Episode Title: "The Economist"

Episode Number: Season 4, Episode 3 (#72 Overall)
Production Number: 4.03
Air Date: 02/14/08


Synopsis: "Locke's hostage may be the key to getting off the island, so Sayid and Kate go in search of their fellow castaway in an attempt to negotiate a peaceful deal."

Guest starring are Ken Leung as Miles, Jeremy Davies as Daniel Faraday, Rebecca Mader as Charlotte, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, Mira Furlan as Danielle Rousseau, Marsha Thomason as Naomi, Armando Pucci as Mr. Avellino and Thekla Reuten as Elsa.

"The Economist" was written by Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz and directed by Jack Bender. (ABC Medianet)

Sayid is by the helicopter, meditating. He goes over to the body of Naomi, and closes her eyes and covers her with a blanket. He then takes off a bracelet that she was wearing. On the inside of the bracelet is a message inscribed: N, I'll always be with you. R.G. (or possibly R.C.). He then says that he will find Charlotte, and being her back, as long as he can go on the helicopter. Sayid, along with Kate and Miles head to the barracks to find her.

Daniel decides to perform an experiment. He takes some equipment from the helicopter and sets up. He then phones Regina, and tells her to send a payload to the beacon which he set up. Regina fires the rocket, and counts down the distance to the beacon. When she says the payload has arrived, it was not there. Daniel is confused as to why it has not come. When it finally came, he opens up the capsule, where a clock is at, and compares it to the one on the beacon. He compares the two times, which are different. The clock on the beacon says 02:45:03, and the one in the payload says 03:16:23. The difference between the two are 31 minutes, 18 seconds. Daniel is very concerned, and says it is very weird.

When Sayid, Kate, and Miles reach the barracks, they find it deserted. They hear a person from inside one of the houses and go inside. They open up a closet, and find Hurley, who says he was left behind. He says Locke was threatening Charlotte, and when he tried to intervene, Locke tied him up. He says they don't know where they went, but they stopped at Ben's house before leaving.

They go to Ben's house and start searching it. Sayid examines a bookshelf, and moves it. Behind the bookshelf is a secret room, and he enters it. Inside the walk-in closet was many clothes and a desk. He opens the desk, and finds currency of multiply countries, and many passports. He looks at a Swiss passport, and sees Ben's picture in it, but goes by the name of Dean Moriarty. Kate is searching the bedroom, and sees someone walk in. It is Sawyer. Kate shouts for Sayid, and he leaves the room, but is met by Locke, who is pointing a gun at him. Miles and Kate are brought together with Sayid, and Hurley apologizes for lying.

Locke takes Sayid to the games room, where Ben is also being held captive. Kate and Sawyer talk about their decision to go with either Jack or Locke. Sawyer wants to know why she wants to get off the island, since she will be arrested when she returns. Meanwhile, Locke talks to Sayid, and apologizes for the trap. Sayid says that he wants Charlotte, so he can get onto the freighter, and find out who the people really are. Locke says he will not give away Charlotte for nothing.

Desmond confronts Frank, and asks him what he knows about Penelope Widmore, and why Naomi was carrying a picture of them. Frank says he know nothing about this, and had only met Naomi for the first time on the freighter. Desmond then demands that he will be on the next flight to the freighter. Sayid then arrives, with Charlotte, but not Miles or Kate. Sayid says that He traded Miles for Charlotte, and Kate decided to stay with Locke. Frank says he can carry one more person on the plane, and Sayid said that they should take Naomi home. Frank, Desmond, Sayid, and Naomi's body are brought on board the helicopter. Daniel warns Frank that he must follow the exact bearing in which they arrived from. The helicopter takes off, and heads to the freighter.


Flashforward: Sayid is playing golf in the Seychelles. A man in a golf cart comes, and they make a bet on who can make the closest shot to the hole. He asks Sayid what he does for a living, and he replies by saying he does nothing, and lives off a settlement from Oceanic Airlines. He then says he is one of the Oceanic 6. The man looks worried, and even though he won the bet, he does not want to be paid. Sayid says "I insist, Mr. Avellino", and pulls out a gun and shoots him. He walks away normally, as the sprinklers turn on.

