Turn in your textbooks to page 23.

Welcome to the best day of the week! Tonight brings us episode seven, which seems unbelievable to me! It feels like this season is flying by…

I know what you’re probably thinking: “Maggie, how in the world are you going to watch tonight’s episode? Bon Jovi is at the Qwest in Omaha!!” Yeah. I know. And I don’t want to talk about it. Look, sometimes Charlie and I make difficult life decisions because of Lost. For me, it is not going to Bon Jovi tonight (…single tear…). For Charlie, it is selling his Cirque du Soleil tickets for later on this month on Craigslist. (I’m totally kidding, by the way, but feel free to start the rumor and / or offer to buy his tickets.) We both make sacrifices (just like Tommy and Gina). Hahaha.

A very special Dharma Blog welcome this morning to anyone who has happened upon our site courtesy of the Lincoln Journal Star! (Hi, Grandpa and Grandma!) We are thrilled to have you here and hope you enjoy your stay (and continue to visit us throughout the rest of the season).

And for those of you who missed our 5 minutes in the spotlight this morning, the premier news and information source in southeast Nebraska (a.k.a. The Lincoln Journal Star) interviewed the writers of the #1-Lost-Blog-Written-By-Nebraskans-As-Voted-On-By-Our-Moms (a.k.a Charlie and I) about Lost. And it was in the paper this morning. (Yes, our Moms are beyond excited. Hi, Sharon and Nancy!) But don’t worry: we won’t let the fame get to us.

Editor's Note: Here's the article in question from the Journal Star, if you'd like to read.

Alright, guys. Time to focus. Only 10 hours left of Lost. Let’s get down to it!

Tonight: Dr. Linus

Wow! Could it really be this easy of an episode title? Has God really heard my prayer?

Survey says: perhaps. “Dr. Linus” implies that we definitely have a Ben Linus episode ahead.

So far, Ben has had a fairly (and uncomfortably) low-key season 6. If you think about it, we really haven’t seen him much since he…uhh…what did he do? Oh, yeah: HE KILLED JACOB. This season, on-island Ben has been out of his element, appearing unsure of who to trust and what is really going on. For the last couple weeks, he has sticking close to the mysterious Ilana, but staying in the background and letting her run the show. However, none of us will soon forget his eulogy for John Locke, which showcased the Ben Linus we have all come to love and hate, seeming both cynical and sincere at the same time.

I would argue that we have had only one (nearly) jaw-dropping moment for Ben, which my obvious-radar thinks tonight will pick up at (more on that shortly). In “The Substitute,” we found out that in the alternate/sideways timeline, Ben (a.k.a. Dr. Linus) is a cardigan-wearing, coffee-drinking, hell-raising teacher of European History at a high school in Southern California. If you haven’t done so already, take some time to imagine taking Dr. Linus’s class back during your high school years. (Wow, Lincoln Southeast would have had one hell of a WePo team…)

Guest Starring tonight!

Alan Dale as Charles Widmore, Tania Raymonde as Alex, Daniel Roebuck as Dr. Leslie Arzt, Jon Gries as Roger Linus, William Atherton as Principal Don Reynolds and Steve Boatright as officer.

Oh YES! This is going to be awesome!

Alan Dale as Charles Widmore: I can hear Charlie squealing already. Charles Widmore is one of our most favorite Lost characters…and we haven’t seen him since season 5. You’ll recall the last scene with Widmore was outside Desmond’s hospital room (where he was recovering from the gunshot from Ben, which he received during the fight at the marina). Widmore went to visit Desmond during his recovery and ran into Eloise Hawking. We found out during this conversation (about what it means to “sacrifice for the island”) that Daniel Faraday was Eloise and Charles’ child. Heavy heavy stuff.

But back to tonight. It looks like Widmore might be alive in the sideways timeline, likely still connected to Ben somehow. I’m not quite sure how this will work out, but it will be very interesting to see if Widmore still has the financial/mobster clout in the alternate universe. If he doesn’t, my money is on Mr. Widmore being the weird AP Econ teacher down the hall from Dr. Linus’s history classroom.

On a sidenote, it seems like so long ago that we were caught up in discussions about about “who will win the Ben – Widmore battle for the island” (considering where the storyline has gone during the last two seasons). While it might seem all for naught at this point, what if it isn’t?

I direct your attention to one Ben – Widmore scene, just as food for thought.

