6.07 Dr. Linus

Alright, this is already later than I wanted to post so I'm just going to go ahead and get right to the recap.

Alternate Timeline

We open with Ben giving a lecture to his class about an Island where everything became clear. The island is Elba and he is talking about Napoleon. The writers really lay it on thick here. He talks about Napoleon facing his greatest test on the island, the loss of his power. Do you see what they did there? They want you to think about Ben's own struggle on an island facing his loss of power. After class Ben runs into his boss, Principle Reynolds (who apparently quit his job as annoying tv reporter, a job he held down during the first two Die Hard movies) and is informed that he has to run detention all week and will have to miss his History club. But the History Club is really for Ben, not the students. As he walks away Ben mutters that he is "Dr. Linus."

At lunch, Arzt is complaining about how old his equipment is and Ben rails about the nature of administrators and the teachers who care for their students. On a side note, why are we being hit over the head with Arzt? He was in like 2 episodes, and was annoying as all get up. He was a Nikki and Paolo type character who came out of nowhere at the end of the first season and we were supposed to believe he was there the whole time. I don't care about him. Stop force feeding me Arzt! New substitute, John Locke thinks that Ben should be principal. But who would listen to little old Ben? John Locke would.

Ben is back home with his father and their relationship seems much less contentious. I would think that his mother didn't die in child birth, or if she did, his father has grown out of his hatred for his son. Ben's dad is on an oxygen tank. There is a sad scene where Ben waxes about his advanced degrees but is forced to babysit delinquents and Ben wonders if maybe he is the biggest loser of all. Ben's dad wishes things were different and that is why he signed them up for the Dharma initiative and took him to the island. If only they had stayed maybe their lives would have been different.

The doorbell rings and it is Alex Rousseau. She is a student and in the History Club. She wants to know why Ben wasn't there. She has an important AP test and needs tutoring. If she brings the coffee, Ben will tutor her the next day. Side note here. Maybe it is because she was always dressed up in island gear and made to look dirty and grungy, but I never noticed what a stone cold fox Alex is. I mean Karl was way out of his league. I for one would like to see more Alex please.

During tutoring Alex mentions that she needs a recommendation from a Yale graduate to apply and the only one is that pervert Principal Reynolds. She tells Ben that she was in the nurses office one day and fell asleep. When she woke up Principal Reynolds was boning Nurse Kondracki. Ben promises not to say anything about this secret.

So of course Ben goes right to Arzt and asks him to hack into teacher email and find out what kind of juicy emails Reynolds has been sending to the nurse. Arzt wants something in return but he agrees to help. We are beginning to see the manipulative Ben that we all know and love. He walks into Reynolds office and shows him the emails. He tells the principal that he won't show the school board and his wife if Reynolds resigns for personal reasons and recommends Ben as his replacement. Reynolds responds that he got an email from Alex asking for a recommendation. Either Ben can have the job and Alex gets a bad recommendation or she gets the recommendation and Ben backs down. To be honest, I really thought Ben would take the job. If Sayid is going to get no redemption in his alternate timeline, I was sure Ben would get no redemption. We next see Ben walk into the principals office and for a second I think that he did it, but then Alex walks in and says she was looking to thank Principal Reynolds who wrote her an overly enthusiastic recommendation. Ben seems happy to have helped her out. Of course Arzt isn't happy that he won't get his new parking spot, but seriously, who cares. I was glad to see Ben get a little redemption in his other life.

Original Timeline

So Jack and Hurley wake up and Jack wants to press on to the Temple. Hurley, knowing that something bad has happened at the Temple wants to take his time and slow up. Hurley continues to stall and tries to take them the wrong way. Then Richard shows up. Jack wants to know where he has been, but Richard says Jack wouldn't believe him if he told them. Try me. Not yet. Ok. Richard knows the way to the Temple, just follow him.

Hurley wants to know why Richard looks the same as he did 30 years ago. Skoks, fact check me here, but I was unaware that Richard and Hurley had met before. Either way, Richard says that Jacob gave him a gift. They arrive at the Black Rock. This isn't the Temple! Yeah, NBD, everyone at the Temple is dead. WHAT ABOUT KATE?!!? Don't worry Jack, I didn't see them, they probably made it out alive. Jack wants to know if Hurley knew about this and he says that Jacob hinted at it. Richard says that whatever Jacob says, don't listen to him. Where are you going Richard? I have to go die.

We get a little bit more about Richard in this scene which I liked. It now appears that Richard indeed came over in the Black Rock and the chains that Flocke was talking about were literal chains from the ship. Richard hadn't been back since he got to the island. He starts playing with the dynamite that blew up Arzt. Hurley freaks out but Richard explains that he couldn't kill himself even if he wanted to, that is why he wants Hurley or Jack to do it. Jack seems a little too eager to help him. Richard explains that Jacob touched him and that this is actually a curse not a gift. I wonder if this means that all of those he touched in "The Incident" have the gift as well. The gift can't just be not aging because Kate and Sawyer both aged just fine. Richard explains that he has devoted longer than Jack can imagine to serving Jacob who said that he had a plan and that he would reveal the plan to Richard when the time was right. Now Jacob is dead, so Richard thinks his entire life had no purpose. Jack lights the fuse but doesn't leave. He tells Richard that it is time to talk.

