“Destiny John is a fickle bitch” - More thoughts on Lost 4×11 “Cabin Fever”

ETA: I just thought of something after reading something similar on TWOP: Didn’t Ben discover he had a tumor right after the 815 crashed on the island? That would certainly lend itself to the theory that Locke has replaced Ben.

After spending some time looking around the internets about last night’s episode of Lost, there are a lot of really good, intriguing ideas floating around about Locke, Ben, Hurley and Richard Alpert. I won’t steal other people’s ideas without giving credit to them as not being my own.

1. Ben is losing it. Or at least that is what he is leading the others to believe. Obviously distraught over the death of his daughter, Ben acknowledges to Locke that he is losing his communion with the island. He cites his spine tumor as an example. Trouble is, this is really the first time we’ve heard Ben shaken in his confidence of being “the chosen one.” Too bad he doesn’t have a scar on his forehead, then we’d know for sure.
2. Did you see the look on Ben’s face when Locke found the corpse of Horace Goodspeed? There’s a connection there that I think runs deeper than just Horace being present at Ben’s birth/bringing him to the island. Ben looked scared.
3. “I used to have dreams” - Is this why Ben was staring at Locke while he was sleeping? Did Ben know Locke was being visited? Does Ben not sleep any more? Reminds one of what Widmore says two weeks ago, “when the nightmares started.” Both Ben and Widmore are having sleeping issues.
4. Hurley’s line, something like “I think I know why the three of us can see the cabin. We’re the craziest ones here.” I think that was more than a great Hurley line. I’d love to see this theory tested on Jack who I would definitely include as one of the island crazies.
5. Curiousity killed the cat. Why did Hurley stay with Locke and Ben? I think he was curious as to what the cabin was all about. He’s trekked through the jungle enough times alone that he would be fine with going back to the beach. But suppose this decision leads to one of the reasons why Hurley tells Jack that he made a mistake going with Locke (season 4 premiere).
6. I love - LOVE - the play between Hurley and Ben. Hurley has a healthy caution around Ben yet treats him as a fellow human being, sharing his candy bar and getting him water. Chalk it up to Hurley being truly one of the good guys or Ben becoming more sympathetic, I’m not sure.
7. When Ben says that he isn’t the one that ordered the purge, who do you think he was referring to? Some people have said Widmore or Jacob but I’ve always had the impression that Richard Alpert was the one that ordered it. If you remember back to that episode, Richard certainly seems to be leading the :::ahem::: others by taking his gas mask off first.
8. I don’t believe for one second Ben is stepping aside for John Locke. Don’t buy it at all. Ben’s line about Locke not being him points even more directly to the ways in which these characters are the same.
9. Alpert’s test on young Locke as to which objects were already his was another gigantic scene in Lost. He was so visibly pissed when Locke chose “wrong” with the knife. This could go one of two ways: a) Locke chose correctly leading Richard to believe that young Locke couldn’t be shaped to do what the island needed him to do or b) Locke chose the wrong object telling all of us that Locke’s destiny is NOT to save the island.
10. Going along with b, a lot of stuff has posted about this theory: that Locke was the original chosen one and because he failed Alpert’s test, Ben was chosen instead. Jeff Jensen over at EW.com worked out the timeline and apparently Ben would have been born right around the time of Locke’s test. If indeed Ben has been replaced by Locke as protector of the island (something that Ben’s FF only half supports), is that then an example of course correction?
11. This is a question raised on various other sites: Is Richard Alpert ageless or he is time-jumping? I don’t know which I think. The time traveling kinda makes sense. If Richard and some of the others were frustrated with Ben’s obsession over fertility on the island, Richard may have jumped time to try to rear Locke into replacing Ben. But it wasn’t Richard who coaxed Locke to go on the walk about - leading to him getting on the island - it was Matthew Abbadon who we’re fairly sure works for Widmore.
12. Last point for now. Ben accused Widmore of not playing by the rules but I think it fairly clear from this episode that both Ben and Widmore, if not Richard and Keamy also, are fl