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
The Black Rock: Hurley says, "Uh...I thought you said we were going to the Temple, dude." Richard deadpans: "I lied." Jack wants to know why. Richard says, "Because everyone at the Temple is dead." Hurley's expression says he already knew that, and yet, he also looks nauseated and mournful. Jack needs more details than that, though. When Richard says there were no survivors, Jack asks about "our friends..." KATE, "Sayid?" KATE, "Kate?" Richard says they weren't there. "Maybe they made it out alive. All I know is -- whatever you're looking for at the Temple -- it's not there." When Jack asks Hurley if he was stalling because he knew about this, Hurley says that Jacob hinted at this outcome. Richard turns to him, agitated. "You spoke to Jacob?" Hurley: "Yeah." Richard: "Well, whatever he said -- don't believe him." And at that, he marches towards the ship. Jack wants to know where he's going. Richard says there's something he needs to do. Jack hollers after him: "To do what?" Richard keeps marching. "Die." Commercial.
L.A Reality; Ben's High School: Ben taps Arzt (who is in his glory, giving students "F" grades with bright red Sharpies) for a way into staff email. He doesn't want to admit his plan at first, but, promise to Alex abandoned, he finally confesses that he understands the school nurse is engaging in an inappropriate relationship with Principal Reynolds. Tool that he is, Arzt is excited that Ben is making a play for the big job, and says that in return, he wants a primo parking space, "The one next to the maple tree -- not under the maple tree -- next to the maple tree. That way, I get the shade from the maple tree, but not all that tree crap all over the hood of my car." Have you ever seen maple tree crap, Les? It doesn't confine itself to the area directly below the tree. Just sayin'... "And I want aprons. I want lots of aprons, and I want some lab equipment in here that was built in this decade. Is that a deal?" Ben says, "Deal."
Island Reality; Boone's Bluff: Ben continues to dig his own grave, which sounds like the most clichéd thing, ever, doesn't it? But that's what he's doing.
Island Reality; The Black Rock: Inside the ship, Richard scopes out the place, pausing to examine a particular pair of shackles as the music of Cindy, This Is Dreadfully Significant plays in the background. And I know, in "LA X Part II" I didn't think Richard's chains that Faucke referenced were actual chains on The Black rock, but it's looking now like I was wrong. All of this has all happened before, and all of it will happen again. /Galactica. Jack comes in, carrying a lantern and asks, "Been here before?" Richard says, "Yes, and in all the time that I've spent on this island, today's the first time I've ever come back." Just then, Hurley calls out to Jack, and finds the guys. Meanwhile, Richard finds the crate of dynamite.
Hurley warns Richard off the explosives, since they're "mega unstable." Richard knows but doesn't seem to care. Hurley says, "So did Dr. Arzt, and I was wiping him out of my shirt, two days later." He then whispers to Jack that it's time to go, but Jack says, "No, not yet." Hurley argues: "He's opening up a crate of dynamite and he says he wants to kill himself. Richard clarifies that he can't kill himself. "Even if I wanted to --and trust me, I do -- I can't kill myself, which is why I want you to do it for me." When Jacob touches you, it's considered a gift, but it's really a curse." When Richard throws down a corroded stick of dynamite for emphasis, Hurley cringes, ducks, and yells, "Dude. Seriously. Let's go. Now!"
Jack ignores Hugo and asks Richard why he wants to die. Richard explains that he devoted his life, "longer than you can possibly imagine, in service of a man who told me that everything was happening for a reason -- that he had a plan -- a plan that I was a part of. And when the time was right, he would share it with me, and now that man's gone. So -- why do I want to die? Because I just found out that my entire life had no purpose." Yeeeouch. Let's see Rick Warren fix that. Richard adds that although he can't kill himself, if Jack lights the wick on the dynamite stick, it ought to do the trick. Hurley, of course, argues against this. Jack, of course, is all in -- balls to the wall. "If he wants to die, there's nothing we're going to do to stop him." Have you not been listening, Doc? Dude can't kill himself. There is very much something you can do to stop him: don't help. Jack takes the long (enough so that he has time to escape) wick and lights it with the lantern. He then lays it on a whisky barrel and says, "Now, let's talk." Commercial!
As the flame consumes the wick, Hurley insists that he and Jack must leave, but Jack's not budging. At first, Hurley says he won't go without Jack, he eventually decides to leave, and says he'll be about a mile away. Richard tells him to go with him, but Jack won't. He doesn't think he'll die. He doesn't think either of them will die. He tells him about his visit to Jacob's lighthouse, which revealed he'd been watching Jack ever since he was a kid. Richard asks why. Jack doesn't know, but he's pretty sure if Jacob went through all that trouble, he's not going to let Jack die while sitting with Richard. Richard asks, "What if you're wrong?" Jack says he's not, and puts on an orgasm face, akin to Frodo's when he slips on the One Ring. The wick sizzles, sizzles some more, and...burns out. Jack laughs at Richard. "Want to try another stick?" Richard ignores this, and cops to the fact that Jack's faith has borne out. "You seem to have all the answers, so now what?" Jack says, "We go back to where we started." It's then that my 9 year old walks through the room and says someone says that in every episode. I ignore him, because I've watched this episode several times, but Mr. 9 insists he's seen other people say the same thing. La la la.