LOST: "The Man Behind The Curtain" Recap [MAJOR SPOILERS]

We've Got Some Catching Up To Do

The tertiary story, and hence the shortest takes us back to the beach, and the situations with Naomi, Jack, and Juliet.

Long story short, well shortish, Sawyer returns to the camp, and plays Juliet's tape for Sayid.  The both of them decide to take this to Jack, to tell him of Juliet's treachery, when they learn that Kate has told Jack about Naomi.  Needless to say Sayid is less than pleased with this news.  They play the tape for Kate.

So the camp has a big pow-wow, and discuss the Naomi situation, and it quickly turns to talk of Jack and Juliet.  Sawyer plays the tape for the somewhat-torn beachies, and seems to solidify everyone that Jack and Juliet are up to no good.

Then Jack and Juliet show up.  Juliet tells Sawyer to turn the tape over.  No, Sawyer!  Actually take the tape out, turn it over and press play!

The tape plays Ben's voice telling Juliet about the upcoming raid and how the Others are going to know who to take.  Jack and Juliet it seems have been hatching their own plan on how to subvert the Others' raid, and hadn't bothered to tell anyone else.  "I guess we've got some catching up to do," says Jack.

The Tale of Sir Roger the Workman

The flashback this time takes us back to what looks like the late 60's, and chronicles the tale of Ben from his birth, up to "The Purge" on the island.  It would seem that Ben is not so different from the men of the beach crew, in a few respects.

The story starts with an obviously pregnant woman painfully giving birth in a wooded area.  Is it the jungle? On the island?  Her husband, Laslo, er I mean Roger is there, trying to make the best of the situation.

The baby arrives (it's a boy!), and its clear that she's in dire straits.  He picks the both of them up ("No one knows we're here!") and makes a run for it.  Where's he going?

Back to the highway outside of Portland of course.  He flags down a couple in a Kharmann Ghia, who offer to take them to town.  Emily sputters a few things, one of which is, "Call him Benjamin..." and then dies.

The next time we see Ben, he's roughly 8 or 10 years old, and he's getting off the submarine onto the island dock with his father!  Like most kids his age in this situation he appears part frightened, part in awe, but all nervous.

They are of course at an outpost of the DHARMA Initiative!  Namaste!  At first glance it would seem the island is populated by a group of Maoist hippies, all happy and groovy, yet wearing their cleanly pressed DHARMA jumpsuits and quite walking "in step" so to speak.   Ben takes in the sights and sounds, which include Dr. Candle giving a "welcome to the island" presentation.  I didn't catch all of what was said, but there was a bit about the sonic fence being there to protect them from "native wildlife" and their mission to "study the properties" of something or other, the details I couldn't catch.  A young girl approaches Ben.  "You're new here, aren't you? I'm Annie."

Meanwhile, Roger finally meets up with one Horace Goodspeed, who it turns out was the guy he met on the highway back in Portland.  Seems Horace was the one who arranged for Roger and Ben to come to the island.  Of course what Horace didn't tell him was that he'd signed up to be just a janitorial lackey, which doesn't sit well with him.

Later, Ben is in school with a group of other children, doing the tried and true baking soda volcano experiment.  Just as the teacher causes the volcano to erupt, a loud boom emanates from outside, then a loud crack, and sirens start going off.

Is the island volcano erupting?  "Get into position!" the teacher yells.  All the other children run to the inside wall and get on the ground, while Ben remains in his seat.  The teacher braces the door, and grabs a rifle.  "Don't worry, Ben, it's just the hostiles!"  Outside we see more DHARMA jumpsuits carrying rifles.

That night, Ben is in his room, with a pet white rabbit (hint-nudge-wink) when he hears his dad, Roger and Horace arguing in the next room.  Roger doesn't like his current situation at all, and wants hazard pay if he's going to be shot at.

Ben hears something hitting his window, thinks nothing of it, and goes back to eavesdropping.  He hears it again, and turns around to see his mother standing there.  Startled, he turns around to see if he's been discovered, and as he returns to face the window his mother is gone again.

We return to the flashback to find Ben and Annie playing on a swingset.  Today is Ben's birthday, and Annie's brought him a present.  Its a pair of hand-carved wooden dolls.  "Now we never have to be away from each other," she says.

He goes back to his cabin, with the box in hand to find his dad passed out drunk on the couch.  He takes the beer from his hand and starts to take his shoes off when he wakes up.

"Sorry I forgot your birthday," he says.  He says a lot of things, the most important is that he blames Ben for the death of Emily.  "She's gone and I'm stuck here on this island with you!"

Ben runs crying out of the hut, and into the jungle, all the way to the sonic fence.  The familiar (well to us) jungle whispering starts, and he sees his mother emerge from the jungle.  He starts to run towards the fence, but "mom" tells him to stop.  "It's not time yet," she says, and walks back into the jungle.

