Shot In The Dark

It's fascinating to watch the Lost third-season classic episode "The Man Behind The Curtain" now that we know a little more about the man (or men) behind the curtain.

This is the episode where Locke demands to see Jacob. He and Ben have a wild meeting with Jacob and Locke hears something. Ben isn't happy and ends up shooting Locke, (he steals Locke's gun and shoots him--does the same trick with Ceasar), taking out a problem just as he helped slaughter the Dharma Initiative.

We now assume that someone (probably Blackie) is behind both these men, pushing them toward the fateful moment. In particular, as we get our first glimpse at Ben's past, we see how Blackie was there all along, ready to scoop up poor Ben and recruit him. (I'm assuming Blackie's behind the appearances of Ben's mother. I could be wrong.)

Just a couple things about this episode. First, the question of Annie, Bens' girlfriend (he still has her doll) at the DI. We have no idea if she was killed in the purge. I'm guessing not--that's pretty cold, even for Ben. Either she died (which might have had some effect on Ben) or she left the Island (perhaps shipped off just before the Incident?).

The bigger question is what Ben did after he joined the Hostiles. We now have a better idea of the specifics of the conversion. Based on this episode, you might figure he just joined when the time was right, being so alienated from the DI. But now we know (or think we know) what happened in particular. As a kid he was shot by Sayid and, in order to save his life, was taken in by the Others, which changed everything about him, including even his memory of being shot.

Okay, fine, but in this episode we see he's still with the DI as a young adult, working with his father. So for years he stayed with them (or at least pretended to be with them) before he made his final move to the Others. I can buy this. Others often work undercover. But during all this time, did no one--especially his father--not make at least some small reference to him being shot, and by whom? And then being saved, and by whom?