Lost – “The Economist”

“The Economist”

February 14th, 2008

I had a sinking suspicion during tonight’s episode of Lost that what we were waiting for was a last minute reveal, especially during Sayid’s flash-forward. To be honest, it’s a story the show has told before: castaway falls in love, loses sight of their true objective (I’m thinking specifically of Sawyer, who also pulled the trigger in the end even though it certainly hurt him a little). As a result, you could tell that we were driving towards something, something that would throw us off the scent.

Well, we certainly got that, along with a series of small moments which help us to realize just why these new arrivals on this island are really there. We got Daniel’s test, Naomi’s bracelet and its inscription, Ben’s secret room, and Sayid’s ever-complicated flash-forward that tells us less than perhaps it poses.

For all of the spoilers about how Economists became interesting, click on.

The reveal at the end of “The Economist” that in fact Sayid is working for Ben, albeit begrudgingly, confirms two things: first, it proves that Ben does leave the island at some point close to that of the Oceanic Six (Which we now know is at least Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid – Ben, having not been on the plane, doesn’t count of course). Second, it proves that Sayid, like so many others, made a decision on the island which he regrets, considering he was willing to work for Ben in the first place as a result. Much as we don’t quite know why Hurley regrets going with Locke (Hurley’s predicament tonight, if genuine, would have been a start at least), we will have to wait and see what goes down with Sayid.

Sayid’s flash-forward, his process of contract killing Ben’s enemies, was intriguing from the get-go, what with the pre-title gold-related homicide to start things off. As we met Ilsa and got sucked into the cliche so to speak, it was somewhat good to see things turn quite interesting quite quickly – his showdown with Ilsa was effective and entertaining, and the actual identity of “The Economist” remains in question. Whether or not it is someone who goes above Abbadon, who we have met in previous weeks but didn’t see tonight, is a question that will have to be answered on another day.

Sayid’s present-day storyline, of course, was less interesting although it is notable of course that Sayid and Desmond have now officially left the island. His deal with Locke, trading Miles for Charlotte, is more impactful in that it places the threat to Ben (Not too much of a threat, obviously, considering he’s alive in the future) in those premises while it places Charlotte and her anthropological questions in a more open and free environment.

It is an environment where Daniel (A delightfully off-kilter Jeremy Davies) conducted his first of hopefully many experiments. He has the boat shoot him a payload, a small rocket in which a digital watch is found. It reaches the location of the beacon, according to Regina on the boat, within about twenty seconds – roughly 31 (I missed the number) minutes later, however, it finally reaches his location. What does this mean? Well, it means that there’s still something really frakkin’ weird about the island, and we’re going to start to discover those things further in the future.

This was, of course, combined with Locke’s further descent into a dictatorship of sorts, which occurs mainly because Jacob’s cabin is mysteriously not where Locke left it – it was, of course, magically moved so Hurley could see it. We don’t really get time in the episode to dwell upon the moving cabin, but it remains one of those issues we’ll probably get to examine more closely once we turn back to the whole Jacob question – also, of course, once Miles gets his hands on the ghosts floating around.

On the more human side of things, it was kind of nice to see the Kate/Swayer reunion only because it came back to one of the questions that will be investigated further next week: what’s the deal with Kate? She’s the only member of the Oceanic Six who we have no clue what her life is like beyond that point, and as a result her relationship with Sawyer is obviously an intriguing avenue into having this discussion. While her sitting around being jealous about Juliet can provide some nice one-liners and all, I’m much happier to see her involved in something substantial.

In terms of unanswered riddles posed by the episode, the biggest was perhaps Naomi’s bracelet, a similar one having been found on Ilsa when she died. From what I saw, the text said “N. I’ll always be with you. R.G.” I don’t believe we’ve met an R.G. in our travels, and it doesn’t fit Abbadon’s initials, so it should be curious to what degree this bracelet plays a role in whoever these people are that are trying to hunt down the truth about the island. Should be interesting to see how we return to this issue, most certainly – plus, when we finally get to see Ben’s man on the boat.

Cultural Observations

• Desmond heading off to the boat should prove interesting, as I have to question the character’s relevance at this stage, but it’s important to remember that he also wouldn’t be part of the Oceanic Six should be return home to Penny. As a result, he’s kind of a loose end to which many knots could be tied.
• Daniel’s test was pretty cool, but I’d be really curious to see what Charlotte has in mind. And where should she go, exactly? Is there a polar bear carcus kicking around somewhere, or is she going to have to handle things somewhat differently? Either way, should be an interesting journey.
• I was pretty certain Hurley was part of a trap, but I’d be really curious to see just how he got roped into that particular role so easily considering his perspective in the earlier scene – I almost wish we could have seen that, just to gain a better understanding of the state of the dynamic between him and Locke. Hurley, however, was comic gold all episode, so no complaints.