Summary: Flashbacks show that Ben's mother died giving birth to him. When Ben is older, his father Roger joins the Dharma Initiative and they arrive on the island. Roger is a drunk and blames Ben for his mother's death. Ben is miserable in Dharma and leaves to try to join the others. He meets Richard who tells him to be patient to make it happen. Many years later, the others purge the Dharma Initiative, killing everyone. Ben kills his father and officially joins the others. On the island, Locke returns to the others' camp and demands to be taken to see Jacob, the mysterious man Ben answers to. Ben declines. Mikhail arrives and tells Ben about Naomi but Locke knocks him out and pressures Ben to take him to Jacob. Ben takes Locke to a cabin where he starts speaking with an empty chair. Assuming it's all a show, Locke tries to leave but suddenly things start flying everywhere and breaking apart. Locke still doesn't believe it though and thinks Jacob doesn't exist. Ben takes Locke to the pit where all the Dharma Initiative bodies were disposed. Ben shoots Locke and leaves him in the pit. Meanwhile, Sawyer and Sayid tell the camp about Naomi and about Juliet's nature as a spy. Jack and Juliet arrive and notify everyone that the others will be attacking in a few days time and that they have a plan.
The Good: This episode makes an attempt to humanize Ben and make us sympathize and relate to him. Not every show puts in the effort to fully humanize its villains, so this is a very respectable effort. And thankfully, it is done magnificently well. There's no denying that Ben is a bad person. His flashback arc concludes with him murdering his father in cold blood and standing by while the others wipe out the entire Dharma Initiative. He does so for his own personal gain. It's a villainous act through and through. And yet I was still able to sympathize with Ben and understand why he did it. He still feels human in spite of what he just did and that's brilliant. The episode does a great job of showcasing the misery Ben feels in the Dharma Initiative as he is trapped with his drunk, uncaring father with very little to actually look forward to. His life feels very sad and it's easy to understand why he would take control of his life and join up with the others. I'm very pleased by the decision to give Ben a centric episode. This show has always used the first flashback episode of a character to surprise us and completely subvert what we already know about the character. This episode does that incredibly well by showing us a surprisingly relatable backstory for the main villain of the series. It changes the way we look at Ben and even gives us reason to believe that his assertion that the others are the "good guys" is genuine. He believes that what he is doing is actually justified. It's wonderful to see the show creating such a deep character as the main villain and I can certainly say that Ben is one of the stronger characters on the show at the moment. The island story in this episode is very well done. The core of this episode focuses on the conflict between Ben and Locke which is as riveting as ever. Locke's return is a big shocker for Ben and immediately puts him in a place of discomfort as Locke has returned with a newfound confidence, demanding to be taken to Jacob and directly threatening Ben's credibility as a leader. Ben's discomfort is evident and so he agrees to take Locke to the cabin in a wonderful storyline. What makes this so good is that we can never be sure if we can actually trust Ben. Is Locke's interpretation of Ben accurate? Does he really not know anything? Is there even a Jacob? If there isn't a Jacob, then why is Ben taking out into the jungle? These questions drive the story forwards and ensure that there is always a hook during Locke and Ben's scenes together. The actual relationship between Locke and Ben is explored very nicely in this episode. We know going into this episode that Ben feels threatened by Locke. He's jealous that Locke has what he does not, and he has already gone out of his way to humiliate him by asking Locke to murder his own father, something we now understand is exactly what Ben did to join the others all those years ago. Ben feels threatened by Locke's presence and does his best to keep Locke beneath him, trying to convince Locke that he has power, when in reality it seems like he doesn't. When Locke asks him about the island, he stalls, and when he does talk, he never reveals much of anything. It's very likely that Ben doesn't even know much about the island himself and that his actions in this episode are simply to manipulate Locke. But Locke sees through this and is hesitant to trust Ben the entire episode. They have a lovely dynamic and every conversation between them is electric. Then it all culminates in the brilliant final scene when Ben disposes of Locke the moment he gets a good chance to. The episode also does a terrific job on the plot side of things. There are tons of great reveals here and a lot of questions are answered, and even more are brought up. We finally get to see the mysterious Jacob who has been mentioned many times in that cabin scene, and it was awesome, a brilliant blend of mystery, horror and suspense (see: Best Moment). There's also plenty revealed in Ben's flashbacks. We get to see the Dharma Initiative firsthand, and while we don't get to see much of their work, it's still fantastic to see them and get some background on their conflict with the others. We also finally learned what happened to the Dharma Initiative and how they were purged. This is all really significant plot development, and it's a joy to uncover this information. The B story in this episode covers all the happenings back at the camp. There is more solid stuff here as the survivors act reasonably and actually communicate with each other. There's also some strong development on the Juliet storyline as Sayid and Sawyer inform everyone that she's a mole. Thankfully, the show avoids all the melodrama that could accompany this and judging by Jack's reveal that he has a plan, there is a much more interesting story that is about to be told. The Bad: How did Roger's van move from where Ben left it? Hurley finds it in the middle of the jungle. Also, why didn't Roger simply get out of the car before Ben gassed him? He had plenty of time to save his own life. The Unknown: Why did Ben have visions of his mom? How did she appear on the island? What are these visions? Do they have something to do with the visions of Christian and Yemi? How did Ben become leader after he was taken in to the others? Also what's with Richard? He looks the same in the flashbacks. This could be chalked up to poor makeup, but Ben has an intriguing line about Richard not knowing birthdays which suggests that there may be more to this. What happened to Annie? Did she die in the purge? What's with the line of ash on the way to Jacob's cabin? What is this cabin anyways? Is Jacob actually real? Or was this all orchestrated by Ben somehow? Why couldn't Locke see Jacob? Why doesn't Jacob like technology? Why does he need Locke's help? How does Locke survive getting shot? It seems unlikely that he'll die here. What is Jack and Juliet's plan? What did they do while they were missing? Are the whispers separate from the others? We see them signalling Emily's arrival in this episode and she evidently isn't involved with the others judging by Richard's reaction to Ben claiming he saw her. What is causing these whispers? Best Moment: The scene in the cabin is outstanding drama. Once the cabin appears, we immediately begin to think that Ben may be telling the truth and that there is a Jacob. The scene is dramatic and suspenseful as we enter this creepy cabin. And then Ben starts talking to a chair, and it seems far more likely that he is manipulating Locke. And right when we doubt Jacob's existence, there's an immensely creepy "help me" line that completely shifts the tone of the scene. Then everything goes crazy for a moment in a wonderfully executed sequence, making for a surprisingly scary and dramatic scene. Character of the Episode: Ben. Conclusion: Another terrific episode. While it doesn't quite hit the highs of "The Brig", this one is arguably even more important because of its major reveals and the way it pulls back the curtain on Ben, making him one of the show's richer characters. This was an absolute blast and I'm very excited to see what's to come in the final 2 episodes of the season. I'm very impressed by the turnaround in quality after the season started so aimlessly. Score: 83
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
March 2024
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