Lost (Episode 607) - Dr Linus

Written by six from the blog The Lost Chronicles on 02 Jun 2010
Favourite this post

Lost
Season 6, Episode 7
Dr Linus

I actually don’t know where to start – with Ben... or Jack... or Widmore! Ok, I’ll start with Ben, since this was a Ben-centric episode. Poor Ben, I really felt for him in this episode.

In Ben’s side-flash we already knew that he is a teacher. Sadly, he seems to be downtrodden quite a bit until Locke mentions that he ought to be principal of the school. We also learn that Ben’s father is still alive, but clearly quite ill. His father laments on the life that Ben has, saying that maybe they out to have stayed on the island with Dharma, and never left.

Ben is also tutoring Alex, who is applying to Yale. In his conversation with Alex, he learns that the principal is involved in an illicit affair with the school nurse. Enlisting Artz’s help, he obtains a number of emails with which he attempts to blackmail the principal into resigning and recommending him as new principal.

However, the principal is just as sneaky, and shows him an email Alex sent him for a letter of recommendation. Ben can either accept his new job as principal with Alex’s life in tatters, or allow Alex to get a sterling recommendation and keep quiet. Ben opts to keep quiet.

On the island, things are moving along nicely. Ben joins Illana’s group again after he finds his way out of the temple and stumbles upon them. She asks about Sayid and Ben tells her that Sayid won’t be joining them. They decide to go back to the beach, where the Losties original camp is. As they walk, Illana asks Miles to do his ghostbusting and he tells them that Ben killed Jacob. Illana tells Ben that Jacob was the closest thing to a father that she had.

Once at the camp, Sun wants to look for Jin. Illana explains that she also needs to locate Jin as she needs to protect him ... or Sun... She’s unsure which one. They candidates, she explains, to take over from Jacob. She also tells them that they will find out what it entails if they are chosen and tells Sun that there are 6 candidates left.

She goes off and points her rifle at Ben. She takes him to the “graveyard” and instructs him to start digging his own grave. Ben is not in any hurry to get it done and takes his time about it. When Miles arrives with some food, Ben attempts to bribe him but Miles has apparently found out about the diamonds buried with Nikki and Paolo.

So Ben continues digging and is almost done when he hears the noise associated with old Smokey. Monster-Locke sets Ben free from the thing holding Ben’s foot in place and offers him leadership of the island when he leaves. He tells Ben that about 200 yards into the jungle, there’s a rifle up against a tree and that Ben should use it on Illana. He also tells Ben that he’ll be waiting at the Hydra Station at the other island.

When he leaves Ben makes a run for it, with Illana hot on his heels. Ben manages to get the upper hand and Illana is forced to drop her rifle. When he doesn’t immediately shoot her, she asks him why he’s taking so long. In an incredibly moving and heartfelt scene, Ben explains about Alex, and how he chose the island over Alex and tells Illana that Jacob didn’t even care.

He says that when he stabbed Jacob he was so angry and terrified because he sacrificed everything for Jacob and that he was afraid that he was going to lose all that mattered to him – his power on the island. But he realised that that he lost the only thing that mattered to him – Alex. He also says that he could never forgive himself and is very sorry for what he did.

When Illana asks him what he wants, he tells her he wants to leave, to go to Locke. When she asks why, he replies that Locke is the only one who will have him. Illana, quite emotional herself, tells him that she will have him and picks up her rifle and walks back towards the beach. Ben follows eventually, amazed.

I had tears in my eyes at that point. Fantastic stuff!

But wait, there’s more.

Hurley and Jack have been sleeping in the jungle. Jack wants to head towards the temple and they disagree on the direction it is in. Enter Richard, who tells them that they’re both lying and it’s in another direction completely.

Lying is contagious on this island, as Richard doesn’t take them anywhere near the temple but takes them to the Black Rock instead. He’s gone there to die, he says. He walks around the Black Rock and says to Jack that in all the time he’s been on the island, this is the first time he’s been back in it.

He also tells them that he’s spent his life devoted to someone who said that everything happens for a reason and that he would get answers. But now he’s dead. But Richard can’t kill himself even if he wanted to, so he needs either Jack or Hurley to do it. Richard gets a stick of the very unstable dynamite and inserts a fuse. Jack agrees to light it, and when it’s lit, Jack sits down on a barrel and tells Richard that they should talk.

