S5E10 - He's Our You

On Friday, I was planning on trying to write this week's blog, wondering how I would be able to write about this episode. I mean, yeah, there were little things to talk about like Sayid drinking MacCutcheon's (the infamous drink-of-choice of Charles Widmore). And yeah, we found out that Ilana was a bounty hunter or something. But it wasn't until the end of the episode that we got a HUGE shocker. Sayid shooting Ben could be a big game-changer. Have they broken the "You can't change the future" rule? More importantly, if young Ben is dead, then doesn't this create a paradox? Or will old-Ben disappear too? How does this work?

I've got a theory.

For those that can't tell, this week's write-up is going to be a bit different than usual. Because there weren't that many "easter egg" things in this episode, I was a little worried that I wouldn't have much to write about. But then it hit me. I was re-watching some episodes from Season 4 on Friday, and I had a possible revelation during "The Constant". Let me set up the episode for those that don't remember.

The Constant

While trying to leave the island, the helicopter hit some rough turbulence, causing it to momentarily veer off-course. When this happened, Desmond's sub-conscious began skipping between 2004 (current time) and 1996. In order to prevent himself from dying, Faraday instructed him to go meet up with him at Oxford. When he got there, he provided Faraday with the settings that his "time travel" machine needed (in order to prove that he was, in fact, from the future).

I've got you caught up to the right point... Now, this is where I need you to pay attention.

Faraday zaps his rat (Eloise) with a beam of ultraviolet light, and the rat appears to blackout for a minute. Once it "wakes up", Faraday placed the rat inside a maze and it ran the whole thing with no problem. Excited, Faraday shouts, "It worked!" When Desmond asks about his little experiment, Faraday explains what happened--"I just finished the maze this morning. I'm not going to teach her to run it until an hour from now." Then Desmond says that he needs Faraday's help, and he begins to explain his situation before blacking out again.

When we return to Faraday's office a little later, Desmond wakes up in a chair, as Faraday is frantically writing all over a chalkboard. Desmond asks how long he's been out, and Faraday explains that it's been about 75 minutes. Faraday is trying to figure out how to help Desmond, when Desmond notices that Eloise (the rat) is dead. He asked Faraday what caused her death, but he has no answer. Faraday still needs to perform an autopsy.

I know what you're thinking-- GET TO YOUR THEORY ALREADY! Well, here it comes.

The Theory

Let's say that Desmond arrived at Faraday's office at 4:00. Faraday zapped Eloise, sending her to 5:00, when he taught her how to run the maze. She returned back to 4:00 and knew how to do it. Desmond blacked out at 4:05. But here's the problem-- after Desmond blacked out, Faraday was focused on helping him out, and forgot to show Eloise how to run the maze, thus creating a paradox. Mrs. Hawking explained that the universe has a way of course-correcting. And perhaps killing the rat was the solution.

Do you follow me?

Normally, if I come up with a theory like this, I can normally prove myself wrong, so I don't bother sharing it... but this time, I can't. That's why I decided to write about it-- to offer up someone else to prove it wrong. Is there something that I'm not thinking here? Or maybe I'm just crazy?

Speaking of crazy, check this out: While watching The Constant, this theory hit me, and I instantly stopped in my tracks and had to write myself a note so I wouldn't forget. So, in the middle of writing "He never taught her to run the maze", my nose started to bleed. Woah. I didn't realize the symbolism here until I was rushing off to the bathroom with a paper towel on my nose. Then while I'm "cleaning up" my nosebleed in the men's room, I'm laughing at the situation, thinking, "Well, I've certainly got something to blog about now."

Ben's Paradox

That brings us to this week's episode, and the paradox that we may be facing. If young Ben is dead, then what kind of course-correcting can we expect the universe to do? Will old-Ben be dead? Is the island's ability to resurrect the dead (ala John Locke) its way of course-correcting? Will young-Ben be brought back to life? Or will the course-correcting happen in the 2007 timeline? Can we expect Ben to disappear? Just die? Or what if he is replaced by someone else? Imagine that young Ben is officially dead... all of the things that have happened through 2007 still need to happen, so maybe someone else takes on the role of the Bad Guy. Now that the losties are back in 1977, could one of them take on this role?

Needless to say, my head is seriously spinning on this. So, I apologize if none of this made any sense. Never in a million years would I have imagined that I would be publishing content for the world to see, with my thoughts on time travel and paradoxes caused by changing the future. I had no idea what I was signing up for when I started blogging about LOST back in season 2.

So please, leave me a comment or e-mail me. I'd love to hear what you guys think of this theory, or just of LOST in general. I appreciate all the great feedback I've been getting. And don't forget to vote in this week's poll. It's a simple question: Is Ben dead?

Thanks for reading!

-drew.