Benjamin Linus, Season Five

I’ve been delaying this post, and I’m not sure why. I think that part of it is that in the writing, I know I will have to face a fact I’m not sure I’m willing to face: Ben killed Locke for his own purposes, not for what was best for the Island. Any doubt about that was removed when he looked at Sun and said, “Dead is dead.” He had no idea that John Locke could be resurrected, or, as the case turned out to be, the Man in Black was reincarnated into John Locke.

Like John, we saw Ben at his lowest point this season (both in the 1970s and in “current time”). Unlike John, we never saw Ben at the height of his powers. Indeed, we saw Ben take an often passive, reactive role this season, something we haven’t seen from him. No matter how bad the situation, Ben has always been able to turn it to his advantage. But not this season.

Let’s start with Ben in the 1970s…

The Transformation of Ben into an Other

When a young boy brought Sayid a meal, it was no surprise that it was Ben. Three years had passed since the events of The Man Behind the Curtain, and Ben had been waiting patiently as instructed by Richard. He was clearly excited to see Sayid, thinking that perhaps the time for patience was over. Not content to any longer wait patiently, Ben characteristically took matters into his own hands, arranging for a distraction so he could rescue Sayid.

Unfortunately, Ben’s eyes were blinded as to Sayid’s true purpose, as he learned later to his regret. And why shouldn’t he have been naïve? We saw the abuse that Ben suffered at his father’s hands – emotional and physical. And Ben was only twelve, with little experience of the world outside of the DHARMA Initiative. Sayid’s presence gave Ben hope that his time of misery and suffering were over.

But Sayid was not a Hostile, and knowing what a monster Ben would become in the future, after escaping the Initiative, Sayid turned his gun on Ben, shot the boy, and left him for dead.

Other than apologizing for taking his father’s keys, Ben was a passive participant in the remaining events in the 1970s. Juliet tried desperately to save Ben, to no avail, and the only surgeon around refuse to help. Juliet, knowing the character and abilities of the Others, made a decision with Kate – the boy had to be taken to the Others. Richard agreed to take the boy, but warned his would-be rescuers that the process would forever change Ben, who would lose his innocence and become one of the Others. Further, his memory of the events that transpired would be lost.

I’ve stated elsewhere my disappointment that Ben had no memory of the events that transpired in his getting shot. He mentioned it briefly in Dead is Dead, but otherwise we have no real idea as to how much his memory was impaired by the process of saving his life. When Sun showed him a picture of the 1977 recruits into the DHARMA Initiative, Ben was genuinely surprised to see Jack, Hurley, and Kate among them. Maybe he wouldn’t have remembered them anyway, since he seemed to have little contact with them as a boy (at least while conscious), but it appears he also had no memory of Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Sun, or Daniel. The fact that Ben lost his memory of the events resulting in his being shot meant that when he was caught in Danielle’s net, he didn’t recognize Sayid. When Ben called Sayid a stone cold killer, he didn’t know that it would result in his transformation 30-something years earlier from a boy to an Other. I still feel this was a missed opportunity.

Ben Gathers the Oceanic 6

Between the time that Ben turned the wheel and brought Sun and Jack to Eloise Hawking, Ben worked as he always did, through manipulation, behind the scenes. He manipulated Sayid into killing his enemies, most likely Widmore’s men. He manipulated Jack into gathering the remaining Oceanic 6 for the trip back to the Island. He coldly dropped Sayid as soon as he no longer needed him, then convinced Sayid to kill Hurley’s “guards” as a means to “protect” Hurley. He managed to convince Sun to follow him, hiding Jin’s wedding ring until they were at the church where Hawking was.

Ben’s powers of manipulation failed him only twice. Hurley refused to follow him back to the Island, even though he had once believed it was the thing to do. Only Jacob’s intervention brought Hurley back. And Ben couldn’t manipulate himself to kill Penny Widmore in retaliation.

Ben’s “shining” moment was his one interaction with John Locke, in Locke’s hotel room. I’m not convinced that Ben himself knew he was entering Locke’s room to kill him. If Ben had planned to kill John, no matter what, then he truly was a master actor, a manipulator of the highest skill.

But I wonder if Ben killed John Locke not because Locke had given Ben the final piece to the puzzle needed to return to the Island (Eloise Hawking’s name), or because he believed that Jacob communicated with John again. As we saw in Ben’s final scene of the episode, Ben has felt the pain of being ignored by Jacob while John Locke has been special. This reminder of Ben’s seemingly unimportance to Jacob, and John’s place on the Island, may have been the final straw. And John Locke’s life was ended in a brutal fashion.

