Episode Report Card Daniel: B+ | 148 USERS: C+ YOU GRADE IT Gone out the window
By Daniel | Season 3 | Episode 2 | Aired on 2006.10.11
Let's go now to Jack's cell, where's he's lying morosely in the corner. As the camera pulls back, we can see Ben standing there. "Hello, Jack," he says, unfolding a small canvas camping chair he's holding, and sits down. "You know what's crazy, Jack? A week ago, you and I were in exactly the opposite situation," he says. And then, in case Jack forgets what was going on, Ben elaborates: "I was the one locked up and you were the one coming in for visits." He says he knows that Jack was angry that Ben lied to him about who he was, but seriously? If he'd been honest? It probably would have been a whole lot more of Sayid and his fists, right? Jack asks what Ben wants from him. "I want for you to change your at-- perspective." The first step, says Ben, is for him to introduce himself honestly. He extends his hand to Jack. "Hi. My name is Benjamin Linus, and I've lived on this island all my life." Not all that surprisingly, Jack refuses to shake. Look, just because you've been attacked, kidnapped, drugged, and almost killed is no excuse to be rude, Jack. "You're not going to shake?" says Ben. He gives up, and gets up and walks to the door, where he says, "Bring it in, please." Some flunky rolls in a cart with a television on it, as Jack asks, "Where are Kate and Sawyer?" Mercifully, Ben doesn't subject him to an interrogation re: why he said Kate's name first. Instead, he says, "They're fine, and they're close. That's all I'm able to tell you right now." Jack points out that Ben can tell him anything he wants. "Fair enough; it's all I want to tell you." He says he's going to make things really simple for Jack: "If you cooperate, we send you home." Jack's skeptical, and asks what he'd be cooperating with. "When the time is right, I'll tell you," says Ben, which isn't exactly good enough for Jack. "'Home' -- is that where you sent Walt and Michael?" asks Jack, and Ben says it is. Jack laughs. "If you could leave this island, why would you still be here?" he says. Ben turns the question around on him. "Yes, Jack, why would be here?" Jack thinks he's lying, and says they're stuck here just like he is. Henry interrupts Jack to tell him that his flight crashed Sept. 22, 2004. "Today is November 29th," he says. "That means you've been our island for 69 days." Just for anybody keeping track. Ben says they do indeed have contact with the outside world, which is how they know that, in the time that Jack and the other Lostaways have been here, "your fellow Americans re-elected George W. Bush, Christopher Reeve has passed away, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series."