# Lost 6.7 "Dr. Linus" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 9, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891 "2010-03-09T19:02:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Sir\_Prize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d2c977/32.png) [@Sir\_Prize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Prize)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/101 "2010-03-11T02:31:29Z")
Reading farther down the thread I realized that there is a potential candidate who we haven’t seen in the alternate timeline, baby Kwon. I wonder if he/she is on the sub. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/102 "2010-03-11T02:35:38Z")
I agree with the remarks about Dr. Linus at the high school. School politics don’t work like that. Principals don’t step down and name their successors like that. The blackmail wouldn’t have worked as described. There were better ways they could have explored the same topic. However, Michael Emerson is an awesome actor. I love every minute he is on the screen. His “He is the only one who will have me.” actually made me feel sorry for the most loathsome character. In that simple line, Emerson’s voice and face perfectly conveyed Linus’ realization that every choice in his life was wrong. Every one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/103 "2010-03-11T05:29:01Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I was thinking the same thing. > > And man, Alex looks way too old to be playing a high schooler. What’s Walt look like these days? [This](http://blogs.bet.com/news/playahater/wp-content/uploads/2008/02/gregoden.jpg). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Oslo\_Ostragoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oslo_Ostragoth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/104 "2010-03-11T05:31:43Z")
> [@BMada](#): > > it’s funny how something that’s not so blatantly fiction gets your goat. The part where a huge smoke monster kills people on a mysterious island doesn’t ring bells of realism, yet something like AP tests do. I say get over it and enjoy the fiction. What little faith I had in Hollywood was lost when the residents of Jericho, KS, were negotiating the barter of their “spring crop”, which could only have been mud. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/105 "2010-03-11T05:35:17Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > I don’t know about the rest of you, but my biggest WTF? moment of the episode was during the opening credits. Directed by Mario van Pebbles? Really? I haven’t seen that name in years. He isn’t listed as the director on IMDB (some guy named Bobby Roth is) but that is what it says onscreen. I just rewatched to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. Just to make sure, you do realize Mario van Peebles is different from Melvin van Peebles (his father), right? (Because, for a while, I didn’t, and had a “WTF?” reaction accordingly…) ---
**Author:** ![BMada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@BMada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMada)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/106 "2010-03-11T05:48:00Z")
> [@Drum\_God](#): > > I agree with the remarks about Dr. Linus at the high school. School politics don’t work like that. Principals don’t step down and name their successors like that. The blackmail wouldn’t have worked as described. There were better ways they could have explored the same topic. I thought the whole “you figure out what your reason for leaving” be the explanation of resigning was decent, then the whole spiel of You are fucking god to the Board and they’ll suck your dick too, explanation of “mention my name Ben Linus to be the best candidate for replacement” will go down as per his god-like status. I find it very irritating that minor details like this are what make people get turned off by the story-telling of Lost where obvious crazy ideas like donkey wheels and time travel are okay in terms of fiction. The way they did the blackmail seemed reasonable to a person not in the know of the whole politics of the education system. I think we need to check our intimate knowledge of whatever out the door when watching Lost and enjoy it as it is. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/107 "2010-03-11T05:50:39Z")
Even if you don’t know how school politics work, though, how was it that Ben had enough leverage to ostensibly force the principal to resign yet not enough to tack onto it a demand that he write a positive recommendation for Alex as well? That didn’t seem sensical. ---
**Author:** ![BMada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@BMada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMada)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/108 "2010-03-11T05:57:18Z")
that’s the story-telling part of it. Principal was using Alex to take down a student Ben adores. He woulda taken the bullet of the sex scandal by screwing up the future of Alex. He probably knew they were close and knew that there was more leverage than what the viewer actually saw. The principal knew the history club had 5 people, one which is Alex. Ben had to make the choice of personal gain or Alex’s future. We also need to remember Ben isn’t the master manipulator in flashsideways universe. He was getting the taste of turning evil with substitute teacher Locke planting the seeds. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/109 "2010-03-11T06:02:19Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Even if you don’t know how school politics work, though, how was it that Ben had enough leverage to ostensibly force the principal to resign yet not enough to tack onto it a demand that he write a positive recommendation for Alex as well? That didn’t seem sensical. Because if the principal doesn’t budge and Linus makes the scandal public, Linus doesn’t get the job; he just gets rid of the principal. ---
