LOST: Linus vs. Widmore

As I said, there were bound to be a few LOST posts showing up within the Buffyverse series. Anyway, the most recent episode, "The Other Woman", just ended, and I jumped onto my laptop to expound on the overloading awesomeness. Can I go on record as saying that Ben Linus may be one of the greatest fictional characters ever created? The man can be in a prison cell and be completely cool and get what he needs done. And his villainous creepiness only makes us love him more.

The flashbacks about Juliet delve a little deeper into her relationships with Ben and Goodwin, and while there were some not-so-subtle hints that Ben had a crush on Juliet, we learn tonight just how far he is willing to go to make her his own. Suddenly, his efforts to keep her on the island seem much more sinister, and his deployment of Goodwin to the tail section becomes another one of his expertly calculated moves. The scene where Juliet confesses her feelings to Jack and the fear she feels regarding what Ben will do to him was incredible. But perhaps the best scene was the final one; Sawyer and Hurley were calmly playing horseshoes in their yard at the Barracks, when suddenly, they became scared shitless to see Ben walking into a house without restraints. Ben's line, "See you at dinner," which by itself is innocent, was incredibly scary. You see, Locke finally let Ben go, after Ben gave up some interesting information.

Tonight, we finally got an answer to who is in charge of the boat, since we learned last year that is certainly wasn't Penelope Widmore. There was a line about who it could be that made me think that it was Alvar Hanso, the man who funded the DHARMA Initiative, but the truth is so much better: Charles Widmore. Not only does this add a more chilling dimension to his character (as if he wasn't a creep already), it makes perfect sense. Now we have an idea as to how Naomi had that picture of Desmond and Penelope, and knew that Penny was looking for Desmond.

It is interesting how prominent the roles of Ben, Desmond, and the Widmores have become, seeing as how none of them were ever seen or referenced by name in Season 1. Looking back, the first year almost seems like a different show than what we have now; there was no DHARMA, Desmond was nothing more than a light in the mysterious hatch, the Widmores were unknown to us, and the Others were pretty much a myth. How times have changed.

EDIT: Upon rewatching it, I remembered thinking something very interesting during the scene between Locke and Claire. It's interesting how, after fighting the Others for three seasons, Locke's group of survivors can be viewed as the new Others from the perspective of the people from the freighter. After all, they killed Naomi, shot Charlotte, and are holding Miles prisoner. Sound familiar?

Looking to next week, it has been all but confirmed that Michael is Ben's "man on the boat". Ben told Locke that it might be a good idea to sit down before revealing the information (and who many other people would necessitate such an action), and in the preview for next week, the narrator refers to "a face we never thought we'd see again" (though Harold Perrineau's name has been in the credits since the season premiere, so even casual fans had to know that he'd be showing up somehow). I'm also willing to bet that Jin and Sun are the final members of the Oceanic 6, since we know four, and it was said that we'd learn who the rest are, and it looks like they'll be the focus of the episode.

Up next: Back to Sunnydale...