[D-Roc]

Originally Posted by Easily confused

What I am saying is that Ben and Sayid are in the same boat (so to speak) as in they are either both part of the O6 or neither of them are (I am working on the assumption that Aaron doesn’t count as one of the 6)

I see..Hmm, i get what you're saying, but Ben can't be one of the Oceanic 6 because he wasn't on the plane.

I see that you're suggesting that Ben is posing as one of the 815'ers? This is possible, but I just don't see it being the case, as we know that he can get off the island if and when he wants - he still has Desmond's boat and could leave on the same bearing as Mike did. I'm thinking that the O6 must return unannounced and then make their survival public (or at least a version of events). We know that Mike returned unannounced with no media buzz or knowledge..which leads me to assume that Ben and the O6 could do the same, which means that Ben wouldn't need to pose as an 815'er since he could just blend into the real world (like it seems he's done in Sayid's 4.03 forward flash)..

If Ben is not one of the O6 (and I don't think he is), then surely this means that Aaron has to be..?

my memory is a bit sketchy here but … I thought that man only reacted to the words “Oceanic Six”. The way the man reacted made me think he was reacting to the words not the person ie he didn’t know who Sayid was but he realised at the mention of O6 that he was in trouble. There must be a reason why Sayid shot him (a reason connected to the island/dharma/widemore) so if Sayid was O6 then the man should have recognised Sayid straight away not after Sayid mentioned O6.

Good point and you're probably right, he probably didn't recognise or even know what Sayid looked like. Your theory could work..but I think the answer is that the man is an employee of Widmore..someone who's expertise helps Widmore's company/offshore connections (assuming Widmore has some sort of control over the island at this stage)..and so by killing him and people like him (Wimore employees), it means that Widmore's control over, or pursuit of, the island is diminished. I think this is why Ben and Sayid are after these people - because it's their way of protecting the island, or of killing Widmore Industries from outside.

I don't think everyone who works for Widmore would know what the O6 look like..but they may know that theoir employee has a connection to what happened to 815 (upon the return of the O6, did the 'staged' wreckage get outed in the real world as being 'staged', and consequently Widmore's name - regardless of whether it was actually him or Ben who was responsible - get dragged through the mud in relation to 815, thus explaining why his employees have only a vague knowledge of who the Oceanic 6 are and what they look like etc?).

Of course, i'm assuming that the man was an employee of Widmore and accept that this explanation might not work otherwise.

Lets say for an example this man worked for Widemore would Widemore not want his people to be vigilant to who could possibly target them like someone working for Ben so therefore would have files and pictures to memorise of high profile people, as you would expect the O6 to be

But basically there was something about Sayids flashes that stood out as being different to all the other O6 flashes that I just don’t trust

Kinda answered this above, but yeah, you would think that he would ensure that his people knew what and who to watch out for...but not necessarily, because this island and his actual plans in relation to the island might not be divulged to these people. Only high ranking officials would perhaps know the full details..people like Mr. Avellino might only know vague connections between his employer and the O6/815.

That said, this will indeed need explaining at some point, and i hope they do come back to this issue. I do think this angle works..it just needs a bit of clarification as to why a seemingly chance encouter turned into what it turned into - that is, why didn't he know WHO Sayid was. There's scope there for a good explanation - hopefully I've offered one, although I expect they'll have a better one.