**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/110 "2010-03-11T06:12:25Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Even if you don’t know how school politics work, though, how was it that Ben had enough leverage to ostensibly force the principal to resign yet not enough to tack onto it a demand that he write a positive recommendation for Alex as well? That didn’t seem sensical. Ben needed the Principal to recommend Ben for the job after he resigned. No one would listen to his recommendation if the scandal went public. Ben only had enough leverage to become Principal. If he revealed the scandal after becoming principal he would taint his position, because he only became principal based on the old principal’s good word. So after the principal gives Ben the job, Ben can’t demand anything else without hurting his own position. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/111 "2010-03-11T06:46:41Z")
About the reference letter – how closely do colleges actually check up on things like that? Ben was in the principal’s office unsupervised. Steal a few sheets of his letterhead, write a glowing recommendation, sign the principal’s name to it… Is there any realistic fear that the principal would ever be asked to verify he’d written a letter? Of course, keeping Alex from thanking the principal might be tricky. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/112 "2010-03-11T07:09:16Z")
I’m hoping the Widmore on the submarine is the Widmore from the alternate timeline. They have to bring the Island timeline and the flash sideways timelines together eventually, don’t they, so why not through him, the first new arrival to the island this season? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/113 "2010-03-11T12:48:55Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Just to make sure, you do realize Mario van Peebles is different from Melvin van Peebles (his father), right? (Because, for a while, I didn’t, and had a “WTF?” reaction accordingly…) Yeah, in fact, I wasn’t even familiar with Melvin until folks here mentioned Mario’s ‘daddy issues’. (I’m still not understanding the full impact of those issues as it pertains to _Lost_ but I’m to lazy to search for them though.) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/114 "2010-03-11T12:56:21Z")
> [@ataraxy22](#): > > They have to bring the Island timeline and the flash sideways timelines together eventually, don’t they, so why not through him, the first new arrival to the island this season? Unless the sideway-verse is just the future. ---
**Author:** ![Keweenaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Keweenaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keweenaw)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/115 "2010-03-11T13:22:51Z")
Couple of random thoughts. Ben saw his dead mother when he was a kid across the Darhma fence, desipte her dead body not being anywhere on the island. I don’t think any other MIB impersationations were of people that didn’t die on the island. Probably dosen’t mean anything significant. In the side-ways timeline, even with the bomb going off when it did, Saywer would still have been touched by Jacob since it happened pre-bomb, I think. Since we haven’t seen any Jacob, MIB influence in the alt-timeline, this probably dosen’t mean anything either. ---
**Author:** ![running\_piglet\_cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/22d042/32.png) [@running\_piglet\_cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_piglet_cheese)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/116 "2010-03-11T13:37:30Z")
Does Illiana look like Ana Lucia to any of you? I wonder if her character (Illiana) was originally supposed to be Ana Lucia’s but they had to re-write it when she got kicked off the show. I like the fact that Jack is no longer willing to play games with these cryptic non-answers. That scene with Richard was pretty awesome. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/117 "2010-03-11T14:56:28Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > About the reference letter – how closely do colleges actually check up on things like that? Ben was in the principal’s office unsupervised. Steal a few sheets of his letterhead, write a glowing recommendation, sign the principal’s name to it… Is there any realistic fear that the principal would ever be asked to verify he’d written a letter? Wouldn’t work. IIRC, Yale uses a Common On-Line Application, which means that all letters of rec are done electronically. Doesn’t matter about the principal anyway - they don’t write letters, and students don’t solicit them from principals. Administrators don’t know squat about the kids. It’s the teachers who see them day in and day out and can assess their strengths and weaknesses. Ben’s letter is the one that matters, not one from Dickless. He(Dickless) could _burn_ her, but he can’t help her. Ben’s plan was stupid from the start. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/118 "2010-03-11T15:04:42Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Wouldn’t work. IIRC, Yale uses a Common On-Line Application, which means that all letters of rec are done electronically. Doesn’t matter about the principal anyway - they don’t write letters, and students don’t solicit them from principals. Administrators don’t know squat about the kids. It’s the teachers who see them day in and day out and can assess their strengths and weaknesses. Ben’s letter is the one that matters, not one from Dickless. He(Dickless) could _burn_ her, but he can’t help her. Ben’s plan was stupid from the start. Well, in the alt timeline, Ben never embraced The Eevil, so he wasn’t practiced in the dark arts. Makes sense to me that he couldn’t figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/119 "2010-03-11T15:09:55Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Wouldn’t work. IIRC, Yale uses a Common On-Line Application, which means that all letters of rec are done electronically. Doesn’t matter about the principal anyway - they don’t write letters, and students don’t solicit them from principals. Administrators don’t know squat about the kids. It’s the teachers who see them day in and day out and can assess their strengths and weaknesses. Ben’s letter is the one that matters, not one from Dickless. He(Dickless) could _burn_ her, but he can’t help her. Ben’s plan was stupid from the start. Okay, thanks for the info. So, since I’m assuming we are supposed to think Ben is still smart in the alternate time line (and it would be amazingly stupid if a high school teacher doesn’t know this) we must just look away and chant “this is genuinely the way it works in the Lost universe.” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891/120 "2010-03-11T15:10:53Z")
Donkey wheels that time-shift islands I can handle. But **I** teach AP Euro. Seeing Ben so clueless about something he would have been doing multiple times every year just brought me totally out of the episode. Besides, if Ben really _were_ an AP teacher, he would have embraced the Dark Side years ago. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-6-7-dr-linus/531891.md?page=7)