The no time travel brigade on this board must be shucking and jiving all over the place today trying to explain last nights episode, which was awesome, and it showed what I've believed to be all along:
-Ben uses time travel to affect current and future events to his own ends. It's the ultimate power high- to be able to change events- but how can he do it if the Universe always course corrects? Is it a temporary solution until the Universe gets it right- buying Ben some more time? Or is the Universe not as smart as it thinks it is, and Ben can outsmart it with his time hopping? (meaning, he's the only one who has this ability?)
-It's 'good night, Irene' for the "there is no time travel on Lost" contingent. They'll have to come up with another explanation, even the "mind time travel only" theory was debunked last night.
-Ben CLEARLY time traveled from the island to the Sahara desert in 2005. They SHOWED YOU, and he verified the dates, so there should be no more denying and debating on this. (no, he did not take a boat and a plane from Fiji
) It's amazing what people will still believe, (or not) even when they've been shown directly something that is happening.
-Ben DID NOT mind travel, he body traveled. If he only "mind traveled", why then the Sahara? Why would he choose that and not Tunisia or Iraq, where he ended up to do his dirty work? He time traveled, and got his body as close to where he needed to be as he could. They clearly do not have so much control over the time travel that they can get it exactly right, but close to the intended destination.
-Ben was wearing an Arctic style DHARMA jacket, if he knew he was going to mind travel to the desert, he wouldn't need that jacket, and if he knew exactly where he was going to end up, he wouldn't have worn it. Clearly something happens during time travel where a cold weather jacket is needed.
-Since the reason for Ben's traveling to Iraq or Tunisia was to meet Sayid and possibly try to change events, there was no mind traveling that would make sense. Desmond 'mind traveled' back to his flat in London where Penny was, but that was his connection to another timeline. Ben has no connection here, other than to try to change events in the future that will affect the present, or change events in the past that will affect the present. There is no other explanation.
-There ARE multiple timelines in this show, just accept it. The timelines may not be months or even years off, they may be days difference, but there are multiple timelines. The doctor is DEAD with his throat slit on the beach, but he is also alive on the freighter. How can that be? I still believe that the Oceanic 815 at the bottom of the trench COULD BE (and I stress could be) another version of the 815 that went through a time warp and duplicated itself. I think the writers are playing with us on this idea, and they feel like they can go either way with it, depending on what the audience will accept. It could be a setup by Widmore, or it even could be- GASP! - another version of the plane. This would explain the tortured version of Jack, Hurley and Sayid ("we have to go back") in 2005, realizing that they are supposed to be dead and that somehow they are not synched with the rest of the Universe, a Universe that wants them, (and has fated them)to their deaths on Oceanic 815 in 2004.
All in all a fantastic episode and one which IMO sets up things in such a way that the denial theorists must play nicely in the sandbox or take their toys and go home to pout.
