You nearly had me fooled with that sweater vest, Linus. You’re a real killer.
History Lessons
In the alternate timeline, Ben is a history teacher lecturing on Napoleon’s loss at Elba, and how this loss was the most significant one for Napoleon because it was about his loss of power. “Without power his life is meaningless,” Ben tells the class, and he could very well be talking about himself in his role on the island. Principal Reynolds approaches Ben after class and tells him he must supervise detention. Ben protests because detention duty is in direct conflict with the history club. Principal Reynolds (who IS someone, I know it—I just can’t place him and it’s driving me crazy!!!) scoffs at Ben’s club because there are only five members. Ben needs the club more than the kids do, Reynolds says. “The club makes you feel needed, Linus.” As Reynolds walks away, Ben says rather impotently, “It’s Dr. Linus, actually.”
Ben and Arzt are talking in the faculty room about what a colossal jerk Reynolds is. “Taking care of the kids, that’s what’s important,” Ben proclaims. “Maybe you should be the principal,” saya John Locke, overhearing their gripes. “So says the substitute,” grumbles Arzt. But Locke ignores him and focuses on Ben. “It sounds like you care about the place. If the man in charge doesn’t care, maybe it’s time for a change.” And again, a nice double meaning here, as Locke could be talking about Jacob back on the island.
We next see Ben at home, living with his dad, an ailing Roger Workman. Roger seems much mellower and less angry than last we saw him. And of course, he missed being present for the great island gassing of 1978, which makes him much more alive than when we last saw him as well. Ben is commiserating with his father about his dismal career and Roger sympathizes, “I wanted so much more for you. That’s why I signed up for Dharma initiative. Imagine how different our lives would have been if we’d have stayed on the island. Who knows what you would have become?” Roger wonders, thinking about how powerful his son could have been had they stayed with Dharma. The doorbell rings and Ben gets up to answer it . It’s Alex Rousseau, and our hearts just break to see her again. It turns out in the alternate life, Alex is one of Ben’s history club’s five students and clearly his favorite. Alex is disappointed that the history club has been disbanded. She was counting on the tutoring. Ben offers to come in early to help her. Alex beams at him, showing Ben more love in that smile than I would venture she ever did as his “daughter” on the island. “You’re the best, Dr. Linus.”
During the tutoring session, Ben is going over the history of the East India Trading Company and we see a picture of a storm-tossed ship in the textbook they are perusing: The Black Rock? Alex breaks down when she cannot get the answer to the question Ben has posed; she is worried about getting into college and worried about paying for it since her mother works two jobs just to pay the rent. “How am I going to pay for college?” She despairs. But Ben is calm and confident. “I don’t worry about your future at all.” Alex is trying to get into Harvard, but she needs a recommendation from someone who went there. She grimaces in distatste, “I know someone who went there. That pervert Principal Reynolds.” Ben latches on to the “pervert” accusation and implores Alex to tell him why she thinks that. “Has he done something to you?” After swearing Ben to secrecy, Alex tells Ben that she heard Principal Reynolds and the school nurse in the infirmary. “They were doing it in the room right next to me. Isn’t that totally gross? You’ve got to promise you won’t tell, Dr. Linus.” “A promise is a promise,” Ben responds.
Ben approaches Arzt to hack into the school’s email system, specifically the school nurse’s account. “I’m curious about some of her correspondence. She might be engaged in an inappropriate personal relationship with Principal Reynolds.” Arzt agrees to do it for a good parking space and some new lab equipment.
So Ben, having procured some 30 illicit emails describing a tawdry little affair between Reynolds and the nurse on school property that Reynolds’ wife will surely be shocked to learn of, Reynolds relents to Ben. “What do you want?” “Your job,” Ben answers. “Resign and recommend me as your replacement. Do we have an understanding?” Reynolds pauses, then answers, “May I read you an email? ‘Dear principal Reynolds, Could you please write me a recommendation for Harvard?’” Reynolds smirks. “I will torch Ms. Rousseau and her future. Is my job that important to you? What will it be, Dr. Linus?”
We next see Ben in Reynolds’ office, unsure of what he chose in this alternate life: Power or Alex?
Then Alex bursts in, looking for the Principal. “Dr. Reynolds wrote me the most incredible recommendation letter!” She gushes to Ben. “Did you have something to do with it?” Ben denies it. “I just said your were an excellent student.” Reynolds comes in and wants to know what Ben is doing there. “Just dropping off the detention slips, per your request. Alex, I’ll see you at history club?” Alex looks from Reynolds to Ben. “I thought history club was disbanded.” She says. Ben shoots a meaningful look at Reynolds. “No, I believe a slot has opened up for us.” And we see that Ben has won this power struggle after all.
