Metadish, Fresh from NYC

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Although the title of this episode is decent, perhaps a more accurate title would have been “WHAT THE FUCK?”

As you know, it was a Ben episode, and as we all assumed, it was full of mind bending WTF (hence the new title) moments from beginning to end.

So Jacob is invisible (or not - continue reading) and lives in the house from Evil Dead 2.  The island’s “original” inhabitants are a race of immortals who probably came to the island to seek sanctuary from all the head chopping their people are known for.  Ben helped the hostiles kill all the people from the Dharma Initiative - including his own worthless father.  And Locke has been shot and left for dead (yeah, like he’s really gonna die) in a mass grave. 

And on top of all that we get to add another character to the list of people on Lost with SEVERE daddy issues.

Summary powers activate!

Storyline A/Flashback Summary: We start off with a woman (Emily) giving birth in what appears to be the island jungle with only her husband (Roger) to help.  She gives birth but something goes wrong and she’s bleeding badly.  Roger carries her as she holds the baby through the jungle until they reach… a highway.  WTF?  A sign in in the background tells us we’re somewhere near Portland, Oregon (where Juliet went to start her new job).  A car stops and the driver offers to drive them to the hospital.  After Roger puts Emily in the backseat she tells him to name the baby Benjamin and then dies.

FLASHFORWARD!  We are at the Others camp.  Richard enters Ben’s tent and sees Ben playing with a wooden doll.  Ben tells Richard its his birthday and says, “You remember birthdays, don’t you Richard,” which seemed like an off line at the time but pays off later in the episode. 

Anyhoo, Richard asks Ben if he wants him to drop off the cassette recorder for Juliette and Ben freaks because he assumed Richard had already taken it.  Ben exits the tent to find Tom who is staring at Locke who is carrying his father’s body into the camp. 

Ben and Locke meet in Ben’s tent and Ben tells him there’s no easy way to tell Locke everything he knows about the island.  Ben also tells him that he isn’t the leader of the Others, that Jacob is.  Locke insists on being taken to see Jacob but Ben says its impossible.  Locke believes Ben is lying because his hand is shaking.

FLASHBACK!  We see a young Ben and his father walking from the submarine and being greeted by Dharma people, including the man (Horace) who offered to drive Emily to the hospital. 

NAMASTE: A sign proclaims “Namaste” and women greet everyone by saying the same thing - this is a reverential Hindi greeting that means anything from “I humble myself to you” to “may the good in me honor the good in you” to “my spirit bows to your spirit.  Conceptually, speaking “namaste” pays homage to the inner light in all living things (from lostpedia).

Roger explains to Ben that Horace got him a job working for the Dharma initiative and the two of them proceed inside where Roger registers while Ben watches an orientation video.  Ben meets a young girl (Annie) who welcomes him, but the scene is interrupted when Ben hears his father complaining about being assigned to work as a work man or janitor.  Apparently that is not what he thought he was signing up for (I guess that would be Roger’s own personal WTF moment).

FLASHFORWARD!  Mikhail comes running into the Others’ camp.  Ben tells Mikhail that he thought he was dead but Mikhail responds that luckily the fence was not set at lethal levels (take that everyone who thought he was dead!).  Mikhail tells Ben about Naiomi and her boat and Ben decides they can’t wait till the planned raid on the beach camp and they have to take care of this new situation now.  Locke tells Ben that he can’t take care of that now and tells everyone that Ben is taking Locke to see Jacob.  Mikhail objects and Locke responds by kicking Mikhail’s ass (a reoccurring theme it would seem - poor Mikhail).  Ben tries to get someone to intervene but no one listens to him.  At that point Ben knows he has no choice but to take Locke to see Jacob since he is losing his grip on the Others.

Later we see Ben and Locke collecting water for their journey and Ben is continuing to warn Locke that going to see Jacob is a bad idea but Locke is having none of it.  Alex walks up and tells Locke that she heard he was going to see Jacob and hands him a gun saying “You’ll need this.”  As she walks away she tosses a “happy birthday dad” at Ben.

FLASHBACK!  Young Ben is in a Dharma classroom watching his teacher do the old baking soda volcano thing.  In response to a student’s question the teacher points out the similarity between the demonstration and the island’s volcano, which would be the first time we ever heard about a volcano on the island but I always assumed there probably was a volcano somewhere.  Whether it is dormant or not is not discussed. 

After the demonstration the ground begins quaking and an alarm goes off.  The students are told to get into their positions as the doors are locked and the teacher grabs a gun.  Outside other Dharma people are also carrying guns.  Annie explains to Ben that its the “hostiles.”