Jack tells Richard that he went to the lighthouse and saw his name etched in the wheel. When it was turned to his name the mirrors showed his house. Jacob had been watching him since he was young. Jack says that if Jacob went through all that trouble and brought him to the island, it wasn't so that he could blow up with Richard. The fuse dies out before it reaches the end. This is a complete 180 from early seasons Jack. He is now the man of faith. I feel like redemption isn't far off for Jack Shephard. Jack seams to have all the answers, so what next? Back to where it all began.

Ben comes stumbling out of the Temple and meets up with the rest of the gang (Ilana, Frank, Sun, Miles). They decide to head to the beach. Miles asks Ben what the smoke monster was and he says it is what killed his friends. Ilana jumps in to remind Ben that it killed Jacob as well. She takes the bag of Jacob's ashes and gives it to Miles to find out how he died. Miles explains that Ben killed Jacob. Ilana says that Jacob was the closest thing to a father she had. Back at the beach camp, Ben tried to convince Ilana he didn't kill Jacob but she doesn't seem to pay any attention to him.

Sun asks Ilana how long they are saying and she doesn't know. But Sun wants to find Jin. So does Ilana. But why? Because both Sun and Jin are named Kwon and she isn't sure if she had to protect one or both. They are candidates. How many are left? Just six.

Ben and Frank have a throwaway conversation about how Frank was supposed to be the pilot on 815. How would his life have been different if he set his alarm correctly. Well the island got him anyway, so it wouldn't have been all that different. Ilana comes in and points a gun at Ben and makes him walk to the cemetery. She ties him to a tree and makes him start digging his own grave. Miles comes by to offer Ben food and Ben offers him the $3.2 million if he lets Ben free. Miles has apparently been talking to the bodies in the cemetery and mentions that Nikki and Paolo were buried alive with $8 million in diamonds.  Ben can't believe Miles will watch him get killed for killing a man who didn't care that he got killed. Miles says that he did care. Right up until the knife went through his heart he hoped he was wrong about Ben. But Miles guesses he wasn't wrong.

Flocke shows up while Ilana is away. He tells Ben that he wants Ben to join him on the Hydra island. Flocke is leaving the island but he needs to leave someone in charge of it. He can't think of a better person than Ben. He magically lets Ben out of his leg chain and says there is a rifle in the clearing and Ben will have the jump on Ilana. Don't hesitate, because she won't. Ben starts running and Ilana chases him. He gets to the rifle before her and gets the drop on her. She is forced to drop her weapon.

I thought this next scene was awesome. Ilana asks Ben what he is waiting for and wants him to shoot already. He says that he knows what she is going through because he watched his daughter Alex die in front of him. Ben had the chance to save his daughter but chose the island instead. He sacrificed for Jacob, and Jacob didn't even care. When he killed him Ben was angry and confused and scared that he would lose the only thing that mattered to him, his power. He apologizes for killing Jacob but doesn't expect Ilana to forgive him because he can't forgive himself. He lowers his rifle and Ilana asks Ben what he wants. He wants to be allowed to leave. He will go to Locke because Locke is the only one who will have him. Ilana says that she will have him. She heads back to the beach and Ben heads after her. It was a beautifully acted scene. Ben has always been one of my favorite characters but this season I haven't really like him. I thought this episode was a great Michael Emerson performance.

As Ben gets back to the beach and throws down his rifle and heads over to help Sun with the shelter. Miles has apparently found the diamonds. Richard, Hurley, and Jack arrive back at the beach camp. There are warm embraces all around. Ben is left on the outside, no one apparently happy to see him. This made me a little sad. Then we see the ocean and up pops a periscope from a sub. A man says that there are people on the beach and wants to know if he should stop. Charles Widmore says that they will proceed as planned. Cut to black.

Thoughts

I actually really liked this episode. There wasn't a ton of action, but I thought we got some good insights into Richard, we saw Jack completely become his man of faith, Ben seems to have found some redemption both on and off island, and apparently the person trying to find the island was Charles Widmore. It could still be someone else, but I am going to assume for now that this is who Jacob wanted to help to the island. Charles Widmore was the one who told Locke that he had to get his friends back to the island because a war was coming and if they weren't there, the wrong side would win. I think Widmore is a Jacob man. Perhaps Widmore and Ben fighting for the same team? We are beginning to move towards a resolution, but I was really hope that this season doesn't spend the entire time explaining Jacob/MIB conflict and completely forget one of the other mysteries thus far: The Dharma Initiative. It is still pretty mysterious as to what drew them to the island, the Lamp Post, what their purpose on the island is, and what the fallout of the Purge was (I mean did everyone in Michigan just pack up and leave? Kelvin was recruited to the Swan after the Purge, etc). I hope we get some closure on this before the end of the show. All in all, I thought it was a pretty good episode and look forward to next week.

Next up:  "Recon" a Sawyer-centric episode