As I still try to shake the Lost Boys' theme song out of my head after the news of Corey Haim's death this morning, I will try to recap last night's lackluster episode of Lost. I will try, because as soon as it started last night, my dog decided he needed all the attention placed on him. He whined, he licked, he panted, he paced. I don't know how to explain to him that this is the one hour a week where I need silence.
And, yes, it was a lackluster episode. And for a Ben episode, this makes me sad. I'm sure it will be his last featured episode ever and it's too bad it was so dull. I'm sure there was a ton of insight to be found in Dr. Linus's opening monologue to his European History class about Napoleon and Ben Linus himself. But, like I said, my dog was making a ton of noise at this time and, either way, that subject is too large for me to tackle on a blog like this.
This episode really didn't offer anything new. We all know Ben is a great character, but a shitty human. I hope this isn't how his arc is closed on the show. He deserves more. Before Locke's being was taken over by the black smoke, Ben was The Island's evil. He was the Bad Guy. And with an Island as messed up as this one, that was a pretty big role. He was given way too much emphasis to just give him a one episode redemption story and then bundled up and put away. It's like with Desmond. Now that he and Penny are together, that's it. Desmond and Penny were the love story of The Island (sorry Kate, Jack, and Sawyer), only to be neatly wrapped up and put away.
We were shown many previews leading up to tonight all insinuating that Ben was not long for this world (Which world? The Island world. I guess I have to be specific with all of these interchanging timelines). All of which did have me concerned for his fate all episode. All of which led to nothing. Let's take a look at the episode.
Off Island
Ben is a European History teacher at some crappy high school in LA. He's bitter because he has a Doctorate in
European History, but he's stuck teaching at some crappy high school in LA. He becomes even more bitter after the Principal forces him to be detention monitor. This overlaps with his after school advanced study group he mentors. This is the one thing he enjoys about teaching. His power usurped, he has to monitor detention.
During lunch in the teacher's lounge, he chats with "The Substitute" John Locke and Science teacher Leslie Arntz. Yes, the same Arntz that blew up from the Black Rock dynamite. Ben confides his anger in the both of them over this detention business. Locke suggests he try to get the Principal's job. You can see that even off Island, Ben is still hungry for power.
We then see Ben at home. His elderly, ailing father lives with him. It turns out that Ben and his father did go to The Island at one time. Even in this Alternate Universe. But they left. Roger Workman states his regret over all that Ben could have been had they just stayed with Dharma Initiative on that Island. Well, it looks like they could have been swimming at the bottom of the ocean if they stayed. Obviously they are unaware of its sinking and they must have left while Ben was still really young. It is also worth noting that Ben's dad is much more encouraging than he was in the original story. Ben even "wants to keep him healthy", you know, instead of spraying toxic gas in his face.
While eating dinner, there's a knock on the door. It's Alex! Ben's NotDaughter! She is one of Ben's students in his study group and was really bummed that it was cancelled as she has a big test in a couple of days. I'm left to wonder what Alex is doing in LA. Shouldn't she be in France with her French mother? We later find out her
mom works two jobs just to support her. Did Danielle Rousseau ever make it to The Island? Was Alex born on The Island? Or did the French boat never even crash? What brought Danielle to LA? I suppose none of this matters now.
Ben agrees to tutor her early the next morning before class. She tells him she needs a recommendation letter from the Principal but doesn't want to ask "that pervert" for one. Ben inquires why she called him that. She tells a story about how she fell asleep in the nurse's office with an upset stomach and woke up to the nurse and the Principal going at in the next bed. You can just see Evil Ben's gears starting to turn.
Ben enlists the help of Arntz to hack into the nurse's email where he finds incriminating messages between the nurse and the principal. He heads to the principal's office to blackmail him out of his job. Except, the principal throws something else into the mix. He says he will ruin Alex's future if Ben goes public with this info. So Ben can make a choice: He can have all the power he wants (in this case, the power of a principal) and throw Alex under the bus (just like he did on The Island!) or he can do good and help Alex. Of course, in this life, he chooses Alex (and he managed to get out of detention duty, too).