Remember “The Shape of Things to Come,” when Ben shows up in Widmore’s bedroom? Widmore asks if Ben is going to kill him. Ben replies “We both know I can’t do that.” Sounds pretty close to the Jacob – Man In Black scene on the beach from “The Incident,” right? Also a little Dogen-trying-to-get-someone-else (i.e. Jack) to-kill-Sayid, don’t you think? So does that mean, even after being exiled from the island, Widmore was still abiding by these ‘rules’? And if Widmore was abiding by the rules, and Ben (thought he) was on Team Jacob, can we be for certain that Widmore is on Team Man In Black?

Oh, my head.

Tania Raymonde as Alex: (Oh, Alex. I still can’t think about the scene when Keamy murdered you. It was SO awful to watch and I HATE Keamy for it.) I see two options for the return of Rousseau’s daughter. First, she could appear on-island to guide Ben as a form of the Man In Black. (Probability? 20%.) More likely (and more ridiculous) is that she will end up as a student at the high school where her not-Dad, Ben, works. (Probability? 80%.)

Daniel Roebuck as Dr. Leslie Arzt: After a short-lived stint on the island (remember his death-by-dynamite scene?), Dr. Arzt is getting plenty of screen time in the alternate timeline. It seems very probable that he will be using his extensive/excessive knowledge of insects and dynamite as a ninth-grade science teacher at the very school our friend, Dr. Linus, works.

Jon Gries as Roger Linus: Looks like Roger didn’t die on Ben’s 28th birthday in the alternate timeline. The question remains, will he still be a jerk to Ben? Or, as it has been alluded to with Locke’s father, will he be the kind and loving father on-island Ben never had? I vote door #2.

William Atherton as Principal Don Reynolds: The EPA guy from Ghostbusters! YES! Maybe you’ll remember him when you see him, but William Atherton played evil Walter Peck in Ghostbusters, who ordered the guys shut down their ghost containment grid, releasing thousands of ghosts onto the streets of NYC. What a jerk! It looks like he has come a long way from his days at the EPA, as he will be playing Principal Don Reynolds, presumably at Ben’s high school. What do you think: will he be more Mr. Belding (SBTB) or more Mr. Figgins (Glee)? Anecdote / probably a coincidence: “Reynolds” was one of the names written on the cave wall. Hmmm.

DVR says…

“Ben deals with the consequences of an uncovered lie.”

Let’s think this through.

At the end of last week’s episode, we had ScarySayid, ScaryClaire, and Kate headed off on a jungle-march with Flocke (Fake Locke). We also had Ilana guiding Miles, Frank, and Sun into the secret passage and out of the Temple (same one Hurley and Jack used in “The Lighthouse”).

But where’s Ben? As of right now, we don’t know where Ben is. Last time we saw him, he was running out of the Temple Hot Tub room after seeing Sayid with a bloody knife, and two floating corpses in the pool. (Note: I would have run off, too.)

So he’s either going to (1) join up with Team Ilana, (2) follow Flocke & Co. to see where they head, (3) go find Jack and Hurley at the Lighthouse, or (4) meet up with Richard, who is probably still running around the jungle with huge eyes. Or (5) he’s going to hang out by himself for awhile. I think #5…he needs some time to think.

But what lie is he going to uncover?

The first thing that came to my mind is the lie surrounding Flocke / Man In Black. Ben was tricked into becoming a pawn in the big-loophole-hoopla of Man In Black. Frankly, it looks like this long-con was hatched a long time before the scenes at the Four Toed Statue when he was told to go inside and kill Jacob. Presumably, this con began all the way back in his childhood. And the worst of it? Ben fell for it. Completely fell for it. The whole time. Even as he seemed to be several steps ahead of everyone else (see: “My name is Henry Gale!”; see: “I want you to want to save my life.”; see: “It happened because you left, Jack."), it appears Man In Black was always several steps ahead of him.

Ben fell for the tactics he was using against everyone else.

And I bet he is ticked off.

The consequences of this lie are most certainly related to the island’s well-being. And if you were a betting individual, I’d put it all on “shit will continue to hit the fan.”

So tonight…what is going to happen?

It looks like Ben is going to spend some time soul searching tonight, and coming to grips with everything he has done. It will be another chapter in Ben’s Road to Redemption, which has been a long-time coming. Knowing what we now know about how his character has been conned over and over again throughout his whole life, this guy needs some redemption.

I would argue that Ben-centric episodes are always good, so whatever happens (happens…hahaha) will most certainly be captivating and thrilling.

We never expect anything less.

Namaste,
Maggie