Sayid goes to a cafe in Berlin, Germany on a winter day. There is an empty seat at a table where Elsa is sitting. He asks for directions to the Potsdamer Platz. She gives him directions, and says she is an assistant for an economist. She carries a pager which alerts her when she is in need of service. Sayid says he is a headhunter, and is in town for a week. Elsa says that he looks familiar, and Sayid says he will tell her, if they have dinner that night. He leaves the cafe, and phones someone on a cell phone and says he has "made contact". He then throws the phone away.

They go on a date to the opera. Elsa decides to leave the pager at home, but Sayid decides to carry it with him, saying he would not want her to get fired. She asks why he has been in Berlin for more than a week, and Sayid says his job is taking longer than he expected.

Sayid and Elsa are in bed, and she says she is tired of not knowing anything about Sayid's job. Her pager goes off, and Sayid tells her she must leave, because people will be asking questions about what happened to her boss. Elsa realizes that it was his job to assassinate her boss. Sayid says her boss is not an economist. Elsa goes to the bathroom, pulls out a gun, and shoots Sayid. Elsa calls someone, and says that Sayid will not say the name of his boss. Sayid then grabs an object an throws it at a mirror. She comes out, and Sayid gets his gun and shoots her. Sayid finds a bracelet on her that is similar to the one on Naomi.

Sayid, who is wounded from the gunshot, visits a veterinarian's office. He goes inside an operating room, and someone say to take off the jacket. The person treat his wound, and asks him questions. Sayid says that she was trying to find out the identity of his employer. The person is revealed, and it is Ben. He says he has another name to put on the list, and Sayid says that "they" know he is coming. Ben smiles, and says "Good".

Flashforward: Sayid

OMG Moments:

• Sayid is another member of The Oceanic Six.
• Time appears to be different on the island.
• Sayid is a hitmanfor is Ben in the future.

New Clues:

• Sayid has a "list" of people, similar to the Others list at the end of the second season/beginning of the third, only Sayid's list is compiled of people who are not on the island.
• Ben has a secret room in his house, filled with extra clothes, money from around the world, and passports. This confirms Ben has been off the island and that the picture Miles showed Jack was not a fake.
• We find out Ben gets off the island along with the Oceanic 6.
• We find out that Ben still has some control over the people on the island, and he is using it to make Sayid work for him.
• Mr. Avellino became very nervous when he found out Sayid was one of the survivors of Flight 815. Sayid killed him on the golf course.

Questions:

• Who is R.G. (or R.C.), the inscriber of Naomi's bracelet?
• What happened to Jacob's cabin?
• What does Faraday's experiment prove?
• Who is the economist?
• It looks like Ben is.
  
• How and why did Ben Linus get off the Island?
• Anything is possible, being that they show Ben off the island in a flashforward.
  

Trivia:

This is borrowed from Wikipedia.org. I thought its addition might help others understand what an economist is so that they can have a broader idea of context in which to think of who the "Economist" may be.

"Economists work in many fields including academia, government and in the private sector, where they may also “...study data and statistics in order to spot trends in economic activity, economic confidence levels, and consumer attitudes. They assess this information using advanced methods in statistical analysis, mathematics, computer programming...and “... they make recommendations about ways to improve the efficiency of a system or take advantage of trends”.

There is a deleted scene where Sayid, Kate, and Miles reach the Sonic Fence. Miles asks what is is, and Sayid explains it is a security system. Kate tries to figure out how to turn it off, but Miles walks through it, and says that it is off. Kate and Sayid look stunned, and puzzled as to how and why he walked through it.






Theories:

• #1: I'm starting to get the sense that the island is in a fold in the time continuum. This would explain Faraday's experiment, Desmond's flashes, and may even be the reason we saw Dharma drop off a package of food in the second season (Although that still puzzles me). Maybe it can't be seen from outside, because it exists in another time altogether.