Who Shot Rousseau!?

[D-Roc]

The frenzied cliff-hanger which saw the apparent assasinations of both Karl and Rousseau was one of the biggest 'OMG' moments of this curtailed fourth season.

Alex, Karl and Rousseau having been sent to the "sanctuary" (The Temple) by Ben, are met by snipper bullets as Karl, then Rousseau are gunned down in this shocking scene.

But the question on mine, and everyones lips is; WHO?

Who killed Karl and Rousseau?

In my mind there are 3 main possibilities:

1. Ben planned the whole thing - somehow he knew that Karl and Rousseau would run into danger, meaning that Alex would need her father once more OR Ben pre-arranged for Alpert and the Others to gun down Rousseau and Karl for the same reasons as already stated, as well as the fact that Alex could well be pregnant by Karl - so if 'Room 23' was "overreacting", this would make this incident revenge.

How Ben would pull off such a feat is not important - what's important is that we know he CAN achieve such results - he did it with bringing Cooper to the island and in arranging for Harper to visit Juliet, not to mention Miles seems certain that Ben is a man who gets what he wants. It's possible that Ben is able to see 'flashes' or that he is able to 'magic-box' his will?

2. Perhaps the most likely possibility is that the Freighties gunned down Rousseau and Karl - we know that Frank and Keamy were on their way to the island to run an "errand":

Keamy: "Don't be late (Frank)"

Then in a later scene;

Desmond: "Have they gone to the island?"

Ray: "You know anywhere else nearby that they can land?"

So these two quotes prove that Keamy, Frank and possibly a couple of the other Freighties left for the island on assignment to capture Ben and kill all who got in their way. In "Meet Kevin Johnson", we also saw Keamy taking shooting practice - so we know that he's a decent shot from range.

3. My outside bet is that someone else (Dharma?) shot Rousseau and Karl, but this is a tentative idea since this season has done a good job at making us think Dharma have RIPed.

I guess what we have to consider is that this is a war - Ben alluded to the idea himself, that in every war there are those who are innocent, those who get caught in the cross fire. Rousseau and Karl were seemingly collateral damage..however, the jury is still out on whether they were sent to their deaths in much the same way that some quarters believe Goodwin was.

Personally I think Keamy and co were the shooters, and that Ben's motives were sincere, but don't you just love how every Ben talking point comes ready made with layers?

I've been trying to get a screencap of the shooter and I managed to slow down my video-player to capture him/her - it's not clear, but below you'll just about make-out one of the shooters head and shoulders/back. my first thought was that it was Miles because s/he seems to be wearing dark clothing like Miles was wearing..however it could just as easily be Keamy or Omar..or Alpert, for that matter:

Whoever it is they're very sneaky and don't want to be seen. Although i'm sure we'll find out just who they are in, oh, 4 long and LOST-less weeks.

*sigh*