Season 5, Episode 8: "Namaste"

The baby is ETHAN! I told you I thought that baby was definitely going to be someone important. Back in the episode where the baby was born, I wrote about how I knew it would turn out to be someone we have seen before. And it turns out to be Ethan - who we have seen as an adult (as an Other). The big question is, how did he survive the purge? His parents were both in the Dharma Initiative, and we know that Ben killed all of them. So this leaves either two conclusions...(a) Ethan also "switched" sides along with Ben, leaving Dharma and joining the Hostiles. OR (b), the Hostiles could have taken Ethan as a baby (they seem to have a thing for taking babies on this island!) so as to try and "save" him. Then they could have raised him up as one of their own, for which he grew up and was always a part of their group, along with Ben.

We also got to see Ben as a young boy again. We saw him once before in a flashback as a young boy, when he was growing up in the Dharma Initiative. Now we saw him again, bringing food to the imprisoned Sayid. One thought...would he have "remembered" meeting Sayid in the past before, when he saw him again in 2004? (I am still confused if the Others have memories of seeing them there in the past, although technically it hasn't happened yet...is the "past" really considered the "past" if it hasn't happened yet in the 2004 timeline, or are they "changing" the past when they go back?) Sorry if that last sentence doesn't make sense, but obviously a lot of this still doesn't make a lot of sense yet!!

The one thing I'm still confused about (along with everyone else, probably) - is the timeline of the new plane crash. Obviously we know that Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid have "arrived" in 1977. However, Ben, Sun and Frank the pilot seem to still be in the present time. I'm very confused how they can all be on the island, yet in two alternate timelines. If anyone has any theories on this, I'm game to hear it. Because I have no idea what's going on with the two timelines.

One thing that does seem clear is that Ben and Sun were not supposed to be on that flight. Otherwise they would have disappeared in the time flash warp along with Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid - all of whom traveled back to 1977 when they crashed. The other plane survivors, including Ben and Sun, crashed on the island. BEN was not supposed to be on the plane - when Locke traveled back to the real world to try and convince the Oceanic Six to all go back - he did not go to see Ben. Only the ones that Locke went to see are the ones who were "supposed" to go back. Ben manipulated Jack, Kate, Sayid, etc, because he wanted to go back to the island for his own personal revenge and to try and make sure the past did not "change" with the purge where he took over and became leader. Also, SUN was not supposed to be on the plane either - Locke made a promise to Jin that he would not bring her back. So she was not meant to be on the plane either. This would explain why both Ben and Sun did not disappear from the plane during the time flash that brought the Others to 1977.

Another interesting reference was the runway that Flight 316 "landed" on. We know that back a few seasons ago, when the Others captured Jack, Kate and Sawyer, they made them do field work, where they were moving rocks out of a big area. When Kate asked what they were doing, the Others told them they were building a runway. (I had assumed that was just sarcasm, but obviously it was true.) They must have known that planes can land there by flying through the time warp coordinates, and perhaps they were "expecting" another crash. I have already said a few times before, that I think the original flight 815 purposefully "crashed" on the island. We know that the pilot of that flight came in at the last minute (in place of Frank Lapidus) - so this "mystery" pilot could have potentially brought them towards the island with the intention of crashing. We already know they were flying off course. So the fact that this second plane "crash" had a runway to land on...is just a bit too ironic.