On Island
Ben is running from the Temple and catches up with NotFBIChick, Sun, The Pilot, and Miles. NFC(NotFBIChick) is suspicious of Ben's part in Jacob's death. She asks Miles to listen to Jacob's ashes to see who really killed him. She says that Jacob was the closest thing she's ever had to a father. What does that mean? Miles listens and says the truth. Ben killed him. Ben denies it and suggests they all go to the beach where at least they know the area and there might be food. They all head that way.
They get there and it's all very bittersweet. Remember when all of our Losties would just hang out there all day long? Now here come all these random people, and Sun, and it's all kind of sad.
Ben goes snooping around, stumbles across some old porn (yeah, I didn't know what to make of that either, but they sure focused on it for a long time, but I didn't catch anything meaningful) and NFC points a gun at him and demands he follow her. She leads him to the Losties burial grounds, ties his leg to a tree and tells him to start digging his own grave. He is going to pay for killing Jacob and I get mad. Ben is way too important to go out like this. Being killed by some random new character that no one gives a shit about? It just can't happen this way. And it doesn't.
We're going to take a break from your Ben Linus recap section and skip over to the other happening on The Island.
Jack and Hurley are resting in a field and Hurley mentions something about food. You know. Because he's fat. Let's not forget that, people. Jack wants to head back to the Temple, but Hurley is trying to stall him due to what Jacob said about how bad things are happening there. Except he doesn't tell Jack this, which is odd for Hurley because he's incredibly open about everything. I guess he's concerned about Jack's little Jacob tantrum and doesn't want to piss him off anymore.
As Hurley tries to walk them in circles, Richard appears looking super thin and super depressed. He tells them to follow him to the Temple, much to Hurley's dismay. But, he doesn't bring them to the Temple, he brings them to the Black Rock! Yay! It's back! And just like everyone has deciphered since his first appearance on this show, Richard arrived to The Island on the Black Rock. Answer? Check. Jack gets pissed because they aren't at
The Temple. Richard tells him everyone is dead, but he thinks Kate and Sayid got away. Jack asks Hurley if he knew about this and Hurley tells him Jacob kind of told him. Then suddenly Jack wants to know everything about Jacob and I'm like, dude, get with the program. People have been talking about Jacob for, like 3 season now. Everyone wanted to know what his deal was, except for you. In fact, I'm pretty sure you would put a stop to anyone even trying to find out Jacob answers. Stupid Jack.
Richard gets all jealous that Hurley still talks to Jacob and he enters the Black Rock. He finds some dynamite and Hurley begins to have ExplodingArntz flashbacks. Richard then tells some of his story. That Jacob said Richard would be his right hand man. That Jacob made it so Richard couldn't age. That he has devoted his entire life to Jacob in the hopes that, as Jacob said, when the right time comes, his purpose will be given. But now Jacob is dead, and Richard is pissed he devoted lifetimes for nothing. He wants to die. But he can't. He can't kill himself.
There is a weird thing with the deaths of the chosen on this show. Jacob can't kill Smokey. Smokey can't kill Jacob. Michael couldn't die until Jacob said it was okay. Richard can't kill himself. Yet lots of people have died on The Island. Why is that? I assume the ones who died were not "candidates". But why can't the candidates die? And does this mean that Jin is the Kwon referred to by NFC when she tells Sun that either Sun or Jin are candidates? Jin was on the freighter when it exploded. Yet, he managed to magically jump off and into The Island's radius.
Anyway, Richard asks Jack to kill him by lighting the dynamite for him. Jack obliges. He lights the dynamite, but then, he sits down next to Richard. Jack wants answers! Finally. He tells Richard that he doesn't think the dynamite will go off because he was also chosen by Jacob and he's pretty sure Jacob has bigger plans for him than to die right there. And sure enough, he's right. No boom. And that's that.
We now return to our regularly scheduled Ben Linus storyline.
Ben's digging his hole and Miles wanders up. Ben offers him that 3.2 million dollars Miles wanted if he unties him. He says that he can get off The Island and has money everywhere. Miles laughs and tells him he doesn't need the money because Nikki and Paulo were buried alive with 8 million dollars in diamonds! Yes! I knew Miles would discover this someday. Miles leaves and Ben keeps digging. Then that familiar sound of clicking and UnLocke stands before him and I have another question. Remember when NFC said that Smokey is becoming stuck in Locke's body? And remember how UnLocke ran after that strange boy in the woods? I assumed it was because he couldn't become Smokey anymore. But, that's been proven wrong. Look at the Temple. What gives?
