Lost – Can Ben be redeemed?

After the massacre that last week’s episode of Lost turned out to be, I figured this week was going to be a quieter affair. It certainly was, as it focused much more heavily on character than action. The character in question was Mr. Ben Linus (or is that Dr. Ben Linus?). He received the flashsideways treatment this week, as we saw what his life was like after the blast. I was discussing what his flashsideways might look like just today, and I was very hopeful that we would get some information about what happened with the island. Unfortunately, the show didn’t get into much detail, but I think we learned that the timelines did indeed diverge at that moment in 1977. Ben and his father were on the island and were working with Dharma Initiative. How they survived “the incident” and got off the island, I have no idea.

Overall, I thought this episode had the most clever use of the flashsideways so far. I loved how in a fairly mundane setting like a high school, Ben was still up to his old tricks. He was still manipulating people, playing them against each other, and making plays for more power. Oddly enough, he was even still looking out for Alex. More ghosts of Lost past showed up in this episode, namely Alex (who was presumably being raised happily by her mother and only knew Ben as a teacher), and Leslie Arzt. Is it wrong that I was really hoping they could find some way to have him explode again? I loved all the parallels that the flashsideways had with Ben’s weakest moment: the death of Alex. Luckily, in this revised history, Ben was able to do the right thing by Alex and sacrifice his own chance at power for the good of her future. With Ben seemingly entrenched on team Jacob, it will be interesting to see how much redemption is in store for him before the end of the series.

The episode may have been focusing on character, but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t any significant mythology/big story revelations. We learned a lot more about Richard Alpert. Many of us figured that Smokey’s reference to Richard being in chains during the premiere was an allusion to the Black Rock, and that was pretty much confirmed in this episode, as the ageless Other led Jack and Hurley to the crashed ship. He was almost certainly a slave on the boat when it came to the island back in the days when the statue was more than just a four-toed foot. We also learned a little bit about the nature of his “immortality.” He claimed that when Jacob touched him (as he touched each of the candidates), he gave him a “gift.” He explained that he could not kill himself, and presumably couldn’t die of natural causes or age. We saw a similar situation with Michael in season four, when he was continually trying to off himself with no success. I would have to assume that the other candidates are in a similar situation. Whether or not any of them will age is another question altogether. It certainly makes me wonder what would have happened if Jack jumped off that bridge, though.

We also found out who was coming to the island. I may have thrown out a bunch of possibilities a couple weeks ago, but the obvious choice was the correct one. I’m glad that Widmore is getting into the final battle. There’s clearly a lot to be resolved between he and Ben, and he’s going to add a great element of tension to the show as it finishes its run.

Clacked by Bob Degon
on Mar 09, 2010 @ 22:21 EST5EDT