Dr. Linus

Each week I find myself wanting to know less and less about each episode before it starts. So during the opening credits this week I saw the names Alan Dale and Jon Gries and I knew we would be seeing Charles Widmore and Roger Linus. We knew this was a Ben episode from the preview we got last week and we were told Ben was going to "face his demise". “What!?” was the general reaction of many viewers to hearing this. Was this going to be the week when Ben would finally be called upon to pay for all of the lies he has told, all of the lives he has ruined and ended? We found out that "facing" your demise and "succumbing" to it are two different things. Before we get to that though, we have other things to discuss, so let’s sort out Dr. Linus.



We start out with Ben catching up to the rest of his group. He almost gets shot by Frank for his troubles, I keep waiting for the day when I see a scene like this and the person actually gets shot. It might not happen on LOST but someday it might happen somewhere. Ben is as snide as always when he remarks to Ilana “I’m fine thank you.” after she asks about Sayid and not Ben's well being. Seeing as how the temple isn't plan A anymore they decide to go to the beach. It does seem like, as Miles pointed out last season, that plan B is always “let’s head back to the beach and set up there”. It always comes back to the beach camp. It’s where the viewers are most comfortable and where we have spent so much time these last six seasons.



Teacher Ben talks to his class about Napoleon but the story also mirrors Ben’s situation in the MTL. The principal tells Ben that he has to moderate after school detention and that history club will have to be postponed. Reynolds remarks that history club is not for the students but instead for Ben as a way to make him feel needed. Ben is sure to correct Principal Reynolds as he walks away that he is indeed “Dr. Linus”. Ben goes into the faculty lounge and Arzt is complaining about his ruined shirt. Is it too much for me to point out that here Arzt is brushing something off of his shirt and in the MTL it was Arzt that people had to brush off of their shirts? OK, that was gross, moving on. Ben and Arzt discuss what is important as a teacher. Ben says the students are the number one responsibility while Arzt says the pension is what he is in it for. Locke, the substitute, is sitting nearby and he remarks that Ben should be the principal since he seems to actually care about the school. It seems that Locke is willing to be Ben’s first follower, now all Ben has to do is decide to lead.



We see how far on-island Ben has slipped. Miles asks about what happened at the temple and then Ben stumbles over his answer to Ilana when she asks about Jacobs death. Ilana gives Miles the bag of ash for him to communicate with in order to find out the truth about Jacobs death. After Miles does his ghost whispering, he tells Ilana that Ben killed Jacob. Ben tries to say Miles is lying but he isn’t convincing here either. Miles says that he saw Ben standing over Jacobs dead body with a dagger dripping blood, just like Ben said he had seen Sayid in the temple standing over Dogans body. Ilana tells Ben that Jacob was the closest thing she ever had to a father. Miles is thick with the sarcasm when he mocks Ben with an over dramatic “Uh-Oh!”. I am so glad Miles has hung on for so long!



In the morning the group arrives at the beach camp. Ilana gives the group some orders but ignores Ben when he asks what she wants him to do. Ben continues to try and scramble by telling Ilana that psychics can’t be trusted. It would seem to be an exercise in futility as he tries to tell Ilana about Miles’ attempt to blackmail him out of 3.2 million dollars.



Ben warms up a TV dinner for his father. Roger Linus is old and sick but he is still alive. Ben tells his father he wants to keep him healthy which Roger points out it's a little too late for that. We see Ben giving his father the gas once again only this time it is life giving gas (oxygen) as opposed to the life taking gas that Ben used on his father during the purge. Roger says that he had wanted a better life for Ben. We find out that Ben and his father were on the island in the ATL and were in the DHARMA Initiative. His father asks out loud (for us to hear) what would have happened if they had remained on the island. We don’t know why they left but we do know that in the ATL the island did indeed exist for some period of time and for a while the D.I. was on it. The doorbell rings and here's Alex Rousseau. In the ATL Alex is one of Ben’s students and they seem to have a good teacher-student relationship. Alex asks Ben if he could tutor her for the AP test she has coming up. He agrees to meet her in the morning at the school library.