UnLocke frees Ben and tells him he stashed a rifle in the woods. He wants Ben to join his smoke army and leave The Island. Ben runs and NFC chases him. He finds the gun just in time and begs to be heard. NFC listens (she has a gun pointed at her after all). Ben tells his sob story of choosing The Island and power over his daughter and how he will never forgive himself for that. He says he killed Jacob in anger. He tells her he just wants to leave. She asks where he will go. He says he will go with UnLocke because he is they only one that will have him. She says she will take him and turns and walks away. Ben is stunned and slowly stumbles after her.
And, yes, it was a lackluster episode. And for a Ben episode, this makes me sad. I'm sure it will be his last featured episode ever and it's too bad it was so dull. I'm sure there was a ton of insight to be found in Dr. Linus's opening monologue to his European History class about Napoleon and Ben Linus himself. But, like I said, my dog was making a ton of noise at this time and, either way, that subject is too large for me to tackle on a blog like this.
This episode really didn't offer anything new. We all know Ben is a great character, but a shitty human. I hope this isn't how his arc is closed on the show. He deserves more. Before Locke's being was taken over by the black smoke, Ben was The Island's evil. He was the Bad Guy. And with an Island as messed up as this one, that was a pretty big role. He was given way too much emphasis to just give him a one episode redemption story and then bundled up and put away. It's like with Desmond. Now that he and Penny are together, that's it. Desmond and Penny were the love story of The Island (sorry Kate, Jack, and Sawyer), only to be neatly wrapped up and put away.
We were shown many previews leading up to tonight all insinuating that Ben was not long for this world (Which world? The Island world. I guess I have to be specific with all of these interchanging timelines). All of which did have me concerned for his fate all episode. All of which led to nothing. Let's take a look at the episode.
Off Island
Ben is a European History teacher at some crappy high school in LA. He's bitter because he has a Doctorate in
European History, but he's stuck teaching at some crappy high school in LA. He becomes even more bitter after the Principal forces him to be detention monitor. This overlaps with his after school advanced study group he mentors. This is the one thing he enjoys about teaching. His power usurped, he has to monitor detention.During lunch in the teacher's lounge, he chats with "The Substitute" John Locke and Science teacher Leslie Arntz. Yes, the same Arntz that blew up from the Black Rock dynamite. Ben confides his anger in the both of them over this detention business. Locke suggests he try to get the Principal's job. You can see that even off Island, Ben is still hungry for power.
We then see Ben at home. His elderly, ailing father lives with him. It turns out that Ben and his father did go to The Island at one time. Even in this Alternate Universe. But they left. Roger Workman states his regret over all that Ben could have been had they just stayed with Dharma Initiative on that Island. Well, it looks like they could have been swimming at the bottom of the ocean if they stayed. Obviously they are unaware of its sinking and they must have left while Ben was still really young. It is also worth noting that Ben's dad is much more encouraging than he was in the original story. Ben even "wants to keep him healthy", you know, instead of spraying toxic gas in his face.
While eating dinner, there's a knock on the door. It's Alex! Ben's NotDaughter! She is one of Ben's students in his study group and was really bummed that it was cancelled as she has a big test in a couple of days. I'm left to wonder what Alex is doing in LA. Shouldn't she be in France with her French mother? We later find out her
mom works two jobs just to support her. Did Danielle Rousseau ever make it to The Island? Was Alex born on The Island? Or did the French boat never even crash? What brought Danielle to LA? I suppose none of this matters now.Ben agrees to tutor her early the next morning before class. She tells him she needs a recommendation letter from the Principal but doesn't want to ask "that pervert" for one. Ben inquires why she called him that. She tells a story about how she fell asleep in the nurse's office with an upset stomach and woke up to the nurse and the Principal going at in the next bed. You can just see Evil Ben's gears starting to turn.
