The Shape of Things to Come

Wow. That was a jam-packed episode. It's taken a few days for me to assimilate it all, but I think I'm finally ready to unpack "The Shape of Things to Come". Let's give it a shot.

Of course, this episode was Ben-centric, and I think it gave us a lot more information about him more than the average episode reveals about its "flasher" (as in -forward, -back, etc...)

Much in the same way Darth Vader is the clear villain of the original Star Wars trilogy, but becomes the protagonist when viewed over all six films, so I think Ben will become more sympathetic and less villainous from here on out. (The comparison ends there, because (I believe) Ben actually has a cause which will likely turn out not just to be good, but essential. Anakin succumbed to evil, without a significant mitigator.)

Many LOST fans still regard him as evil, but I myself have never believed he was a pure villain. From the moment he first uttered the words, "We're the good guys", I figured there was something to that. He's obviously human (his possessiveness of Juliet, eg), but I believe he's on the right side, and Widmore is on the wrong side. TPTB will probably make a fool out of me, but that's my reading as of now.

Of Ben's many actions, interactions, and settings this epi, we may as well start with something that wasn't that big of a surprise. Namely that Ben is multi-lingual, and that he can kick ass! Seriously, did he not exhibit pwnage in the desert with the two Bedouins?

That was fun, but more important is how he got there. I don't think it's any stretch to say time-travel was involved, since he had to ask what year it was. The Dharma parka he was wearing had two notable aspects (other than the fact it didn't belong in the desert): it bore a specific logo as yet unseen, as well as the name Halliwax. Check it out. And here's a close up of the logo.

Now, for those of you who still haven't seen the Orchid film, now would be a good time to do so. I'll wait.

OK, so now we all know that (Edgar) Halliwax is the "name" of our favorite atmospheric lighting scientist (Marvin Candle, Mark Wickman, Edgar Halliwax...lolz) for the purposes of the Orchid Station's orientation film. And we also all now know that the Orchid has something to do with time travel. So.

What does this mean? When is he leaving for these trips? Is it close to current island time? My guess is, yes. Maybe this is part of what Jacob's instructions are to be? Too soon to tell, but we know he goes to 2005, a year and a month from the time of the plane crash. He's either going into the future from close to "CIT", or he's going into the past from a reasonably distant future point.

My money's on the former, because we've been told by Ms Hawkings as well as Faraday that you can't change the past. Of course TPTB's rules have been shown to be somewhat flexible. Nevertheless, I suspect we'll see the beginning of his journey before the season's out.

Questions like, "Why is he wearing Halliwax's jacket?", and, "Why did he wear a a parka at all for a trip to the Sahara?" are not readily answerable at this time, but it's worth remembering both the polar bear skeleton in Tunisia, and the Arctic station (or was it Antarctic?) from the end of season two. Did he detour through polar bear habitat? And what happened to his arm?

I think this portion of Ben's activities poses the most new questions; let's go nuts in the comment section! As for the rest, I had originally planned on a comprehensive single post, given my tardiness. But it's late and I have to work in the morning! So Alex, Sayid, Smokie and Widmore will have to wait until tomorrow. I promise I'll come through!

Thanks for wading through my ramble! Until tomorrow,

Namaste