Dr. Linus

Highlights:

In L.A., Ben leads a history club and tutors Alex. She reveals to him that her mother is single and struggles to make ends meet. She needs a recommendation from someone who went to Yale to even be considered for a scholarship. That person is the principle.

John Locke tells Ben that he would follow him in a leadership position at the school. Ben takes information from Alex about the principle cheating on his wife to get his job. The principle counters his attack with the fate of Alex Rousseau's college career.

Ben exchanges a recommendation letter and Alex's happiness for his pride and a chance to run the school.

Ben is taking care of his dying father, Roger. Roger wonders if things would have been different if they had never left the Dharma Initiative. Whaaaattt?

On the island, Miles reads Jacob's ashes and tells Ilana that Ben killed Jacob. Ilana chains Ben to a tree and forces him to dig his own grave.

Hurley and Jack run into Richard in the jungle. He tells them the Temple was ransacked, and leads them to the Black Rock. Jack asks him why they are there, and Richard tells them he wants to die.

He tells them that he can't kill himself even if he wanted to because Jacob touched him. He says that it is a blessing and a curse, and that he no longer has a purpose in life. He says that Jack or Hurley can kill him, and asks them to do so.

Jack lights the dynamite and tells Richard about the lighthouse. He tells him that he is important and won't die either. He asks for answers from Richard, but he just gives him a pathetic pitty party instead. He seems to have turned into the new Benjamin Linus, the doubter. Jack seems to have turned into the new John Locke, the faithful man looking for answers. The fuse fizzles out on its own, and no one dies.


Smokey Locke visits Ben while he is digging. He tells him to run to a gun he planted by a tree and shoot Ilana. He tells him to come and join him.

Ben sees that his chains are broken, and runs for the gun. Ilana sees him and chases after him. Why she doesn't shoot him while he is running beats me, but he reaches the gun and makes her drop her own.

He makes her listen to him. He explains to her that he killed Jacob because he sacrificed Alex for the island, for Jacob, and he didn't even care. He says he wants to go with Locke because he is the only one that will have him.

Her having lost her father figure, she sheds a tear and says "I'll have you."

Ben seems to see a little bit of Alex in her, and goes with her. He follows her back to camp and lays his gun on the ground. He approaches Sun and asks her if she needs any help. She lets him help with her tent. Ben seems to be a changed man.

Hurley, Jack, and Richard come across the beach and reunite with their allies. Sun runs into Hurley's arms, reminiscing on the time when he traveled all the way to Korea to see Ji Yeon after they got off of the island. The Good Team is finally assembled.

Lapidus, Miles, and Ilana also greet Jack and Hurley. Everyone hugs and shakes hands, and a scope from a submarine comes out of the water. A sailor tells Widmore that there are people alive on the beach. What. The Fuck.

Special/Key Moments:

Ben tries to bribe Miles one last time with te 3.2 million dollars he wanted in Season 4. Miles laughs and says that he could just take the loot of diamonds Nikki and Paulo died with right next to them. Good point, I almost forgot about them. Or maybe I just wanted to.

I liked seeing Arnzt and Locke on the staff with Ben at the school. It was nice to see that the school was an analogy for the Island, and that Locke had the same esteem for Ben in both universes.

Seeing Alex was fantastic. I saw Tanya Raymonde's name on the bottom of the screen and immediately knew what was going to happen. Having her be one of his "brightest students" was a nice touch. The fact that he chose her life and future over his own power trip was beautiful and moving. The fact that he takes care of his father also proves evidence to his upstanding character in the alternate universe. This Ben has the same urges as the old Ben, he just chooses to ignore them.

The exchange between Ben and Ilana was epic. His need to explain himself to her was something we have never seen with him before. His vulnerability and need for acceptance and understanding was so wonderfully portrayed, it left me speechless. No doubt he sees Alex in Ilana, and wants to make up for his deeds in the past. Just look at his face here.

The fact that Richard is still being aloof as all-get-out is really pissing me off. The fact that he wants to die is also making me mad. He has lost it. He is scared and lost, and tells Jack that he is the one with all of the answers. He seems like he is jealous of him, and just wants to give up.

The Richard Alpert I know would find out everything about this situation, and do his best to help everyone out. He would talk with Jack like a man instead of crying like a big pussy about how he was let down. I mean, I understand that he feels left out. If Jacob told me that he would share his master plan with me in the end (especially after a possible 500 year-span of time), and died before he could do so, I would be pissed too. I would be upset and start a revolution against the Smoke Monster with all of his enemies. I would take those candidates and shove them all up his ass.

Be the man I always dreamed you to be, Richard!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Miles tells Ben that Jacob did not want to die after Ben tries to defend himself. He says that he was hoping that he was wrong about Ben until the very instant he was stabbed in the heart. He tells Ben that he guesses Jacob was wrong. I think this was the key moment that leads Ben to ask for Ilana's forgiveness, to help Sun, and to put his weapon down. I think that this was a big moment for one of my favorite characters, and I can't wait to see what part he will play in the end.

There is a beautiful and symbolic shot at the end where Miles, Sun, Jack, Lapidus, and Hurley are all hugging each other. The camera pans out, and Richard and Ben are both standing alone, on opposite sides of the huddle. Their loyalty to the island has isolated them against all people in their lives... even each other.

Oh yeah, and I liked that Miles took the diamonds from Nikki and Paulo's dead bodies.

Theories/Questions/Speculations:

When Ilana finds out about Ben killing Jacob, she says that he was "like a father to me." What the hell does that mean? I knew they seemed to be close when he visited her in that foreign hospital, but like a father? Was she born on the island? Has Jacob spent a lot of time off of the island to spend copious amounts of time with young Ilana? This explains why she knows so much about everything on the island. It makes sense why she knows about Richard, but not what he looks like. But if she is so important, why would she not be a candidate herself?

Richard says that he is ageless and cannot take his own life because "Jacob touched me". Does this mean that the Oceanic 6 are now ageless like Richard? Can they not die, or can they just not take their own lives? Do they need to be ageless in order to take Jacob's place? Will I get any damn straight answers from Richard? Come on, episode 9!

Roger Linus mentioned joining the Dharma Initiative and then leaving. Did he leave before The Incident when Chang ordered the evacuation of the island? Or did he just simply leave for another reason? If he did leave because of the evacuation procedures, this means that Ben still got shot by Sayid, still met Richard looking for his mom, and still got healed in the Temple and "lost his innocence". Is this Ben in the alternate universe still working for Richard/Jacob? Or.... what? This kind of throws a lot of elements in a lot of my theories off, so I am at a loss for words.

I really really liked this episode. Not only because it was a Ben episode, but because there were a lot of questions raised and dreams shattered along with beautiful character development and role reversal. Keep it coming, Darlton.