Sun tells Ilana that she needs to find her husband. Ilana says she is also supposed to find Jin so she can protect both of them as she is not sure which one is a “candidate”. Sun questions Ilana about what a “candidate" does. Ilana says that if she is the candidate she will know when the time is right what the job entails. Let me translate that a little for you and in regular non-LOST speak this means “we can’t tell the audience this week”. You can't blame TPTB for being secretive bastards. They are still trying to keep as many secrets as they can right up until the end of the show. Ilana says that there is only six candidates left. Let’s count real quick: Sawyer, Jack, and Hurley are three of them. Is Jin and Sun one or two? If they count as one then that’s four. Is Kate one of them? That’s five. Who are the six? Until I hear a better guess I say Kate, Sun, Jin, Jack, Sawyer, and Hurley are the six. I don’t think she is counting Sayid anymore. Anybody else have a guess?



Hurley is dreaming about cheese curds before Jack wakes him up. He tells Hurley that they can make it back to the temple by nightfall. Hurley tries to stall. Jack isn’t having it. Hurley tries to get Jack to go the wrong way but Jack knows Hurley is up to something. Richard shows up and says that they are both wrong and points them in the direction of the temple. Jack asks him where he came from and Richard tells him that he wouldn’t believe him if he told him. Jack says for Richard to try him and Richard says “not yet”. Richard is wrong of his assessment of Jack at this point because Jack is ready to believe just about anything. Richard says he is going to the temple and Hurley, who to my knowledge has never met Richard, asks Jack if he trust him. Jack says that at least Richard isn’t trying to stall. You can see the remark hurts Hurley a little. He is still one of the only characters that truly hates lying to his friends.



Ben is in Sawyer’s tent as he searches for anything useful. Ben waxes poetically about the crash of flight 815. Frank said he was supposed to be the pilot of the flight. He says that he overslept and missed the flight. He wonders aloud (just like Ben’s dad) what his life would have been like if he had been the pilot of flight 815. Ben points out that it doesn’t matter either way, the island still got him in the end. Ilana tells Ben to “Walk!” as she puts a rifle to his neck. She takes him to the graveyard that the survivors made for their dead. She shackles Ben to a tree and tells him he is to dig his own grave.



Ben and Alex are in the library where Ben is quizzing her. She gets emotional when she has trouble answering some questions. Ben tells her she is one of the smartest students he knows. She says she is trying to get into Yale and she needs a letter of recommendation to get in. Since her mother works two jobs just to make the rent she won't be able to pay her way in. Ben offers to write the letter of recommendation. Alex says that the letter has to come from someone who has gone to Yale and the only person she knows that fits this description is Principal Reynolds who she calls a pervert. Ben questions her about this and she says she overheard the school nurse and Reynolds doing it in the room next to the nurses’ office. She swears Ben to secrecy but Ben now has the ammo he needs to get Reynolds’ job.



Miles gives us some sarcasm with the line “Not exactly tearing it up in the digging department, are you?”. Have I told you how much I enjoy Miles? Ben turns down the food. He says he is not really hungry. Ben tries to bribe Miles into helping him escape. Miles says he doesn’t need Ben’s money now that he has found Nikki and Paolo who were buried with 8 million dollars worth of diamonds. Ben tells Miles that he is going to be killed for killing Jacob who didn’t even care if he was killed. Miles says that Jacob did care and that right up until the second the knife pierced his heart he hoped that he was wrong about Ben. Miles says “guess he wasn’t” as he gets a warning shot from Ilana to back off and she tells Ben to keep digging.



Cyborg? Vampire? Hurley covers all of the bases. Richard not aging is a side effect of Jacob’s gift. Richard tells Hurley and Jack that he knows Jacob is dead. They arrive at the Black Rock and Hurley asks Richard about going to the temple. He says he lied because everyone who was at the temple is dead. Jack asks about his friends and Richard says that maybe they got away since he didn’t see their bodies mixed in with the rest of the dead. Jack asks Hurley if he knew about this and Hurley said that Jacob had hinted at it. Richard tells Hurley that whatever Jacob says is a lie and they are not to believe him. Richard continues on toward the Black Rock and he says there is something he has to do. Jack asks him what and Richard says "Die".



Arzt is grading papers and Ben asks him if he is able to hack an email account. He specifically want the school nurses’ email checked out. Ben tells Arzt that he thinks Principal Reynolds and the nurse are knocking boots. Arzt says he will help Ben if he can have a good parking spot and some new lab equipment when Ben is principal. Ben says they have a deal. Arzt comments that underneath the sweater vest is a killer. ATL Ben is actually nothing like MTL Ben who is literally digging his grave deeper and deeper back on the island.



