Lost Episode Review 4.03: "The Economist"

Quote: "The day I trust Ben is the day I've sold my soul."

Souls are, like, so overrated, eh Sayid? =)

So Sayid ends up working for Ben, killing everyone in whatever evil organization is stalking them (whose members Ben seems to have conveniently condensed into one of his ubiquitous lists) in order to protect his friends. We have no idea where in the timeline this FF takes place, but Sayid's story certainly happens over the course of a year (or more) and Sayid seems somewhat comfortable in his role (at least initially) suggesting he'd been doing it for some time.

I don't know about y'all, but to me the flash forwards have really given Season 4 a Season 1-type feel to it - everything is fresh, lots of new information, questions and, for once, I find myself enjoying the FFs as much if not more than the on-island activities. Several people both over e-mail and in person have commented on how tired they are of the Jakater love triangle, which I can totally understand. But personally I'm not really bothered by it and I actually loved Jack's "Don't worry. Sawyer will protect you" zinger. Next week, it looks like we're getting a Kate FF, so maybe we'll get some clues as to 1) how the triangle finally resolves and 2) whether Kate's incubating a baby con man on-island right now.

Enough rambling, onto the questions:

1) Time after time

So the "payload" fired by the freighter took an additional 31 minutes to get to the island and Daniel told Frank to stay on the same bearing as he came in on in the chopper or else it could be "bad." I'm a little fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing, Daniel. How about defining it for me, eh?

So is the island protected by a sort of "time bubble" where the only way in or out is through some sort of wormhole like thingy? We know that time seems to be passing along fairly normally both inside and outside of it - Jack's probing of Frank (a Yankees fan, boo hiss!) on the 2004 World Series indicates this as much. But it seems whatever the barrier is that prevents people from easily accessing the island at the very least stretches out time as one passes through it and you can only access it along one narrow trajectory.

2) Who is R.G?



Image from DarkUFO. Whoever he/she is, both Naomi and Elsa seem to work for him/her given their similar bracelets. Any takers?

3) What's going to happen to Desmond?

I am really worried about Desmond. I was honestly shocked when he got on that chopper, not because he had no motivation, but because he can't be one of the Oceanic 6 since he wasn't on the plane in the first place! This means one of two things: 1) He's either being kept captive or is in hiding or 2) He's dead. And if they kill him, I'm going to be so pissed. Stop killing off my favorite characters, dammit!

On the bright side, though, Desmond should be fairly hard to kill since 1) he should be able to see it coming and 2) I can't think of a better traveling companion to have along than Sayid. Desmond's chopper ride also opens up the possibility of Juliet, Danielle, Alex and Karl getting off the island since none of them were in the plane either.

4) Who are the remaining two members of the O6?

My money's now on Claire (still) and Sun. While it would certainly be dramatic to have Sun remain on the island as her tummy time-tomb ticks slowly down, I'm now thinking it would be even more dramatic to have, say, one place left on a chopper and Jin forcing Sun to take it. It's perfectly in his character to do so and would make for just as much drama if they stayed behind. Claire, of course, still has Desmond's vision going for her.

Speaking of which, Desmond hasn't had a new vision in a while. Now would probably be a good time.

5) What's up with travelin' Ben?

I wasn't totally surprised to see Ben's hidden travel room. Miles' photo of Ben from last episode certainly indicated that Ben traveled a bit in the outside world. Ben's room merely indicates that his travels were even more extensive than we thought.

But while I'm not surprised that Ben traveled a lot or even that he transformed Sayid into his personal assassin, what was even more shocking for me was the fact Ben was off-island at the end of the episode. Remember that Jack was desperately trying to get back to the island in his flash forward, but he couldn't. Now the question is, can Ben still move back and forth or is he stranded in the real world as well? His appearance also indicates that 1) he survives (obviously) and that 2) he's the eighth island folk to be confirmed off island (the O6, Desmond, Ben).

Other Tidbits

* Sawyer calls Ben "Gizmo," as in the Mogwai. Didn't he use that nickname for someone else too? I could have sworn he did, but Lostpedia doesn't mention it. Miles also calls Hurley "Tubby," which causes Hurley to quip "Oh awesome, the ship sent us another Sawyer." Nice.

* I wonder if Miles will pick up some creepy dead vibes from all the DHARMA folk who were purged in the vicinity?

* Ben - "I'm thristy" HA! I'm so glad Ben, at the very least, won't be dying in the near future.

* I know I keep relating Lost to Stephen King, but I can't tell you how much the whole Oceanic Six "we have to go back" story arc feels like IT, where the six adults have to go back to their childhood town because the evil they defeated so long ago has returned. Anyone else get this vibe?

* The name of the guy Sayid killed in the beginning was Mr. Avellino.

* Ben's passport name was Dean Moriarty, a central character in On The Road, by Jack Kerouac. Moriarty is also Sherlock Holmes' nemesis, or course.

* Um, where's Nadia?

Overall: Another solid installment, again opening up a lot of new questions. On-island though, not a whole lot really happened. Let's say 3.5/5