Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Ben, You're Always Running Here and There
By Cindy McLennan | Season 6 | Episode 7 | Aired on 03.09.2010
Meanwhile, Frank not only tends the fire, he sits down before it, still in full uniform, soaking up the heat -- which is oh so very necessary on a tropical island. In the background, Miles examines one of the Nikki/Paolo diamonds. Son of a bitch! He dug up their graves for that shit. Heh. Elsewhere, Ilana sits alone, and ponders the bag full of Jacob, as she fights back the tears.
Just then, Hurley, Jack, and Richard arrive at Lost-Away beach. Sun runs toward them and Hurley scoops her up in his arms. Then she spies Jack, mouths "Oh Jack," and runs to him. He hugs her as I remember how she was his nurse and righthand woman in the early days. Richard hangs back a pace, just observing. Jack shakes Frank and Ilana's hands, and then backs up, such that he can see Ben behind Hurley's bulk. He doesn't approach him. He doesn't greet him either, but neither does he run him off.
Meanwhile, out at sea, a periscope surfaces. It's attached to a sub, and in it, a crewman announces to his passenger that they're near the beach. Crewman asks the bossman if he should stop and pick them up. The boss says, "No. Proceed as planned." The crewman answers: "Yes sir, Mr. Widmore." Charles looks up at him, and then back down at the paper he's reading. Dun! BAD ROBOT!
I have to admit, I'm a sucker for a good redemption story. I never thought we'd get one for Ben Linus, though. Not after everything he's done for years on end. Michael Emerson deserves a lifetime supply of Emmy awards just for his scene with Ilana. It was so beautifully written, shot and acted (by both performers). It's moments like that I'll miss, long after this show has bowed. I'm going to leave it at that and just make a few...
Notes, Comments, and Stray Thoughts:
The Chosen, by Chiam Potok: Okay, Wikipedia has a good (but spoilery) summary of the book, so I'm not going to reinvent the wheel, here. The book's title pretty much screams that it belongs in this season of candidates and those claimed. The bare bones of the book are these: Set in the mid 1940s, Danny Saunders, the firstborn son of a Hassidic Rabbi, and Reuven Malter, the only son of an Orthodox academic (who gets involved in the Zionist movement, which Rabbi Saunders opposes) become friends -- true friends, the kind who are vulnerable for and to one another. The reader is treated to an exploration of these two ultra-conservative but very different branches of Judaism.
It makes me think about Lost-Aways, Others, and Other-Others, and Templars, of course. But what I really want to mention is Jacob's treatment of Ben, when he was the de facto leader of the Others. In The Chosen, Hassidic Rabbi "Reb" Saunders never speaks to his brilliant son, Danny. I mean this silence is a purposeful policy, not a mere bad parental habit, and has weighed on my mind since I read the book as a child. Reb Saunders stopped speaking to Danny (outside of their Talmudic studies) when he was quite young. He tells Reuven (Danny's friend) that he did this because Danny (a genius) is more brilliant than compassionate. Reb wants Danny to suffer so that he will be able to understand the suffering of others. And finally, for those of you who haven't read it, I'll note that the book is full of gematria -- Jewish-Mystic numerology (see Kabbalah) and we all know Jacob has a thing about numbers. I saw that book lying in the sand in Sawyer's old shelter and my brain nearly exploded. I have to find my copy and read it again. Right now! Er...okay, maybe after the series finale.
If you've never read The Chosen, I can't recommend it highly enough. It's a lovely book about unlikely friendship, family, faith, suffering, and self-actualization. It's also a wonderful window into turbulent times in our recent past. It's simply yummy. There's a film version, starring Robbie Benson, and my memory of it is that it is pretty good, but it is NOTHING compared to the book. Read the book.
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We never heard the Flight Numbers for the L.A. Reality flight from Sydney to L.A. With all the use of mirrors this season, I would not be surprised to learn it was Flight 518.
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