Father figure is a key element on Lost

[chani]

I did enjoy "Dr Linus" despite a certain lack of subtlety here and there. The Father figure has been a recurring theme on Lost, and that episode focused on it through Ben's journey. As usual, if you have not seen the episode and don't want to be spoiled by my review don't click on the LJ-cut!

The episode wasn't very subtle when making a point about Fate and its cruelty (the gift or curse that Richard talked about; the conversation between Lapidus and Ben "the island got you anyway") and having Alt!Ben teach his students abolut Napoleon on Elba island, but I can bear the weakest moments because the episode also had great moments and little details that made my day.

Parents usually start as gods and eventually disasppoint as soon as the children realise that they are only human beings.

Jacob was the ultimate father figure in the episode. Jacob The Father like God the Father.  Richard was his favoured and loyal child whom he gifted with eternal youth; Ben was his devoted childe on the island, ready to do anything for him (even kill his own biological father, Roger); and Ilana said that Jacob was her surrogate father. In the end they were all lost children in the episode because the father failed them, deserted them in one way or another. He let them down. He died before telling his plan to Richard which caused Richard to be desperate enough to ask for euthanisia; he left Ilana with ashes, on her own, and she had to make her own choices(like sparing Ben's life), not being sure whether she was right or wrong; he didn't care about Ben despite all the sacrifices Ben had made. Boo! By the way in semitc idioms (Arabic or Hebrew) "Ben" means "son of".
 
Oddly and ironically enough, it's Jack , the same Jack who had daddy issues the size of Texas who, suddenly, played the prodigal son in the episode. Jacob had been watching him since he was a boy, like a father would do. and it was enough for Jack to have faith in Jacob's power, to believe that the dynamite wouldn't work because Jacob had a plan for him...in other words he relied on Jacob-ine Providence!

It's funny to think that Jacob's nemesis, The Man in Black, had been using the guise of Christian Shepard, Jack's real father, for a while...


In the Alt!verse Ben was a devoted son to his biological father, Roger, but a frustrated teacher. The principal was misusing him (partly out of nastiness, or so it seemed) in detention while Ben would have liked to dedicate himself to the History club. So Ben considered Reynolds as a failed head, and when he found out about the inappropriate affair the Principal had with the school nurse and their using school's rooms to do it, Alt!Ben was convinced that it was right to commit a putsch or rather a metaphorical parricide.

And there was Alex Rousseau. Alt!Alex was Alt!Ben's brightest student, the teacher's pet...his surrogate child. She wanted to go to Yale and she needed a recommendation letter by principal Reynolds.

The climax of the episode happened when Ben had to face a dilemma. He had gotten several emails that proved the affair between the principal and the nurse and their use of school places for sexual intercourse so he went and blackmailed Reynolds: He would show the school board and Reynolds' wife the emails in question unless Reynolds would resign and recommend Ben Linus as his replacement. Reynolds loked defeated...then he pointed Ben towards his computer's screen to show him another email he had just received. Alex Rousseau was asking him to write the famous recommendation she needed. Then, merciless like a god, he told Ben that it was his choice: either his own ambition to be in charge, khalife à la place du khalife,  or his beloved Alex' future.

First I thought there was a plothole here, or a self-indulgent writing. I mean, I know that they needed to put Ben in those shoes, to make him choose between his own sake (or the island's sake, in this case the school is the metaphorical island) and Alex, but the way they did it doesn't make any sense. Ben had blackmail material, why didn't he just use it to force Reynolds into writing the bloody recommendation for Alex as well as forcing him into the resignation and recomending Ben for the job?!!!!

Now that I have thought about it, perhaps it wasn't a plothole per se but a poetic licence meant to carry on the recurirng theme of the game. When you watch the scene it sounded as if it was too late for Ben to add any further demand. He had already called it. It was Reynolds' turn to play, to put his cards on the table. 

