Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A | 904 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Ben, You're Always Running Here and There
By Cindy McLennan | Season 6 | Episode 7 | Aired on 2010.03.09
Ben suggests they go to the beach where the Losties used to live. "At least we'll have the water at our backs, and it's familiar territory. Anybody else got a better idea?" They all look at each other for a moment before Ilana says, "No." Back to the beach baby, yeah!
L.A. Reality: Dr. Benjamin Linus writes Able was I ere I saw Elba on the chalkboard as he lectures his class on Napoleon in exile. You'll never know how close I came to headlining this episode, "Linus was I ere I saw Sunil," until I remembered that you all don't know my Lost-watching friend Sunil (although he is famous on the internet). At any rate, the parallels fall fast and furious as Dr. Linus lectures that "it was on this island that everything changed; that everything finally became clear..." He thinks he's still talking about Napoleon and Elba, but we point and laugh as he gets into the part about how it was the loss of power that was a fate worse than death for the wee Emperor.
When the bell rings, Principal Reynolds (William Atherton) is at the door doing his best Ben Stein drone. "Walk with me." Due to budget crises and other events above Ben's "pay grade" Reynolds is pulling Ben in to cover after-school detention. This will mean Ben has to give up leading the history club. Doing so to watch a group of burnouts is so not Ben's cuppa. When Ben argues that they should be providing for the students who are ambitious and invested in their studies, Reynolds sneers that the history club isn't for the kids: "It makes you feel needed. Unfortunately, for now, you're needed. In detention. Thanks for your understanding, Linus." After Reynolds walks off, Ben snivels, "It's Dr. Linus. Actually."
In the break room, Arzt is whining about the formaldehyde some clumsy student got on his shirt, when Ben joins him at the table. Arzt then bitches about old equipment and the lack of lab aprons, leaving me wondering who paid for his trip to Australia. It seems to have taken place during the school year, so perhaps that's why the school can't afford essentials, Leslie, but there's no time for that now, because after Ben notes that the public school system ought to be all about taking care of the kids, Locke tells Ben he ought to be the principal.