Well, without dropping the big twist here, let's just say that, on ABC's 'Lost,' it's probably best if you don't get Benjamin Linus angry, because...when he's got a gun, he's not the person you want to be standing next to.
We open in what appears to be a jungle, as a woman is in labor, having a baby. Her husband, again apparently, urges her to push and breathe and all that. After much screaming, she gives birth to a boy. The husband cradles him and they both cry and smile and bestow lots of love. Emily, the wife, complains of pain and Roger, the husband, finds that she’s bleeding downstairs. Roger wants to know if Emily can carry the baby, since they’re in the middle of nowhere. After much running, he runs into a highway, somewhere near Portland, Oregon. A car pulls over, and based on the make, it’s gotta be the 1960s or 70s. The man in the car (played by Doug Hutchison, the creep from ‘The Green Mile’) helps out, but right before they get in, Emily asks Roger to name the baby Benjamin. Then she passes out. Whoa, hold on a second, Ben lied? I’m shocked.
In the Others’ camp, Ben’s cradling a doll, a birthday present from long ago, when Richard (the guy who gave Locke Sawyer’s file last week) wants to know if Juliet should get the tape recorder back. Ben’s pissed, since he thought the recorder was already in her possession. Before he can ream out Richard and Tom, Locke arrives carrying his dad’s body, just like Ben asked. He tells Ben that it’s time to make good on his promise: he wants some answers, starting at the beginning. Cue angry staring, somber music and the opening credits.
In Ben’s tent, he’s pouring some whiskey or scotch for both he and Locke. He explains that it’s not as simple as opening up a book and reading him a story about his group. Ben says that he’s not the leader of the Others; that would be Jacob. Locke asks to be taken to Jacob, but Ben refuses. After Locke says he’ll look for someone else to take him, Ben says that only he talks to Jacob, that no one else knows where he is and no one else has ever seen him. Locke doesn’t buy it at all, saying that Ben’s the man behind the curtain (title cue!) and is obviously lying about Jacob. Ben tries to be strong, but his hand is shaking pretty badly.
Cut to Ben at about age 10 or so, with the big glasses. He’s walking with his dad on the ferry dock of the island, under a sign advertising the Dharma Initiative. They meet up with Horace Goodspeed, also known as Doug Hutchison from the beginning. He’s become a major hippie who gave Roger a job. Ben’s a shy one, and doesn’t talk, even when he and his dad watch an on-location orientation video, led by that mysterious Dr. Marvin Candle. Roger’s called away, as Ben looks around, and is greeted by a girl his age named Annie. Before he can talk to her for long, Roger gets pretty pissed off, since his job is simple: Work Man. Roger Workman…where have I heard that before?
On the main island, Sawyer enters to talk to Sayid. He tells Sayid about Locke leaving to join the Others, but the more important piece of information is the tape recorder that he got with Juliet’s information on it.
Suddenly, we cut to Mikhail, the magical mystery man, running through the jungle, coming to talk to Ben about Naomi, the parachutist, the communication, and all other important information, including an offhand comment about how the fence that supposedly killed him must not have been at a lethal level. Lucky.. Ben says that they’ll be visiting the main island in two days, so it’s no big deal about Naomi, but Mikhail thinks it should be dealt with immediately. Locke interjects, saying that since Ben’s going to take him to Jacob. Mikhail gets pissed off, saying Ben shouldn’t answer to Locke. Locke has something to say about that, though: well, not so much as dialogue as kicking Mikhail’s ass. Which he does pretty awesomely, without anyone stopping him, to Ben’s chagrin. Once Locke’s knocked Mikhail out, he breathlessly asks Ben when they’re going.
And they’re off! Well, not really, but Ben and Locke are near a stream. Ben says that Locke didn’t need to kick some Mikhail ass to get his point across, but Locke thinks otherwise. They’re interrupted by Alex, Ben’s “daughter.” She knows about their plan to visit Jacob, and gives Locke a pistol, just in case. Then she wishes Ben a happy birthday. Nice, they all hate him!
