It is official! Starting with the third episode, Lost, the TV series in which the flash-forwards have taken the place of the flashbacks, has become weirder and more interesting.

Faithful to the tradition we already know, Lost: The Economist answers some questions only to create hundreds more in their place. If the second episode ended with the memorable line by Ben about his inside man on the freighter, The Economist is ready to torture our neurons with new dilemmas: Who is really Sayid and what happened to him?

The good news is that Sayid is part of the already known group Oceanic 6, with the likes of Hurley and, probably, Jack. The bad news is that in his after-island life Sayid has become a hitman, hunting a very important and unknown person, The Economist.

Anyway, the third episode opens as Sayid finds a mysterious bracelet on Naomi’s hand, but before realizing what is going on, we are teleported in a flash-forward with the same Sayid who shoots his occasional golf partner, Mr. Avello.

It is worth mentioning that Avello, of whom we know nothing about, freaks out when he finds out that Sayid is one of the survivors from Oceanic Flight 815.

But Avello is not the key man of the plot, as we soon will follow Sayid through Berlin, where he becomes romantically involved with Elsa, a woman working for the mysterious The Economist.

In just another flash forward, we find out that the love story between Sayid and Elsa is nothing more than a meeting between two spies, each of them trying to find out who is the other one’s boss in order to do him off. The Sayid-Elsa short romantic encounter ends with blood and fire guns, as he kills her after she shot him. He notices another bracelet on Elsa’s hand and this could be just another hint about a connection between The Economist and Naomi.

As if it wasn’t already complicated enough, the wounded Sayid seeks his boss to get medical help, and in the final and, maybe, the most mind-twisting flash-forward, we find out that his new boss is none other than Ben, the same Ben from the Island, who is now posing as a decent, hard-working veterinary in Germany. (or not!)

The lines exchanged between the two are just hints to a deeper plot. “I have another name for you'', says Ben. ''But they know I’m after them now'', Sayid responds. After who? Why? Total mystery!

But the story about Sayid’s future is just a subplot. In the parallel (real?) world, back on the Island, many events also take place as Locke is searching the Jacob’s cabin that seems to have vanished and leads the rest of the Losties to the Barracks.

In addition, it becomes clear how Sayid left the island: by helicopter. He “bought” his escape ticket rescuing Charlotte from Locke’s hands by trading Miles in. Sayid also convinced Locke that he was ready to be his spy on the freighter.

Overall, there are three people leaving by helicopter: Frank Lapidus (the pilot) Sayid and Desmond, who is uncertain about the involvement of his beloved Penny with the freighters.

Sayid insists that the Naomi’s body should be taken on the helicopter and the three men seem ready to get off the island.

On the other hand, the plot is getting more and more complicated as Sawyer declares he will not leave the Island and apparently convinces Kate, who came to the Barracks with Sayid, of his love feelings for her.

Back on the helicopter’s landing spot, the most mind-blowing sequence of The Economist is the experiment led by Daniel Faraday that reveals a “minor” detail: there is a 31-minute gap between freighter reality and Island reality, where time seems to pass more slowly.

Now that is officially established that the Island is a weirdo and Sayid will work for Ben seeking some kind of revenge, we can expect anything to happen.

If you ask me, I’m pretty sure that the helicopter won’t make it to the freighter. Daniel implores Frank to stay on the exact same heading back to the freighter and we all know that on the Island the people won’t do what they are told.

Anyway, with this third episode, the new season is shaping up as the one that will examine the after-Island life of the Losties and this means just one thing: more and more mysteries ahead!