Lost - The Economist

**½ / ****

So with this episode’s “flash forward” (my buddy at work says is the official Lost term instead of my own made-up “flash ahead”) Sayid is a hitman for Ben Linus. Yes, that twist at the end kind of needs some time to marinate. Ironically before this Sayid mentions when stuck in a room with Ben all tied up and Locke in a conversation with him about getting Charlotte in return for a swap, he sternly proposes that doing anything for Linus would require him selling his soul. That is obviously what Sayid must do. That he’s part of the “Oceanic Six” would seem to indicate that few make it off the island and those who do secure passage off required quite a sacrifice for doing so. Jack, Beth, and Hurley have been featured off the island so they are among these precious few granted such access. Who are the other two? Sayid falls for a young woman in Berlin working for a supposed economist, later to be determined as quite a hand with a gun (and different languages). Sayid doesn’t want to kill her but has no choice. Meeting Ben in the operation room of a vet office (!), Sayid is “repaired” of his bullet wound and told a new name was ready for execution. Ben, of course, scolds him for falling for his mark (even telling her that her employer would get her hurt), glad that those Sayid is pursuing on a “list” know they are marked for death. All of this flash forward is purposely vague but seemingly ambitious, charting a brand new mysterious arc off the island that leaves a lot of unknown content we are not yet privy to.

While on the island, before Frank will lift off, Charlotte’s safety is of the utmost importance to him. Her safe return comes with a price…Kate and Miles in exchange for her. Locke and Hurley arguing over Charlotte being a hostage and the later ruse involving Hurley earning the trust of Sayid, Kate, and Miles only to reveal Locke with a gun pulled on them specifies how the leadership roles have quite changed…but for how long? Ben shown off island doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. He might have them all, especially Locke, believing they have the upper hand on him but his resiliency when seemingly in a vulnerable position has been proven time and again. But Ben’s face sure looks like a battered mess. Sawyer talked about shooting Ben’s toes off and Locke wisely explains that carrying him around isn’t a particularly sound option. Locke’s not finding that cabin again, it seems. I think you can see that Locke not finding it especially pleases Ben. Sayid finding a secret room in Ben’s home, behind a bookcase [natch], with passports and freshly tailored suits. Ben’s past (or current status?) is revealed shadier with every given episode. Remember when Ben said he was born on the island? And Ben is brought to the island as a child, assisting in the genocide of the Dharma Initiative folks…yet he’s got passports, different forms of financial assets, and clothes ready when needed to go someplace fast. Ben dangles making sure *they* remain okay at Sayid when being tended to of his bullet wounds…who is Ben, really?

But I will come away from The Economist remembering the impact of Sayid leaving the island. The episode does kind of diminish the impact of Desmond’s leaving the island. In fact because the episode is such an emphasized Sayid episode, Desmond’s getting off the damn island, brotha, is almost an afterthought. Juliet goes to fetch Desmond and he makes a demand to go with Frank, but that is rather it as far as his use in the episode. I just felt a bit deflated at how such a big development didn’t pack any real punch.

Sayid needing Jack to stay behind as he could factor as a liability in retrieving Charlotte, and Kate’s subsequent amusement of his rejection, for once puts the heroic doc in a place he’s not too comfortable…on the sidelines. He looks quite restless, too, as the real action, for the most part, is away from him instead of involving him. However, Jack is present during one of Daniel’s experiments regarding the difference in time on and off the island when a “payload” (miniature rocket) is supposed to fly off from the freighter and land at his position within a calculated point. Daniel, the physicist, points out that the island is quite unusual…yes, we know that, but it wasn’t obvious to someone new to the place. Jack and Kate’s awkwardness in general conversation continues as they just have this off imbalance between them since she became intimately involved with Sawyer. But Jack knows that Sawyer wouldn’t allow Kate to be harmed.

Locke throwing his weight around and reinforcing his leadership position just distances me from him. I get that he is obsessed with learning about the island and Jacob more, but those who chose to follow him have kind of lost their identity. I guess that is part of my own discontent right now, although I’m not balking too much because this show has proven more often than not that the characters eventually resurface and evolve. But with the introduction of new characters (getting much creative dedication), the ole standbys often have to accept a bit less focus. Sayid and Desmond leaving might give room for that with their absence.