’s underground pendulum lair there is a photo marked “9/23/54 – U.S. Army – OP 264- Top Secret – Eyes Only”(this corresponds with the same time that Ellie was on the island)

I just don’t think names get repeated like that on this show for no reason. I think one of the rare instances where a name was repeated without any real significance was with the name Charlotte. The first Charlotte we met was when Eko was in Australia (episode “?”, season 2) and he went to investigate a suspicious religious occurrence (a girl named Charlotte — daughter of Claire’s psychic –drowned to death and then came back to life). In Season 4, we then get (our now dear departed ) Charlotte Staples Lewis.

- Why didn’t Ilana just arrest Sayeed when she saw him? Di she really just want a free meal?
- I am on the side of people who don’t trust Amy and I think Ethan joined the hostiles with his mother. She knew Sayeed wasn’t a Hostile but the longer they kept him alive the more likely he could pose a threat to the Hostiles by sharing secrets of the island with unknowing Dharmites.
-How did Sayeed know he would get a chance to kill Ben?
-Where does Sayeed think he’s gonna go now that he’s escaped.
-Has anyone mentioned Ms. Hawking or anything to the non O6-ies?
-Juliet’s smile makes me mistrust her, I think it is just the character though…
-Why aren’t any of the Dharmalites particularly peace-loving? I thought they were supposed to be hippies…
-At what point did Ben go from needing glasses all the time to only needing them to read?

As I thought about “he walks among us…”, there was another great instance of the recurring theme of alienation/otherness in Sayid’s flashback. The elder brother must remain “outside” of the community and his father’s affections until he can accomplish his rite of passage, just as Locke remained on the outside until he proved he could rid himself of that most potent symbol of past failures, his father. I wonder if it matters that Locke cheated a bit by having Sawyer do his dirty work for him.

One other comment: young Ben knocked it out of the park this episode. No matter how you feel toward Ben, you had to feel tremendous sympathy for him throughout and especially when Sayid shot him for theoretical crimes which he has yet to commit. I’ll bet he vowed to never be the one caught by surprise from that moment on.

Defend the island.

When Ben went to see Widmore did he say that he would kill “Penny” or his “daughter”?

Ben is not dead. He’s just really ticked off now.

I still believe that the Ben that will be involved in the purge is the older Ben coming back in time
History has shown that poeple can come back to before they were born (Locke)
If we ever see the injured Ben in 2007 recuperate, we can bet that he will go into this journey back in time
Now that he is dead in 1977, he can go back to sometime past that point in time

But on the other hand, all of you who think that he will be cured by Jack have a great hunch too

The other comment I have is maybe we understand Jack’s tattoo better now: “He walks among us but is not one of us.” Hmm, definitely makes more sense now considering his time travel back to 1977 Dharma times!

I think one of Kate’s reasons for coming back to the Island is to tell Sawyer about his daughter. I found it strange, considering it was the last thing he said to her (we assume) before bailing out of the helicopter, that he never asked Kate about Clementine during their awkward little encounter at the motor pool shed, nor did Kate offer him any info.

http://getlostpodcast.iimmgg.com/image/63b6a635bb91651b6bce3d833f7d2e6a

Here are my thoughts after watching He’s Our You…

Amy – I agree with Nels, she is definitely suspicious! I said last week that I thought she was a hostile sympathizer and now I’m sure about it from watching her reaction to “the vote” this week. She does not recognize Sayid as a hostile and if she was able to talk or get any info from a hostile source who could confirm that he was definitely NOT from their camp then she would be very freaked out by his presence and definitely want him out of the way. Afterall, she needs to protect her own secret identity (and now also protect her new baby). I’m also thinking that Horace is a hostile sympathizer too. Don’t know if he was originally an infiltrator, or if he becomes sympathetic due to his love for Amy. If you can re-watch the vote scene and think of that scene from the perspective of Horace and Amy as hostile-oriented people and see if you don’t agree!

Ben/Sayid — I think Ben *knew* he needed to be shot by Sayid outside of Dharmaville so that he would be found and saved by the hostile camp. This was the thing that allows him to officially move into hostile territory. That is why Ben worked so hard to get Sayid to come back.

Ethan — I think he also knows he has to recruit Juliet later in life because she is the only reason he is alive. He knows it is Juliet who is responsible for his being born and his mom Amy not dying during childbirth.