Another night (exactly when we don't know) he heads back into the jungle with couple of packs.  He reaches the fence, pulls out a piece of paper with "54439" on it, and dials (nice touch) the fence off.  He pulls his rabbit out of one of the packs and sends it across the boundary.  The rabbit survived, so he picks it up and continues on.

He treks into the forest, yelling for his mother.  The whispering starts again, and suddenly standing before him is (wait for it) none other than our present Others' Richard Alpert.  He looks a bit scruffier than we've come to know him, but he appears to be roughly the same age as he is in present-day "island time."  (Dude!)

"Are you one of them?"  "Who?"  "A hostile!"  "Do you even know what that means?" Richard says with a sort-of grin.

"What are you doing here?"  He asks Ben.  "You wouldn't believe me."  "Try me."

Ben tells him he's looking for his mother, that she's dead.  "Did she die here, on the island?"  Ben tells him how she died.  Richard seems genuinely surprised, "And you see her?"

"She talked to me," Ben says, and Richard looks a bit more stunned.  "What did she say?"

"That I couldn't come with her, that is wasn't time."  Richard goes from stunned to having a knowing grin.  "You should go home, your people will be looking for you."

"I don't want to go back, I hate it there," Ben says to him.  "Take me with you."

"Maybe that can happen, if that's what you want.  But you're going to have to be patient."

The next time we see "flashback" Ben, he's older, probably 20-something and has more hair!  He's putting on a DHARMA workman jumpsuit, the same as his father.  He picks up the now-weathered wooden doll, and puts it in his pack.

He goes to his dad, who is loading up a van (yes that van) full of beer.  "It's my birthday," Ben tells him.

His dad apologizes to him, and seems to be turning over a new leave with respect to Ben.  He asks Ben if he wants to go with him to take "this stuff" to The Pearl, and then go up to the Mesa to take in the sights, "Sure can't say it ain't beautiful."

Later, they're in the van, taking in the view from "the Mesa."  Ben asks his dad, "Do you really blame me for my mother's death?"  His dad, apparently tired of the anger routine tells him, "What do I know?"  Ben looks at his watch, it's straight-up 4 pm.  "I'll do my best to remember your birthday from now on."

"I don't think that's going to happen," Ben tells him.  "I've had to put with you this whole time, and its taken a tremendous amount of patience."  He pulls out a gas mask and gets it prepped while his dad sits confused.  "Goodbye dad."

He puts on the mask, and pulls the pin on a gas grenade.  He watches as his dad dies a rather painful ugly death, then heads back towards the barracks.  The rest of the DHARMA folks are also dead, apparently killed by the same gas.  He finds Horace's body sitting on a bench, and seems to pay him a little more respect than any of the rest.

Just then the "natives" appear, with gas masks and AK-47s in hand, led by none other than Richard.  The gas masks come off, and Richard and Ben exchange some understanding looks.  "Do you want us to go get his body?" Richard asks him.  "No. Leave him out there."  Richard nods his head as if he understands.

Now, normally, that would be a totally appropriate place for the episode-ending *BONK*.  But no, not today.  The best is still to come, trust me.

These Are My People, John

We meet up with the Others in their new camp, and Ben holding a weathered old wooden doll.  We don't know what it is yet.  Richard appears, "Whatcha got there?"  "A birthday present.  Mine happens to be today.  You do remember birthdays, don't you?"

Richard asks him about the tape.  They've discovered its gone missing, and rush out to find Tom.  They find him alright, along with the rest of the Others, staring open-jawed into the jungle.

Ben turns to see, and finds Locke, carrying the body of his father on his back.

"You said if I killed my father, you'd tell me what I want to know about the island.  Why don't you start at the beginning?"

Ben and Locke retire to Ben's tent, where he pours the two of them a glass of DHARMA brand whiskey.  Locke declines.

"I wish it was as simple as taking out a dusty old book and going from there.  But its not that simple."  "Just tell me," Locke says.

"You probably think I'm the leader here, that's not entirely true.  We all answer to someone, John."  "Who might that be?"

"Take me to him," Locke says very matter-of-factly.  "I can't do that."  John gets up and starts to leave.  "I'm the only one who talks to him.  I brought these people  here, he talks to me, trusts me."

"No one else has ever seen him? How convenient for you.  I think there is no Jacob.  You're the man behind the curtain, the Wizard of Oz, and you're a liar!"

"Why would you say that?" "Because if you were telling the truth your hand wouldn't be shaking."  And we see Ben twitching rather obviously, probably the first time we've seen him so phased.

Just then, Mikhail comes running into the new camp, screaming for Ben.  We learn that he didn't die at the sonic fence because it just wasn't set high enough to kill. (Aw! That was too easy!)  He sees John, "He's the one who tried to kill me!"  "He's one of us now," Ben tells him.  Obviously Mickey's not too happy with that.  "Where have you been?"

