My Serious, Logical Thoughts on Dr Linus

TITLE
Refers to AT Ben because in that timeline he has a doctorate degree. Quiz question: What is AT Ben’s degree in? Answer below.

RICHARD
So Jacob gives Richard a gift by touching him and suddenly he ages slowly or not at all? Jacob also ages slowly or not at all. Why then is Ben able to kill Jacob so easily? Could not Jacob have fought him off. And even Ben commented that Jacob did not defend himself.
Richard arrived on the island on the Black Rock in the 1840s I believe and apparently was a slave or criminal. Of course if you have been reading my blog you know that I already stated that this is where Richard was from. When the Black Rock was first found Locke said that it was a mining ship and these chained men were on their way to work in the mines. Richard is white and therefore was not part of the slave trade. He could have been a criminal who was sentenced to work in the mines. That would explain the chains and the dead bodies on the Black Rock. And spoiler alert I hear that an episode is coming showing the Black Rock arriving at the island and explaining the story of Richard. Who he is, what he is and so forth. End Spoil. Should make a great episode. That was either brave or stupid of Jack to stay with Richard with that lit fuse. Especially since he knew Jacob was dead and therefore had no influence on the situation. Or does he? Richard needs Jack to kill him because for some reason Richard cannot kill himself. What he means by that is even if Richard did try to kill himself he would not be successful because something would happen to stop his death. Which of course is exactly what happened in this episode. We saw something similar when Michael was in New York and tried to kill himself. He pulled the trigger but the gun did not go off. It is like that.

ALEX AND BEN
This episode shows a nice parallel between AT Ben and regular Ben. In the regular timeline Ben gets his daughter killed because he makes a decision that lead directly to her death. In the AT Ben makes a different decision about Alex that saves her academic career. In the AT the career of Alex replaces her life from the other timeline. In the scene where Alex and Ben are studying together Ben says that it is just a test and Alex replies: just a test it is only my entire life. Ben chooses not to pursue going after the principal so that the principal will write a favorable letter of recommendation for Alex and then she can get into a good college. It is like Ben getting a second chance with Alex.
The parallels between the two Bens and the different decisions that each made are interesting. In the regular timeline Ben loses his authority as leader over the Others. Remember when he shot Locke? He shot him because he felt threatened. He thought he would lose his power which of course he eventually did. Notice the segue when it shows AT Ben teaching in a classroom and the first thing he says is this is the island where it all happened. He tells his class that this is where Napolean lost his power. So this story parallels what happened to regular Ben. AT Ben tries to get power by blackmailing the principal, but he refuses to do it at the cost of ruining the future of Alex.
It was nice to see Arzt again, this time at his job which he had spoken of on the island. He said that he taught 9th grade science so we knew this before. Quiz question. After Arzt blew up on the island, what did Hurley say to Jack? The answer is below. Again, people in the AT are brought together just like they were in the regular timeline. It is their fate to meet each other. So far we have had so many meet it is hard to keep track. AT Locke plays a crucial role in this episode convincing Ben to go after the principal job.
Regular Ben gets in big trouble when it is revealed that he killed Jacob. The Locke-ness monster does give him a way out, but he does not take it thanks to the mercy shown him by Ilana. The previews said that Ben would meet his destiny in this episode hinting at his death. As usual this was misleading. When AT Ben talks with his father about DHARMA, Roger Linus states that they left the island. But when did this occur? Roger Linus shot Sayid and that was shortly before the bomb was detonated. Did he and young Ben then get on the sub? Apparently but we never see this. Also were any of them aware that the island just got nuked? Quiz question. In this episode AT Arzt tells AT Ben that Ben is a real killer. How many people has regular Ben killed while facing or touching them and who where they?

ENDING
At the end notice that Widmore is planning something bad for the island. He may have to get in line. Richard has already stated that the Locke-ness monster wants to kill everyone on the island.

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
Where is Mikail, the guy with the eye patch?
Is Jacob really dead? By the way, who is Jacob how did he come to the island and who hired him? Was it the blonde boy we saw a few episodes ago?
When Richard appears in the jungle he tells Jack that he would not believe where he just came from. And where was that exactly? Richard was not at the temple when it was attached. Why?
How did Widmore find the island after it had been moved?

SIDE NOTES
The actor who played the principal also played a physics professor in the movie Real Genius starring Val Kilmer 1985.

ANSWERS TO QUIZ QUESTIONS
European history
“Dude You’ve got some Arzt on you”
Ben has killed three people in close proximity: John Locke, Roger Linus and Jacob. Though when it was revealed the Ben killed Locke, nobody flinched when Ben said he killed Locke in a previous episode.

Q