Ben – *if* Ben is dead due to Sayid’s shooting, maybe this is what makes ’07 Ben unconscious on the cot after the Aijira plane crash – not the oar to the head. Maybe he can not be conscious in current time if his younger self is not alive. Don’t know if I altogether buy that theory, but I felt I had to shout it out!

Can’t wait for the podcast! Keep those great theories flying!

Tammy

We are not told what Oldham uses to gain the truth, but I assume it was sodium pentothal.

Seeing some above comments mentioning the Carlos Castenada book, A Separate Reality, I have a hunch there’s some allusion to using plants (something found in the jungle?), perhaps during a ceremony, for transcending to an alternate state of consciousness. It could be something foreshadowing for the future. We have already seen on the show the time when Boone was able to “see” after Locke drugged him? And we’ve seen a character wake up but they’re not awake, they’re actually dreaming, for example, Michael sees Libby in the hospital; Kate sees Claire in Aaron’s room. Jack, Hurley, Juliet, Kate, Eko and Shannon have all seen someone or something while in the jungle that no one else could see and then have these moments of clarity about what they’ve seen because it is something from their past. It’ll be interesting if they intend to use “states of consciousness” in upcoming episodes.

But now things have changed a little bit because she sees that Sawyer’s with Juliet, and jealousy is a green-eyed smoke monster.

Another random thought: If the O6 never left, which Ben thought they were dead anyway since he knew the freighter blew up when Keamy died, then he probably still would have left the island with the donkey wheel. His first order of business was to see Widmore and tell him he changed the rules and that now Penny would meet the same fate as Alex. If Ben would have left regardless of the O6 leaving, all the Losties would have jumped through time on the island together until someone else turned the wheel, right? So maybe their leaving the island was inconsequential and they had to return to the island to course correct events.
If I remember correctly Richard Alpert, Widmore, Ben, and Miss Hawking all told Locke that the O6 must return, so they must all remember them from the island in the 70′s.
Nosebleeds are still happening here in TX. Please someone put that wheel back on it’s axis.

@Zhami: Great points. The third paragraph especially seems like it is spot on. And I agree with you that in the end, we will all see Ben was doing everything for good.

I actually have this theory that when Dharma learns about the O6, they try to capture them or kill them and the purge could be the Others’ taking a stand to save them.

@Steven in Bathurst: I agree that yes, the Island is not done with Ben so he will be saved in one way or another.

@Phil R: I like your idea about Jack and Juliet pairing to save the boy and that creating a a shift in the dynamic of four of them.

Hey Ryan and Jen, I got the perfect term for the Jack/Juliet/Sawyer/Kate thing by the way: Paralovagram.

The McFly rule DOES apply (which contradicts Daniel’s notion that “whatever happened will happen,” which Daniel himself disproved when he “gave” Desmond a new memory by interacting with him in Desmond’s past). So if Sayid killed the young Ben, he will be changing the chain of events therein after. Which brings me to the supposedly upcoming Purge (as a product of Dharma-Hostiles tensions):

The presence of Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Jin, and now Hurley, Kate, and Jack has already changed the Dharma-Hostile dynamics (don’t forget that bomb that Sawyer dropped on Richard on their first night). On the OTHER hand, had Sawyer et al not come along, then Amy would not have given birth to Ethan (who clearly was supposed to have survive the Purge and later harass our Oceanic 815 survivors). If Ben is dead, it could be argued the Purge would happen anyway (just no patricide and no Dharma Bus for Hurley to discover later). And remember what Dharmaville looked like in Frank and Sun’s future. Bottom line, the dynamics have changed. Or if you prefer, “Everything’s going to change. Have a cluckity cluck-cluck day, Hugo.”

The problem I have with that is why did Ben go to such great lengths to try and keep the Losties on the island if he knew that the oceanic 6 needed to leave?

So I just wanted to say that I would be eternally greatful to Darlton if they could write in for Oldham a brother named Daryl, who gets cloned, so that Oldham must then introduce people to “his brother Daryl, and his other brother Daryl.”

@Phil R …I think Dr. Change is still such a mystery because of all the names he uses and his arm etc. Hopefully there is more to his story- maybe when we see a Miles backstory- if in fact that theory proves to be true.