Digging his own grave
As Alannah leads the survivors back to the beach, she tells them that the smoke monster killed everyone. “And Jacob, too,” she says shooting a suspicious glance at Ben. Ben’s all, “Who me?” Laughing and joking and generally doing a really bad job of looking innocent. Alannah turns to Miles and asks him to do his thing with the ashes of Jacob’s body she’s carrying in a bag. “Tell me how he died,” she says. Well, we all know this is going to end badly for Ben because Miles is pretty reliable about this kind of thing. Sure enough, Miles blurts out, “Linus killed him.” “Are you sure?” Alannah asks. “He was standing over Jacob’s dead body with a bloody dagger, so yeah, I’m pretty sure.” Alannah is furious and distraught. She turns on Ben, who is still trying to pull off the “Who me?” act: “Jacob was the closest thing I ever had to a father,” she tells him. Uh oh.
Ben’s lame yammering about the reliability of psychics is not cutting any ice with Alannah. She’s ignoring him while they set up beach camp. She approaches Sun who wants to leave to find Jin. Alannah tells Sun she wants to find Jin, too. “I want to find Jin as much as you because your last name is Kwon. I don’t know if it is you or Jin I am supposed to protect, but you’re a candidate.” “Candidate?” Sun says. “For Jacob’s replacement. There are only six of you left.”
Ben waxes nostalgic about the Oceanic 815 wreck. Back when he still was somebody on this island; back right before it all changed. “I remember that plane breaking in half like it was yesterday.” Frank’s looking at him like he’s nuts. “You act like that’s a happy memory. You know, I was supposed to be flying Oceanic 815.” And then echoing Roger Workman in Ben’s alternate life, Frank continues, “ If that alarm would have gone off, how different my life would have been.” “How would it have been different?” Ben asks. “The island still got you in the end.” Then Alannah pulls the gun on Ben and frog marches him over to the little cemetery where she ties him to a tree. Then she makes him dig his own grave.
“Not exactly tearing it up on the digging front, are you?” Miles observes as he brings Ben some food. Ben tries to get Miles to free him. “Remember when you asked me for $3.2 million dollars? I can get that for you with my vast network off the island.” “What do I need $3.2 million dollars for when two people named Nicki and Paolo were buried alive over here with eight million dollars worth of diamonds?” Ben is beaten. He whines about his predicament to Miles, saying that he’s being punished for killing Jacob when Jacob never even cared about living. “He cared,” Miles answers. “Right up unti the second the knife went through his heart, he was hoping he was wrong about you. Guess he wasn’t.” Uh oh.
We hear the friendly neighborhood smoke monster ticka ticka and Not Locke appears at the side of the grave, wondering what it is that Ben is doing. “I’m digging my own grave because you talked me into killing Jacob.” “I don’t want you to die. I went back to the statue for you. Come to the Hydra station.” The tether keeping Ben tied to the tree drops from his leg. “There’s a tree with a rifle in the clearing,” Not Locke explains. “Don’t hesitate to kill Alannah, because she won’t hesitate to kill you. If you run right now, you can get the jump on her.” The chase is soon on and Ben gets the gun. He turns around and faces Alannah but does not shoot. “I want to explain that I know what you’re feeling.” Alannah doubts that, because Jacob was like a father to her. “I watched my daughter Alex die. I chose the island over her: all in the name of Jacob. I sacrificed everything for him and he didn’t even care. I thought my power was all that mattered. But the thing that really mattered was already gone.” “What do you want?” Alannah asks him. “Just let me leave,” Ben responds. “Where will you go?” Alannah wants to know. “To Locke.” “Why?” Alannah asks in disbelief. “He’s the only one that will have me,” Ben weeps.
“I’ll have you,” Alannah says, and turns and walks away.
And Ben follows Alannah.
Man of Faith
Jack is tired of hanging around the lighthouse and tells Hurley its time to start back. “We can make the Temple by nightfall.” “What’s the rush? Maybe we should take our time,” Hurley suggests. Jack and Hurley are arguing over which direction the Temple is when Richard pops out of the jungle and gives them the right direction(which is the only one they weren’t considering.. “What are you doing here?” Jack asks Richard. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Richard responds in typical Lost fashion. “Try me,” Jack says. “Not yet,” Richard replies. As they move off, Hurley is leery. “Dude, you trust that guy?” Jack shrugs. “At least he’s not stalling.”
As they follow Richard throught eh jungle, Hurley finally poses the direct question that has been bothering us about Richard for the past three years: “Dude, you look the same as you did thirty years ago. Are you time travelling?” Nope. “You a cyborg?” Nope. “Vampire?” Exasperated and unused to Hurley’s incessant inquiries, Richard finally answers, “Jacob gave me a gift.” When Hurley indicates he’s familiar with Jacob, Richard wants to know what Hurley knows about Jacob. “I know he’s dead.” When they discover that Richard has led them to the Black Rock, Jack says, “I thought we were going to the temple?” “Everyone at the temple is dead. There were no survivors,” Richard answers. “Our friends? Sayid? Kate?” Jack wants to know. “They weren’t there,” Richard says. Jack looks at Hurley. “Did you know about this?” “Jacob sorta hinted at it,” Hurley answered. “You spoke to Jacob?” Richard asks. When Hurley affirms, Richard replies, “Whatever he said, don’t believe him.” Richard begins walking towards the Black Rock. “There’s something I need to do,” he tells Jack and Hurley by way of explanation. “What’s that?” they want to know. “Die,” he answers.
