Do you think the writers knew, when they introduced the character of Ben Linus, that Ben remembered Sayid et al when he met them because of their return to 1977? That would really color how he interacted with them since his introduction to the show, and would affect his agenda when dealing with them, no? That would make me want to rewatch the show, to see if he indicates any prior knowledge of them.
Off the topic of Ben, I’d really like to see how the annoying Kate-Sawyer-Juliet thing plays out. I would love it if Sawyer rejected Kate’s advances in favor of Juliet, though I fear that won’t happen. Even better would be Kate, having been rebuffed by Sawyer, trying to get back with Jack, only to be denied by him too. Unlikely, but I can dream.
I’m also hoping Ben didn’t kill Penny, but it would make sense from a plot perspective that he did. Mrs. Hawking gave Desmond that line about the island not being finished with him, but without Penny’s death what would motivate him to get back involved with all this? Ben and the Losties are all back on the island, so Des has no reason to interact with them. But if Penny’s been killed, then Des would want go after Ben for revenge, and possibly go back to the island to change the past and prevent her death, seeing as he’s the only one capable of doing so.
I think not, as it’s apparently open knowledge that they didn’t intend to make the character major or indeed necessarily keep him; after writing for him awhile someone decided he was entirely too useful to their plot outlines (and maybe too good an actor, etc.) to let him go. Part of what makes him so useful is that the character lies so often and so well, but also demonstrably tells the truth sometimes; and the actor doesn’t telegraph which he’s doing.
I’ve read multiple accounts of the writers having various roles mutating over time; stuff like Jack was supposed to die in Season 1 upon which Kate took up leadership; Kate was originally the one with a husband in the tail section; they wrote Mr Eko out because the actor didn’t want to do it anymore, and so on. I think they’ve had large swathes of plot in mind since the beginning, and maybe the whole Island Mythos with the four-toed statue and the hieroglyphs and all that, but left the details of the characters and their roles open.
I am kind of not looking forward to yet another miraculous medical intervention/unexplained rising from the dead scene.