Hurley eventually runs off. Jack explains to Richard that he’s seen the lighthouse with his name and has figured that Jacob has been watching him all his life. He also says that if Jacob went through all that trouble to bring him to the island, then he won’t die. Sure enough, the fuse burns out and the dynamite doesn’t explode. They head off to the beach where they have a joyful reunion with the other Losties.

But wait, there’s even more!

Out in the ocean, a submarine happily surveys the gathering on the beach. Charles Widmore and his men have arrived.

Anyway, key points this week are:

• Now, I’ve always liked Ben, even back when we still called him Fake-Henry. He’s always been a weasel of note, and I’ve missed his audacity in the past few episodes. But he’s a broken man, just like most of our Losties.

Poor ole Ben Linus finally comes to a realisation that there are things more important than the power he had on the island... like his daughter. I don’t doubt Ben’s feelings for Alex; to me anyway, it’s obvious that he truly did love her. I also believe that he’s been remorseful and heartbroken over her death and the role that he played in it.

I feel really sorry for him. Yes, fair enough, choosing the island over his daughter’s life was his decision, and a bad one at that... but I can’t help but feel for him. I was ecstatic when he firstly didn’t kill Illana, and then explained himself. I think Ben honestly believes that he is a good guy, and I think that I do too.

But I wouldn’t say that we should trust him 100%. Experience has thought us better, and for now, he feels remorse and shame at what he’s done. But who knows if it will last. I’d like to think it will, and I sincerely hope that the time will not come when he shows us where his alliances truly lie.

• I’m still trying to work out just exactly who the bad guy is. At first I thought that it was just a battle between Jacob and Locke-Monster, but now with the re-introduction of Widmore, one really has to wonder. What if neither Jacob nor Monster-Locke is the bad guy, but Widmore is? Or vice versa?? I’m assuming that Widmore was exiled from the island on Jacob’s say-so, or at least with his blessing. Not much went on on that island without his consent.

And Ben followed Jacob’s orders, whether he liked it or not. And now Widmore is back. I see further mayhem ahead. But I doubt he’ll walk into this blindly. He obviously knows of both Jacob and the monster, so I would think that he’d have some sort of plan to overcome them somehow.

How exactly does Widmore know where the island is? Does he know that Jacob is dead? Does he even care?

• Notice that I am not calling Jack Jackass today. That’s because for once in his life, he gets off that self-righteous horse he’s been riding and acts like the man we all hoped he was... Dude, it took you almost 6 whole seasons, but it’s better late than never.

He embraces his role on the island, even if he does not understand what it is yet. He believes! And what a difference that has made. I felt like cheering him on. I know I’ve been very vocal about what an ass I thought Jack was, but honestly, if he carries on like this... I may actually start liking him.

Also very interesting is that we’re given a hint of Richard’s past. He seems to have been on the Black Rock, all those years ago when it landed/crashed/whatever on the island. And he further states that Jacob has given him a gift – most likely the gift of seeming ageless.

Something that was mentioned in passing is that Smokey’s men are gathering at the Hydra station on the other island. It seems that the second island also moved.

This was a great episode, one of my favourite so far. It’s great to see this in contrast to last week’s episode where Sayid was also offered a similar deal.

What we learnt this week

• Widmore has arrived at the island.
• Richard was most likely a prisoner on the Black rock.
• Richard doesn’t age because Jacob “touched” him.
• Monster-Locke is still recruiting.
• Miles finds Paolo and Nikki’s diamonds.

New questions this week:

• How did Widmore know where the island is and what does he intend doing there?
• What’s going on at the Hydra Station and why is it important?
• Will Ben hold true to his new-found feelings?

Interesting Trivia (from this site)

• On the wall of Principal Reynolds's office there is a large photograph of what appears to be a scenic shot of the island.
• Jorge Garcia confirmed on his own podcast that he added in Hurley's line where he asks Richard Alpert if he's a "vampire". Garcia wasn't sure if the line would be left in, but to his own surprise, it was.
• Hurley comments on how Richard hasn't aged in 30 years. Yet he never met Richard in the 70s.
• The Terminator: Hurley asked if Richard was traveling through time or if he was a cyborg, both in regards to how he appeared to not age, referencing the main character in this 1984 American tech-noir action film.

Interesting Screencaps (from this site)