Lost has a bad habit of going long periods of time without addressing certain characters, so that when we finally catch up with them, we've almost forgotten what the last thing they did was. For the past 3 seasons, it seemed like we couldn't go 5 minutes without getting an update on what was happening with Ben Linus, but thus far in the sixth season he really hasn't done much other than follow others around looking scared and confused.
This week's episode, while maintaining his scared and confused demeanor, at least allowed us a glimpse at what was going through Ben's head. Apparently killing Jacob at the end of last season has turned him from a badass conniving mastermind into a whimpering little girl who always does what he's told.
The side-flashes showed us Ben's life as a high school teacher (as was indicated by the earlier Locke-centric episode). Despite having a doctorate in Modern European History, Ben finds himself running detention sessions instead of his true passion, the history club. His best friend is Leslie Arzt (the guy who was blown up by dynamite in season 1), and the principal of his school is the whiny reporter who was trapped on the plane with John McClane's wife in Die Hard 2 - and he's just as much of a dick this time around. Ben wears ridiculous little glasses and lives with his ailing father. Apparently in this timeline they still went to the Island (as Ben's dad seems to regret having left, thinking that they would have had a much better life if they had stayed there), and Alex Rousseau is a student in Ben's history club.
Substitute Teacher Locke suggests to Ben that Ben should replace the principal, and Ben starts plotting. Alex mentions that she overheard the principal and the school nurse getting it on in the nurse's office one day, and Ben enlists Arzt (who apparently moonlights as a hacker) to gain access to the nurse's email account in order to find proof of the affair. However, when Ben confronts the principal and tries to blackmail him into giving up his position, the principal shows Ben an email from Alex (which was displayed in an email program that looked like it was from 1993) asking for a recommendation letter to Yale. The principal is a Yale grad, and Alex wants to go to Yale, but she needs the recommendation letter. The principal states that he will torch Alex's aspirations if Ben proceeds with his blackmail plan. Ben backs off and allows Alex to get what she wants.
In the present, Ben, looking scared and confused, meets up with Ilana, Miles, Sun and Frank. Ilana gives Jacob's ashes to Miles, and asks him to tell her how Jacob died. Miles reveals that Ben killed Jacob, and Ilana says that Jacob was the closest thing she ever had to a father. Ben looks scared and confused. The group heads to the beach where the Oceanic survivors had made their camp, and once there, Ilana reveals that she was instructed to protect someone with the last name Kwan, because they are candidates to replace Jacob - she just doesn't know if it's Jin or Sun. She tells Sun that there are 6 candidates left.
Hurley wakes up from a dream about cheese curds (how the hell has he stayed so fat during all this time on the island?), and tries to stall Jack from going back to the temple. Richard appears, having freshly applied his eyeliner, and tells them he will lead them to the temple.
Back on the beach, Frank reveals that he was supposed to have been piloting Oceanic 815, but he overslept. Ben comments that the Island got him in the end, regardless of how he got there. Ilana takes Ben to the graveyard, chains him to a tree, and instructs him to dig his own grave using a bamboo shoot. Ben looks scared and confused, and tries to bribe Miles into helping him, but Miles has apparently been chatting with the dead people in the graveyard, as he asks Ben why he would want Ben's money when there is $8 million in diamonds buried with two of the bodies (oh yeah, forgot about that one). Ben claims that Jacob didn't care that he killed him, and Miles tells him that right up until the second Ben plunged the knife into his heart, Jacob was hoping he was wrong about Ben.
As they walk, Hurley asks Richard why he doesn't age. Of course Richard can't give a straight answer (this is Lost, after all); he merely says that Jacob gave him a gift. They arrive at the Black Rock instead of the temple, and Richard tells Jack that everyone at the temple is dead. Richard mentions that he's been at the Black Rock before (somewhat confirming the theory that Richard came to the Island on the ship), and that this is the first time in all the years he's been on the Island that he's come back. He wants to kill himself, as he feels that now that Jacob is dead, his life has been wasted. However, because Jacob touched him (ew), he can't kill himself. Jack lights a stick of dynamite for Richard, but then sits down to chat. Jack tells Richard about the lighthouse, and says that he doesn't think he'll die either, since Jacob apparently had big plans for him. Of course, the dynamite doesn't explode.
Back at the beach, Evil Locke shows up (he does the best smug smile I've ever seen) and releases Ben, telling him to come to the Hydra Station on the other island. He needs someone to be in charge of the Island when he and his group leave, and he wants Ben to be that person. Ben escapes, Ilana chases him, and they have a showdown. Ben tells Ilana that he allowed Alex to die, choosing the Island over his "daughter," because he thought it was what Jacob wanted and he was afraid of losing his power. He killed Jacob because he realized that Jacob didn't care about any of that, and he had sacrificed Alex for nothing. He says he's going to Locke because "he's the only one who will have me," but Ilana says she'll have him (aw). They return to the beach, where Miles is inspecting his diamonds. Richard, Hurley and Jack arrive at the beach, and the episode ends with a submarine periscope spying on them from out in the water, with Charles Widmore aboard.
Overall, it was a pretty decent episode, although I'm not completely sold on the direction Ben's character is going. As I said, he used to be this amazing mastermind, and everything he did was part of some diabolical plot, but lately he just follows orders, whether they be from Ilana, Evil Locke, or whoever else he happens to be with at the moment. Ben used to be one of my favourite characters on this show, but this new Wimpy Ben is somewhat aggravating. On the other hand, I do understand that he is essentially a dictator who has lost all of his power, and is now just struggling to survive amidst groups of people who have every reason to hate him. This might just be the natural progression for his character.
On a final note, I could have done without the submarine bit at the end. Up until the periscope appeared, the ending of the episode was very reminiscent of the first season, in which Hurley would listen to music while we got a glimpse of what various people were up to. Lately, it seems that the writers are intent on ending every episode with some shocking twist moment, and they really need to stop doing that soon, because they're fast running out of time to wrap things up.
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