March 9, 2010

What did you think of 'Dr. Linus?'


Ben strikes again.

What are your thoughts on Lost's seventh episode?

Post your thoughts in comments.

5 comments:

Joyce Saenz Harris said...

So...If Jacob touches you, you cannot kill yourself? But someone else can kill you? But not another person whom Jacob has touched? So that's maybe why Charles Widmore and Ben Linus couldn't kill each other?

But... does that also explain why Richard Alpert seems to be immortal? He said Jacob had given him a gift that was really a curse. Do our Losties who are "candidates" have that same gift/curse? Does that explain why Sayid seemingly rose from the dead, too?

Richard doesn't seem to have aged in the past 50 or so years [or presumably much longer]. But if Widmore also was touched by Jacob and given some form of immortality, then Jacob's not exactly fair, because Widmore certainly has aged.

And speaking of Widmore -- there's his submarine passing by the beach camp! Where is he going? Is he on Jacob's side, or on UnLocke's? Who else might be on the sub? Eloise Hawking, maybe?

Meanwhile, back in alt-LA, Dr. Linus does, indeed, hang out on campus with Dr. Arzt as well as with John Locke. He wanted the principal's job, but gave it up so his best student -- Alex Rousseau -- could get a commendation letter from the principal for her dream school, Yale. Alex is living with her mom, btw, so maybe we'll see Danielle sometime in Sideways World.

And Ben is living with his dad, Roger Linus, who is in frail health and on an oxygen tank. Ben takes care of him, and they seem to have a good relationship. Yes, at one time they did live on the Island, and Roger was with Dharma -- but he left long ago, and he still regrets it, thinking Ben might have had a better life if only they'd stayed.

Overall, this ep left me thinking that maybe even bad old Ben Linus can be redeemed. His alt-life is better in some ways -- he, like Locke, no longer has daddy issues -- and he is capable of giving up his ambition in order to help someone else.

And on the Island, Ben has come to terms with his failings and begged Ilana's pardon for killing Jacob. Her willingness to forgive him has kept him from following UnLocke -- even though UnLocke tempted Ben by offering him the only job he ever really wanted: Big boss of the Island, ruler in Jacob's stead.

Stella said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Stella said...

Wow, that was a pretty powerful episode, I thought. The scene between Locke and Ilana was quite moving. Great acting by Michael Emerson!

Overall, I found myself really feeling for the characters tonight: Ben, Ilana and Richard.

I also liked the parallels between Ben's life on the island and in sideways world. In both cases, he had a choice. He chose badly on the island and lost his daughter. But in the alt-world, he did good by helping Alex the student.

I'm still not sure what to make of Jacob versus Fake Locke...I've been so out of touch these past couple of weeks and am way behind in reading any commentary. So, I'll have to get caught up to understand what's going on or at least what people think is going on.

Joyce Saenz Harris said...

Thoughts from Nancy Churnin (she's having some problems posting):

What this episode seems to make clear is that we are all being tested by Jacob. A key line was the comment made to Ben: Jacob kept hoping he was wrong about you until the last minute. Jacob was not worried so much about whether he would live or die but whether Ben would give in to his dark side, his anger, and kill him. It is like the scene in Genesis where Cain shares his anger against Abel with God and God does not stop him. It is Cain's choice about whether to do the right or wrong thing.

But the parallel universe shows that Ben is capable of making the right choice, too. The parallel universe is VERY parallel, with the school being the equivalent of an island, the principal being Jacob, Ben likening himself to Napoleon on Elba, Ben tempted "for the sake of the island -- the school" to use information that would "save" the school and give him leadership.

But it would be at the cost of Alex (his daughter on the island). He makes the right decision at the school, he puts Alex' welfare first. He should perhaps have put Alex first on the island as well. But he does confess on the island and show that he is someone who is teetering on good vs. evil. His plaintive cry that no one else but Locke (the devil) would have him is compelling.

The woman who has been appointed the protector of the "candidates" overcomes her grief to give him a chance. Which is exactly what I believe Jacob would have done. Jacob wants his people to make the right choice. But they have to make the choice. They have to have a choice to make.

That's also why Jack doesn't force Richard to come with him. He gives him a choice, very much in the spirit of Jacob. As for Sayid, he clearly made his choice and went over to the dark side. I don't think there is any return for him. And one more thought. The temple guy that Sayid killed -- he made the wrong choice in our parallel universe, he was given a second chance on the island and on the island he seemed to be making good choices. Interesting that he couldn't kill Sayid even though he wanted to -- he asked Jack to give Sayid the poison pill.

There is a fascinating structure being set up by who can kill and who can't (going back to "Locke" being unable to kill Jacob and pushing Linus to do it). So who can kill, and who can't kill, and why? An interesting topic to explore!

Joyce Saenz Harris said...

In response to what Nancy said, above:

Not to get all biblical again, but I think that Nancy's onto something.

Jacob's insistence on choice reminds me of the story of Cain and Abel. Cain killed his brother -- but then was told that he had the God-given gift of free will, that he could choose to rule over sin.

In Hebrew, the word for this ability to choose is timshel, or "thou mayest." BTW, Sawyer should recognize this idea because his favorite author, John Steinbeck, used the concept of timshel in his novel "East of Eden." (I wonder if perhaps we'll see Sawyer reading that book in his flash-sideways?)

This is, as Richard said, a gift and yet a curse in some ways. When you can choose to do either right or wrong, you cannot blame God for the choices you make.

As Nancy said: "Jacob wants his people to make the right choice. But they have to make the choice. They have to have a choice to make."

This idea, to me, really does identify Jacob as the God of the Island and Man in Black as the tempter of mankind, Satan.