Ben enlists the help of Arntz to hack into the nurse's email where he finds incriminating messages between the nurse and the principal. He heads to the principal's office to blackmail him out of his job. Except, the principal throws something else into the mix. He says he will ruin Alex's future if Ben goes public with this info. So Ben can make a choice: He can have all the power he wants (in this case, the power of a principal) and throw Alex under the bus (just like he did on The Island!) or he can do good and help Alex. Of course, in this life, he chooses Alex (and he managed to get out of detention duty, too).
On Island
Ben is running from the Temple and catches up with NotFBIChick, Sun, The Pilot, and Miles. NFC(NotFBIChick) is suspicious of Ben's part in Jacob's death. She asks Miles to listen to Jacob's ashes to see who really killed him. She says that Jacob was the closest thing she's ever had to a father. What does that mean? Miles listens and says the truth. Ben killed him. Ben denies it and suggests they all go to the beach where at least they know the area and there might be food. They all head that way.
They get there and it's all very bittersweet. Remember when all of our Losties would just hang out there all day long? Now here come all these random people, and Sun, and it's all kind of sad.
Ben goes snooping around, stumbles across some old porn (yeah, I didn't know what to make of that either, but they sure focused on it for a long time, but I didn't catch anything meaningful) and NFC points a gun at him and demands he follow her. She leads him to the Losties burial grounds, ties his leg to a tree and tells him to start digging his own grave. He is going to pay for killing Jacob and I get mad. Ben is way too important to go out like this. Being killed by some random new character that no one gives a shit about? It just can't happen this way. And it doesn't.
We're going to take a break from your Ben Linus recap section and skip over to the other happening on The Island.
Jack and Hurley are resting in a field and Hurley mentions something about food. You know. Because he's fat. Let's not forget that, people. Jack wants to head back to the Temple, but Hurley is trying to stall him due to what Jacob said about how bad things are happening there. Except he doesn't tell Jack this, which is odd for Hurley because he's incredibly open about everything. I guess he's concerned about Jack's little Jacob tantrum and doesn't want to piss him off anymore.
As Hurley tries to walk them in circles, Richard appears looking super thin and super depressed. He tells them to follow him to the Temple, much to Hurley's dismay. But, he doesn't bring them to the Temple, he brings them to the Black Rock! Yay! It's back! And just like everyone has deciphered since his first appearance on this show, Richard arrived to The Island on the Black Rock. Answer? Check. Jack gets pissed because they aren't at
The Temple. Richard tells him everyone is dead, but he thinks Kate and Sayid got away. Jack asks Hurley if he knew about this and Hurley tells him Jacob kind of told him. Then suddenly Jack wants to know everything about Jacob and I'm like, dude, get with the program. People have been talking about Jacob for, like 3 season now. Everyone wanted to know what his deal was, except for you. In fact, I'm pretty sure you would put a stop to anyone even trying to find out Jacob answers. Stupid Jack.Richard gets all jealous that Hurley still talks to Jacob and he enters the Black Rock. He finds some dynamite and Hurley begins to have ExplodingArntz flashbacks. Richard then tells some of his story. That Jacob said Richard would be his right hand man. That Jacob made it so Richard couldn't age. That he has devoted his entire life to Jacob in the hopes that, as Jacob said, when the right time comes, his purpose will be given. But now Jacob is dead, and Richard is pissed he devoted lifetimes for nothing. He wants to die. But he can't. He can't kill himself.
There is a weird thing with the deaths of the chosen on this show. Jacob can't kill Smokey. Smokey can't kill Jacob. Michael couldn't die until Jacob said it was okay. Richard can't kill himself. Yet lots of people have died on The Island. Why is that? I assume the ones who died were not "candidates". But why can't the candidates die? And does this mean that Jin is the Kwon referred to by NFC when she tells Sun that either Sun or Jin are candidates? Jin was on the freighter when it exploded. Yet, he managed to magically jump off and into The Island's radius.
Anyway, Richard asks Jack to kill him by lighting the dynamite for him. Jack obliges. He lights the dynamite, but then, he sits down next to Richard. Jack wants answers! Finally. He tells Richard that he doesn't think the dynamite will go off because he was also chosen by Jacob and he's pretty sure Jacob has bigger plans for him than to die right there. And sure enough, he's right. No boom. And that's that.
