*** Spoilers ***
I heard rumors Ben was going to have a flashback this episode of LOST. I thought that the writers would portray him in a more sympathetic light and we’d see that he was just doing what he was doing because he was just trying to survive on the island.
I was partially right. The initial flashback of the young Benjamin Linus showed him as a kid whose father really didn’t care for him and blamed him for his mother’s death. So we really can’t blame him when he sets out to join the island’s original inhabitants. But when he 1) kills his own father, 2) knowingly participates in the genocide of the Dharma Initiative, and 3) shoots Locke, all of my sympathy for him went right out the window. Ben is truly evil (but wonderful) character. I’m glad the writers took the path that they did and showed that plane crash survivors have a true enemy. Jack, Sayid, Sawyer, and company better be prepared for a true struggle when the original island’s inhabitants come for Sun (and Kate?).
Here’s my theory about the mysterious Jacob character that we saw briefly before Locke runs out of the house. My think he was the leader of the island’s original inhabitants before the Dharma Initiative genocide. Since Ben has proven himself time and time again to be a master manipulator and someone who loves power and control over others, my theory is that he learned more about the island’s secrets, managed to imprison Jacob in that house, and assumed the leadership of the island’s inhabitants. (The Others really don’t seem fond of him as their leader.) Jacob asked Locke for help because he wants to get out of the prison he finds himself in and get rid of Ben. That’s why Ben felt threatened when he realized Locke heard his voice and decided to shoot him. He doesn’t want Jacob to leave his prison.
Finally, a note to all those who complained (and you know who you are) about the episode earlier in the season where Hurley found the Dharma van as being a waste of time: Does it make you view the episode in a different light now that we know how the van came to be in that spot and who the Roger guy was who was driving it? There are no wasted episodes in LOST. Every episode really does ties into the larger story that’s just beginning to come to light.
