Maybe Ben’s “magic box” is some ability to tweak events to draw anybody they like to the island and have them crash there. Desmond… Flight 815 survivors… Danielle…
Maybe even not controlled by Ben, but by “Him”.
Yes, it’s always a pleasant surprise when you fall 8 stories amid shards of broken window to the ground.
Oh, you meant pleasant for you…! 
I would think that Ben had to have pressed the button – he was the only one there to do it, with John trapped under the door. Otherwise the hatch would have gone all crumply right then, no? I assume Ben did push the button and then just lied about it to John afterwards, to push his buttons, so to speak.
Are you sure Locke really blew up the sub? why was he hall wet? couldn’t he just put the explosives in the sub and climb out and walk back on the dock?
Perhaps he piloted the sub a safe distance from the dock, submerged it and swam back to the dock, planted the explosives there to make it look like the sub got destroyed. Why he’d want to do that, I’m not sure.
Wouldn’t make sense…Sun shot Colleen, remember? If she was in cahoots with them, she would have let her take Desmond’s boat without violence.
This was my thought as well, and Sun was definitely whacking Sawyer for it. Perhaps Charlie decides to come clean and tell Sun.
Can someone remind me what Charlie and Sawyer did to Jin and Sun? I’m usually pretty good at remembering stuff like that, but I’m drawing a complete blank here.
Great episode! Did anyone notice the scotch that Locke’s dad was drinking? We saw the same scotch in Desmond’s backstory. There sure are a lot of powerful, manipulative dads out there-- Locke, Sun, Jack, Penny… all have the same type of father lurking in the background. Makes me suspicious, but I’m not sure exactly how they will tie in. Maybe they’re all on the island, too.
One thing bothered me, though. Ben was awfully quick to give up on the sub-- ie, he obviously let Locke destroy it. Maybe they could get the underwater beacon working again, or maybe there could be another way to navigate. Destroying your only real way to shuttle between The Island the Real World just seems terribly short sighted.
It was when Sawyer tricked Locke into moving all of the guns out of the hatch so that he could steal them. Sawyer had Charlie pretend to attempt to kidnap Sun to make everyone think that the Others had returned and were attacking them again. He pulled a bag over her head and knocked her out.
It seems like a common theme that everyone on the island has a really terrible father. Sawyer’s shot himself, Kate’s was an physically abusive alcoholic, Claire’s wasn’t around, Jack’s (same guy as Claire’s, I know, but different fathering technique) was an emotionally abusive alcoholic, Charlie’s wasn’t supportive of him, Hurley’s was absent… has anyone been represented as having a good father?
Ben said exactly why he let Locke destroy the sub… it kept everyone on the island, kept him in charge, but still made it look like he kept his word to everyone. Which I guess he did, really. Both Locke and Ben don’t want to leave, don’t want anyone else to leave, and don’t want to be found/rescued. Destroying it seemed the perfect solution.
The one thing that confuses me is why Ben ever even tried to stop him, with the line about the beacon being down and the sub never being able to return. I assume that was true, but why tell Locke that if he wanted the sub destroyed?
The whole “magic box” thing is starting to sound a little like the plot for Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, and John Locke’s character is cut from the same cloth as its protagonist.
Not to sound stupid, but can you explain this? Why would he look strange?
I gained new respect for Ben this episode. He’s a cult leader, and he’s proud of it.
- He wanted Locke to figure out that he was being manipulated. Like when he told Sawyer “we’re better at it.”
- He wanted some plausible deniability. Look he had me at gunpoint, I told him it was futile. What else could I do?
- He was doing the Willie Wonka thing. No. Don’t. Stop. (which counts as 1 or 2 or both).
I was thinking the same thing. He appeared to be soaked, as if he were submerged under water, not just waist-deep from wading. I immediately wondered why but if I recall, they showed the sub before it blew up… is this correct?
Because the child actor who portrayed him has reportedly grown like two feet taller since we last saw him.
Oh! I shouted this exact same line at the television during the episode!
That, when someone asked him why he blew up a building and he gave some bullshit cryptic response, they shoved his ass down a flight of steps.
-Joe
:rolleyes:
That, or maybe these people who have absurdly detailed dossiers on the Lostaways (and who have obviously recognized Locke as someone important that they want on their side because the island “Likes” him) used their globe-spanning conspiracy to grab Locke’s father.
-Joe
That’s pretty quick action though, if they were able to grab him after Locke invaded their compound; OTOH, if they grabbed him when they first discovered Locke, I’d say it was pretty slow action.
Not to mention, of course, if they truly have no way of finding the island without the beacon, bringing him in at the last minute wouldn’t be possible.
Oh, am I the only person who wondered why you can get to the mainland by sub and only by sub?
I’m assuming, of course, that Michael is going in circles right now.
-Joe
I don’t believe for a second it was last minute. I think they grabbed him as soon as they’d worked out Locke’s Island Favoritism and his backstory.
-Joe