I gotta admit, I had this week’s episode of LOST pretty much pegged.
This is going to contain spoilers, so you’ll have to click through to see the rest of this…
First off, about the only thing I didn’t call was that Others were going to get Ben. But once Richard said that if they took him he’d be one of them forever, everything clicked. I was absolutely right about the grand scheme — all of this had already occurred in the past. What happened, happened. Ben was always meant to be shot and end up in the hands of the Others at that age. Whatever happens to young Ben next week is what will make him who he is in the future, and that’s how it was always supposed to happen. Obviously he’s going to go through something pretty rough in that temple — but what? What will take away his innocence, make him forget everything, and make him forever one of the Others? It’s going to be a very long week of waiting… It looks, judging by the previews, as though next week might be the end of the Ben storyline — that old Ben is going to have to answer for everything he’s done. I hope not, though. Ben is my favorite character, and I want him to play an important role in the final season. If he’s done — and even if he isn’t — I think there might be some serious answers coming next week. I think we might see some hints as to why Widmore and Ben are at each other’s throats — Richard did mention offhand that “Charles” was their leader, and I only know one person with that name who fits. Widmore is not going to appreciate Richard going behind his back and helping Ben — and in the process doing something that puts Ben on track to usurp Widmore’s position.
Roger Linus came across as much more sympathetic than he was before. I had assumed he was just a hopeless drunk who hated his son and blamed him for Emily’s death, and I figured he’d be the big reason Ben turned out bad. I guess getting his kid shot like that might get a man to thinking about what’s really important in life, huh? But it’s too late, even if Roger mends his ways and starts behaving — the Others have Ben now and he won’t be an innocent little kid anymore when he comes home, even if he looks like it. I hope we get to see something of post-Temple young Ben acting like the older version. That would be a lot of fun to watch.
As to the Kate flashback storyline, none of that surprised me. It was well done and well played by Evangeline Lily, and I enjoyed it, but really, there were no big reveals in that.
One last thing. . . I found it amusing that Sterling Beaumon got the first guest star credit, yet he didn’t really DO anything in the episode except play dead. Hmm, I think I could hold down that job.