Ben is good. whitmore is good. jack is evil.
kidding aside though, first off, no big surprise, but if you freeze frame the license plate of the truck that picked up john in the dessert, it was the numbers. after that, I had a strong feeling that ben was going to kill john. he wanted him alive just long enough to get the information he needed. he said for the first time ever "I don\'t know what we\'re going to do next." which was total bullshit and that told me he was only acting innocent to get information. I think he was really shocked at jin being alive and john knowing hawkings name. I think ben was planning to kill john and when he said he liked him leaving the room it was sincere. That said, I don\'t think ben planned to kill him right then. I think it was a fit of rage because ben learned that whitmore knows more than he thought he knew. Hawkings is bens team and suppose to be super secret, and if john knows the name, maybe he learned it from whitmore, which made ben loose it.
Ultimately I think ben is jealous of john and that\'s the driving force of their relationship. Same with whitmore. Both ben and whitmore were in charge of the island at one point and they got screwed out of it and want the power back. John is the new golden boy being groomed for upper management and they both hate him for it.
Also, john and the plane people landed on the beach where there are 2 longboats, which means whichever time period that flash was in they are in. I don\'t think they stayed long enough to establish that but I think it\'s mid 80\'s french time at the earliest, more likely it\'s today, which is less than a year after the crash (john spent over 100 days on island, + 4 days passed since left, = mininum of 105 days/ 4 months+ of summer 04\' approx). I think they are right there.
However, jack, jin, hurley and kate are in the 70\'s given that jin was driving a brand new vw micro and had a uniform on. I think after john left the island they jumped 1 more time to the 70\'s and have been there ever since. part of the flight members being in 04\' and part being in 70s\' is the "unexpected results" that could happen if they didn\'t get everyone back on the plane.
one more, when john left the island his leg was broken again so he needs the island or he will return to whatever state he was in before he got there if he leaves. hence, since he\'s dead, if he leaves the island ever again, he will instantly be killed.
wow, I wrote a lot. sorry.