In a classroom, 10-year old Ben is in science class, and as he and his classmates are being taught about volcanoes, a loud noise rocks the classroom and the alarm begins to sound. All the students except Ben make their way to the back of the class, but Annie drags him over, explaning that it’s just the “hostiles.” He sees some shootouts and hears explosions. Next thing you know, he’s in his bedroom, petting a rabbit, as he hears Roger and Horace arguing about what happened that day. Horace says that they’re having problems with the natives, and Roger tells Horace he wants more money. Horace leaves, and Ben turns around and is startled by a blonde woman (Ben’s mom), but then Roger busts in, telling his son to go to bed.
Sawyer and Sayid are searching for Juliet, and can’t find her in her tent. Kate arrives, telling them that Juliet and Jack have gone off somewhere, right after Kate told them about Naomi. Sayid gets pissed that she told Jack, walks off, but tells Sawyer to play Kate the tape.
Ben tells Locke that, whatever he may think, Jacob is real, and he will be real pissed when he sees Locke. Jacob is one to summon people, and his anger is apparently quite scary, which is why Ben’s hand was shaking. Locke shrugs this off, and they walk away from the camp, as the Others watch them go.
Once again, we’re with the ten-year old Ben, on a swing set with Annie, opening a present from her. It’s two whittled dolls, meant to be the two of them. It’s actually very cute and sweet, despite being fairly sappy, since he was cradling one of the dolls in the present. That night, he walks into his house, and sees his dad, passed out from drinking too much Dharma Initiative-brand beer. Gotta love that purposely cheap production value. Roger wakes up, and sees the present Ben brought in, and apologizes forgetting Ben’s birthday, but it’s also the day his mom died. She’s gone, mostly because the birth was two months early, and Roger says he’s stuck on the island with Ben. Ouch. Ben runs crying out of the house, and even though I feel no sympathy for the present character, I don’t blame the kid. He runs up to those magic fences, lethal level or not. On the other side, he sees his mother. He starts to run, but she tells him to stop. He wants to keep going, but she says it’s not time. She backs away, as he tearfully shouts for her. Good child actor, this kid.
It’s night in the jungle, as Ben and Locke make their way closer to Jacob. They stop at a specific patch, as Locke bends down to pick up some sand. Before he can get too cozy, Ben orders him to keep going.
Sayid, on the main island, has just spilled the beans to the rest of the castaways about Naomi and her news. He wanted to keep the parachutist secret from Jack, who he believes is in cahoots with Juliet. Sun believes Juliet’s kosher and all, but Sawyer plays the recording Juliet made about Sun from a few weeks ago. Before Sun can express too much shock, Jack and Juliet arrive. Juliet tells Sawyer to turn the tape over and press play; he does so, and we all hear Ben telling her that a team will be sent the night after tomorrow to take Sun and Kate, possibly. Juliet says that she told Jack about what was going on, and Jack says he didn’t explain the plan because he wasn’t sure what to do yet. He says that it’s time to catch up. Maybe he’s got another plan to kill the Others, like he did for one episode last year.
Back in time we go again, with 10-year old Ben walking up to the killer fence, with a code to turn them off. To make sure that everything’s okay, he sends his rabbit in first (coward!), then goes in himself after he knows it’s safe. He’s in the middle of the jungle now, hearing some rustling around him. He thinks it’s his mother, and runs in one direction, to find nothing at all. Oh, except for Richard. You know, the guy who’s on the island with Ben in the present. Did I mention he looks the same age in the past? All that’s different is that he’s got longer hair and hasn’t showered in a while. He politely asks why Ben’s out there, even though Ben thinks Richard’s a hostile. Ben says he’s looking for his mother, despite her being dead and all. Richard gets curious, asking if Ben saw his mother in the jungle, even if she died in the States. Ben tells Richard about having seen her, and when Richard tells Ben to go back home, Ben gets angry, saying he hates it. He wants to go with Richard, who reminds him to think about it carefully; he will take Ben with him if he really wants to, but Ben needs to be sure. I wonder what decision Ben made.
