By Heather O.
So, I guess we got some answers. Sort of.
Turns out Richard probably was a slave on the Black Rock, or had something to do with that boat. Turns out he is sort of immortal. Kind of. Turns out Jack actually sort of kinda believes in the island now, which he always sort of wanted to do but just couldn’t manage to actually commit to. But if Jacob touched Jack via a candy bar, does that count as touching him?
Turns out Widmore is still around, although I can’t for the life of me figure out what he’s doing there. But I’m glad they just didn’t drop him completely.
And that chemistry teacher–he is Dr. Artzt, right? I couldn’t place him until Hurley mentioned trying to get him out of his T-shirt for 2 days. I can’t place the Principle, though. He must be somebody we’ve already met, right?
BTW, Artzt means doctor in German. Just a little aside, there.
I liked the whole redemption of Ben Linus stuff, though, and it turns out Ben can be as pathetic as he is evil. I kept thinking the whole time, “Wow, he’s such a little man. How did I not notice how short he is?” But it was nice to see him tortured by normal stuff, rather than torturing other people, as well as get a chance to redeem himself in terms of sacrificing Alex. But what was that stuff about the Dharma initiative? How did Ben and his dad get off the island? More questions, more questions….
But how cool was it to see Miles with Nikki and Paulo’s diamonds? That made me laugh, I’ll admit. And it’s a small concession from the writers that they are indeed committed to tying up all loose ends. Maybe. Is Jack’s statement, “We go back to where we started” the writer’s message to us, that the last line is going to be something like, ‘We love together, or we die alone’? I dunno. Could be good, I guess. They do have their work cut out for them, though.
Weigh in, fellow Losties. Overall, I thought it was good stuff this time.




Something must be wrong with me. Everyone seems to love this epi, but it made me frustrated and confused. I don’t understand why (WHY?) Ben and his dad would still be alive in parallel universe. Wouldn’t they have died in the nuclear blast on the island? And - what? Alex is there? How? Why? What? OH MY ACHING BRAIN PARTS.
I thought the parallel universe was what would’ve happened if the blast was successful and the plane never crashed - not - just some random universal reset.
Arg.
Comment #1 by SueMarch 10th, 2010 at 10:27 pmI am not a huge Ben fan, but I liked this episode a lot. I thought it started Ben’s redemption, if you want to call it that. The way I understand, Ben and his father would have left the island *before* the blast, in the sideways timeline. There are folks much more adept at explaining it than me, though. Look on the Doc Arzt blog, or DarkUFO.blogspot.com. There are numerous guest reviewers who really get into the whole timeline and what would have had to happen when for the characters to be off-island, etcetera. We’ve never seen the Principal on Lost before, at least not anywhere that I can find, and according to this site: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Principal_Reynolds . William Atherton’s a well-known actor though, so maybe it’s just that he’s such a familiar face? Oh, and I loved the bit with Miles and the diamonds too! Great shout-out (which the producers said would happen) to the whole Paulo and Nikki storyline.
Comment #2 by PaulaMarch 10th, 2010 at 11:44 pmI loved this episode. I have had a love/hate relationship with Ben from the very beginning. The most important thing that struck me last night was that Ben did the right thing for the right reason - twice. Once on the island (when he could have shot Ilana and ran off to be with Locke) and also in the sideways world where he sacrificied his own plan to save Alex’s future. I didn’t realize how much I actually like Ben until I thought he was within minutes of dying… then I was totally hoping he would escape. I just can not picture this show ending without Ben in the finale… whether is is good or bad I don’t know, but I loved his character development last night. His confession to Ilana was very moving… and his reaction when she forgave him? Priceless.
I’ve decided that I’m going to stop counting answers up and worrying about every little detail that has a loose end. It’s going to be impossible for the producers to answer every single questions we have about every little detail over the last five seasons. I’m am just going to go along for the ride and savor the nine(?) episodes we have left. Once it’s all over, I’m going to buy the entire set on DVD and watch them all… back to back to back… marathon style. I can’t wait for that!
Comment #3 by ChristyMarch 11th, 2010 at 7:49 amI am having a hard time buying into Ben’s “redemption.” Not that I think he’s faking it or something - I am just not persuaded that he is even capable of redemption.
The guy orchestrated the mass murder of innocent men, women and children. He GASSED the Dharma initiative to death. That’s a little too Hitler-esque for my tastes. Then there are the myriad other murders the guy committed. I just can’t get a warm-fuzzy feeling for a guy just because he got all weepy, felt sorry for himself, and whined about being lonely.
And who is offering him redemption? Jacob’s bodyguard, who says “I’ll take you?” Didn’t Ben kill all those people in the “name of Jacob”? Wasn’t Jacob an accomplice in all Ben’s heinous-ness? I guess I have a problem with a God-like being who is into the whole mass murder thing.
But then, that’s probably why I still have trouble with the Old Testament.
Comment #4 by Juan Non JohnMarch 11th, 2010 at 8:27 amAnd speaking of redemptiom… even though Sideways Ben seems to be a better human being than Island Ben, what exactly was Sideways Ben’s “good choice”?
Blackmailing the principal for SOMETHING LESS than what he was ORIGINALLY going to blackmail him for. He still blackmailed the principal. And, it wasn’t as if the ONLY thing he asked for was a good letter of rec for Alex – he also made sure he got something out of the deal, too.
Again, nowhere near as evil as Island Ben, but hardly someone whose moral character we should laud or wish to emulate.
Comment #5 by Juan Non JohnMarch 11th, 2010 at 8:48 amLoved Miles’ new diamond collection.
LOVED Hurley’s line to Jack about Richard, “He’s crazy. And I KNOW crazy.”
Wanted to give Ben a hug at the end when he was on the beach apart from everyone else. How did this happen? I used to have nightmares about this guy!
And got chills at the end seeing Widmore in the sub.
Once again, LOVE this show.
Comment #6 by Normal Mormon WifeMarch 11th, 2010 at 12:32 pmFor a moment I thought Widmore was going to kill Ben on the beach at the end and my heart skipped a beat. I can’t believe I went from hating the man in Season 3 to praying that he doesn’t die. Michael Emerson is amazing. Ben is still flawed, well very, very flawed, but I (like NMW) still wanted to give him a hug on the beach. (Maybe it’s latent “Cipher in the Snow” memories…)
Only 9 more to go!? I can hardly wait.
Comment #7 by ZinkaMarch 11th, 2010 at 12:47 pmMaybe the parallel universe is not if the island blew up, but if Jacob never touched them?
Comment #8 by wbprawMarch 11th, 2010 at 6:11 pmwho says the parallel universe is ‘real’ in tv terms? Have we all just jumped to that conclusion? Maybe it is just demonstrating that these people are still themselves, still making similar choices, but able to overcome the issues wherein they find themselves lost?
Comment #9 by AmyMarch 12th, 2010 at 9:45 am