LOST: "He's Our You"

*SPOILER WARNING*

Last night's episode of LOST, "He's Our You," gave us a look at the details of Sayid's life pre- and post-island, and how he came on Ajira flight 316 to return. Before we get to that holy-shit of a cliffhanger, let's consider a few more implications of exactly what went down in last night's episode.

When Jin found Sayid handcuffed and roaming the jungle in 1977's Dharma-infiltrated island, Sawyer took the upperhand in a relationship that had, since season one, been a little tense. (Remember Sayid torturing an innocent Saywer with a nasty bamboo-shoots-up-the-fingernails-trick to get Shannon's inhalers back?) This time, we saw Sawyer overseeing Sayid's comeuppance at the hands of Dharma-torturer, Oldham. As Sawyer put it, "He's our you." Sayid's been tortured and tortured others plenty of times; but this would be the first time Sawyer had a hand in overseeing it for someone else, and he wasn't too happy about it. Where he might have entertained the idea of revenge against Sayid in season one, that's the last thing on Sawyer's mind now.

But what do Sayid's confessions mean for the future of the Dharma initiative? After Sayid's creepy revelation, "You're all going to die, you know" and even creepier drug-induced laugh, Sayid let slip details about the Dharma hatches, including to yet-to-be-built Swan, and hinted at the Purge. Oh yeah, he also blurted out he was from the future, too. Oops.

Again, though, what does this mean for the Dharma future? One can't help but also draw parallels from Sayid's current position to Ben's position in season two. Captured, thought to be an Hostile and keeping way more devious secrets than any one man should know about the island. Perhaps the "He's Not You" line doesn't refer to Sayid's parallels to the Dharma torturer, but to Ben. Sayid is to the Dharma initiative to what Ben is to the original castaways; he's our you.

So let's get to that ending, shall we? Locked up in the communications station, Sayid meets a young Ben Linus and after seeing him abused at his father's hands ("I had a harsh father, too," says Sayid) discovers his purpose. After young Ben helps Sayid escape, they run into the jungle together in search of Richard. Sayid has promised to take Ben back with him to be with the Others/Hostiles. Instead of keeping Ben on his path, though, Sayid makes a big decision and shoots young Ben point-blank in the chest with Jin's gun. End.

Never mind the balls LOST has to shoot a kid on-screen ... Did Sayid just change the future? Is Ben even dead, and if so, was this supposed to happen? Will the island's magic rise and heal him, and has he been a phantom-y ghost, a la Christian Shepherd, for as long as we've known him? Or did Sayid just give a big middle finger to the time-space continuum and make such a monumental glitch we might have seen Jacob spawned? (With the Losties back on the island, with potential for lots of timeline screw-ups, I maintain that Jacob may be the result, Big-Bang style, of someone's island missteps.)

Moreso ... does Ben remember Sayid shooting him as a child? He looked pretty shocked to see Sayid on the plane with his bounty hunter captor (a Widmore hire, most likely). Could he have guessed Ajira 316 would have been the castaways' portal to 1977? Was he trying to get there, too?

Back to drawing board, folks, because we might have just changed the game. Now that Sayid's decided his purpose, what's left for the rest of the Losties, stuck in limbo on the island? And, finally, what did you think of Ben's funky hat?