I’ll miss you John. I really will.

Back Home on the Island

Ben showed up on Ajira 316 beaten and bloodied from his encounter with the Hume family. Like Frank and Sun, Ben did not flash into the 1970s. Instead, he stayed mostly to himself, but seemed pleased that Sun was following him. He seemingly talked her into going with him to the main Island, but his confidence in his skill and his mark was misplaced. Sun didn’t trust him, and as soon as she had the knowledge from him that she needed, she knocked him unconscious. And thus, thousands if not millions of Lost fans sighed, “Finally.”

But then Ben woke up to his worst nightmare. John Locke greeted Ben as he awakened, “Welcome to the land of the living.” Did Ben give up just a little at this point, knowing the Island favored John so greatly? Maybe not. Ben skillfully manipulated Caesar to mistrust John, with the ostensible reason of getting the shotgun away from Caesar.

In my opinion, Ben’s manipulation of Caesar was Ben’s last. For him, it was essentially downhill from there on out. At one point, Sun asked Ben what happened to the rest of the infamous statute. He told her it had been that way for as long as he had been on the Island. She looked at him and asked if he expected her to believe him. The master manipulator sighs, “Not really.”

We know, of course, that John Locke remained dead. Instead, Ben was accompanied by not-Locke who insisted on following Ben back to the Island. Ben alleged that he planned to be judged by the Island for breaking the rules – returning to the Island after turning the wheel – but not-Locke forced Ben to admit he sought judgment for Alex’s death. Now accompanied by Sun, Ben and not-Locke sought the Temple. Once there, Ben was surprised that not-Locke knew a different way inside it.

In the Temple, Ben’s life continued to turn upside down. For the Smoke Monster showed up, giving Ben a visual of Alex’s death, and then it turned into Alex. At first Alex pretended to listen to Ben, but then, she pinned him against a pillar:

Listen to me, you bastard! I know that you’re planning to kill John again, and I want you to know that if you so much as touch him, I will hunt you down and destroy you. You will listen to every word that John Locke says, and you will follow his every order. Do you understand?

When the Smoke Monster left, Ben looked devastated, not least by the fact that it left him alive.

From there on out, Ben was not-Locke’s lackey. Not-Locke was the lying , deadly manipulator, and Ben was the easy mark. Not-Locke slowly but surely let Ben in on his plan, that they must find Jacob, that Jacob must die, and that Ben must kill Jacob. And why wouldn’t Ben want to kill Jacob? After all, despite years of loyal service to the Island and to Jacob, following every order, Ben never saw Jacob. Instead, he contracted cancer, watched his daughter die, and was banished from the Island. Oh, how skillfully not-Locke found Ben’s every weakness.

At the final confrontation between not-Locke and Jacob, Ben was the actor, but not the focus. Although Ben observed that not-Locke and Jacob appeared to know each other, he didn’t explore it. For he finally was face to face with Jacob, the entity he had heard about for 3 decades, the entity who never met him, who never found him special. When Jacob reminded Ben that he had a choice, Ben exploded.

Oh... so now, after all this time, you've decided to stop ignoring me. Thirty-five years I lived on this island, and all I ever heard was your name over and over. Richard would bring me your instructions--all those slips of paper, all those lists--and I never questioned anything. I did as I was told. But when I dared to ask to see you myself, I was told, "You have to wait. You have to be patient." But when he asked to see you? He gets marched straight up here as if was Moses. So... why him? Hmm? What was it that was so wrong with me? What about me?!

Then Jacob responds, “What about you?” And then Ben stabs Jacob over and over.

In that final episode, we learned that John Locke was never resurrected, and that it was someone else who acted as John. From what Jacob said to not-Locke, we have assumed that not-Locke was actually the Man in Black, or Esau. What will happen to Ben when he realizes that he was the pawn in a game that may be centuries old?

The Actor

After the season ended, Michael Emerson made the media rounds doing interviews. I’m sure it had nothing to do with a plan to encourage Emmy voters to select him as Outstanding Supporting Actor, but either way, he did win! Yeah! A well-deserved win.

Emerson also appeared at Comic-Con this summer, and took an active part in the humor of the Lost panel, showing his “audition” for the role of Hurley, and making fun of Josh Holloway for not being able to read. It appears that everyone had a great time.

Editor's Note

I had fabulous pictures for this post, but I had problems with Blogger this time. I honestly don't know if the problem is with the pictures or some other problem. It was annoying.