I Know Who Ben's "Man on the Boat" Is

I don't, actually. But I came up with a theory that I'm so convinced is correct that I feel like I'm revealing a spoiler here. So if you don't want to know, watch out.

...

Okay, everybody cool? Here's who I think it is: Michael.

Let's review what Ben told him right before Michael drove off in a boat with Walt:

BEN: Do you know how to drive a boat?
MICHAEL: Yeah, I can drive a boat.

GALE: Good, then you're going to take this boat and follow a compass bearing of 325, and if you do that exactly, you and your son will find rescue.

MICHAEL: That's it? I follow the bearing and me and my son get rescued?

GALE: Yes.

MICHAEL: How do you know I won't tell people about where I was?

GALE: Maybe you will, maybe you won't. But it won't matter. Once you leave, you'll never be able to get back here. And my hunch is you won't say a word to anybody because if you do, people will find out what you did to get your son back.

"You and your son will find rescue." That's it - I'm sure the writers left it vague on purpose, but they didn't say he'd make it back to land or anything like that - just that he would find rescue. Since Ben had contact with the outside world, it's reasonable to assume he knew the freighter was out there and that he knew exactly where it was. So he sends Michael to the freighter, knowing there's no way for the freighter to find the island.

Fast-forward to the end of Season 3. Charlie disables the Looking Glass hatch, putting the island in contact with the outside world. Suddenly, the people on the freighter - who've over the course of Season 3, found out from Michael that there's a guy matching Ben's description in charge of a band of island natives - are able to find the island and send four people there. And because Michael has somehow been in contact with Ben while on the freighter, Ben knows that the Freighter Four are after him. (Or maybe they haven't been in contact - Ben might have already known.)

Makes perfect sense, right? Then there are the two outside factors: (A) Lindelof and Cuse confirmed that Michael would be coming back in Season 4 at last year's Comic-Con, and (B) Harold Perinneau has re-appeared in the credits this season.

This theory raises two questions:

(1) What about Walt?

Well, Walt might be on the freighter with Michael. Perfectly valid assumption. However, since Locke saw Taller Ghost Walt, I'm more inclined to think that the poor kid is dead. (That would also handily solve the issue of him hitting puberty in real life way quicker than would happen in Lost time.) He found out his dad was a filthy murderous traitor and jumped ship and drowned. Or maybe the people on the freighter killed him?

(2) Why are the Freighter Four after Ben?

I'm not nearly as certain of this as I am of the rest, but I'll venture to say that the freighter expedition is financed by none other than the Hanso Foundation - the same financiers of the failed Dharma Initiative. After they lost contact with the Initiative (when Ben helped kill them all in the Purge) they somehow found out that renegade member Ben, the new leader of the hostile island natives, was responsible. So they sent a team in to clean up their failed experiment - kill Ben and the Hostiles/Others, and destroy the island.

Okay, so the motive is a little iffy, but I think I'm onto something there. But Michael's on the freighter. I'm sure of it.

TAGS: Ben, Freighter, Michael, Season4, The Hanso Foundation, Walt
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