That night Ben hears his father yelling at Horace about driving back from the Flame (the Dharma communications station we saw in the episode that introduced Mikhail) in the middle of a gunfight (another one of Roger’s personal WTF moments).  Apparently this is something else Roger didn’t know he was signing up for.  Horace explains that they are having some trouble with the “naitives” but that the island is still the best place for Ben’s education.  Roger isn’t buying it and demands $30,000 in hazard pay.  Ben retreats into his room only to see his mother’s face at the window for a brief moment. 

FLASHFORWARD!  Ben and Locke leave the Others’ camp to go see Jacob.

FLASHBACK!  Ben is on a swingset with Annie who gives him a birthday present.  Its two wooden dolls (supposedly carved by Annie) representing her and Ben.  Annie keeps the Ben doll and Ben keeps the Annie doll so that they never have to be apart.  The Annie doll is the same one Ben was looking at when Richard entered his tent earlier in the episode.

That night Ben comes home to find his dad passed out on the couch with an empty beer in his hand.  Ben takes the can and tries to remove one of his father’s shoes but Roger wakes up.  He sees the present and realizes he has missed Ben’s birthday again.  Instead of apologizing Roger tells Ben that Ben is responsible for the death of his mother and then passes out again.

Ben runs from his house to the sonic fence where his mother appears to him again from the other side.    Ben makes to go through the fence but his mother stops him telling him that it isn’t time for them to be together yet.

FLASHFORWARD!  Ben and Locke are in the jungle.  Ben steps over what appears to be a small mound of ash that leads off into the jungle in two directions.  John stops to study the ash, putting his fingers into it and smelling it, but Ben makes him move on. 

FLASHBACK!  Young Ben approaches the sonic fence with two large bags.  He shuts down the fence using a code he has written down.  He tests to make sure its safe by taking a white rabbit out of one of his bags and coaxing it through.  He then puts the rabbit back and heads into the jungle where he hears whispering (never a good thing). 

Ben runs through the jungle calling for his mom and runs into a real big WTF moment… Richard.  And not just Richard, but Richard looking the exact same age he does in the present.  Ben asks if Richard is one of the hostiles, and Richard laughs and asks if Ben even knows what that word means.  Ben tells Richard about his visions of his mother but Richard tells him to go back to the settlement.  Ben says he hates it there and he wants to join the hostiles.  Richard doesn’t seem opposed to the idea but tells Ben he will have to be very patient.

FLASHFORWARD!  Ben and Locke approach a house in the jungle.  Ben warns Locke to turn off his flashlight because, like Locke, Jacob hates technology.  He also informs Locke that once he goes in, there won’t be any going back.  Locke is unimpressed. 

Ben and Locke enter the house and Ben introduces Locke to Jacob who is sitting on a chair at a table.  Small problem (warning: WTF moment approaching): there’s no one in the chair.  While Ben argues with Jacob, Locke stands staring at him in disbelief.  Locke tells Ben he’s crazy and turns to leave but stops when he hears a voice say “Help me.”  Locke turns and is convinced that it was Ben who said it.  Ben claims not to have said anything.  Locke flashes his light in Ben’s face and then the whole room goes to hell in a handbasket.  Stuff starts shaking and flying around the room.  An oil lamp Ben lit when they came in gets knocked over and the floor catches on fire.  Ben starts shaking the invisible Jacob telling him to stop it and he’s had his fun and made his point but gets pushed away.  Then comes WTF moment number 3: jacob appears for a second in the chair. 

And in case you want a still shot:
 

Brightened up a bit and with a bit more contrast: 

You gotta love this show. 

So apparently Ben isn’t crazy, but what the hell is going on here?  I have no theories as of yet, but I don’t buy the theory that some people are subscribing to that Jacob is a ghost.  I have to believe the writers have more respect for us than to turn Jacob into a poltergeist.

Locke stumbles out the door and falls down outside the house.  Ben follows later.  Locke asks what was in the house.  Ben replies “that was Jacob.”

The next morning Ben and Locke are headed through the jungle.  Locke refuses to believe that what he saw was real and says it was all one of Ben’s tricks.  He also points out that they are not returning to the camp the same way that they came.  Ben says that he wants to show Locke something else.

FLASHBACK: An older Ben with more hair than he has in the present is getting dressed in his own Work Man jumpsuit.  He goes outside and helps a much older Roger load beer into one of the Dharma minivans bound for the Pearl station (the one with all the TV’s) and tells him its his birthday.  Surprisingly Roger seems repentant and suggests they go for a ride, drink some beer and spend some time together.  Ben agrees. 

