Lost: He's Our You
Well really there wasn’t much to say for a bulk of the episode…
…but I really appreciated getting caught up with Sayid and his back story.
It was funny to see Ben as an actual honest, helpful person. However, he was definitely bringing those sandwiches to Sayid in hopes of getting a membership to the Hostile club. So, really, Ben was just up to his usual acting with his best interests in mind.
“A 12-year-old Benjamin Linus just brought me a chicken sandwich. How do you think I’m doing?” Hysterical. Once again the writers hook up their dear audience with some pure Lost-fanatic humor. I think we get about one-per-episode, huh?
I’m hoping that the openness of the Sawyer/Juliette thing will fire up a Jack/Kate relationship and we can just stop worrying about these romances. I want Jin and Sun to reunite.
Radzinsky threatened to call “Anne Arbour”? Is that what he said when Horace asked for more time to decide? What is that?
Ilana, the “bounty hunter,” could very well be hired by Widmore (not the family in Guam). I figured Widmore knew that Sayid would end up back on the island and hoped that Sayid would murder Ben. All this talk about Sayid being a killer, I thought for sure that’s what would have been (at least) attempted.
Holy shit and then he did do it!!!
Did Ben instantly die in the present time now?! Did the Hostiles find the body and revive Ben?
Comments
I don’t think young or old Ben will die here. My money’s on that he HAS TO survive the gunshot because he cannot die since he did not die.
Banned Bill said:I don’t think young or old Ben will die here. My money’s on that he HAS TO survive the gunshot because he cannot die since he did not die.
Seriously, this better happen. The last thing we need is for this show to start getting tainted by time paradox bullshit. Dude was alive in 2004 (and beyond). Dude best not have died in 1977.
Lost? You mean that thing they sandwich around commercials for In The Motherhood?
So Sayid shoots Little Benji in the heart. I think the entire universe explodes now in a shower of sparks and contradictions.
It was nice to see the frantic pace slow down a little to a more traditional character-focused episode, and I liked filling in the pre-Ajira Air bits, but I don’t feel like we got a firm handle on what makes Sayid’s darker instincts tick. Why does he tend towards violence? Is it just an instinct or hard-wired behavior? I don’t know if we got a good answer with all the time we spent on him.
Stray observations:
• Kate’s not… too… bright, is she? Everyone else figured out the Sawliet romance eons before her rusty brainmeats started to tiptoe around it. I did like Juliet’s little expression of reilef, but I can’t help think it’s her way of moving chess pieces carefully around the board.
• Something chilling about a bunch of white intellectuals sitting around and casually deciding to execute a brown-skinned stranger that makes them feel nervous about their security.
• Actually, everything about the Dharma employees unsettles me. There’s a strong Angry Nerd vibe pulsating underneath it all.
• I’m assuming “Ann Arbor” refers to a Dharma home office in Michigan. Off-site bosses tend to avoid nuance, so I guess they’d just order the Hostile in question executed regardless to keep operations running smoothly.
• Deadwood’s wonderful William Sanderson in a brief role as a nutcase geek in a tent. He didn’t do much, but he was creepy fun.
• Ben can’t die, really. If the younger Ben dies without ripping the entirety of reality asunder, it means our 1977 castaways are permanently cut off from the ones in 2007. Forever. A world where Ben still lives cannot be resolved with a world where he does not.
If young Ben DOES die, this could be one of the most interesting episodes ever. But I’ll give that about a 1% chance of happening, in which case I feel like this episode was basically pointless. Really the only way it could be somewhat interesting is if Sayid shooting Ben is shown to be the single event that shaped who Ben Linus eventually became.
I’m drunkish and it’s hard to keep track of things I want to respond to. So gonna read and respond one at a time:
- Paris, I love that you live-blog these things. I love anything live-blogged (except for the term “live blog”) but especially my friends live blogging things.
- yes, the Anne Arbor thing was interesting, but I have no theories.
- Ben definitely did not die then or now. I don’t think Faraday was bullshitting. Time isn’t being changed. The timeline that is happening now happened then. That is to say, when the show started in 200whatever, if you had traced the timeline back, they’d have still been there in the 70’s. So Ben survives. Everything that has happened was supposed to happen cause it did happen. That’s how time travel works in these sorts of things. Like Back to the Future (which breaks several of the sci-fi time travel rules, but still): it’s Clara Gorge before they even meet Clara.
