BIRTHDAY BOY & THE BOGEYMAN: LOST, EPISODE 3.20 – “THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN”

What the?! Seriously?

Get yourself an espresso, this is going to be a long one…

I know that people are going to freak out about the supernatural element and complain about Jacob, but I’d like to remind everyone that we’ve been religiously following a show featuring an unknown, murderous smoke being…so this isn’t as out there as it might seem.

Let’s get this out of the way. There have been numerous Wizard of Oz references on Lost, none more obvious than the title of this episode, ‘The Man Behind the Curtain.’

And now we have several nods to Alice in Wonderland.
 
1. Look at the outfit that Ben’s mom was wearing in the jungle; a blue dress and headband (much like both the Dorothy and Alice characters).

2. The wooden doll that Annie made for Ben is also wearing a similar blue dress.

[SIDENOTE: I realize that I switched the episode numbers; 3.20 should be on the left, and 3.04 should be on the right. But I'm entirely too lazy to open PhotoShop, so I'm just acknowledging the error instead.]

3. Remember that in Season One, Locke told Jack to follow the white rabbit (his dead father)….Ben was following his dead mother. Carrying a white rabbit. The same rabbit, mind you, that Ben used to show Sawyer the effects of a rapid heart beat.
 
BEN

Ben and Locke both have mothers named Emily. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that Ben and Locke were brothers…but then I remembered that we met Locke’s mom in a Season 1 flashback and saw Ben’s mom die last night.  Entirely different actresses and women. Doh! Still, it’s an interesting coincidence.

Why couldn’t Ben hear what Jacob said to Locke?  

We were led to believe that Ben was a leader, that he was self-righteous about who was ‘good’ and who was ‘bad.’ And now we know that he is a psychopath who organized the genocide of an entire village with no remorse. That is one dark corner to turn. The man eradicated his own people.

So now we know that Ben wasn’t born on the island. That is why he healed quickly from the spinal surgery, and not because of his proximity to Locke. But why didn’t the island heal his tumor in the first place?

Ben’s mom died giving birth to him…but they weren’t on the island. They were in Oregon. So…

Is Ben the reason that women on the island die during childbirth? Did he bring in a new team who injected them with something that actually killed the mothers rather than saved them? Does he want other kids to feel how he did, responsible for the death of their mothers? It might sound crazy, but we did just learn how evil he really is.

So Ben killed his dad and challenged Locke to do the same. Was he testing him to see if he too was capable of killing his own people for the sake of the island?

Does Ben know that Locke didn’t actually kill his dad, that he had Sawyer do it?

Both of Ben’s parents died on his birthday; his mom on the day he was born, and his dad when he killed him as part of The Purge.

Was Ben really surprised to a) see that Mikhail was alive, b) hear about Naomi’s arrival via parachute and c) find out that his tape recorder had gone missing?

JACOB

Someone (with a LOT more time on their hands) captured a brief screen shot of the infamous Jacob. So he IS real…and his profile kind of resembles John Locke with hair. Or John Malkovich.

Jacob said ‘help me’ to Locke. I don’t think he was asking, I think he was offering. Jacob knows all about Locke’s bond with the island and his healing powers, so he wants to join forces. Which, of course, would put Ben out to pasture. Thus, Ben shot Locke.

Did Jacob ever make that list? Knowing what we know now, I believe that Ben created it based on his knowledge and research about the survivors of Flight 815.

Is Jacob the Black Smoke Monster? He can be invisible when he wants to, which would make him an easy shape shifter. He and Ben are both trying to rid the island of those they deem unworthy, and the Black Smoke Monster has certainly done its part.

What the hell was in Jacob’s Unabomber shack? What was the red substance in the jars? What’s with the painting of the dog?

RICHARD

Besides Richard, are there any other former Hostiles among Ben’s current group of Others?

What’s the deal with Richard? He hasn’t aged much. Is the island a fountain of youth too?  This has shades of the Lost Boys from Peter Pan…

Why isn’t Richard the leader of the current Others? Was he actually born on the island? Was he the leader of the Hostiles? Why are they still in hiding? Did any or all of them convert to Dharma along with Richard? Is he waiting for the right moment to supersede Ben’s waning power?

