WAG regarding Ben, the surgery, and the reference to Jack not being on…um…whatsisname’s list:
Ben has a twin, the aforementioned whatsisname, and THAT is who is being operated on. Or really in charge. Whatever. Remember, there were twins on the boat that took WAAAALT in season one. TWINS. That’s the big revelation, everyone in the Others group has or had a twin. I suspect we’ll see twin Ethan this season as well.
It’s easier to find someone who isn’t moving around, especially if they don’t think they are being chased. Mars said that just as he was telling the other agent to trace the call, probably thinking, “I bet she’s at a phone booth, but if she lives nearby, I can find her.”
You know, that’s kind of interesting, though I don’t know why the Others would have gone through the rigamarole of pretending it was Ben. But then I haven’t understood anything the Others have done, ever.
Anyway, it accounts for something else as well. I asked my wife whether she thought Ben had sort of a southeastern drawl–I mean a stronger one than usual–in the operating room, and she said she hadn’t noticed but that once I pointed it out she thought so as well.
At the time we decided it was a result of him already having been partly anaesthetized. (Our “accents” can become stronger when we are not guarding against them.)
But another explanation could be that it wasn’t Ben.
But I think it was Ben. After all, Zeke and that guy who hates Sawyer seemed to acknowledge that it was Ben, even when talking just to other Others.
-FrL-
You seem to be saying that he was lying to her, just trying to get her to stay put so he could catch her. But that doesn’t seem to be what happened since she apparently stayed put for a substantial length of time but the agent never did come after her.
-FrL-
From his itemized plot summary:
Hehehehhehe
-FrL-
One thing I liked about this episode was Ben’s barely perceptible injuries. The makeup people put just enough stuff on his face and lips so you could tell he had been tortured in the hatch and sustained injuries and cuts that were almost healed now, but only if you really looked. I’m pretty sure he still had the same subtle injuries in the surgery scene.
He wasn’t able to trace the call. That’s why she had the kitchen timer going during the conversation (I don’t know if that really works, but it’s common spy movie fodder).
She was trying to stay under the radar. She’d managed to get married (which in most states requires some sort of identification), but that’s just about it. She was staying at home and presumably using hubby’s credit. The jig was up when he mentioned a passport, which would presumably require documents she couldn’t forge, and definitely would expose her to unwanted scrutiny.
If she was truly safe. Why did she flee?
It’s Genesis 13:14
“Lift up your eyes and look North, John” is what it ends up looking like. Why this means anything at all is confusing, as we all know that’s where Jack et al went. Does John see it as a sign that it is ‘time’ to save them?
Well, that was my question as well. The episode seemed to be portraying her not so much as fleeing, as simply realizing she belongs in the lifestyle of a nomadic fugitive, and deciding the domestic life just isn’t for her.
This did not strike me as believable or interesting.
-FrL-
They’ve told us it’s onm L4, which is the lumbar spine, so Jack was (I’m pretty sure,) operating in the right place. But an episode ago (or was it two?) when he was rattling off the symptoms Ben would be going through, he was (incorrectly) describing symptoms from a neck tumor. Ben would most likely be feeling numbness and loss of sensation in his feet, toes, and legs, not hands and arms.
Lift UP your eyes and look NORTH?
Aha! I’ve figured it out!
North isn’t up unless you’re lying on the ground facing north. It’s UP if the GROUND is sideways, though!
So the island is a disc floating in space perpindicular to the earth. It’s got it’s own gravity so people stay put on it. And uhm…it’s own fake horizon.
Clearly they are existing an another dimension.
So, that was the big mid-season finale? What a let down. That was a very weak episode. I assume the message on Eko’s Jesus stick was to let Locke know where to look for Jack et al. That is, the other island is to the north?
So, was the whole plot by Benry just to get Kate and James together so they could make babies? Put them in a stressful, dangerous position so they would bond and do the dirty deed?
Well, it’s a long time 'til Februrary…
Oh, and I meant to add:
In this episode, when Jack made Ben give his word he’d get to leave, neither Jack nor Ben mentioned going home. Jack asked Ben to promise him he’d get off the island, and Ben gave his word that he would take jack off the island. Since they are on the second island, all Ben has to do is send him back to the main Island, or Hell, just throw him in the ocean! Of course, what with the deliberate botching of the surgery, that’s probably a moot point (and I am wondering how Juliet will react to this once it’s all over. Will she keep her word? Or will she back out since Jack changed what her plan was? Or was she lying the whole time?)
I have to say I was disappointed so very little happened in these 6 episodes, but I am very excited about 4 full months of new, consecutive eps starting in Feb. I think the time will pass quickly, and not so much has happened that I have to remember all these new little details. I’ll be back (with fingers crossed).
I kept hoping Jack would say something along the lines of, “Okay, Ben, I’ll do the operation. But first- I want to know what the hell’s going on with this damn island.”
I had a half-written response saying pretty much the same thing sitting in a forgetten window all morning…
I doubt Jack would’ve believed whatever Ben told him.
Because she could either admit to Captain Tightpants that she couldn’t get a passport for a vacation with him and face his reaction to her lies…or she could just drug him, run away, and take the easy way out.
-Joe
I made Coke come out of my duaghter’s nose last night when, after Jack said. “Okay Ben, I’ll do the operation”, I ad-libbed, “But then you are going to be my bitch”.
Maybe she assumed she wouldn’t be able to get through airport security and it would very hard to explain away?