TVSquad

(S04E03) Three great episodes in a row! Between "The Economist" and Carlton Cuse's promise to deliver five more episodes, Lost is having a great week. The identity of another member of the Oceanic Six was revealed, and that person is keeping strange company in the off-island future. As usual, each big revelation introduced about a dozen more questions, but that's part of the show's charm.

Gallery: Lost: The Economist

Team Jack, Part One

As Sayid examined Naomi's body, everyone else was dealing with the news that the Freighties were looking for Ben. Miles wanted to find Ben and collect his substantial paycheck, while Jack wanted more information about the group's mission. Sayid noticed that Naomi had a bracelet, inscribed with the following: "I'll always be with you. R.G." He could tell that Miles was eager to go the Barracks, and struck a deal with them. Sayid would bring Charlotte back unharmed in exchange for a spot on the helicopter. Team Jack still had a lot of questions, however. Miles claimed to be there for Ben, but Naomi had a photo of Desmond mixed in with her belongings. They figured that the best way to sort things out was for Juliet to fetch Desmond from the beach.

Sayid refused to bring Jack to the Barracks, citing his earlier blow-up with Locke. Jack convinced Kate to go in his place, and Miles insisted on coming along. Miles and Sayid continued to size each other up during their walk through the jungle. Sayid made it clear that he didn't trust the Freighties' intentions, and Miles came off as a poor team player at best.

Back at the chopper, Daniel Faraday got busy perfecting his impression of Christopher Lloyd from Back to the Future. He set up an experiment in which Regina would send a rocket from the freighter to a beacon on the island. The experiment's results indicated that there is a 31-minute time gap on the island. I'm officially freaked out.

Team Locke

The island threw the all-knowing Locke a little curve ball this week. He arrived at the spot where he first saw Jacob's cabin, but only found the strange ash outline. Ben couldn't have been happier that Locke appeared foolish to the rest of the group. Several of the team members expressed concerns about going to the Barracks, since the Freighties would know to look for Charlotte there. Locke believed that Charlotte's value as a hostage was more important than staying hidden, and decided to proceed as planned.

When Sayid, Kate, and Miles arrived at the Barracks, the place was nearly empty. They followed a muffled scream to one of the houses and found Hurley tied up in a closet. He pretended to have been left behind by Locke and the others, but it was all a trap. Hurley's ruse led them to Ben's house, where Team Locke was waiting. Before Sayid got caught, however, he found a hidden room behind Ben's bookcase. The room was full of clothing, passports, and different types of currency. Ben isn't the homebody that he's pretending to be.

Sawyer took it upon himself to detain Kate in Ben's bedroom, where they toyed with the idea of living at the Barracks permanently. This was more Sawyer's idea than Kate's, despite the fact that Kate has a murder trial waiting for her back on the mainland. Danielle and Hurley escorted Sayid to the game room, where Ben was also being held prisoner. Locke arrived later, and he and Sayid formed a plan to investigate the freighter and learn the group's real agenda. Locke agreed to hand over Charlotte in exchange for Miles so that Sayid could hitch a ride on the helicopter. Apparently Kate wasn't part of the deal, so Sayid and Charlotte set off by themselves.

Team Jack, Part Two

Once Desmond and Juliet reached the helicopter, Desmond wanted to know all about the Freighties' agenda and Naomi's photo of him and Penny. Frank refused to say whether or not he had heard of Penny Widmore. Why are they so open about searching for Ben, but not Desmond? Naturally, Desmond wasn't going to let the issue go and demanded a place on the helicopter. Sayid returned with Charlotte, and both she and Daniel decided to stay on the island. Charlotte mysteriously said that she had "work" to do. Since no one else volunteered to take the third seat, Sayid suggested that they take Naomi's body. Daniel instructed Frank to follow the exact bearings that they used to reach the island, "no matter what." Very encouraging. The chopper took off, and Sayid took a long look at the island as they left. I've seen a lot of unsettling things on Lost, but watching Sayid leave the island gave me chills.

Flash-Forward: Sayid

Four down, two to go. Sayid's life as one of the Oceanic Six includes golfing excursions to the Seychelles (a group of islands in the Indian Ocean). Apparently all of the rescued survivors got a generous settlement from Oceanic Airlines. His trip wasn't all fun and games, however. As Sayid chatted with an Italian man on a secluded golf course, it became obvious that the men didn't meet by accident. The man, whom Sayid called Avellino, got nervous when Sayid mentioned Oceanic 815. As Avellino tried to get away, Sayid shot him and left his body on the fairway.

Berlin was the next stop on the Assassin Express, where Sayid met an attractive woman "by chance" in a cafe. Elsa told Sayid she was a personal assistant for an economist, and Sayid claimed to be a head-hunter. They flirted and made a dinner date. As Sayid left the cafe, he called someone and said he had made contact. The flash-forward jumped ahead to Elsa and Sayid's fifth date. I can't thank the writers enough for getting Naveen Andrews into a tuxedo. Elsa, wearing a bracelet that resembled Naomi's, made a show of not bringing her beeper; Sayid insisted on bringing it. When she asked Sayid why he had extended his stay in Berlin, he said that his job was more difficult than he thought.

Later, as the couple shared a tender moment in bed, Elsa tried to get Sayid to open up about his life. Her beeper went off at the perfect moment, since Sayid's secret had everything to do with her boss. Sayid told Elsa that he used her to get to her employer, who was anything but an economist. He was in Berlin to kill this mystery man, one of many people on his employer's list. Sayid urged Elsa to leave the city so she wouldn't have to answer questions about the man's death. Like her boss, Elsa was not what she seemed. She shot Sayid, left the room to call her employer, and promised to bring him in. Ever resourceful, Sayid took the opportunity to grab his gun and kill Elsa. Never turn your back on a man who can kill someone with his feet.

Wounded, Sayid met up with his employer at a veterinarian's office for medical treatment. The man, still unseen, went to work on the bullet wound, and asked about Elsa. Sayid told him that Elsa and her employer were looking for his boss--Ben Linus! Ben might not be one of the Oceanic Six, but someone knows that he's alive and no longer on the island. Ben taunted Sayid about his feelings for Elsa, and reminded him that the people on his list don't deserve sympathy. These people took advantage of Sayid's emotional attachments at some point, which drove him into Ben's manipulative arms. Ben implied that their endeavor would somehow help Sayid to protect his friends--did he mean the rest of the Oceanic Six, or those left on the island? Are the people on Ben's list DHARMA, Oceanic, or some other group? Either way, Ben was glad they knew that he and Sayid were coming for them.

Final questions/comments:

• I loved this exchange between Jack and Kate: "Now you know how I feel." -- "Does that mean I should wait twenty minutes and go anyway?"
• Sayid told Locke that the day he trusts Ben is the day he's sold his soul. Does Future Sayid cross over to the dark side, or is he truly doing it to help his friends?
• Best line of the night: "Oh awesome, the ship sent us another Sawyer."
• You can add the bracelet to the list of strange island coincidences--the cat from "Enter 77," the black horse from Kate's flashback, etc.
• Ben's money stash included UK banknotes that were only in circulation from 1991 to 2001. The man pictured on the currency was Michael Faraday, a physicist known for his work with electromagnetism.
• Why did Frank tell Daniel to hang up if Minkowski got on phone? Daniel already talked to Minkowski on the satellite phone once before.
• I hope the 31-minute gap in time isn't a reference to this bizarre Chilean TV show.

Next week, it's Kate's turn for a flash forward. In the meantime, you can check out AOL's Lost coverage.