Mikhail tells the story of finding Desmond and company along with the parachutist, and her story.  Ben is shocked that he didn't know anything about it.  They decide to accelerate the plans to invade the beach camp, but Locke has other plans.

"You're not going.  Ben and I are going to see Jacob,"  which brings immediate awe and silence from the entire group, including Richard.

Ben tries to back out of Locke's statement, and Locke suddenly head-butts Mikhail, and proceeds to thrash him thoroughly.  Ben pleads with Locke to stop, and calls upon Richard and Tom to help stop this.

But neither do, they simply stare in awe.  John stops the beating, "So when do we leave?"

At a nearby stream, Locke and Ben are filling their canteens.  "You didn't have to beat Mikhail to make your point, John."  "Yes. I did."

Out of nowhere, Alex appears!  "I hear you're going to see Jacob.  You'll need this."  She hands John a pistol.  Ben is confused by this move.  "Happy birthday, dad," she says as she goes back into the jungle.

Before they leave, they're in Ben's tent.  "There's something you should know before we go.  I assure you Jacob is real.  He's not going to like this.  He's going to be angry."  Locke sees he's getting somewhere.  "He's not a man you just go and see.  He summons *you*."

"There's a first time for everything," John says.  They set out on the trip to find Jacob, with the Others staring on, still in awe and amazement.

Walking through the forest, Ben stops, looking at what appears to be a line of ash or sand or something.  He thinks for a moment, and then crosses the line.  John is curious, and bends down to examine this substance for a moment, and they continue on.  (What's that? A clue? Where?)

They finally reach a humble-looking wooden cabin.  It looks to be older than what's at the barracks.  There doesn't appear to be any power, and seems to be grown over with vines.

"We're here.  Turn off the light.  Jacob feels the same about technology as you do."  Ben goes to the door and lights a nearby lantern.  Locke checks that his pistol is available.

"Once I open this door, there's no turning back.  Are you sure this is what you want?"  Locke steps forward as if to say "absolutely."   "So be it.  It's Ben! I'm here with John Locke! We're coming in now!"

He opens the door and walks into a dark room.  It appears to be full of older, much older things than we're used to seeing.  (Maybe the same era as the Black Rock?)  There are some canning jars in the window.  A wooden chair sits pulled out from a dusty wooden table.

Ben starts talking to the chair!  Locke is visibly shocked and confused, yet not surprised.  "Who are you talking to?"  "You can't see him?" Ben replies.  "See who?!"  "He's sitting right here!" Ben replies again, pointing to the chair.

"You wanted the secrets of the island, here they are!"  Ben turns to the chair as if he's been spoken to.  "He made me!" And starts arguing with the chair.

"You're crazy!" John yells.  "You don't know anything about anything.  You're putting on a show for me.  Do you really think there's someone there?!"

"I know there's someone there."  "You don't know anything!"  and Locke turns to leave the cabin.  "I'm sorry you feel that way, sorry you're too limited to see..."  "You're pathetic!"  Locke yells back, and just as he goes to open the door...

... a deep voice echoes throughout the room, "Help me."

Locke turns back, "What did you say?" "I didn't say anything!" John turns the flashlight on and repeats the question.

Just then the house starts to shake, and things start flying around the room.  Ben turns to the chair and says angrily, "That's enough!"  Locke runs from the cabin, and things start to calm down.  Ben calmly opens the door and steps out.  "What was that?" Locke asks.

"That, was Jacob."

They go back down the hill, it's daylight now.

"What did you hear in there, what did Jacob say?"  "He didn't say anything.  But you did.  I'm not going to be taken in by the show, you're a fraud, and its time your people know the truth about you."

Locke realizes this is a different route than the way they came.  Ben agrees, he wants to show John something.  Ben comes clean with John about some lies he's told, particularly about being born on the island.

"That's what I want to show you."

They come into a small clearing, and in the center of it is a deep hole, filled with the skeletons of the DHARMA crew.  "This is where I came from.  These are my people.  The 'DHARMA Initiative.'  They came here seeking harmony, but couldn't exist with the island's original inhabitants.  One side had to be purged, I did what I had to do.  I was one of the people smart enough to not end up in this ditch."

And with that, Ben shoots Locke square in the chest.  John falls into the pit, onto the skeletons.

"What did Jacob say?" "Why?" Locke stammers out.  "Because you heard him!"  "Help me."  Ben doesn't realize that's the quote, and points the gun at him again.

"He said 'Help me.'"  Ben is taken aback by this.

"I certainly hope he helps *you*, John," and Ben leaves John there to die.

*BONK*  (bonkbonk, bonk bonkbonk bonk.  BONK!!!!)

I will post the analysis and comments sometime today.  There is a lot to deal with here.  Leave your own comments here in the meantime. 

I'm totally blown away right now.

Next Time

"Sorry, brother, but this time, you have to die"

Looks like next week we start setting up for the end of season three.