LOST – The Man Behind the Curtain

TELEVISION This episode had so much going on and was incredibly detailed. I’m trying to keep this brief, but so many of the scenes have great significance that it’s hard not to mention them. We learned a lot, and had a few very, scary moments.

I thought Ben had really “lost” it, when talking to an empty chair. Locke thinks he‘s crazy, but Ben says he’s just too limited to see. Locke turns to walk out and hears a voice saying “help me.” Ben doesn’t. Then windows break, the lantern falls to the floor, and Ben is thrown against the wall. Pretty freaky!

I was all set to think that Ben was pulling strings to make things fly around the house and throwing his voice until I came across this screen shot of a man sitting in the chair. I totally didn’t see this when watching. So who is this guy?
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/scot732/LostPic6.jpg

Jacob and other photos from the episode are here.
http://losteastereggs.blogspot.com/

Ben shows Locke a pit full of bodies, which looks like Auschwitz. It’s the remains of the Dharma Initiative. Then suddenly, Ben shoots Locke, and demands to know what Jacob said to him. Why didn’t Ben hear and what does Jacob need help from? Locke was still breathing when we last saw him, which is a good thing. Someone suggested that since Locke was shot in the lower left, it could have been a fatal kidney shot, but Locke doesn’t have his left kidney anymore. I'm guessing he's not dead.

Baby Benjamin Linus: The first thing we learned is that Ben’s mother died during childbirth and that he was born in Portland, not on the island. Horace and Olivia, who are part of the Dharma Initiative, were in Portland when they rescued baby Ben and his parents, Emily and Roger Linus. Also, Richard and Ethan, who we now know are Hostiles, invited Juliet back to Portland to join the research team. Actually they were "Not in Portland," right? What's up with Portland?

Young Ben (who kinda looks like Harry Potter) is living with a father who doesn’t want to be a janitor/Work Man, likes his Dharma beer, never remembers his son’s birthday and blames him for his wife’s death. Young Ben has visions of his mother. She tells him not to run through the sonar fence, because it’s not time yet. Later, we see Young Ben disable the sonar fence (the combination is 54439) and run off into the woods, looking for his mom. He hears those mystical voices, the whispers, then runs into Richard.

Young Ben & Richard meet in the woods. When Ben says his mom died, Richard asks if it was on the island, and if he sees his mom. What is the significance of seeing the dead? Since Ben expresses that he doesn’t want to go back to the camp, Richard tells Ben that if he’s patient, he can eventually join the Hostiles. Later, when Ben is with his father in the van, he says that he had to use a lot of patience when dealing with him.

Richard didn’t look like he aged much from the time they met, and Ben actually looks older than Richard in the present time. I think it was mentioned that the Hostiles age inwardly, when Ben was talking with Juliet about the condition of a pregnant woman.

Big Ben: It’s another birthday, and as Ben leaves the house, he puts one wooden doll of the two he got from Annie into his bag. Ben has grown up to be a Work Man for the Dharma Initiative like his father. When Ben and his father go for a ride in the mini-van to the mesa, the song “Shambala” by Three Dog Night is playing, just as it was during Hurley’s back story when he was driving the same van. So now we know who Roger Workman is, the dead body Hurley found!

Ben repeatedly checks his watch as it approaches 4pm, knowing that this is the time of the takeover. He puts on a mask, and releases the gas in the van, killing his father. When he returns to the camp, there are many dead bodies on the ground. He closes Horace’s eye lids. Then Richard and the other Hostiles come out, having succeeded in destroying members of the Dharma Initiative. So it’s confirmed that the Hostiles are the Others, but what was their motivation for the takeover?
Notables:

• Ben’s hands were shaking when telling Locke that he answers to Jacob. Was he really that nervous or is something else going on?


• As they near Jacob’s house, Locke notices some kind of dust or sand surrounding it. What is that stuff? Is it protection or could it be something that becomes part of the black smoke?
• Ben tells Locke to turn off his flashlight because Jacob doesn’t like technology.


• The island greeting is Namaste! This is an Indian greeting, and literally means “I bow to you.”
• Annie gives Young Ben an Apollo candy bar. She also gives him a male and female wooden doll, representing them, for his birthday.


• Naomi asks the castaways: “don’t you people want to be rescued?”


• I’m with Sun, before she hears the tape. I think Jack has good intentions and wouldn’t want any of the castaways to be hurt. But he is just coming across like a smug jerk.


• If Richard recruited Young Ben, how did Ben become the so-called leader of the Others?
• Olivia is now a science teacher, and during the class, a prior volcanic eruption on the island is referenced. Could this have had an affect on the natives living there?


• Horace tells Roger that they are having problems with the natives. The Dharma Initiative supposedly went there in peace. So what were the exact problems, why did the Hostiles need to kill them and was the Dharma Initiative actually to blame?


• LOST TO END IN 2010: There will be three more shortened seasons of 16 episodes each. The episodes will air consecutively, repeat-free, from February to May. I'm gonig to hate waiting eight months for a new episode!