[bewitched]

Sheesh, I have lots of thoughts but I want to throw this out there about Sayid:

If we stick with the idea that Jacob/the island is about redemption and we remember that he touched all (well almost) of the main characters sometime in the past in an effort to save (or bestow redemption upon) all of them, then I think he finally "saved" Sayid.

I don't remember his exact words to Hurley, but I believe they were very close to, "they are the only ones who can save him."

Remember young Ben? When he was shot, Richard told Kate and Juliet that he wouldn't remember anything and that he would never be the same. Did he just give Sayid a "reboot"? The one factor that would otherwise always keep Sayid from being redeemed (at least in his mind) was all of the bad things he did in the past. If those memories are gone and he is "changed", i.e. left with his essential "Sayidness" is he not, in effect, saved (redeemed)?

I bring this up because here's what I think:

Setting the sideways timeline aside for the moment, I think these last 5 seasons have been rife with the idea of redemption, that who you are is not made up of any one (or any several) moments in time; there is an essential character to us all which gets obscured by life. I think Jacob sees the good in people and believes that when you bring the good in each person to the surface, you advance mankind as a whole (a step forward). With that in mind, I think we are going to see, one by one, each character's redemption whether by Jacob's instruction or through his hand. He's clearly dead, but not gone. And I think this is what was meant by having to choose...you have to choose faith, and therefore redemption and if you don't, by default, you choose the dark side.

And yeah, Sayid is still hot.