There are three outcomes that are possible for young Ben:

- Jin wakes up, sees Ben is shot. Radios in that he has been shot, Sayid is on the loose, and Jack/Juliet saves Ben.
- The others find Ben, and take him in and cure him.
- The island magically heals him.

I believe the first one is more likely than anything. The re-pairing of Jack and Juliet will push Juliet and Sawyer apart. Sawyer will go back to Kate… very confusing, then again I don’t think anyone really knows whats going on there. The relationships between those four are just confusing at best.

@Zhami Had the best suggestion I have read yet. This shooting, which Sayid believes will end his suffering and is for the greater good, will trigger a war between the hostiles and Dharma.
It will lead up to the Incident- involving Jughead. Somehow the Dharma folks will believe that a large enough explosion will do away with the Others once and for all. Though I would think an explosion the size of Jughead would radiate the entire island and cause a huge mark.

Also, I believe that Sun and Frank have traveled back in time. That the intake building they saw, and the shell of a brunt out building is shortly after (maybe one to five years, not 20+) what happened with the flaming van. Perhaps right after the Incident. They are going to be sent in to help course correct perhaps via Christian?

Last point- What DID happen to Doctor Chang? Why wouldn’t he be in with the vote for what happens to Sayid?

My bad if any of this has been posted but I just finished watching the episode and I never read the posts beforehand so I don’t get spoiled.

Peace.

Like a lot of posters, I too believe that Ben is not dead. I still believe what we are seeing is one timeline so since we know Ben grows up to kill his dad and do all the manipulating he ends up doing, he lives through the gun shot.

I do think that Ben looks up to Sayid. I think seeing Sayid “infiltrate” the Dharma camp as a prisoner is what inspires him to do the same thing in season 2. And I think getting shot by Sayid is what inspires him to shoot Locke later to continue on his mission.

And I believe the bullet will somehow connect to the reason Ben develops the tumor.

Ben wants this power, but cannot get over his natural inclination to manipulate fate. Ben’s biggest fear is death. We saw this fear manifest twice: first, in season 3, when he had that tumor; and then in this season when he made sure he killed Locke so he wouldn’t be the one to die. Ben lacks the faith needed to live forever.

But I digress. This idea of ghosts I believe will play a pivotal role in the
final season. Perhaps the “war” will be between the living and the undead. But the concept has its roots all the way back in season one because, if you think about, our Losties have been at war with themselves since the beginning and in flashbacks, we saw that each person had his or her own “ghost” of the past.

thoughts?

I don’t see the realization by Sayid that Ben executed Nadia. But it would have been great if they had at least hinted that this might have been Sayid’s motivation. However, that might have destroyed the difficult emotions Sayid felt when he finally went through with the deed. If Sayid knew for sure, he would show little remorse or pity.

So, my thoughts on the Ben thing. I think he won’t die for the same reason that Michael and Locke didn’t die: the island needs him. Someone above suggested that the island is Time. I don’t think that’s true necessarily but I think the island is the ‘thing’ that controls potential paradoxes and thus makes it possible to travel through time. If this is true, I think it is a clever device by the writers. The whole ‘what if I killed my grandfather’ paradox negatively affects most time travel stories. So the writers have created the idea of the island as a mystical, beyond-our-scientific-knowledge (i.e. almost magical) element, whose power lies in ensuring that such paradoxes cannot happen. Now I don’t know how it would work (I mean, how DID it stop Michael from dying in his self-inflicted car crash?) and it might well be something that is never explained. But this could be its role. If that is the case, then the Lost writers should be commended for creating the most satisfying, serious time travel story in the history of time travel stories. There can never be a paradox because the island will not let it happen. Somehow.

If the island does save Ben, even if he has been shot directly in the heart, then this would explain why by 2004 he thinks he is special and why he appears to react so poorly to the arrival of John Locke. While all the island was doing in saving Ben was avoiding a paradox, from Ben’s point of view he will feel like a God, an immortal destined for greatness. He will live his life for the next 27 years thinking this way, until he gets a tumour, which will not heal by itself, and then meets John Locke, a paraplegic who can now walk. Ben surviving a shot by Sayid nicely explains why Ben shot Locke. If Locke can survive a bullet, then he is special. If he doesn’t survive, then he was never as special as Ben, who had survived a bullet. I wonder then whether Walt will appear to Ben, as he did to Locke. That would explain their interest in Walt and why they had to let him go. He still had more to do.