In the present, Ben and Locke make it to a dark and seemingly abandoned shack, but Ben calls it “here.” Ben orders Locke to turn off his flashlight, since Jacob is apparently quite the Luddite. Locke does so, and they walk to the door. Ben lights up a lantern, and as Locke paws his gun, Ben says that there’s no turning back once the door’s opened. Locke isn’t scared, so Ben calls out to Jacob that he’s with Locke and they’re coming in. Here’s where it gets real weird, folks.
Locke and Ben walk in, to a very empty room. There’s an empty chair in the middle of the room, and Ben starts talking to it, as if it’s a person. No one else is there, just the two of them. Locke calls Ben out, saying he’s crazy and knows nothing about the island. Ben is not pleased with this assessment, and Locke calls him pathetic. He walks to the door, but hears a deep voice say, “Help me.” Locke asks Ben what he said, and Ben feigns ignorance. Locke turns on his flashlight…which is not a good idea, since…well, something goes nutso in the room: things start rattling, a window is broken and when Ben goes to the empty chair to tell Jacob he’s had his fun, Ben is shoved back and then we see a flash of a man get up and glare at Locke, who runs out, thoroughly freaked out. After a few seconds, Ben walks out slowly. Locke asks him what the hell happened in there, and Ben says that what happened was Jacob being Jacob. Well, that was pretty damn creepy.
The next day, Ben and Locke walk back through the jungle. Ben wants to know what Jacob said to Locke, but Locke still says there wasn’t anyone else in there, just the two of them. Locke’s quite angry, especially when he realizes they’re on a different path home. Ben admits that he’s lied a lot, even to his own people. He says that he wasn’t really born on the island, and wants to show Locke the truth about that.
In the flashbacks, it’s much closer to the present, since Ben is no longer ten: he’s just Michael Emerson with a different haircut. He’s getting ready for his day, and takes the doll that Annie made him and walks out, carrying a crate of things. He meets up with his father, much older, putting things in that old VW van that Hurley found. Ben tells Roger that it’s his birthday, and he can’t believe he’s fooled himself that Roger would remember. Roger offers this: after they do their errand at Pearl Station, they should go to a secluded mesa, have a few beers It’ll be father-son time. Ben’s thrilled at this.
We see the van, now on that mesa. Roger stops the van and starts chugging a beer. Ben asks Roger if he really thinks that Emily’s death was Ben’s fault. Roger doesn’t really know, and says he’ll do his best to remember his son’s next birthday, while noting that Ben’s looking at his watch a lot. Ben says he doubts Roger will get the chance to remember. Before he puts on a gas mask, he says that he’s missed his mom, too, but had to withstand his father’s horrible actions. Oh, by the way, that gas mask is handy, since Ben opens up a can of nerve gas, killing his dad, who bleeds to death. Yum.
Ben comes back, gas mask still on, and sees the little town, full of dead people. Oh, yeah, turns out that he turned that nerve gas on all the Dharma folk. As he surveys the dead people, he comes across Horace, eyes still open. He closes Horace’s eyes, as a few live people, also with gas masks, walk in. They’re led by a better-groomed Richard, who hesitatingly takes his gas mask off. He asks Ben if he should get Roger’s body, but Ben tells him to leave the guy out there.
Speaking of bodies, we see a lengthy overhead shot of all the dead bodies, piled up in a massive grave. Ben tells Locke, now in the present, about how the Dharma Initiative couldn’t live with the natives on the island, and he knew that one side would have to be purged. He made sure not to be on that side, which made him smarter than Locke. Who he shoots in the gut, sending him into the grave. Ben asks Locke what Jacob said, and after saying he shot Locke because Jacob spoke to him, Locke says that Jacob said, “Help me.” Ben scornfully hopes that he’ll help Locke. Doesn’t look too likely, since Ben leaves Locke bleeding to death in the grave. Wow. It’d be great if Locke comes back, but this may be the end for him. And next week may bring another death, since this time, Charlie’s got the flashbacks, and…well, Desmond did say he would die, and he’s been right each time. Find out next week!
