I hope this message finds you all well. I apologize for the delay on this analysis. It has been a busy few days and I’m feeling a bit under the weather. However, I’m happy to say that I’ve been cured of my spoileritis. That’s right, I gave up spoilers cold turkey and after watching this episode, I am happy with my decision.
I wonder how long it will last… Aaanyway……
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“The Economist” –Episode 4.03–
1) Sayid, present/future — So let’s begin with the opening scene. There was something strange going on with Sayid and Naomi. Some people are saying that Sayid was so concerned about Naomi simply because of his respect for the dead, but at certain times throughout this episode, it almost seemed as if Sayid knew Naomi. (Now I know this theory may seem off the wall right now, but each week The Powers That Be (TPTB) are popping theories in a second and leaving hints for new ones at the same time.) What was the significance of Naomi’s bracelet? As soon as Sayid took it off of her wrist and read it, he immediately wanted to know how he could get off the Island. Did he recognize something about this bracelet? Maybe the initials R.G.? Or was he simply reminded of his love, Nadia?
Sayid’s first flashforward was…woh. I figured if it was a flashforward then Sayid would be struggling as we’ve seen most of the Oceanic 6, but I was still naïvely holding onto the hope that at least one of them would have a normal life. Not so. The two men shot the breeze on the golf course and things were peachy…until Sayid mentioned he is one of the O6. Obviously, this guy’s name was on the list Sayid received from his boss, so this guy had to have some idea that he was in trouble. But I loved how calm Sayid remained through the whole encounter, and that was topped off by him walking through the sprinklers after the murder.
2) Locke — So Locke was looking for someone to tell him what to do next. He thought a trip to the cabin would prove the power he believes he has. But I think Locke is different these days. At first, I thought he might been returning to his roots of Island shaman, but he seems to be a power-hungry leader that is not willing to compromise. And, of course, Jacob does not want a house party. John is naïve to think Jacob would entertain an entire crew of folks. Ben was visibly nervous just bringing one person to the shack, so how could Locke think Jacob would meet him with his party?
I would not be surprised if a Locke/Hurley power struggle begins to emerge after their encounter at the cabin site. I can definitely see people following Hurley, even if he is not sure what he is doing. I don’t see anyone really trusting Locke’s motives at this point.
And I’m still struggling with Hurley’s cabin vision from earlier this season. It seems that the cabin he saw was not even near where the circle of ash is, and Locke was surprised to find that Hurley had seen it. We did see Locke’s eye in Hurley’s cabin vision, right? So does this mean that it was simply a Hurley hallucination? Or did Jacob give that vision to him? Can the cabin manifest anywhere it pleases?
3) Faraday’s experiment — Some sort of time difference between the “real world” and the Island has been confirmed in this episode. However, the nature of this is yet to be explored. There are a few things we can deduce from this experiment though. First, I don’t think the time of 31+ minutes is a constant. Based on Daniel’s advice to Frank about staying on that specific bearing no matter what, I’d say that the time dilation depends on how one enters/leaves the Island. Second, I think this is a recent development that resulted from Desmond turning the failsafe key. If you recall, Des confirmed that the plane crashed on September 22, 2004, so at that point, time between the two worlds was moving at the same pace. However, after the failsafe key was turned, time began going crazy on the Island. Is it possible that time on the Island is slowing down (or speeding up) significantly because of Des? Another thing that is interesting though, is the real-time conversation between people on the Island and those off the Island. Any ideas what is happening with time?
4) Ben’s revelations — Ben’s secret room: possibly the biggest “What the???” moment of the episode. Yes, it happened fast and might not have seemed that important, but I think this implies that Ben can come and go from the Island as he pleases. This is a BIG reveal! What’s even more important is the work he is doing off-Island. I hope we learn soon what exactly that is. I am always surprised at how deep Ben’s character goes. I thought he might be pretty low on the command chain, but it’s turning out that Ben may be one of the BIG players.
Okay, okay, I was mistaken. The biggest “What the???” moment was the Ben reveal at the end. Even though his voice was altered (for what reason?), I could tell almost immediately that it was Ben. But when they showed his face, he looked as creepy as ever. The dialogue in this scene was very strange. Ben said something about “these people” not deserving their sympathies and then something about “remember what they did the last time” Sayid thought with his heart and not his gun. Sayid replies, “You used that to recruit me into killing for you.” Whaaaaaa???When did this (forced) partnership between Sayid and Ben begin? Could it have been on-Island? I believe there was a very important off-camera encounter between these two when they were locked up as prisoners of Locke.
5) Miscellaneous — Just a few random observations. First, the opening Locke scene (when they were looking for the cabin) solidified the fact that (at least some of) the 815ers have become the Others. When Sawyer was talking about shooting off some of Ben’s toes, it reminded me so much of Pickett, and Locke’s response was very similar to how Ben would have handled the situation, no?
Also, I think there is more to the Locke/Sayid deal than we know. I mean, Locke already had Miles captive, so how would that have been any leverage for Sayid? Was there something else Sayid gave/promised him?
And lastly…Sayid got played, man. I thought he had that chick wrapped around his finger, but she was more ruthless than he was! And the conversation (in German) with her boss after she shot him was creepy. I’m SO glad they translated that for us.
By the way, who do you think her boss is?
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Favorite moments/lines/exchanges:
*Frank’s face when Jack tells him Sayid was a torturer
*Sawyer talking about sending Ben’s piggy to market
*Hurley — “Oh, awesome, the ship sent us another Sawyer.”
*Frank (talking about Daniel) — “Half the stuff he says goes way over my head. The other half goes way, way over.”
*When Desmond mentions the name “Widmore.” They may not know Penelope, but they do know Widmore!
*Sayid — “I’m not going to hurt you, Hurley.”
Hurley — “I saw you break that guy’s neck with the breakdancing thing you do with your legs.”
*Ben — “I lost a dollar, ya know.”
*Sayid’s face as the helicopter took off
*the Ben reveal at the end
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That’s all, folks. Wish me luck in my pursuit of being spoiler-free! (It’s a long, tough road, my friends.)
Until next time…
Namaste, and good luck.
SFO
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