(If you don’t watch LOST, these posts will be torturous to you. I apologize in advance. Just skip them and come back on Wednesdays, where I will try to make it up to you.)
10 quick things I thought of while watching episode 7 of LOST’s final season, “Dr. Linus”.
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Season 6, Episode 7, “Dr. Linus”
10 Observations/Questions/Thoughts
1. Live by the gas, die by the gas. Love how in the sideflash Ben used gas to help his dad (his oxygen tank), instead of kill him like he did in the original timeline when he gassed him in the van. Roger Linus talks about wishing he could have stayed on the island with DHARMA, wondering if Ben would have become more than just an under appreciated history teacher. Lucky for us, we know what Ben would become….a manipulative, power-hungry man.
But perhaps there is hope for Ben yet? Something begins to click in him when Miles tells him that Jacob did believe in him right up until Ben chose to kill him. And later when Ilana forgives him, he finally puts his gun down. Those were some great scenes.
2. Another episode, another character sees their reflection in a mirror. This time it was Ben in the microwave door making a meal for his dad.
And for those who need a timeline refresher on Ben and “the incident”, I believe this is what happened…
+ young Ben was shot by Sayid (the day before they started evacuating people off the island because of the pocket of energy they were about to drill into)
+ Richard took him into the temple to save him
+ Young Ben is saved and then Widmore tells him he will have to go back and live with his father.
+ The next day Widmore takes him back to Dharmaville (I’m supposing)
+ Later that day Roger Linus shoots Sayid, screaming “You’re the son of a…who shot my kid”.
+ We have our incident and diverting timelines, one in which Ben and dad stay on the island (Timeline A)…one in which they leave the island before it sinks (Timeline B).
3. Still no Desmond? Arggg. Probably the most frustrating thing about the season for me.
4. Ilana’s job was to protect the candidates. She said so herself. How did she know she and her group were needed on the island? How did they know to board Ajira 316? How was Jacob like a father to her? wonder if we’ll ever find out more on her.
5. Pretty obvious that Richard DID come to the island on the Black Rock. (a lot more on him next week, apparently). Jacob gave him the gift of immortality, but now he doesn’t want it because with Jacob dead he has no idea what his purpose is. Interesting thought, that a life without purpose, even a life that can’t be ended, is not worth living? Also, Jacob’s touch doesn’t ALWAYS mean immortality, right? He touched Locke, but Locke died. And remember back when Michael wasn’t able to kill himself after escaping the island? Was this a similar thing? I seem to remember someone visiting him when he finally blew up the freighter saying “you can go now”…but wait, that was Christian Shephard, wasn’t it. Hmmm…
Great scene with Richard and Jack, I thought. A lot of the time Jack’s character is a bit over the top for me, but I thought he did a great job with that exchange over the dynamite fuse.
6. Flocke continues to make personalized offers. Last week it was offering Sayid another chance to be with Nadia, this week it’s offering Ben a chance to control the island. Flocke knows exactly what to offer people to try and get them on his side.
7. Are Widmore and Sun in cahoots? Remember last year when Widmore and Sun had a few covert meetings? Did we ever find out was Sun was up to? Is she in cahoots with him and is she responsible for him coming to the island? Or is he the man Jacob wanted Hurley to help find the island?
8. ELBA Island. The episode started with Ben writing “ELBA” on the blackboard, for the island Napoleon was exiled to it. Then he underlined it, backwards from the A to the E. ELBA backwards is “Able”, as in one of the two sons of Adam (though not twins) in the Garden of Eden. Coincidence?
9. What’s the course? Widmore doesn’t take his sub to the beach, but instead, “stays the course”. If his course is headed to the Hydra Island to meet Flocke, is he going there to take him down or to join up with him? Joining Flocke will mean that Ben and Widmore are once again on opposite sides of the war. Still not sure who’s with who in this war.
10. What if? The theme that ran throughout this episode was “would things have worked out differently”. Lapidus the pilot asked Ben, and so did Roger Linus, albeit in a different timeline. While Timeline A Ben thinks things end up the same, he is still nostalgic for the time on the island before the plane crashed. Meanwhile, in Timeline B, Ben is left to wonder if his dad is right. Maybe he would have lived a better life had they stayed. Even still, he doesn’t use this as an excuse to make selfish decisions, but this time sacrifices his own power play for Alex.
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Tonight…Episode 8, “Recon” (just 12 11 hours of LOST left)