It is hard to say this, but poor Ben Linus. All he wants is to be accepted and liked. He wants people to respect him and not judge him for the things he has done. “Dr. Linus” showed us that no matter what bad thing that Ben does, deep down he wants to be good. He wants people to accept him and he wants to choose the right side. This episode was fantastic. It brought everything and almost everyone together. Now we have our sides and it is time for the ultimate showdown of good and evil.
It was very interesting to get a glimpse of sideways Ben. As the title says, in the world with no Oceanic 815 plane crash, Ben is now Dr. Linus a high school history teacher.
He is friends with Leslie Arzt (too funny!), he is taking advice from substitute teacher John Locke, he has a good relationship with his dad and his best student is none other than Alex Rousseau. When Ben tried to blackmail the principal into giving up his job to Ben, you had a slight feeling that no matter what world it is Ben is still manipulative and evil. That all went away when the principal threatened Alex. On the island, Ben still feels guilty about Alex being killed because it was his fault. Ben chose the island and Jacob over Alex. Sideways Ben does not make this mistake and gives up his chance to be somebody for Alex. She is his soft spot.
The most interesting thing that came out of the sideways world was learning that Ben and his dad have a relationship. They still went to the island and were in the Dharma Initiative, so no matter what they both exist. It was ironic to hear that Roger thought Ben could have done something better with his life if they hadn’t left the island. Is killing a bunch of people a better life? Q. Why did they leave? This has been one of my favorite sideways lives so far. Just the little things, like Ben being friends with Arzt or him taking advice from Locke, made it more interesting. When Arzt came on the screen, the first thing that came to mind was the episode in the first season when the dynamite blew him up. That was a scene that cannot be forgotten, especially when Hurley says “You’ve got a little Arzt on your shoulder” to Jack. Who cannot forget that?
Island Ben is still lost and does not know what side to join. After the temple incident, Ben runs away into the jungle when he comes upon Frank, Sun, Miles and Ilana. He tells them Sayid killed Dogen and Lennon and that the smoke monster killed everyone else inside the temple. Ilana is suspicious of him when he says that the smoke monster also killed Jacob. She knows that Miles can communicate with the dead so she gives him the bag of Jacob’s ashes and asks him to figure out who killed Jacob. He realizes that it was Ben and Ilana is not happy.
Ben denies it, but Ilana does not believe him. She tells Ben that Jacob was the closest thing she had to a father. They all decide it is best to back to the beach. Tidbit: Frank tells Ben he was suppose to pilot Oceanic 815, but he overslept and Ben pointed out to him that the island got him in the end anyways. When they get to the beach, Ben tries to convince Ilana that he is innocent and follows her around, but she is not convinced. While Ilana is gathering supplies, Sun comes to tell her that she needs to find Jin and Ilana tells Sun she does too. She is there to protect them both since one of them is a candidate to replace Jacob. Sun asks her what she means. Ilana tells Sun there are only six candidates left and whoever is chosen will take Jacob’s place. Q. Who are the six? Ilana is still not happy with Ben so she ties him to a tree and makes him dig his own grave. She wants to kill him for killing Jacob. As Ben is digging he tries to bribe Miles with money to let him go and Miles says no (nice shout out to Nikki and Paolo, the most hated LOST characters).
After Miles leaves, Ben hears the smoke monster and Fake Locke pops out of the jungle (it seems he likes to do this). Fake Locke knows Ben can’t resist power so he offers him the position of leader of the island and sets him free from the leg chain. Fake Locke tells Ben that he is gathering people to leave the island and to meet him at the Hydra station. Q. Where does the Man in Black want to go and what is his real purpose on the island? Ben runs from Ilana, but she catches up to him. He tells her about his guilt for Alex, that he is sorry for killing Jacob and just wants to leave. She asks him why he wants to go with Locke and he explains that “because he is the only one who will have me.” She says back to him “I will have you.” Ben makes the right choice and goes back to the beach.
Even though Ben has done a lot of terrible things, it is hard not to feel sorry for him. He just wants redemption and finally someone has given it to him. Ilana accepts his apology and takes him in. The best part of the night though goes to Hurley, Jack and Richard. It was good to see other people in this episode and to know where everybody is at. Q. But where is Sawyer and Jin? How sad was it that Richard felt like he had no purpose anymore and wanted to die? Richard cannot die! His story needs to be told. Jack, being the hero that he is, convinced Richard that Jacob didn’t want him to die and he lit the dynamite fuse while still in the room to prove it (also nice shout out to Arzt from Hurley and the season one dynamite scene). Just the conversation between Jack and Richard makes it seem like Jack is going to be the chosen one.
Jack realized after going to the lighthouse that Jacob has a purpose for him and he is trying to figure out what that is. It is crazy how Jack believes in fate and destiny now. He has transformed into this other person and just lighting the dynamite to see if he has a purpose shows that. He had a feeling that Jacob wouldn’t let him or Richard die and the scientific Jack would have never done that experiment. We got a little bit if information out of Richard. He apparently cannot age due to being touched by Jacob and he might have come from the Black Rock since he had said he had seen it before. Q. If everybody else was touched by Jacob, can they not die? If so, why did Locke die? There has to be more to Richard’s story and it will be exciting to see it in the March 23 episode.
Jack, Hurley and Richard return to the beach to find the gang. They are reunited and it looks as if we have the good people side. I loved how it mirrored the episode from season 3 called ”One Of Us,” when Jack, Kate, and Sayid returned from the camp of the Others and they brought Juliet with them. The music was the same and so was the slow motion reunion. It was perfect.
This wasn’t the end though and as Liz Lemon would say…. “TWIST!” Of course there was one, who wasn’t waiting for it? And it was none other than Charles Widmore in a submarine coming to the island. Q. Is Charles Widmore on Jacob’s side or the Man In Black? Overall, best episode so far. Yes, we need answers, but it felt as though the episode didn’t need to give any. It was good the way it was.
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I don’t want Kate to be on the bad side! and what about Sawyer and Jin?
I was irritated by Linus’ switch to the good side. Sayid is bad and Linus is good? WTH? *quiet rage*
Otherwise, a good episode – Ben surprised me by actually being a human being in the Sideways universe. They are apparently going to wrap up the Widmore angle, and I liked learning that people who are touched by Jacob cannot die.
It sure as hell explains how most of the characters survived the last few seasons. Wasn’t there an episode at one time where a character was trying to commit suicide and couldn’t?
Locke didn’t kill himself – Ben did. Which is yet another reason he didn’t deserve redemption. He’s freaking killed so many people throughout the series.
Mindy, you are right! Locke did not kill himself, it was Ben so then they cannot die. It was Michael who tried to kill himself and couldn’t, but we dont know if Jacob saw him or not. I was wondering today if Jack had jumped off the bridge in season 4 (season 4? or 5?) if he could have done it or if he would have been saved.
I just watched the episode and from my understanding, they CAN all die, they just can’t kill themselves. That is why Locke died, someone else killed him and everyone else can die too, just not by their own hand?
I read something today that said the same thing. They can die, just not by suicide. So, now it makes sense! Sometimes it doesn’t!