The Blot wouldn’t exactly call “Namaste,” last week’s episode of Lost, a filler episode because it definitely moved the storyline along, but it didn’t really do that much for me. It did finally answer the question of “where is Sayid?” and reminded me why I like Sun so much (can she swing a paddle or what!?). Speaking of Sun, I think the reason I feel she is such an important and likeable character is that she views what’s going on around her the same way I view the show; she trusts no one and has a very cynical view of everyone’s motives and the decisions they make.
Besides finding out that Sayid did in fact wind up in the past with Jack, Kate and Hurley, we also found out a few other important details including when in the past they are (1977) and if Ben, as a child, had moved to the island yet (he has). In "Namaste" we saw the first official meeting of Ben and Sayid in a complete role reversal from their first meeting in Season 2, which begs the question did Ben recognize Sayid from his early days on the island and did it change the course of events from that point on?
I know Faraday keeps spouting that you can’t change the future by things you do and say in the past, but how does he know that the things they’ve gone through in the future weren’t directly caused by their actions in the past. I know it’s one big conundrum that we could go back and forth on forever, but it makes sense that the future is in fact changing based on the decisions the time lost Losties have made in 1977, including convincing Desmond and Penny to go to England to find Ms. Hawking.
I loved the interplay in this week’s episode between the time lost Losties and the Oceanic 6. and Sawyer’s quick thinking never ceases to amaze me. He and Juliette did a great job of initiating the Oceanic 6 into the Dharma Initiative and saving Sayid’s life by portraying him as a Hostile. But my favorite scene from “Namaste” had to be the interaction between Sun, Ben and Frank Lapidus on the dock and the subsequent return of Christian Shephard. The island definitely feels like a much creepier place since it was “moved” by Ben and John Locke.
My final though on last week’s episode revolves around Jack’s surprise in finding out that Faraday was with them and Sawyer’s response that he was but “not anymore.” So there are a few ways you can interpret Sawyer’s response, but I think Faraday either went missing or is now living with the Others. Either he went nuts/had a mental breakdown after everything he’s been through and disappeared in the middle of the night, or he left the Dharma Initiative because he wants to try to change the future (i.e. not be the creepy old man who tells a young Charlotte Lewis to leave the island and never return, which ultimately drives her as an adult to find the island again and leads to her eventual death). Either way I can’t imagine he’s dead because it seems like he still has a bigger part to play in the show’s mythology. What do you all think!?!