Lost Thoughts: S6 E7

Dr. Linus

Another letdown.

I didn't completely hate the episode, but I wouldn't rate it any higher than a 7 out of 10. In fact I think the only good episode so far this season has been the first one. "Lighthouse" and "Substitute" were okay. But these flash-sideways things are becomming more and more ridiculous, and this episode was more character development than anything else. Which is great, but it's a little too late in the game for that.

That being said, at least it focused on Ben's character, and not someone stupid. (Like Kate, Claire, Sun, or basically any of the women on the show). It was amazing how Ben Linus basically transformed from super villian to likeable good guy in just one episode. Amazing acting job by Michael Emerson. As always. But yet again, those dumb sideways flashes were distracting and time-consuming and completely irrelevant.

Timeline B

90% of the flash-sideways was a nostalgic waste of time. We saw a lot of Arzt and Alex, and a little of Roger Linus and a cameo by Locke. Ben spent the episode trying to bring down the corrupt principal and take his job. He almost succeeded, but instead sacrified the job promotion for Alex's well-being. Awwwww.

There were a few nuggets of worthwhile information in the Sideways, but not many. The key was the conversation between Ben and his dad.

Ben says he feels like a loser and wishes he could have made something of himself. Roger says that's why he joined the damn Dharma Initiative and went to "that island." Then he says "Who knows what you could have become if we'd stayed?"

That was the first reference to the island in Timeline B, and confirmed what we already though: that the Jughead explosion in 1977 is what caused the island to sink. My question then, would be this: shouldn't anyone who was on the island in 1977 be dead? Wasn't Ben on the island at the time of the explosion??? Wasn't he in the Others' camp recovering from a bullet wound? Also, shouldn't Roger Linus be dead? Or is one of the many changes in Timeline B include that the Linuses left the island earlier than they did in the original timeline?

Here's another question: In Timeline B, are Jacob and the Enemy dead? Did they die in the explosion? Probably not, but possibly. Ehh who knows.

The point is, flash-sideways = stupid and let's move on.

Ben, Ilana and the Beach

Ilana finds out from Miles that Ben killed Jacob, and she says that he (Jacob) was like a father to her. Then she makes Ben dig his own grave, which he does for about 45 minutes of this episode. You can tell Ben isn't excited about dying, and at one point The Monster shows up and basically tempts Ben to kill Ilana, offering him "leadership of the island." He knows what to tempt Ben with (power), and almost succeeds in killing Ilana. But Ben has a sudden change of heart, and opens up to Ilana about Alex's death and his sad, miserable life.

How heartbreaking was it when Ben said he would go with Locke, because "he's the only one who will take me." Seriously, Michael Emerson is the best. I was near tears. Ilana allows Ben to live and stay with the good guys, and the parallels between Locke as the devil and Jacob as God continue to become more and more aparent.

While Ben was digging, Ilana spoke briefly to Sun and made a pretty important statement. There are only 6 candidates still alive. Who are they, you ask?

Well, for sure Jack, Hurley, Sawyer, and Kwon (Sun, Jin, or both?). Presumably, the other two are Kate and Sayid, but now that Sayid is 'claimed,' does he count? Is it possible that Ben, Richard, Miles, Frank, Widmore, or anyone else could be the 6th candidate? Maaybe. But I think it's Sayid.

Here's a question that's killing me: Why doesn't Sun ditch the beach and go look for Jin? She left her daughter in Korea and rode a crashing plane just to find Jin, and know that she's on the same island as him, she's just gonna kick back on the beach and wait for him to find her? Really Sun?

Meanwhile, Miles spent the beach time digging up graves and stealing stolen diamonds from Nikki and Paulo. Whilst Frank continues to strut around with his dumb jokes and witty banter. I just have a nagging feeling that both of those dudes are just a few episodes away from sudden death. Especially if they aren't candidates. I'll be sad if Miles dies, and neutral if Frank does.

The pretty cool clifhanger of this episode was seeing Charles Widmore's sub about to beach itself on the island. The obvious question is: how did Widmore find the island, after 30 years of trying? Did Eloise help? Is anyone else noteworthy in the sub with him? Eloise? Des? Penny? I sure as heck hope Desmond is, but unfortunately, I don't think he is.

A few episodes ago, Jacob mentioned bringing someone to the island. Was it Charles? Is Widmore really a game-changer at this point? He's not a candidate, and his money won't help them defeat Flocke. What good is he? Especially now that Jacob is dead and the Others don't really exist, and Ben has turned and become a good guy, what is Widmore really going to accomplish? Is he just going to join the good guys and fight Flocke? I don't see him getting along to well with the Beach crew.

Richard, Jack, and Hugo

Jack and Hurley encounter Richard, who lies to them and leads them to the Black Rock. He confirms that he was once a slave on the ship, something we already knew, but he made it even more clear. Then he explains one of the show's biggest mysteries: why he doesn't age.

Answer: because Jacob touched him.

But wait a minute ... Jacob also touched Jack, Kate, Hugo, Sawyer, both Kwons and Sayid. Are they ageless, and immune to self-inflicted deaths?

Remember when Michael was trying to kill himself in Season 4, but couldn't? Is this the exact same situation? Ergo, Michael was touched by Jacob? Obviously, the dynamite experiement proved that Jack (and anyone else Jacob touched, presumably) can't end their own life. This way, whichever candidate stays alive and becomes the new Jacob will live forever on the island.

But my question is, how is it that Jacob and the Enemy are ageless? Who touched them? Or are they really the embodiments of higher powers, like God and Satan or something like that?

I have this nagging feeling that they are brothers though.

Anyway, Richard failed to die, and has really become a sad figure of hopelessness after years of being the bad-ass mystery man. The three of them walked back to the beach and joined forces with the rest of the good guys.

I don't know about you, but I dont think Jack is going to take orders from Ilana very easily, even though she clearly knows what's going on, and he has no idea. Is anyone going to fill Sun in that they were in the 1977 for the past few weeks? Doesn't that seem important?

Bah. too much going on. next week episode is called RECON.

My guess is it's about Sawyer. Partly because he hasn't had an episode yet, and partly because the word 'Con" is in the title. I think Flocke will use him to spy on the beach, and hopefully, if we're lucky, Jin will tag along, find Sun, and we'll have the happy reunion. In his flash sideways, I can only speculate what crazy thing we'll learn about Sawyer.

His parents are still alive. He's married to Charlotte. He works for the FBI and arrests con-men for a living. Who knows. All I know is that I really, really, really want to see Juliet in his flashsideways. And I want to hear her say that line about coffee and going dutch. Then we finally have a link between the Timelines.

posting this at 3:40 pm, pay no attention to whatever time the timestamp says