A Tale of Two Cities/Theories

Theories about
A Tale of Two Cities

Theories may be removed if ...
Stated as questions or possibilities (avoid question marks, "Maybe", "I think", etc). More appropriate for another article. Illogical or previously disproven. Proven by canon source, and moved to main article. Speculative and lacking any evidence to support arguments. Responding to another theory (use discussion page instead). This does not include responses that can stand alone as its own theory. Usage of an indented bullet does not imply the statement is a response. See the Lostpedia theory policy for more details.

Theories may be removed if ...

Stated as questions or possibilities (avoid question marks, "Maybe", "I think", etc).
More appropriate for another article.
Illogical or previously disproven.
Proven by canon source, and moved to main article.
Speculative and lacking any evidence to support arguments.
Responding to another theory (use discussion page instead).

See the Lostpedia theory policy for more details.

The crash

Outside the barracks, before flight 815 is seen or heard, Ben looks up in the sky, before any of the other others do.

Ben knew, through either Jacob or Desmond-style seeing the future, that the crash was going to happen.

At the Barracks, Juliet says, "Silly of me to pick something that Ben wouldn't read. Here I am thinking that free will still exists".

For theories on Ben not related to this episode, please see Benjamin Linus/Theories.

Juliet tells Jack she has his father's autopsy report, his divorce record, information on his friends and family, etc.

The information was gathered by the "Monster" during Jack's encounter in "Pilot, Part 1". We saw with Eko's encounter in "The 23rd Psalm" that the "Monster" looks back into people's past, so it could have gathered Jack's information and gave it to the Others.
The information was acquired by Mikhail as suggested in One of Us.The monster probably doesn't put together manila folders, though this has not been definitively refuted = )

Ben tells Kate "the next two weeks are going to be very unpleasant."

She will have to watch Sawyer get hurt because of her, and she will worry about Jack's whereabouts.
Ben was simply referring to the fact that she would be living in a cage and doing forced work for the Others.
Ben planned to only keep Kate for 14 days.
14 Days is how long Ben expected it to take to break Kate and Sawyers' spirits and make them subservient, from past experience and psychological profiling.
Ben is setting Kate's expectations for an immediate future filled with hardship. This sets the stage for Kate seeking out Sawyer for comfort. Kate is also forced to watch as Sawyer is treated like an animal in the other bear cage. This is Ben's way of making Kate feel sorry for Sawyer. Meanwhile, Sawyer takes notice of Kate's figure in the dress Ben gave her. This is Ben's way to get Sawyer's hormones flowing and to make him see Kate as a lady. Finally, as Sawyer watches Kate performing hard labor, he begins to feel protective. Clearly Ben is taking these steps to heighten Kate's and Sawyer's emotions so they will become a couple. This is the whole reason Ben included Kate and Sawyer on the list - to manipulate Jack into performing surgery by threatening Kate and Sawyer's lives, as well as Kate and Jack's relationship.

Ben sends Goodwin and Ethan Rom to infiltrate the survivors' camps even though they are surgeons and are valuable to the Others. Either the compliation of the lists requires medical knowledge, or Goodwin and Ethan Rom were also performing some other task requiring medical knowledge.