Okay, I lied. Like Ben lies. But the timeline debate between theorists (that I have engaged in) has now been demonstrated to be largely irrelevant.
The debate now isn't over whether there CAN be changes to what happens or not; the debate isn't over whether or not whatever happened actually DID happen; it is not about if there ARE multiple timelines or not (there aren't) but rather:
WILL there be a change in the course of events? Or WON'T there be? (Other than, perhaps, the 06 leaving thanks to Desmond's interference, and everything now being done to get things back on track to the original timeline.) Ben is doing everything he can to make sure there there is NOT a change. Widmore is willing to TRY to break the rules to try to change things.
But wait: if whatever happened, happened, doesn't Ben know this "fact" of time travel physics? Maybe, maybe not. But there are two things to consider:
1. Desmond--who was sent to the Island by Widmore--transcends/breaks this rule, according to Faraday, and according to what we've seen.
2. Even if Ben believes that Widmore can't change the past (for example) Ben is not willing to take the RISK that he's wrong. None of us would be. If we were 99.99% sure that "whatever happened, happened" would we take the risk on that 0.01% ? If by being wrong, it means we destroyed everything?
In last night's episode, we saw adult Ben spend the whole episode breaking down Sayid... getting to a point where Sayid could, would shoot an innocent boy. Sayid could BARELY bring himself to do it, but he'd been broken enough by Ben that he believed he was capable of it, and he did it.
But why would Ben want Sayid to shoot young Ben? Because IT HAPPENED. It made Ben into the man he is "today." It was a necessary step for Ben. And so, just in case Widmore changed something; just in case Sayid wouldn't shoot lil' Ben, big Ben had to make SURE that Sayid would do the deed. Heck, this is what "The Economist" was all about, too. Maybe Ben NEVER had Sayid kill anyone Widmore was associated with. (The economist's assistant notwithstanding.)
So many questions were answered by this episode! It was wonderful!
Of course, lil' Ben will not die. He'll be saved by the Island, or by Richard, or by Juliet, Jack, or someone. Because lil' Ben WAS shot, and he DIDN'T die. Sayid probably thinks he's STOPPING Ben from becoming Ben, but in reality, it was Sayid who helped make Ben who he was in the first place!
The one question about all of this that remains, and this is a minor question in many ways, is who actually set up Sayid to get on that plane... Ben or Widmore? (Of course it wasn't really the golfer's family.) If Widmore doesn't know that Sayid shot Ben in 1977, then he might have arranged for Sayid to go back there, hoping that Sayid would kill Ben, Ben would disappear like in Back to the Future (which is the kind of time travel reality Widmore probably wants to be real) and Widmore could do whatever he wants. Or, Ben could have made sure that Sayid was on the plane. It doesn't really matter WHO put Sayid on that plane, but if it was Widmore, then that tells us a lot about what Widmore DOESN'T know.
There's a crackpot sidecar to this theory that involves everyone on the plane being a proxy, but I'll leave that for another time. If you go back and watch this episode again, you'll see adult Ben, who vividly remembers Sayid shooting him 30 years earlier, making sure that Sayid is desensitized to killing, that Sayid believes that he is by nature a bad man, and that Sayid hates Ben enough to shoot the boy that will become Ben. (What Sayid probably doesn't know is that the opposite will happen.)
1. Adult Ben spent the whole episode making SURE that Sayid would be CAPABLE of shooting boy Ben.
2. Adult Ben spent the whole episode making SURE that Sayid would WANT to shoot boy Ben.
Big Ben knew that little Ben had to be shot. Theory by Kirbyjon
The debate now isn't over whether there CAN be changes to what happens or not; the debate isn't over whether or not whatever happened actually DID happen; it is not about if there ARE multiple timelines or not (there aren't) but rather:
WILL there be a change in the course of events? Or WON'T there be? (Other than, perhaps, the 06 leaving thanks to Desmond's interference, and everything now being done to get things back on track to the original timeline.) Ben is doing everything he can to make sure there there is NOT a change. Widmore is willing to TRY to break the rules to try to change things.
But wait: if whatever happened, happened, doesn't Ben know this "fact" of time travel physics? Maybe, maybe not. But there are two things to consider:
1. Desmond--who was sent to the Island by Widmore--transcends/breaks this rule, according to Faraday, and according to what we've seen.
2. Even if Ben believes that Widmore can't change the past (for example) Ben is not willing to take the RISK that he's wrong. None of us would be. If we were 99.99% sure that "whatever happened, happened" would we take the risk on that 0.01% ? If by being wrong, it means we destroyed everything?
In last night's episode, we saw adult Ben spend the whole episode breaking down Sayid... getting to a point where Sayid could, would shoot an innocent boy. Sayid could BARELY bring himself to do it, but he'd been broken enough by Ben that he believed he was capable of it, and he did it.
But why would Ben want Sayid to shoot young Ben? Because IT HAPPENED. It made Ben into the man he is "today." It was a necessary step for Ben. And so, just in case Widmore changed something; just in case Sayid wouldn't shoot lil' Ben, big Ben had to make SURE that Sayid would do the deed. Heck, this is what "The Economist" was all about, too. Maybe Ben NEVER had Sayid kill anyone Widmore was associated with. (The economist's assistant notwithstanding.)
So many questions were answered by this episode! It was wonderful!
Of course, lil' Ben will not die. He'll be saved by the Island, or by Richard, or by Juliet, Jack, or someone. Because lil' Ben WAS shot, and he DIDN'T die. Sayid probably thinks he's STOPPING Ben from becoming Ben, but in reality, it was Sayid who helped make Ben who he was in the first place!
The one question about all of this that remains, and this is a minor question in many ways, is who actually set up Sayid to get on that plane... Ben or Widmore? (Of course it wasn't really the golfer's family.) If Widmore doesn't know that Sayid shot Ben in 1977, then he might have arranged for Sayid to go back there, hoping that Sayid would kill Ben, Ben would disappear like in Back to the Future (which is the kind of time travel reality Widmore probably wants to be real) and Widmore could do whatever he wants. Or, Ben could have made sure that Sayid was on the plane. It doesn't really matter WHO put Sayid on that plane, but if it was Widmore, then that tells us a lot about what Widmore DOESN'T know.
There's a crackpot sidecar to this theory that involves everyone on the plane being a proxy, but I'll leave that for another time. If you go back and watch this episode again, you'll see adult Ben, who vividly remembers Sayid shooting him 30 years earlier, making sure that Sayid is desensitized to killing, that Sayid believes that he is by nature a bad man, and that Sayid hates Ben enough to shoot the boy that will become Ben. (What Sayid probably doesn't know is that the opposite will happen.)
1. Adult Ben spent the whole episode making SURE that Sayid would be CAPABLE of shooting boy Ben.
2. Adult Ben spent the whole episode making SURE that Sayid would WANT to shoot boy Ben.
Big Ben knew that little Ben had to be shot. Theory by Kirbyjon