Richard is inside the Black Rock and he is touching some of the shackles hanging from the walls. Jack asks if Richard has been there before. Richard says he has but in all the time he has been on the island this is the first time he has come back. Does this confirm that the Black Rock is indeed how Richard arrived onto the island? Hurley tells Richard that the dynamite is unstable and tells Jack that it is time to go. Richard says that he can’t kill himself. This is another side effect of being touched by Jacob. Richard says that it isn’t a gift at all but rather a curse. He says that he wants to die but cannot kill himself. He wants Jack to light the fuse for him. Jack asks Richard why he wants to die now. Richard explains that his entire life was spent doing things for Jacob. Jacob kept telling him that there was a plan and that Richard was a part of this plan. Richard said that Jacob told him he would tell him all about the plan when the time was right. Unfortunately, Jacob died before he could tell Richard his part in the plan. Richard says that his life has no purpose and never did. Richard says that if he was to light the dynamite himself it wouldn’t work. Hurley asks Jack not to do it but Jack says that if Richard wants to die they can’t stop him. Jack lights the fuse and sits down next to Richard. “Now lets talk.”, he says to Richard who is shocked that Jack is going to hang around.



Jack tells Hurley that he has to talk to Richard. Hurley says Richard is crazy “and I know crazy” Hurley adds. Hurley leaves even though he doesn’t want to leave his friend. Jack assures Hurley he will be OK. He tells Richard that he doesn’t think either one of them are going to die. (Michael wasn’t able to kill himself either when he wanted to. Does this mean that he was touched by Jacob as well?) Jack goes on to tell Richard what he saw at the lighthouse. He says that Jacob got Hurley to take Jack there because he wanted Jack to see the mirrors and the wheel with all of the names on it. Jack tells Richard he has no idea why but he knows that the reason isn’t so he could sit there and blow up next to Richard. Richard asks “but what if you’re wrong”. Listen to how sure Jack is now when he says “I’m not.”. New Jack is in full effect! He no longer says “maybe“ or “what if“. He’s right and he knows he is, this Jack is finally sure of himself. He’s not sure what exactly he is there for but he is ready to do whatever he is supposed to do when he finds out what that is. After the fuse burns out before igniting the dynamite Jack laughs and asks Richard if he wants to try another stick. Richard says that Jack seems to have all of the answers so what is next. Jack says they are going back to where they started.



Ben is still digging as we hear Smokie approach. He quickly takes the form of John Locke and Unlocke tells Ben that he is just visiting. Ben explains why he is digging his own grave. He tells Unlocke about Ilana. Ben says that Unlocke is getting what he wants, Ben dead. Unlocke says that he doesn’t want Ben dead. He says he went back to the statue to look for Ben. He tells Ben that he has a group of people on the other island at the Hydra station and he wants Ben to meet them there. Unlocke tells Ben that after he and his group leave the island someone will have to be in charge and he can’t think of anyone better for the job than Ben. (Since Jacob needs a replacement does the MIB also need to have someone take his place as well? Will this turn out to be a never ending game?) Unlocke releases Ben’s shackles with a Jedi hand motion. He tells Ben that he has left a gun for Ben by a tree 200 yards away. Unlocke says that if Ben made a break for it now he could make it to the gun before Ilana and he would “have the drop on her” (this struck me as an odd statement for someone supposedly as ancient as the MIB but I guess he is up to date on his urban dictionary) but not to hesitate because she won’t. Unlocke leaves and tells Ben that he will see him soon. Ben makes a break for it and Ilana soon gives chase. So did Unlocke say all of this just so Ben would kill Ilana? This sounds similar to how Dogan told Sayid to kill Unlocke last week. Is Unlocke not able to kill Ilana and needs Ben or someone else to do it?



Ben goes to see the principal and shows him the emails he got from the school nurses’ account. He says the acts took place on school property and the board would not appreciate that. Ben tells Reynolds that he wants his job. He tells Reynolds that he is to resign and recommend that the school board replace him with Ben. The principal reads a letter from Alex. Reynolds tells Ben that he won’t write Alex’s letter if he goes through with the black mail. He adds that he will make sure she doesn’t get in with a promise to “torch” her. Once again Ben Linus is faced with a choice between Alex Rousseau and power. Here we have a situation similar to when Ben told Widmore that he was aware of the fact that Widmore was having an affair with someone off-island. When Widmore retaliates by threatening Alex, Ben called his bluff.



