Revisiting "He's Our You" & Your Comments

For him the architect of all
Unroofed our planet's starlit hall;
Through voids unknown to worlds unseen
His clearer vision rose serene.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, "Benjamin Peirce"

I don't have time to post many photos to accompany this short second round of questions about "He's Our You," but I wanted to share some new thoughts before the next new episode on Wednesday. Thank you so much for your very insightful comments! I really enjoyed reading and responding to them every week.


BEN'S LIST

When Ben found out he had a spinal tumor (2004), he devised a plan to use Michael (with Walt as bait) to trap Jack so that he would perform the surgery to remove it. The four people on the list that he gave Ms. Klugh to give to Michael were Hurley, Jack, Kate and Sawyer...and all four are currently stuck in 1977 with young Ben. Will we find out that his list relates directly to his interaction with them in the 70's? He could have observed the love triangle between Jack, Kate and Sawyer - and remember how easy it was for Ben to manipulate all three once he had them in cages on Hydra Island. He would also figure out rather quickly that Hurley is the odd man out, but a useful messenger.

Nurby - I am so with you regarding the infamous breakfast on the beach between Ben and Kate shortly after she was captured in Season 3. We have yet to find out what was said, but I agree that it is still relevant and significant!

Josh - I used to think that Ben had no idea that Flight 815 would break apart above New Otherton in 2004, but Matthew Abaddon's admission about making sure that Locke was on that flight changed my mind entirely. Locke couldn't have been the only one who was purposefully placed on that fateful plane, and Ben's sarcastic remark about a spinal surgeon dropping from the sky almost convinces me that he knew Jack was coming. And now we know why Sayid was on that flight...

Upon a second viewing of the episode, this particular line of dialogue from Ben to Sayid grabbed my attention because of the double entendre: "You are capable of things that Other men aren't."

Kristiano1, I thought the same thing after watching again - that when older Ben went to Sayid in the Dominican Republic, it certainly seemed like he knew/remembered that Sayid had shot him as a child.

The security camera watching the jail cell would have captured young Ben's release of Sayid...Ben must have disconnected it.

Daddy Linus is a first class a-hole, but what will his reaction be when he finds out that his son was shot?

Ashlie wonders if perhaps Ben is also undead or ageless (like Alpert), and if course correction plays a role. Ben has certainly escaped death on many occasions, from the tumor to the relentless beatings at the hands of the Losties and Keamy, etc. Matt takes it one step further, and I love it - the island is constantly trying to kill Ben but fails to do so.

Geez - I always thought that Widmore was the economist, and not Ben. But Ben has said that he can't kill Widmore, and the economist was on Sayid's hit list, so I'm probably way off.

FARADAY

SisterCinematicallyCorrect - hi and welcome! As for Faraday's whereabouts, I believe he's still there in 1977...just secretly working and living on a different part of the island. We've seen him as Dharma Dan down below where they're building the Orchid, so I am guessing that he disappeared from Jack & co. to proceed with his secret spy time travel work (as outlined in his notebook).

I am actually quite looking forward to when Faraday and Pierre Chang/Dr. Candle join forces to create that video about the future.

ILANA

When she reveals herself to be a bounty hunter of sorts after kicking Sayid's ass (see photo below), she tells him "you're going to answer for what you've done." It sounds like retribution for changing the rules (shooting young Ben), not revenge for killing Avellino on the golf course.

I am starting to think along the same lines as lectric74, who believes that Ilana was more likely to have been hired by Widmore than Ben. Conversely, I also like Geez's idea that if she is working for Ben, perhaps Caesar is working for Widmore.

JACK

Will Janitor Jack work with or meet Deadbeat Dad Linus? There only seem to be a handful of Dharma janitors after all. Seems to me that Sheriff Sawyer assigned the Doc this position not as punishment, but as someone who can monitor Ben's dad (with or without knowing that is his task at hand).

When Juliet is staring out the window at Kate's house, she emerges with Jack. And when Sawyer knocks on Kate's door later that night, it seems like she has company. Are Jack and Kate shacking up again and playing house now too? Note to Freckles: it's not a competition.

OLDHAM

Is he a precursor to Jacob? He lives on the outskirts and also seems to have an aversion to modern technology.

Does Oldham die in Ben's 1992 Purge?

RADZINSKY

I am surprised that Sayid's mention of arrival on the island via plane did not ring a bell with Radzinsky (given that Jin recently demanded that he call all Dharma stations to find out if they'd seen an airplane land on the island).


SAYID

Why does he mention the Dharma stations/hatches in past tense? The Flame and the Swan were blasted and out of service, but not the Pearl.

"THE WAR" vs. "THE INCIDENT"

By now we know that the season finale is called "The Incident," but what of "the war" that Widmore warns Locke about? (thanks to SisterCinematicallyCorrect for reminding me about that!). Do Sayid's actions set off the war between the Losties and the Others? If so, where do the Hostiles and Richard Alpert fit in?

SoFutureGeneration believes that the future may have been changed by one of these events, as evidenced by the abandoned Dharmaville that Sun and Lapidus enter in an unknown era. So will we discover that the future is altered by Sayid shooting Ben, or by the Incident?
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Apologies for the brevity. Feel free to comment on any of the above and I will try to address your thoughts in the next blog or two. More to come after this week's episode!