Did Richard take Ben in because he found out he was special, that he could see his deceased mother on the island? Sounds just like Ben, who took Locke under his wing once he discovered that the island healed and spoke to Locke.

LOCKE

Did Ben shoot Locke with the gun that Alex gave to Locke, or did he have his own?

Will Locke survive the gunshot wound because the island heals him?

If Ben truly wanted to kill Locke, he would have shot him in the head. Is he just testing the island to see if it will heal Locke?

ROUSSEAU

What happened to little Annie? Did evil Ben kill her too? Is/was she Alex’s mom, or is Rousseau? Could Annie be Rousseau?

Rousseau talked about ‘the sickness’ in Season One. Could it have been the teargas?? Either she was an Other or her crew stumbled upon the island right as Ben was gassing the village.

QUESTIONS

Were women on the island able to give birth and live BEFORE the Purge?

Could teargas, even in mass quantities, really kill that many people over such a wide area in an open space like that? How was the gas dispersed to those outside of their homes? Most of the deceased were lying in positions which seem to indicate that it was very quick, with no time to think or struggle.

Why would Ben and/or the Hostiles leave the Dharma bodies lying in an open grave? You would think that the current Others might stumble upon it and start asking questions or figure it out.

Why did it seem like there was an earthquake when the Hostiles were attacking the Dharma village? What shook the ground? They were creating a fake volcano in the Dharma classroom. Are we to now believe that there is a dormant volcano on the island?

Was that ash (from the alleged island volcano) or gunpowder (from the dynamite in the Black Rock) surrounding Jacob’s cabin? Who put it there?

At the end of last season, Ben sent Michael and Walt away on a small boat with coordinates to be rescued. Could they be anywhere near the location where Naomi’s ship is supposedly stationed? Have they been rescued by her crew?

So, Ben and Richard oversaw the extinction of the Dharma folks on the island. And yet the Dharma supplies and food drops continue? Were the Dharma people back in the real world suspicious of this new leadership or even know about it?

Last season we saw Eko discover a few Dharma bodies in the polar bear cave. Were they killed separately from the mass gas? Did the Hostiles seek out and kill every single Dharma person except for Ben? Did they let the Dharma animals loose to help rid the island of their caretakers?

When the tape was played on the beach, why was there so little reaction from Sun (who found out that the Others were coming to kidnap her) and Kate (who found out she might be pregnant)?  

REPEAT THEMES

Add another to the growing list of those on the island with serious daddy issues: Ben.

Oh look, another dead relative made an appearance: Ben’s mom.

And Dr. Candle/Dr. Wickman and his one good arm were in yet another Orientation video.

THEORY NOT RELATED TO THIS EPISODE

Stay with me here…

Juliet was sleeping with Goodwin. Goodwin was dispatched to the Tail Section after the crash to infiltrate the survivors. Ana Lucia killed Goodwin when she discovered that he was an Other. Juliet found out that Ana Lucia killed her lover boy. When Michael was captured by the Others, Juliet made sure that one of the conditions of Walt’s return was that he had to kill Ana Lucia. Which would mean that Michael shot and killed Ana Lucia on purpose, and not just because she was guarding Ben in the hatch.

Phew. Not sure where or when that one came to me.

CRAZY THEORY OF THE WEEK

I know I always refer back to this scene, but it has remained a large mystery throughout this season…when Kate was handcuffed and forced to eat breakfast with Ben on the other island, she was told that the next two weeks were going to be very difficult. Ben and Juliet are now convinced that Kate is pregnant. So either they forced her to get vertical with an Other (that might explain the red wrists that resulted from her struggle in handcuffs), or they forced her to choose Sawyer or Jack during that time period, knowing full well that for men on the island, their ‘boys’ swim at five to ten times the normal rate. If this raid on the beach to take the remaining women was Ben’s plan the entire time, then he calculated the time it would take for Kate to get pregnant.

POP CULTURE ASIDES

Ben’s mother was played by his real life wife. Michael Emerson is married to Carrie Preston. Kind of creepy, even though the two never appeared in the same scene.  

Oh, and Ben’s dad and Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite are one in the same.