I wonder if Elizabeth Sarnoff and Drew Goddard felt the stress while constructing the script of TMBTC. Not only was it a keystone in the phenomenal home stretch of Season 3, it was the very first Ben-centric. No pressure! I'll say this: TMBTC lived up to the hype, even if it does kick off one of the most frustrating mysteries in the series.
Flashbacks take us back to Ben's beginning, and I really do mean "beginning". As in his birth. As in the event that threatened his mother's life while his father, Roger, could only watch in horror. We get our first glimpse of Horace and Olivia Goodspeed, whose attempt to help was in vain. Emily dies just moments after naming her child Benjamin.
We skip ahead in flashbacks to Ben's arrival on the island, where Horace has given his father a job in — you guessed it — the DHARMA Initiative. Through this arrangement we get all kinds of informational treats: the factions on the island, Ben's visions of his mother, Richard's promise to young Ben, and eventually The Purge that killed every DI member on the island. We even get to meet Ben's childhood friend Annie, whose relevance was debated ad nauseum by LOST fans until the end of the series.
In present-day we see Locke re-enter the Others' encampment while carrying his dead father. Ben's half-hearted attempt at rewarding him: a nervous rant about Jacob, which Locke isn't buying. Convinced that Jacob is merely a figment of Ben's imagination, Locke calls his bluff in front of the Others and insists they're headed to Jacob's cabin. This cabin would be the aforementioned "frustrating mystery". See the Longevity section for additional thoughts on this.
Now that Plan A and Plan B has failed, Ben decides it's time to resort to Plan C — getting rid of Locke altogether. Ben leads him to a pit full of DHARMA corpses (the evidence of the Purge) and puts a bullet in his ribs. Locke falls into the pit and is left for dead.
Both storylines are full of shockers, memorable one-liners, and subtle nods to the series itself. Ben says to Richard early in the episode, "You remember birthdays, don't you Richard?". Keep in mind this is before we learn about Richard's agelessness, it's a clever bit of foreshadowing.
Another little bonus: Ben and his father drive out toward the Pearl in a DHARMA van. Sure enough the 8-track player is queued up to "Shambala" as a throwback to "Tricia Tanaka is Dead". I absolutely love the attention to detail here.
To sum it all up, Sarnoff and Goddard need to be commended for simultaneously presenting Ben as a maniacal zealot and a sympathetic figure. I believe this is the episode that permanently established Ben as a beloved villain, a fan favorite for the rest of the series.
By now we'd seen a handful of scenes between Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson and their chemistry was undeniable. But TMBTC takes it to legendary levels, whether it was a scene in Ben's tent or Jacob's cabin or the DHARMA pit.
Emerson puts on an acting clinic starting with his first scene, both before and after Locke shows up with his body bag. Even when he's not speaking he's expressing volumes with his body language. Case in point, check out his reaction at the stream when Alex drops by to give Locke a gun. He says nothing but turns his head and looks off to the distance with an incredulous look on his face.
His handling of the "conversation" with Jacob had me shaking my head in pure appreciation, with Ben trying to process Locke's words while simultaneously lecturing Jacob for interrupting. Quite the show indeed.
We've covered the peanut butter, now on to the jelly. Once again O'Quinn transforms Locke into a new and improved version of himself, a confident man who seems to have found his way again. His calling out Ben was a thing of beauty, both at the tent and over at the cabin.
Big-time bonus points to Sterling Beaumon, who portrayed Young Ben. This gets my vote for best casting when it comes to young versions of main characters. Not only is Beaumon credible in appearance, he displays some of the awkward mannerisms of adult Ben. Oh, and it helps that he's a very good actor for his age.
Modest bonus points to Doug Hutchison (Horace), who's always a good actor even if I still can't separate him from his role on The X-Files.
Jon Gries (Roger Linus) broke even. I was neither impressed nor disappointed in his debut.
It's hard to believe this is Bobby Roth's directorial debut because TMBTC has the signature smoothness of all late-Season 3 episodes. It's the subtle touches throughout that really make this episode shine. Just a few examples, big and small:
1. At roughly 3:12 there's a side view of Ben in his tent, thoughtfully staring at a wooden doll. Richard parts the entrance to the tent and briefly pauses before interrupting. It's a shot worth a thousand words.
2. At 6:47 we're on the docks and following young Ben as he surveys the island for the first time. For some reason I've always loved this shot, it's darn near iconic in my opinion.
3. The whole cabin sequence is memorable but it really gets mind-blowing at approx. 31:33, just after Locke shines his flashlight on Ben.
4. As odd as it sounds, the Purge reveal at 38:15 is beautifully shot as far as mass murders go. Love how the camera alternates between close-ups of Ben and the directions in which he looks.
Rewatchability: I could watch this on a continuous loop, that's all I'll say.
There are so many significant elements of this episode I don't know that I could list them all, but the Purge is obviously hugely significant. As for the cabin, I'd love to believe that it's equally significant but for now I just can't. Very few people know what to make of it, and it hurts my brain when I even try. But here goes...
In this episode Ben claims Jacob inhabits the cabin (which, by the way, is surrounded by an unbroken circle of ash). Ben pretends to speak with Jacob, Locke shakes his head at the dog and pony show unfolding before him.
Locke attempts to leave the cabin but hears a voice saying "help me". He flicks on his flashlight and Hell breaks loose in the cabin. At one point a lantern even lights the floor on fire but then the flames disappear. We get a brief glimpse of a mysterious man (which Damon and Carlton claim in the DVD commentary is Jacob) in the chair and a quick glimpse of his eye.
This would be a terrific introduction to the mystery if things didn't get so muddled in future episodes. We later learn that Horace built the cabin, that the cabin apparently moves around the island, and that the circle of ash is broken on subsequent visits. At one point Locke enters the cabin and meets who he thinks is Christian, but it can be safely assumed that it was really the Man in Black.
And so the questions continue to burn even after the series has ended. Who all inhabited the cabin and when and why? Was the ash circle intended to keep someone OUT or IN?
Listening to the episode commentary with Cuse and Lindelof only exacerbated my frustration. They hint that it was indeed Jacob in the cabin and they even go so far as to say "Jacob had some power over Ben and Ben had some power over Jacob". Really? So are we to connect the dots and assume that Ben somehow trapped Jacob in this cabin by using the ash circle? How is this possible if, as Ben confesses to Locke in Season 5, he had indeed never seen Jacob?
I'm inclined to think the cabin is just one big unfortunate mess — or the LOST writers are absolutely brilliant for developing a storyline nobody has managed to fully solve.
In terms of atmosphere TMBTC is standard fare for the first 27 minutes, then the payoff begins. The bone-chilling cabin scene is followed by the Purge, which is followed by Ben leaving Locke in the DHARMA pit. That's about 16 straight minutes of "OMG". I don't smoke but the second half of this episode had me reaching for a cigarette.
The amazing thing is that this episode did indeed have emotional impact. We've got an insecure zealot wreaking havoc on my favorite character (Locke) and coordinating the murder of dozens of people, and yet there were moments when I genuinely felt sorry for Ben and wished he was simply misunderstood. I guess that's what an Emmy-winning actor and great writing will do for you.
