Hey there tenacious trackers of time-travellers, and as you yourself saw, plenty of stuff went down this episode. Ben brought Sayid a chicken salad sandwich, Hurley is a cook, and Roger is so dumb he makes a mess he'll have to clean up later. I know you lot are far too capable to have missed the little stuff. I know how smart you are. So, instead of looking at a ton of answers, let's take a good hard look at what you're all wondering:WTF?! SAYID SHOT LIL' BEN?!
What did this mean? What does this mean? What could this mean?
They're the three questions I'm going to grab by the horns and wrestle to the ground, shake some answers out for you. Don't worry, all our heads will be hurting be the end of this, but I've brought enough sookylala medicine to go around. I'm gonna make like a Roman and say andiamo.
• What Did This Mean?
Faraday's rules state whatever the time travellers do already took place, meaning 14-year old Ben was always shot by a purple-shirted lying bastard who promised him his escape. According to Sawyer, Ben was "a sweet kid". The look on Lil' Ben's hoodied face when Sayid agreed to take him to the Others was of utter release and happiness. Up to this point, we've seen nothing that would transform him from an oppressed nerd under a brutish father into the manipulative leader we know and hate to love; could Sayid have been the man to create the monster through this one single action?For the last four years, Ben has patiently waited under the advice of Richard Alpert and he sees Sayid as his chance finally laid before him. Instead, a supposed representative of the group he is defecting to enlists his help to escape then shoots him in cold bold. I don't care who you are, that makes you grow up with some serious issues...
• What Does This Mean?
Sawyer suggested last week that Faraday had further theories on the subject of what they could and couldn't do, and I'm willing to wager that several of these had to do with course correction. Ben is, and always has been, alive since that time so either the island doesn't let him die or someone has to step in and save the young boy's life. Could Sawyer's throwaway line to Jack, "Three years, no flaming buses. You're back a day..." have hidden significance? Could we see another example of re-occurrence, this time from season three where Jack was forced to save Ben's life against his wishes?
Knowing that Ben met the survivors in the past sheds every previous interaction we've seen on the show in a new light – IF he remembers these events. If he does, than Sayid's final words to him, "You were right about me. I am a killer" would've been ringing loudly in his ears as the scary man from his past cut him down from Rousseau's net in Sayid's s2 episode, "One of Them". If this is the case, Ben flipped Sayid's lie on him and used it right back, right down to actually being an Other when claiming he wasn't.On the other hand, if Ben doesn't remember any of these events, he might be in for a major memory update shortly. The last time we saw him in the future (present), Ben was unconscious. When Desmond and Faraday interacted in Des' past, the memory had to line up with it happening in Daniel's timeline before either could remember it; could the same thing occur here, with Ben bolting upright and remembering it all?
• What Could This Mean?
Scenario #1: Ben dies, reality shimmers and readjust. Smokey is now a pissed-off giraffe in a straw hat, there's a fairground on the Hydra Island where Minkowski sits, grinning like an idiot... generally, things make much less sense but seem safer. Rather unlikely.
Scenario #2: Ben lives as a child, but dies in 2008. Just as memories travelled to different time, perhaps the repercussions of their actions do the same? This one is tough to explain... Course correction steps in to save his life in his present / their future, but Sayid's act kills him in their cohabited 2008 present.
Scenario #3: Ben lives and use the betrayal the fuel him into the monster he becomes. He witnesses a mysterious warrior wield lies, levelheadedness and cold-blooded actions in a far more effective fashion than any weapon and commits himself to these traits.
Good work, Sayid.
Namaste,
The Heroic Lost Ninja