My Island

Hello again Lost-fans,
what a revelation-filled episode... sort of.

Sorry for the weeks off since my last broadcast, but I assure you, I kept writing, you just didn't want to read the stuff I wrote. I made that decision for you because I am very protective of you my dear readers and you are encapable of judging for yourself. You're like my little pets that I water every week, or whatever you are supposed to do with pets. (Aren't you glad I've never had any pets?)

So, I come back to blogging about my favorite blog topic or blopic... Lost. Spoilers ahead.

The episode featured my current favorite character, the sinister, yet utterly trustworthy, uber-bad guy Benjamin Linus. Doc Jensen did a particularly superb job this week referencing Laurence of Arabia, Indiana Jones, H.G. Wells, etc...
But, as usual, I want to focus on the Linus-Widmore war. Widmore is a traditional villain in the mold of Lethal Weapon 2's South African diplomatic immunity spouting government/businessman villain. Also, his people invented golf (methinks), which is villainous for its exclusion, but moreso for the frustration it causes. Stupid 7 iron. Ben, on the other hand, other than his thyroid problem (probable cause of his "evil" eyes) does not dress the part of the Bond villain, with his cargo shorts, Hawaiian shirts, and sandals. Sure, he could be a villain in Tunisian desert J. Peterman parka, but does he project power? Maybe. Intellect, yes. Faith, of course. It's possible that he was chosen for his relative meek appearance (along with impressive acting skill). But, this guy is powerful, not only physically as he beat/killed two Tunisian soldiers with merely a cool stick (not sure what that's called), not only because he has the money to be a preferred customer in a Tunisian hotel (under the name Moriarty, no less), not only because he is able to manipulate people like the doorman through intricate lies to allow him to do as he pleases, or manipulate Sayid using potential truths into acting on his behalf, but also because when he stood over Widmore's bed, he declined to kill him with an air of superiority. Also, he can time/space travel, which is pretty powerful too.

The space/time traveling thing Ben did, ending up in Tunisia, was that real travel or was that consciousness travel, like Desmond, Faraday, or the NBC show the Traveller (which was bad and probably got cancelled)? From all of our previous knowledge, it would seem likely that it was consciousness travel, in which Ben woke up in a different moment of his life with all of the memories he had from before the journey and upon return to the present day, he took the new memories "back" to his present existence. So, that way, he can know the future by having lived the future. This has long been the running theory on how Ben was so smart, prepared, and confident about every situation... because he has seen how the future turns out. And, while he is an excellent actor, Michael Emerson's character, Ben, seemed stunned about the death of his adoptive daughter.

Ben responded to the death by saying, "he changed the rules", which of course initially made you think that he was referring to the mercenary, Keany, who shot well before the promised count of ten, effectively changing the rules. Then, once you remembered Ben is always living in part of a larger world than the Losties and larger than the viewers understand, it became apparent he was probably referring to Widmore, with whom he may or may not have had some sort of mafia-like pact about not killing family members. Then, you remember that Ben is living in part of a larger universe in which the rules are different and the future can be seen, and Ben's surprise becomes all the more jarring. This death was not his expected outcome, and the person who changed the rules, may have been the Island's version of God, Jacob.

His active reaction was to go into a hidden room and possibly call the smoke monster or possibly time travel or possibly use the toilet. Assuming he called the smoke monster, how did he do it? He clearly knows more about the gaseous beast than he let on, but does that mean he has some measure of control over it? We know that Smokey once stopped at the electrified gate that Alex, in this episode turned off, which may have allowed the smoker monster entrance. Did Ben just call the monster up and tell it that the door was open? Then, why wouldn't it attack Ben and the gang? So, Ben does seem to have some control over it. But, the theory that the Monster is as Danielle once claimed, the island's security system, is bolstered by the fact that it attacked only the new folks who might mean to threaten the island or at least the status quo of the island's power balance. But, the theory that the Monster is related to Jacob was not aided here?

But, now onto the revelation that Ben and Charles meet in Widmore's room. Did they share the billion dollar scotch? Ben is worth more than Desmond, so Ben can drink with Widmore. But, the substance of the conversation was more than a bit childish, which of course, was excellent. "You started it..." "No you started it..." "It's your fault." "Uh, no, yours." [Paraphrased.]

So, it now appears more likely than ever that these two people are at odds over the island, (thus less likely that the whole frigate was a Ben plot pitting two sides against each other.) And apparently, Ben took everything he has from Widmore. Does that mean the millions of dollars he can access at a whim? Or does that just mean claim over the island, which may account for millions of dollars? But, Widmore evidently had a strong claim to the island and as we suspected at some point in the past/future, he may have been there before. But, as of the date of their meeting, Widmore was unable to find the island. Ben, whether he time travelled his way to England or whether he made it off on Desmond's boat, does appear confident that he can get back. So, perhaps, Miles is confident that ben can get him money because of some sort of time/space travel equipment and not because of his ability to communicate off island.

The problem is that in these Linus episodes, other than the stuff we see happening, we can hardly credibly believe the things that are said by anyone because he doesn't believe them. And at any point, Ben could change the rules of our arrangement and lie to us viewers. Frankly, wee've been warned enough.

Ben's gonna kill Penelope. Where is she? In hiding? This certainly confirms that even if he is not the worst bad guy, he is a pretty darned bad guy. I read some comments/blog ideas about how the two of them could be God and the devil, but they really both seem to be pretty awful people.

The death of Alex, Danielle, Karl, and the "other" oceanic survivors at the barracks was sad, but taught Ben a lesson about something and sent the Lost audience a message: the writers have no compunction killing off unessential characters with even more ease than they kill off the ensemble members. It's not an important lesson unless you consider that there were only 50 some odd Losties to begin with. Now, there are somewhere between 30-40? I'll have to consult lostpedia for more info. But, the episode had a very high death count. And, we're not even sure how many of the frigate mercenaries were killed. Jack Bauer would be proud... or furious.

So, Dr. Jack has fallen ill? Does he have "the virus"? Is the idea of an island virus back? Should we bring it back? Is it simply a ruptured appendix? Is he going to die? Well, he's not going to die.. or is he? I'm also not sure what to make of the death of the frigate doctor, unless, the probable theory is that the scientists like Faraday of Widmore's camp created a doctor killing virus to get rid of all of Ben's people. Okay, so that is not likely, but there seems to be something going around.

So, although I probably gleaned less from this episode than most people because of how much/little I trust Linus, it was an action packed episode and nonetheless informative through our visions and delusions of grandeur and extremely entertaining. I very much look forwards to next week's romp and then rambling about it to you fine folks.

That's it,
ME PB