It could be argued that Sayid wanted a reason to beat on Sawyer, so didn't think it through well enough, but I think you are right, Wolfram, and it is the writers who didn't think it through, or at least thought we wouldn't as viewers.
Wash: Don't fall asleep now. Sleepiness is weakness of character. Ask anyone. You're acting captain. Know what happens you fall asleep now? Zoe: Jayne slits my throat, and takes over. Wash: That's right. Zoe: And we can't stop it.
'Shindig'
Lost: OMGWTF POLAR BEAR
[NAFDA] This is where we talk about the show! Anything that's aired in the US (including promos) is fair game. No spoilers though -- if you post one by accident, an admin will delete it.
Lee - Nov 11, 2004 9:28:35 am PST #2178 of 10000
The feeling you get when your brain finally lets your heart get in its pants.
Kate P. - Nov 11, 2004 9:28:49 am PST #2179 of 10000
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love
Maybe he thought about it later and dismissed the idea? I didn't get the impression from their conversation that he immediately thought Locke must be right about Sawyer, more that he hadn't previously considered Sawyer at all, and now the seed of doubt has been planted. t /fanwank
Sean K - Nov 11, 2004 9:29:00 am PST #2180 of 10000
You can't leave me to my own devices; my devices are Nap and Eat. -Zenkitty
If this is a pattern, he's going to quickly become a liability to other people's survival on the island rather than an asset. For practical reasons only tangental to the guy's sheer assholishness, Sayid would have done better to slit his throat than let him go.
::note to self, if ever stranded on an island with Matt, do NOT, under any circumstances, become impractical::
I meant how Sawyer could have rigged a time delay to set off his bottle rocket right after Sayid's rocket went off.
Well, that's where the theory falls apart, and Sayid was too intent on hating Sawyer to think through it that far. He didn't want to.
Wolfram - Nov 11, 2004 9:30:18 am PST #2181 of 10000
Visilurking
Crap. I honestly didn't want to be right. Now we, the viewers, are still expected to consider Sawyer as a viable suspect.
Of course, Sawyer could have convinced Scott or Steve to set it off for him.
Lilty Cash - Nov 11, 2004 9:31:05 am PST #2182 of 10000
"You see? THAT's what they want. Love, and a bit with a dog."
Probably a stupid question, but now I don't remember it clearly- how many rockets did we see go off, and did we see everyone shoot them? I remember Kate, and then Shannon and New!Girl on the beach. Where did Sawyer's rocket go off in that?
(I'm pretty firmly in the 'Locke causing trouble' camp, but I just cleaned out TiFaux of all but two VM eps, and now I can't check.)
Betsy HP - Nov 11, 2004 9:32:17 am PST #2183 of 10000
If I only had a brain...
Sayid is pissed off at Sawyer and looking for an excuse to go Lord of the Flies on him. Locke plays into this by quoting MacGuyver at him.
The other possibility, sadly, is that this gets filed in the same folder as "triangulation means locating the source within a triangle".
Wolfram - Nov 11, 2004 9:32:45 am PST #2184 of 10000
Visilurking
Kate was in caveland. We only saw Shannon shoot her rocket, and then we saw a rocket go up from where, we assume, Sawyer was standing.
DCJensen - Nov 11, 2004 9:33:59 am PST #2185 of 10000
All is well that ends in pizza.
Probably a stupid question, but now I don't remember it clearly- how many rockets did we see go off, and did we see everyone shoot them? I remember Kate, and then Shannon and New!Girl on the beach. Where did Sawyer's rocket go off in that?
Sawyer lit off Kate's. She had run to the Jack-in-the-cave in.
Lilty Cash - Nov 11, 2004 9:34:55 am PST #2186 of 10000
"You see? THAT's what they want. Love, and a bit with a dog."
That's right. I remember now.
Matt the Bruins fan - Nov 11, 2004 9:43:16 am PST #2187 of 10000
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
To be fair, I have read people saying that the triangulation method Sayid used could work. It just uses one more reference point/antenna than was actually necessary to get a bead on the signal.
But yeah, Locke's cigarette fuse theory only works if Sawyer were precognitive and capable of knowing in advance exactly when Sayid's rocket would be going up. Plus, far easier to just not turn the antenna on if he wanted the venture to fail, and then ambush Sayid in the jungle at whatever point suited him best for the personal smackdown.