A couple of minor things. Although I’m not a fan of alternate timelines or Ben experiencing the same loop over and over (I don’t think that’s what they’re going with), I did note that when presenting the book “A Separate Reality”, Ben said that he had read it twice. Did he read it twice in separate realities? Secondly, although we didn’t see it in a flashback, I think the moment Sayid stops trusting Ben is when he realises that Ben killed his girlfriend to manipulate him. That’s why he tells Hurley to do the exact opposite of what Ben says. They must be saving this for another flashback, although I would have thought its inclusion here would have been particularly pertinent. Either I’m wrong or the writers are saving that flashback for another reason.

I’ll say it again: change IS possible. That’s the whole goal and source of dramatic tension, is it not? To change one of the underlying variables, to change one’s self for the better? If we can overcome our capacity for violence (Sayid), our inherent selfishness (Sawyer), our fear that makes us take flight (Kate), our dependencies (Jack), our deceitfulness (Sun), and the limitations that we impose on ourselves (Locke), then we might be able to save not only ourselves, but to make a better world as well. Or a similar six factors.

I think we’ve seen hints that present day reality is in a constant state of flux as evidenced by such details as the barracks never becoming Otherville as well as a whole host of cosmetic shifts and anomalies throughout the history of the show. More importantly, all the things that were not “supposed” to happen like Alex getting shot. If the present is this dynamic in response to what’s happening in the past, I don’t see how you can say the past can be fixed through a “whatever happened, happened” rule.” When Faraday or Chang or Hawking talk of rules or what can’t be done, I interpret “can’t” to mean because of the horrific consequences rather than plain impossibility. Instead, I see a cycle that keeps repeating until we can get it right and go on to the next level.

As for taking the word of TPTB, I think one day we’ll be brought to the edge of the water and, after being whacked from behind with purgatory, time paradoxes, and/or the collective dream, they’ll simply explain “We lied.”

Defend the island.

I think the writers are possibly setting up for Sawyer getting written out of the show as some sort of emotional retribution for this. Initially I worried that Juliet or Sayid might be killed off, but it seems like the writers are making Sawyer hard to sympathize with.

It must also be the case that young Ben is still alive. I think the writers wanted to show Sayid trying to kill Ben, but it’s not really possible given that we know Ben lives to the present. I think the goal was to show how deep Ben’s manipulation of Sayid went. Ben KNEW he could get Sayid to kill so many people and make him such a fractured, empty man. Ben also KNEW that after he had used Sayid to do awful things, Sayid would be such a worthless shell of a person that he would to try and kill Ben in 1977 as revenge. Really though, this information (Sayid attempting to murder young Ben) would give older Ben the opportunity to take Sayid as far to the breaking point as possible.

My take is that Ben is who he is not because he is shot in 1977, nor because of years of mis-treatment by Roger ( certainly few abused people go on to become mass murderers — in fact, I’d say there is a negative correlation there). We haven’t yet seen the primal forces that shape Ben Linus. And while he appears deeply calculating and cold, I think he would (if he’d answer honestly, which he wouldn’t), is that he is merely serving some purpose in some larger scheme, one not of his own making, nor of an agenda that is his (he is not selfish, but a missionary and perhaps even a martyr. Oh, and not dead in 1977 after being shot).

Worse for Ben, he is not in control of events. Ben has been surprised many times by events that have come into being in spite of his intentions. In contrast to whatever Big Mission is going on (which he aims to serve), Ben’s radius of control is small and weak. In the end, I expect that we will come to see Ben as trying hard to accomplish something we will all agree with as important and “good” and come to see that Ben has had to do hard things, bad things, to attain that. Yes, I know I am a minute minority.

