The impetus for my theory comes from Ben’s remark toward the end of “This Place is Death” where he is driving with Sun and Jack and he, in good Ben-fashion, has a hissy-fit, stops the van, and says, “What I am doing is helping you.  And if you had any idea what I’ve been doing to keep you safe, to keep your friends safe, you’d never stop thanking me!”

If you recall, at the beginning of Season 4, Sayid is working with Ben as his hitman, killing various people: Mr Avellino on the golf course, and Elsa in “The Economist” who was working for Widmore, plus who knows how many others at Ben’s whim.  So, it is probably not much of a stretch at all to link these events, and it was probably the intention of the writers to make us recall the events from Season 4 with Ben’s remark.

The new bit of information that we now have, however, is that Ben is working with Eloise Hawking, who we first saw in season 3 in “Flashes Before Your Eyes” (incidentally, this was first aired exactly two years ago today of the writing of this post, on Valentines Day 2007).  This episode centers around what happens to Desmond immediately after he turns the key in the final episode of Season 2.  He flashes back to various times, and at one point meets Ms. Hawking at a ring shop where Desmond is shopping for an engagement ring for Penny.  She convinces Desmond not to buy the ring or else a series of events will not take place.  Soon thereafter, Ms. Hawking explains that a man who was wearing red sneakers was killed by a scaffolding because it was his fate.  If she were to warn him about the collapsing scaffolding, he would have been killed another way.  Ms. Hawking explains that the universe has a way of “course correcting” itself so that things eventually work themselves out in a set fashion.  We see this logic unfold throughout the remainder of Season 3 with regards to Charlie’s eventual death in the final episode, even though Desmond did everything he could to prevent Charlie’s fateful demise.

With this in mind, I now have to wonder, is Benjamin Linus trying to “cheat” the fate of the universe?  My theory is that Ben was using Sayid in an attempt to do such a thing.  We also know that Ben’s aims in Season 4 have to do with DHARMA and Ben’s rivalry with Charles Widmore, but these things may not necessarily be that different, viz., perhaps the ‘universe’ wants Widmore to succeed?  Perhaps Benjamin was using Eloise Hawking to make her fancy calculations in an effort to actually escape the actual fate of the island so that Ben could bend the unfolding of events to his usual selfish motives?

The writer/producer Damon Lindelof has talked about Ms. Hawking as a kind of “temporal police[wo]man.”  But then what are her motives?  If her motives are just to police the universe’s temporality, then what about her son, which we all assume now to be Daniel “George McFly” Faraday.  But it seems that up until this point, it would seem that her assumption is that her son may be missing, dead, or stuck in time loops on the island, which is why Faraday had to bother Desmond in the very first episode of Season 5 (“Because You Left“) to tell him to find his mother … but the time-shift happens so we do not know what it was Desmond was supposed to do exactly.  Do Faraday and his mother share similar motives?

Either way, my guess it that whatever Ms. Hawking’s motives are, Ben Linus’ motives most likely do not square up with hers, because we always know that Ben ultimately operates in his own self-interest.  Even Christian Shepherd (is this Jacob?) asks Locke, “Since when did listening to him [Ben] get you anywhere worth a damn?”

Clearly, there are still a lot of holes, or at least variables not yet known here, but my theory boils down to: Ben, working with Ms. Hawking, knows what the fate of the island is, and Ben is most  likely trying to subvert the plan of the ‘universe’ for his own misguided ends.

My friend and colleague Jeff reminded me of a big unanswered question that, if answered, would shed an incredible light on this theory: what ultimately happened to Sayid’s relationship to Ben?  What led to Sayid telling Hurley, “Whatever Ben tells you to do, you do the opposite”?

Perhaps the decisive cunning of Ben is that he actually knows how things will ultimately turn out, but he’s clever and wicked enough to devise ways for the outcomes to finally be the same while causing events along the way to maximize his own benefit and desires.  If this is the case, it would make sense of the increasing ambiguity of whether Ben is actually doing things for an ultimate ‘good’, even though the way in which he does it is always deceptive.

Will Desmond be the ultimate key to undoing Ben’s plans?  Faraday said that the “rules” do not apply to him and that he is “miraculously” unique.

Thoughts?

Well hoo-dawgies that was a crazy episode!  Agreeing with Jay & Jack, I think while this season finale didn’t quite have the jaw-dropping wow factor that season 3′s finale had, but I think this one was a better-written episode.  My first thoughts in bulleted form are:

• Yes, I was surprised that Locke was in the coffin.  I kept thinking it would be Ben.  It had to be a non-”Oceanic 6″ person or else the funeral would have most likely been well-attended by at least the paparazzi.   How awesome is it that Ben walks in the room with Jack, surprising probably a majority of people.  I have a hunch, though, that Locke (“Jeremy Bentham“) might not be really dead: see the original “Orchid video” for the doubling effect (but is it a true doubling or just the same thing in a time shift?).
• Speaking of Bentham, Jeremy Bentham was a philosopher of the utilitarianism bent who was influenced by–ehem–the philosopher John Locke.  (First time I heard of Bentham was in reading Hilary Putnam.)  It would be curious to see if Locke’s head in the casket was a wax one!
• I’m absolutely incredibly happy that Desmond and Penny found each other!  That was probably my most favorite part of the whole episode.  Awesome, awesome.  I’ve always been a huge fan of Desmond, and especially after “The Constant” that has been solidified.  [I think "The Constant" is probably hands-down the best hour of TV I've ever seen on so many levels, but especially the sci-fi + romance level.  The fact that they were able to wed complex story-telling with a really good story about a troubled relationship in a compelling way is sick.]
• I thought the fight scene between Keamy and Sayid was awesome.
• I’m actually quite bummed that Michael died (see more below).
• I actually don’t think Jin is dead.  My guess is that he got blown off the boat or jumped in the water just in time.
• I have a feeling that Desmond and Ben will probably have a showdown at some point.  Some of the callers on this episode of the Jay & Jack show have suggested that when Ben told Jack that “everybody” has to return to the island, that “everybody” included Desmond.  Considering Desmond will not leave Penny’s side ever again, Penny would then have to accompany Desmond, and since we know Ben is now on a hunt to kill Widmore’s daughter Penny, maybe there will be a showdown there.  Continuing to think aloud, I’m not sure if that would work if, according to Ben’s announcement of the rules, Ben can’t ever return to the island if he moves it.  Self-debunking theories for sale!
• Jennifer raises an excellent point: after Claire disappears, how on earth was Aaron getting fed?  My suggestion: Dharma formula?
• I’m glad that a lot of questions were answered, but am of course not disappointed that more questions were raised.  How else would they get people to look forward to the start of the fifth season?