Ben picks up the rifle and points it at Ilana. After an emotional few seconds she asks Ben what he is waiting for. He says that he wants to explain. He says that he knows what Ilana is feeling. He tells her about Alex’s death and that it was his fault. He chose power and the island over Alex and he did it in the name of Jacob. He comments that he sacrificed everything and Jacob didn’t care. He says that he killed Jacob because he was afraid he was about to loose the only thing he cared about and that was his power. In reality, he says the thing that really mattered was already gone. He says he is sorry for killing Jacob and tells her that he doesn’t expect forgiveness because he can’t forgive himself. Ilana asks what he wants and he says he wants to leave and go be with Locke. She asks why he wants to be with him. In what I think is the most emotional scene I have seen Michael Emmerson perform in during the entire run of the show, he tells her that it is because Locke is the only one that will have him. She gives Ben the equivalent of forgiveness when she tells Ben that she will have him and then turns to leave. Although obviously shocked by this, Ben follows her and chooses team Jacob. He has officially turned his back on power. Best scene of the night! Ben is the first person shown to be able to resist the MIBs offer. Power is exactly what got Ben to this point in his life. In order to be accepted into Ilana's group he turns his back on power. Turns out he now has more in common with the rest of them than he did before. They have all been on the same side all along.




Ben is in the principals office and I thought we were going to see a “Dr. Benjamin Linus Principal” plaque put on the desk in place of the old one. Alex comes in to thank the principal for the letter of recommendation and it didn’t take too long for me to figure out that Ben chose Alex over power this time. Ben denies having anything to do with the letter when she asks him if he did. He tells Alex that the history club is back on. It looks like even though Ben did not get the principal to resign Ben does still have some power over him. Watch the principals face when Ben remarks that he got someone else to handle detention. Reynolds is intimidated by Dr. Linus now. Ben tells Alex he will see her at 4. In the hallway Ben tells Arzt that he didn’t finish their plan and he won’t be getting the principal’s job. He tells Arzt that he can have his parking spot. Ben watches Alex leave the principals office and smiles as he is perfectly at peace with choosing the girl over power. This episode was all about power. Getting it, loosing it, using it, abusing it, wanting it, or not wanting it. Napoleon lost it. Ben did too. In the ATL Ben wanted it, made a play for it and then decided it was too high of a cost to pay when he was faced with a choice between the power and Alex.



Ilana and Ben come back to the beach camp. Sun, Frank, and Miles are surprised to see them both return unharmed. Ben puts down the rifle and offers to help Sun who says he can help her with the tarp. For the second week in a row we get a slow motion musical montage moment and this time it is the type LOST loves to do. The Reunion On The Beach Slow Motion Musical Montage. This is different than the one we saw last week. It's happy. Frank tends to the fire, Miles apparently has the diamonds (that means he dug up Nikki and Paolo), and Ilana has time to allow her emotions to flow while she holds onto Jacob’s ashes. Hurley, Jack, and Richard make it back to the beach camp. Sun hugs Hurley and Jack. Jack is also happy to see Frank. Jack sees Ben and makes a point of looking at him. Ben is shown to be apart from the group. Richard is also. In fact the two men are on either side of the beach. Richard is dressed in dark tones while Ben is in light hues.



A submarine periscope emerges from the water and we see that whoever is in the submarine is watching the scene play out on the beach. A man inside the sub asks if they should stop. Sitting at a laptop is Charles Widmore who tells the man that they are to proceed as planned. Weather he knows it or not, it almost seems like Widmore has been working for the MIB. Remember back to when Widmore told Locke that there was a war coming and the wrong side would win if Locke wasn’t on the island. Was it the MIB that told Widmore about this? Did Widmore think it was Jacob? Of course there is also the fact that the MIB, in the form of Locke, told Richard to tell a time traveling version of John Locke that he had to die in order to get back to the island. Later when Locke told Widmore this Widmore said it wasn't true. So which side is Widmore on? Who's side does he think he is on? And how many sides are there?

Until we figure it all out I hope you get to sit at the cool kids table unlike Arzt and whenever you need to, remember you can always go back to the beach camp. It'll be waiting for you.