The two park near the top of a valley and crack open some beers.  Ben asks his father if he still believes that Ben killed his mother.  When Roger doesn’t answer Ben loses it saying he has been patient for too long and that its time to go.  Ben then puts on a gas mask and fills the van with gas, killing Roger (at this point I was all WTF’d out). 

Ben returns to Otherville to find that all the Dharma people have been killed as well.  Richard (with his hair cut as it is in the present) appears with several others, all in gas masks, revealing that they were working with Ben (who do you think gave them the code for the fence?).  Richard asks Ben if they should collect Roger’s body and Ben tells them to leave it (so it can be found by Hurley many years later in Tricia Tanaka is Dead).

FLASHFORWARD!  Ben and Locke are standing on the edge of a mass grave where the bodies of all the Dharma people were left to rot.  Ben explains he was part of the initiative but that Dharma couldn’t get along with the island’s original inhabitants so when the time came to choose a side he made sure he wasn’t also in the pit… like Locke.  Ben then shoots Locke in the stomach and Locke falls into the pit.  Ben asks Locke what Jacob said to him and Locke tells him.  Ben seems disturbed by Jacob telling Locke to ”Help me.”    He tells Locke that he better hope Jacob will help him and then leaves him lying in the pit bleeding to death.

Storyline B Summary: Sawyer returns to the camp and plays the tape for Sayid.  They go to find Juliet only to discover she is gone.  Kate tells them that Jack and Juliet left after she told them about Naomi.  Sayid tells Sawyer to play the tape for Kate. 

That night everyone is upset about Juliet, the plane supposedly being found in the ocean, the others impending attack and where Jack is.  Jack and Juliet return and tell everyone that Juliet let Jack know about Ben’s plan as soon as she found out that Sun was pregnant.  No one believes her until she has Sawyer turn the tape over.  They then hear Ben on the tape telling Juliet about the impending attack.  Sayid asks Jack why he didn’t say anything and Jack says because he hadn’t decided what to do yet. 

LOST!

Final Analysis: What an absolutely bizarre and fantastic episode.  Once again we find out a lot but what we find out leads to even more questions. 

Why hasn’t Richard aged?  Got me.  The question is, how old is Richard?  Is it possible that he comes from the Black Rock?  Could they go all the way back to the ancient civilization?  If that’s true, where’d he pick up English?  Or did one of the Dharma experiments that were perpetrated on the natives give them unnaturally long life?  Perhaps the same experiment that lef to the quick healing, cancer immunity and no babies.  Please notice, that there were no women with Richard when he entered the Otherville at the end of the episode.

Why can’t we see Jacob?  I have no treal theories about this either, but once again, I don’t think he’s a ghost.  One idea concerning Jacob that occurred to me is that Ben can’t really see him either, or that Ben can’t hear him which is why it pissed him off so much that Locke could.  And why he was so disturbed that Jacob apparently asked for Locke’s help.  And what’s with the ash/powder line that appears to surround Jacob’s house?  And who exactly is Jacob anyway?  Is he one of the original inhabitants as well or something else entirely?  Some people are speculating that he might be Locke’s twin brother, separated from him at birth and adopted by a Dharma family, but fans of the show are always coming up with theories about twins ever since Bad Twin came out.  The fact is we have no evidence to suggest anything about who Jacob is.  He may just be Jacob.

What ever happened to Annie?  I find it hard to believe that Ben had her killed.  There’s a lot of history not covered at all between young Ben meeting Richard and older Ben killing his father.  Is she still on the island?  Some speculate Rousseau is Annie, but that doesn’t make much sense to me unless she is either playing a part in some other elaborate experiment meant to fuck with the castaways, or she was brainwashed and reprgrammed to think she is a crazy French woman.  Not likely.  My guess is we’ll find out what happened to Annie at some point but probably not this season.  Next Ben episode perhaps?

Why is Ben so threatened by Locke?  Is it really just because Locke is a threat to his control over the Others, or because Ben wants to belive he is the special one and Locke is a threat to that?  One thing is for certain, we pretty much know why Ben is obsessed with the fertility problem on the island and no one else is.  Its gotta stem to the emotional scarring he endured from his father blaming him for his mother’s death.

Christ, I’m spent.

Is Charlie Dead Yet: We’ll find out next week.  Looks like the producers are building to one hell of a season finale this year.  I don’t believe Charlie will die, but one thing is for certain, someone is going to die before the end of the year and I’m not sure anyone is completely safe (see my Jack theory from last week).

Who’s on deck?
3.22-23 Jack Shephard

All images sourced from http://www.lost-media.com/.

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