This lead to the one of the most touching moments we have ever seen on Lost. The scene in which Alt!Ben entered the empty office of the Principal was a red herring. Reynolds was still in charge. Ben had chosen Alex and when she talked to him, he denied having anything to do with the wonderful recommendation that the Principal wrote for her. He was proud and happy watching her leave, knowing that she would have the future that she deserved. I was all teary in front of the screen.

In the meantime(sort of), on the island, Ben was forced by Ilana to dig his own grave (something he had metaphorically been doing for a while!)on the beach. Not!Locke showed up and told Ben that he needed him. He also released Ben from his cuffs and told him that he would have to be ready and wouldn't have to hesitate because Ilana would not. So Ben ran, chased by Ilana, and found the weapon that Not!locke had left for him in the jungle. They took aim at each other––which echoed the scene between Reynolds and Alt! Ben––but Ilana lowered her gun, and Ben decided to explain himself. It sounded like a moment of honesty (Ben the liar, Ben the trickster that would put Nixon to shame, already had one when making Locke's eulogy). A crying Ben told Ilana that he understood her grief because he had seen his daughter die in front of him; he mentioned the fact that he had sacrificed everything to the island, including his daughter whom he could have said, but that eventually Jacob still didn't love him so he killed him. He had nothing left and knew that the only thing that has really mattered, that is Alex, was already gone...or in other words: LOST! 

Ilana did hesitated, she was moved and when she asked ben what he wanted (echoing again what Reynolds asked Alt!Ben), he replied:" let me leave"; honesty reached its peak as she asked him where he would go and he answered "Locke, because he'll have me". It was again touching. Ben was a little boy who would follow anyone who would have him. When Ilana said "I'll have you" he made a choice, that wasn't quite the same that his counterpart in the altverse did, but it looked like he gave up being in charge again. 

For a long time, Ben, whose father mistreated because he had caused his mother's death when he was born, had wanted to be accepted and loved, mistaking his needs for desires to be in charge, to be chosen by the Others and Jacob and the island. Ben's journey isn't that different than Locke's in the end of the day. 

In "Dr Linus", Alt!Ben chose Alex's future as a father would do; he stopped being a son to his father, who had such great expectations for him, to take on being a father figure himself. On the island Ben stopped being a son desperate for a loving father, desperate enough to join Not!Locke's team. He chose to stay with Ilana, Sun, Lapidus, Miles...He acknowledged what Alex meant to him and decided to live with his mistakes; he sort of grew up at least. 

Little details I loved:

Alt!Ben taking care of his father, changing his oxygene bottle whereas Ben caused Roger's death on the island (and mass murdered the Dharma folks) with poisonous gas.

Alt!Locke suggesting that Ben should become Principal in the place of the current head! It was chilling and echoed Not!Locke talking Ben into killing Jacob while foreshadowing Not!Locke's offer at the end of the episode: replacing Jacob as the protector of the island.

Dynamite and Doctor Artz being featured in the same episode!

Miles using his ability, found the diamonds that Nicki and Paulo fought for and died for5I wonder if he will ever tell the others that they buried Nicky and Paulo alive!). By the way in "Exposé", Nicky used her charms on Artz which could be a parallel with Alt!Ben talking Alt!Artz into hacking the Principle's emails. Poor Artz always a tool, always a loser!

Not!Locke's magic matching Jacob's miracle. The latter had prevented the dynamite from being activated or so Jack thought, the former freed Ben from his "chains". The symetry is saved and each big player used a trick of his own.

The ending scene revealing the submarine with Widmore and his team in it!

Sadly, still no Desmond! 

 

Comments

[frenchani.livejournal.com]

Yep old Ben was the master manipulator and the first to push Locke towards parricide when asking him to kill Cooper aka The Man from Tallahassee!

Wow you managed to watch Lost in spite of all the work in the new house!

;- )

[sister-luck.livejournal.com]

Watching Lost is our weekly treat. But I must confess that the seasons have become a bit of a blur...