We now return to our regularly scheduled Ben Linus storyline.
Ben's digging his hole and Miles wanders up. Ben offers him that 3.2 million dollars Miles wanted if he unties him. He says that he can get off The Island and has money everywhere. Miles laughs and tells him he doesn't need the money because Nikki and Paulo were buried alive with 8 million dollars in diamonds! Yes! I knew Miles would discover this someday. Miles leaves and Ben keeps digging. Then that familiar sound of clicking and UnLocke stands before him and I have another question. Remember when NFC said that Smokey is becoming stuck in Locke's body? And remember how UnLocke ran after that strange boy in the woods? I assumed it was because he couldn't become Smokey anymore. But, that's been proven wrong. Look at the Temple. What gives?UnLocke frees Ben and tells him he stashed a rifle in the woods. He wants Ben to join his smoke army and leave The Island. Ben runs and NFC chases him. He finds the gun just in time and begs to be heard. NFC listens (she has a gun pointed at her after all). Ben tells his sob story of choosing The Island and power over his daughter and how he will never forgive himself for that. He says he killed Jacob in anger. He tells her he just wants to leave. She asks where he will go. He says he will go with UnLocke because he is they only one that will have him. She says she will take him and turns and walks away. Ben is stunned and slowly stumbles after her.
He joins her back at camp and tries to help out. He is redeemed. He and Sun begin to build a shelter. Pretty 
Lost music plays. And then, from around the corner comes Jack and Hurley and Richard. And it's one of those lovely Lost moments where the music swells and everyone is smiling and hugging and there is a sense of relief for everyone. Jack and Ben just kind of look at each other. There is no acknowledgement between Richard and Ben - at least not on screen. NFC is there to not fit in. It's just a really nice moment.
Then, from the sea, movement. Is it the Dharma shark? Nope. It's a submarine. Another one of those cartoon looking submarines that Lost really needs to increase its budget for. We follow the periscope down to the interior of the sub. 
A young man is watching. He says, "There are people on the beach. Should we stop?" We pan down to see who he is talking to. It's Charles Widmore! He's found The Island! He tells the young man, "No. We must stick to the plan."
The End.
If anyone (besides Smokey/John Locke) is qualified to kill Ben Linus, it's Widmore. But will Ben even die by the end of the series? "They" made it seem like he would die this episode, but he didn't. And will Widmore maybe possibly have Desmond following behind him? One can only hope.
And, did anyone else think it weird to have Ben and Arntz interact so much? Ben wasn't even around yet when Arntz exploded. I just love that Arntz is back and has been so heavily involved in everyone's Alternate Lives. And do you think, while having lunch, Arntz told Substitute Locke about his recent trip to Australia and that maybe they discovered they were on the same flight?
Lost music plays. And then, from around the corner comes Jack and Hurley and Richard. And it's one of those lovely Lost moments where the music swells and everyone is smiling and hugging and there is a sense of relief for everyone. Jack and Ben just kind of look at each other. There is no acknowledgement between Richard and Ben - at least not on screen. NFC is there to not fit in. It's just a really nice moment.
Then, from the sea, movement. Is it the Dharma shark? Nope. It's a submarine. Another one of those cartoon looking submarines that Lost really needs to increase its budget for. We follow the periscope down to the interior of the sub. 
A young man is watching. He says, "There are people on the beach. Should we stop?" We pan down to see who he is talking to. It's Charles Widmore! He's found The Island! He tells the young man, "No. We must stick to the plan."The End.
If anyone (besides Smokey/John Locke) is qualified to kill Ben Linus, it's Widmore. But will Ben even die by the end of the series? "They" made it seem like he would die this episode, but he didn't. And will Widmore maybe possibly have Desmond following behind him? One can only hope.
And, did anyone else think it weird to have Ben and Arntz interact so much? Ben wasn't even around yet when Arntz exploded. I just love that Arntz is back and has been so heavily involved in everyone's Alternate Lives. And do you think, while having lunch, Arntz told Substitute Locke about his recent trip to Australia and that maybe they discovered they were on the same flight?
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