We next see Richard on the Black Rockdigging through the Big Box O’ Dynamite. “I’ve been here before,” he tells Jack and Hurley. “In all the time I’ve spent on this island, today’s the first day I’ve ever come back.” Hurley is freaking out about the dynamite, reliving vivid memories of picking pieces of Arzt out of his shirt for two days after Arzt explodes. But Richard is non-plussed. “I can’t kill myself, which I why I want you to do it for me,” he tells Jack. Jack and Hurley want to know why Richard wants to die. “When Jacob touches you, it’s considered a gift, except it’s not a gift at all, it’s a curse. Everything was part of a plan. He told me that everything would be revealed. My entire life, and it has been a long one, has no purpose.” He hands Jack the fuse. “You can light it for me Jack.” Hurley can’t believe that Jack is actually going to do this. “If he wants to die there’s nothing we’re gonna do to stop him.” Uh, that’s not technically true, since Richard actually needs Jack to kill him since he can’t kill himself. Just where is Jack – the doctor who wants to save and fix everybody---going with this line of thought? Jack lights the fuse. “Now, let’s talk,” He tells Richard.
Hurley is still freaking out having Arzt flashbacks and wanting very badly to vacate the premises. “I gotta talk to him Hurley,” Jack says. “If you change your mind, I’ll be like a mile away,” Hurley says, making his escape. Jack looks at Richard and says, “I don’t think either one of us is going to die. I just came from Jacob’s lighthouse where my name was caved in wood. I saw my childhood home in a mirror in that lighthouse. Jacob wanted me to know that he had been watching me ever since I was a kid. Jacob brought me to this island for a reason and it’s not to blow up here with you.” “What if you’re wrong?” Richard says. “I’m not,” Jack is confident. The fuse burns almost into the stick and sputters out. “Wanna try another stick?” Jack offers. Richard shakes his head. “Since you seem to have all the answers, Jack, what’s next?” “Let’s go back to where we started.”
Cue beach scene with heart wrenching music (I think the actual name of this tune is “Live together die alone” and it makes me cry every time they play it) and slow-motion interaction on the island, with Ben offering to help Sun with her shelter. Rounding the corner is Hurley, Jack and Richard. Miles is happily evaluating the diamonds he has dug up and Our Losties are reunited. Jack greets the group at the island and he and Ben, who is standing apart and looking a bit forlorn, make meaningful eye contact.
Flash to camera skimming the ocean surface when a periscope surfaces. We see them looking at our beach group. “There are people on the beach, sir. Should I stop?” Pan down to Charles Widmore: “No. Keep going.”
Thoughts on this episode
How freaking awesome is Michael Emerson? I am so glad they did not kill him off. Next to John Locke, Ben Linus is one of the best characters ever written for TV. In fact, I’d put them in a dead heat. And how great was it to see Alex again?
Obviously Ben was the “leader” of the island for some time prior to the Oceanic 815 crash. But clearly, Jacob found him lacking, or weak or both, since Ben is decidedly NOT a candidate. During his reign of power, was Ben taking his orders from Jacob the whole time? For instance, did Jacob tell Ben to gas the island and his own father? What about when Ben called Smokey to wipe out the mercenaries from the freighter? Was Smokey under Jacob’s power to control, and by proxy, Ben’s control? Did Jacob tell Ben to shoot Locke in the pit of Dharma despair? Or was Ben getting his orders from both Jacob and MIB and unable to distinguish between the two? Was he already a weak leader, or did power corrupt him?
The themes of power and redemption were very strong in this episode. I’m not completely convinced that Ben is forgiven. In fact, it may be Widmore who ends up killing him, with Alannah knowing it was going to happen the whole time. Still: nine episodes is a lot to plow through with no Ben Linus.
Anybody figure out who Reynolds is yet? At first I thought it was the U.S. Marshal dogging Kate, but he’s still a U.S. Marshall and still dogging Kate in the alternate timeline, so I’m at a loss. Email me if you know. It’s bugging me big time.
Even though Jack was hardly in this episode at all, I absolutely loved every minute he was on screen. Jack, now understanding that Jacob chose him, is a man of faith. Indeed, he sounded a lot like Locke today. He’s a far more trusting and confident Jack as well. Hopefully the stupid questions and the oblique stubbornness that were such an intricate part of his character are now gone for good, because I love this new Jack.
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