LOST: Dr. Linus

Top 10 Reasons Why I’d Happily Share the Teachers’ Lounge with Dr. Linus

1. He understands why the East India Company is so important (and likely would share that info with Charles Widmore or Richard Alpert in this or another timeline).

2. He cleans up after himself, and sometimes others.

3. He’s good to his dad.

4. He has his priorities straight, which makes him far less of a loser than he believes.

5. He knows how to get people to do his dirty work for him, yet…

6. …he’s a team player willing to give up his parking space to a helpful colleague.

7. He understands how to make a successful power play but doesn’t live for power.

8. He cares about his students and is willing to put their welfare before his own.

9. He’s allowed a cosmic do-over and gets it right.

10. He truly is one of the good guys.

(not to mention he and I are both “Dr.”s who studied history—and who knew I’d be proud to claim common ground with Dr. Linus?!)

Wow—I never thought I’d write those words about Ben Linus, much less nominate him for Teacher of the Year. Lost has a tendency to do that to people, including me—leading us down one path into the jungle only to light a torch guiding us back to the beach with a whole new outlook on life.

As a bonus, even in the flashsideways, Locke and Ben are interconnected in ever-shifting mind games of power one-upsmanship. In the teachers’ lounge, Locke rolls in long enough to encourage Ben to take over the Principal’s job. On the island, fLocke offers Ben his one-time dream job—king of the island. (ABC really needs to consider Terry O’Quinn’s idea for a new series starring the dramedy duo of Linus/Locke a bit more seriously. I’d tune in just to see their interplay in any timeline.)

I won’t get into all the ironic moments between Ben and Roger, no longer a workman, or Ben and Alex, or Ben and Locke/FLocke, but I loved them all and took notes for future books. I’m still digging, quite literally this week, references to Nikki and Paulo, their diamonds, Sawyer’s porn stash, and Ben’s promised payoff. But the best was saved for the last few moments of the episode:

Redemption!!!

If Ben can be redeemed (by Ilana, disciple of Jacob), then anyone can. Ben’s expression as he follows Ilana back to the beach is exquisite: the shock of forgiveness given so freely and simply, the opportunity to make a choice (yay free will!), the realization that, despite all he’s done (or hasn’t done), he’s still wanted by something other than Evil Incarnate. I am one happy theme lover after last night’s episode.

This emotionally powerful scene was followed by Reunion!! Once again, Sun is reunited with long-lost castaways at the beach camp. Did you notice that the music that accompanied the return home of the Oceanic 6 also reverberated throughout this scene, causing yet another resonance between a Season 6 episode and one from an earlier season? The 3 Rs of this episode: redemption, reunion, resonance.

Plus, in sidestories on the other side of the island…

• Score one for everyone who figured out Richard came to the island chained in the Black Rock.

• In a “Touched by a Jacob” moment, Jack becomes a Man of Faith—OK, backed up by some pretty good evidence that Richard can’t easily die—during a game of chicken with a lighted fuse. The people Jacob touches can’t die by their own hand. So…Richard can’t blow himself up (which means Locke wouldn’t have been able to commit suicide without deus ex machina Ben), so Jack also can’t kill himself by lighting the fuse to the dynamite and waiting for the big explosion. Hmmm. Could Jack light a fuse to blow up Richard while Richard lights a fuse to blow up Jack? Just asking. My head is starting to hurt…again. I hope Jack has a better grasp of the rules for Jacob’s game of Life.

• Best line of the night: Hurley to Jack after pleading for him to leave the Black Rock: “If you change your mind, I’ll be like a mile away.” Next best lines of the night: Everything Miles says to Ben—cue the snark!

• Widmore in the sub! With the beachgoers in his sights!


Even the previews layered hints about themes yet to be explored: “Bird on a Wire,” with lyrics like “I have tried in my way to be free,” provides a musical backdrop for Sawyer’s promise to get off the island. Sawyer and “Freedom Song”s—another combination just waiting to be revisited.

How many hours is it to next Tuesday?