- Damnit, Bill beat me. Again. I hate you, Bill.
- Justin, you should be watching it with us and eating food. Regardless, think of how sweet Lost will be when you have DVR in your new place!
- Yes, I love the return to the character-based episode with flashbacks n’ whatnot. I remarked on it while watching that it was like the first two seasons.
- Everyone seems to suspect more of Juliet than I do, but really, I think it’s just the way the actress plays it. She’s like that in everything. I don’t think she knows anything special or there’s going to be any huge “SHE’S KNOWN THE WHOLE TIME!” reveals.
- By “Deadwood’s wonderful William Sanderson” I’m assuming/hoping you actually meant to type “J.F. Sebastian from Blade Runner” cause whatever that guy has done since could not possibly compare to “Not really. I MAKE friends. They’re toys. My friends are toys. I make them. It’s a hobby. I’m a genetic designer.”
9. I have a feeling that each successive episode ‘till the explosive end of the season will feature the back story of how each Losty made the decision to get on the plane (e.g., explaining Hurley carrying what is obviously Charlie’s guitar, or what made Kate change her mind).
John said:9. I have a feeling that each successive episode ‘till the explosive end of the season will feature the back story of how each Losty made the decision to get on the plane (e.g., explaining Hurley carrying what is obviously Charlie’s guitar, or what made Kate change her mind).
I look forward to the same thing.
About time not being changed. I read somewhere that the Dharma village looked peculiarly fucked up when Sun and Lapidus saw it last week. This writer expected the place to be better kept.
I’m just glad they’re back to doing the character driven back stories and have put the sci fi hooey back on a low hum rather than the driving narrative device.
When Desmond, Faraday, Locke, and Alpert are all missing (and Hurley’s used for like 2 seconds) I apparently end up very bored.
Ben promised Sayid a chance to get revenge upon the man who murdered Locke… and, weirdly enough, he was right.
I think it’s more interesting, at least from a character perspective, for L’il Benji to pull through. He was traumatized enough already, but a child getting a gunshot wound to the chest from someone he was starting to trust… well, that’s just gonna scramble his brains. And gives him good reason to treat all those Oceanic survivors with coldness and aloof distrust. Plus, Older Ben has proven to be the Island’s biggest punching bag and always bounces back.
Yeah, John, I need to come over one night and watch. Especially for the food. And while Sanderson IS awesome as the geneticist from Blade Runner, his pathetic little weasel-faced hotelier on Deadwood is even MORE awesome.
He’s probably not dead, since in 2004 he’s alive. The bigger question is HOW he survives.
Does the island heal him? Does Richard heal him?
Or, this is my personal favorite theory: You know how older Ben refuses to let Juliet leave the island? It’s because she has to go back to save young Ben!
And about Ann Arbor, isn’t that where Dharma was headquartered?
Wasn’t it in Portland where the headquarters were? Or an off-shoot?
no, that’s just where they told juliet she was going.
Was Portland where Mittelos Bioscence was?
Reggie said:My assumption for next week is that someone will come back to camp saying, “The escaped prisoner shot this little boy!” and Janitor Jack won’t know it’s young Ben and will want to reveal his medical skills to save him. Because the bullet probably is causing spinal danger. Then if he finds out it’s Ben, there will probably be a philosophical debate about whether or not it’s worth bothering to try saving him because they know he won’t die.He’s probably not dead, since in 2004 he’s alive. The bigger question is HOW he survives.
Does the island heal him? Does Richard heal him?
Or, this is my personal favorite theory: You know how older Ben refuses to let Juliet leave the island? It’s because she has to go back to save young Ben!
Banned Bill said:i will just also post here that the press release for next week’s episode already say this is wrongReggie said:He’s probably not dead, since in 2004 he’s alive. The bigger question is HOW he survives.
Does the island heal him? Does Richard heal him?
Or, this is my personal favorite theory: You know how older Ben refuses to let Juliet leave the island? It’s because she has to go back to save young Ben!
My assumption for next week is that someone will come back to camp saying, “The escaped prisoner shot this little boy!” and Janitor Jack won’t know it’s young Ben and will want to reveal his medical skills to save him. Because the bullet probably is causing spinal danger. Then if he finds out it’s Ben, there will probably be a philosophical debate about whether or not it’s worth bothering to try saving him because they know he won’t die.
spoiler alert, obviously: this is the release
I am so bad at not clicking things that say “spoiler alert” next to them.