Without debating the question of timelines, Ben will live (and the wound will lead to his tumor 30 years hence). Most likely he will survive at the hands of Janitor Jack who must reveal surgeon skills to save a boy shot by a Hostile. This is a crucial event which no one has yet mentioned: not only has the truce been violated, but a hostile has killed (or attempted to) an innocent Dharmite. Sayid has set a war in motion. The tribunal in the living room over Sayid’s fate shows the DI folks to be capable of setting out a war party for retribution, or even to purge the island of Hostiles. And if that comes to pass, young Ben Linus will see himself as cause. Perhaps this becomes his trigger issue: his actions lead to events completely contrary to his desires. And forever will he become warpingly twisted on mastering his actions for proper outcomes — and always failing at it.

btw: where is Dr. Chang? I keep being surprised by the latitude “Security” has in determining courses of action. In all the organizations I know, Security reports to, and takes direction from, Management. And Dr. Chang appears to represent Management.

“He’s Our You” — something amiss about Sawyer’s comment regarding Oldham (great, great casting!!!). Oldham is no torturer. Why would Jack say this? Was he trying to instill a sense of urgency in Sayid to fight or to flee? But clearly interrogations have taken place there. Why would the DI need an interrogator? Who else has been tied to that tree and queried? Seems odd to me that it occurs there, even at all. Can’t be that many Hostiles have been captured… and if so, the DI would only need their story once. So, to me the presence of an interrogation site in the jungle by a Castañeda/Leary-ish Shaman is an anomaly that begs a reveal.

Actually, if I were to say there was anyone in the DI who might represent a “he’s our you” of Sayid, it would be… Amy. But then I’d say odds are she’s a Hostile that has infiltrated the DI. And so Ethan’s allegiances are shaped as we come to see. In fact, I’d also say Ethan’s father might likely be a hostile.

Final comment: The exec producers and writers are committed to their art, and the practice of it as craft. They must obey rules of storytelling if their story is to survive in our minds beyond the presentation of the final episode, if Lost is to be called great storymaking and storytelling. In this regard, I agree with a comment read elsewhere that Daniel Farraday serves a literary purpose, his role is as a “reliable narrator” for the revelation of markers that bound and constrain the possibilities, lest the reader/viewer spin out of control. Hence, we can trust the words of Farraday, not because of his character, but because of his role in the narrative. And so: what has happened, happened.

Yet: the paradox remains, for what has happened in 1977 has happened because of what happened in 2007 (Sayid being shaped to hate Ben Linus), then what is happening now in 2009 is happening because of what has (?) happened in 2019.

Peace out.

Illana and Caesar work for Ben Linus and Whidmore. Can’t tell who works for whom. At this point, I’d say Illana works for Linus.

Amy is a cutie, but she’s a double-agent. Horace is a dope.

Don’t be ridiculous; Dharma Ben’s not dead. The bullet was reflected by the old “necklace or something metal in his pocket” trick. Maybe a Dharma bulletproof vest?

If a bullet caused Ben’s spinal tumor — wouldn’t have Jack or Juliette seen the bullet in the x-ray?

Terminal pregnancies are caused by residual gas from the purge or radiation from Jughead?

The official podcast says we’ll see the entire statue this season. I’m going out on a limb right now and saying it’s Desmond. I know, it’s absolutely crazy, but Desmond has to have some twisted way of being brought back into the show. Talk about a waste of time? What was the point of Faraday giving Desmond the message to find his mother? Desmond does so, meets a few of the others, and then takes a hike. Oh, and he very likely beats the snot out of Ben a little later. Wow. Now THAT’S a waste of our time… unless Desmond’s story isn’t over yet. He knows about Ajira Airlines, right? Could he have snuck aboard and not told the others? Could he have taken a boat and travelled the exact same course at the same time, hoping to get to the island in his own way?

Oh, and about Desmond remembering the message so many years later, that’s a problem I haven’t come up with a good answer for yet. I wonder if we might not get a Desmond-centric episode which shows us a condensed series of events in Desmond’s life… as they were changed by Faraday’s message. We might see where events tried to deviate and were course corrected over and over again.

Now…how does young Ben survive (and we know he will)?

Having finally caught up, I am happy. The episode was ‘saved’. I really thought Sayid was going to go after Sawyer. But Ben… wow cool.

So… did Sayid just change time? Does Ben die, or does the island save him? All I can say is that if Ben DOESN’T die, then this episode was a 99% waste of time (as well as portions of prior episodes).

MLE – I don’t know if you listened to the podcast last summer, but it is really worth going to their archives for the Comic Con podcasts. I hope they can do it this year as well. I really enjoyed it and appreciated that they took the time to share their experience with all their listeners.