Here’s a couple of links:

This one comes from Popular Mechanics and it’s entitled “Physicist: Einstein Would Approve of Moving the Island on Lost.”  This stuff is nearly all over my head, but the final graph is interesting:

The Season Four finale also makes reference to the Casimir Effect. This is a well known phenomenon in quantum mechanics, and has been measured experimentally. The Casimir effect is a consequence of the fact that the vacuum contains energy. Some people speculate that one could draw on this vacuum energy for an unlimited supply. I don’t think so, but maybe I am wrong, and Ben has figured out a way to do that. I suspect that Ben, too, is a physicist—the one person who has figured out how to understand the connection between quantum theory and relativity, and to manipulate them—at least to some degree, just as he manipulates people. That’s why Charles Widmore is so anxious to capture Ben alive. Only Ben really understands the physics.

And this second link is an interview with Harold Perrineau.  Basically, Perrineau is pretty disappointed with the writer’s decision to bring Michael back only to have him killed off to (he guesses) satiate the fans’ bloodlust for killing Libby and Ana Lucia.  He would have wanted there to be at least some happy resolution between Michael and Walt.  Well, while it’s true that the writers can always bring a character back in some form in either ghost or flashback form, I too am disappointed by this writing decision.  I know not many people like Michael, but I warmed up to him after he and Jin became friends.  True, he died while saving a bunch of other people and clearly, that is noble, but still, I’m pretty bummed about that writing choice.

Some questions:

• Claire?  Is she dead?  What’s up with her?
• Locke: obviously, this is is everybody’s question as he showed up in the coffin.  What happened in between the future and the end of season 4?
• Is Sawyer’s chest naturally hairless?
• Do Sawyer and Juliette hook up?  If so how much more mad would Ben be? (“You’re mine!”)
• So grown-up Walt is definitely back, but what will his continuing role be?  He clearly had a weird mystery about him that used to freak people out, but since leaving the island, that part of his story has mainly been dropped.
• When they re-shot the future flash with bearded Jack, couldn’t they have made his beard look more convincing this time around?
• What is up with Richard Alpert and his non-aging, eyeliner-wearing self?  What is his connection to Locke?  Will Locke ever remember that he met Alpert when he was younger?  One caller on the J&J show suggested that that meeting might have actually been in the future somehow.  That would explain why Alpert says to pick out what Locke “already” owns, but it sure doesn’t explain why he is (or appears) five years old.
• Will the final episode of season six (before season 7 — the Zombie Season) have the remaining living characters dancing around and singing like Ewoks on the island, surrounded by all the ghosts of their friends a la Return of the Jedi?

Your thoughts?

My wife Tiana and I, since this last summer, have been catching up on watching LOST in all of its awesomeness.  Since buying Season 1 from my friend Mogan we have been hooked.  After borrowing Season 2 from a friend shortly thereafter, we received Season 3 on DVD for Christmas and caught up in time for Season 4 to start on January 31st.  Like my good friend Charlie, I’ve also been listening to The Official LOST Podcast and The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack, soaking up theories about the unfolding plotline(s), listening to interviews, etc. — in other words, pretty much becoming a LOST nerd(tm).  In spite of all my fandom of the show, I do have one meta-prediction about the show.  This really won’t be a surprise to most people, but here it is:

Once LOST is over in 2010, the big reveal(s) of the plotlines are (uhm) revealed, and the denouement breathes its last breath, the following phenomena is sure to happen: people who are not invested in the storyline whatsoever will give it all away who to those who have either 1) not caught up yet to the end or 2) were intending to get around to watching the show someday.  Many people will feel cheated, but it is bound to happen in the face of such a popular show.  There will be “Now that it is all over, now what?” commentaries and Op-Eds that give away the big reveals of the end of the series and will be readily accessible to anybody not wanting to put the effort forth to watch the show (although it’s a TV show so ‘effort’ may not be the right word! maybe patience?).  People like me will probably get enormously frustrated and disappointed because we will have spent 6 seasons worth of episodes  getting invested in characters and their story-arcs only to hear people attempt to reduce these characters to some final moments that distort the heart of the characters and the story.  Inevitably, I will cry, “but it is not as simple as that!”

So my question then becomes: will LOST ultimately have a of depth beyond mere plot details that will be able to overcome the nay-saying of spoiler mongers?  Will one be able to say something like, “But what LOST is about is more than just the reveals of the plot”?  Will spoiling plot details be enough to actually “ruin” the show for somebody?  I have some thoughts on this, but I want to hear what you think first.