Dr. Linus
Encyclopedia
"Dr. Linus" is the seventh episode of the sixth season
of ABC
's drama television series Lost
. It is the 110th episode overall. The episode was written by executive producers Edward Kitsis
and Adam Horowitz and directed by actor Mario Van Peebles
. The episode is centered on Benjamin Linus.
In 2007, Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson
) is forced by Ilana Verdansky
(Zuleikha Robinson
) to dig his own grave as a consequence of an uncovered lie. Meanwhile, Jack Shephard
(Matthew Fox
) attempts to convince Richard Alpert
(Nestor Carbonell
) that they have a purpose. In the "flash-sideways", Ben copes with internal matters in his workplace.
) is a history teacher at a high school. One day, he has a particularly loud conversation with fellow teacher Leslie Arzt (Daniel Roebuck
), in which they complain about the lack of funding at the school, especially since Principal Reynolds (William Atherton
) has made Ben watch over the kids in detention, instead of chaperoning the school's history club. John Locke
(Terry O'Quinn
), a substitute teacher, suggests that Ben become principal instead. While tutoring his star pupil, Alex Rousseau
(Tania Raymonde
), Ben learns that the principal is having an affair with the school nurse. Ben enlists Arzt's help in hacking the nurse's e-mail account and tries to blackmail
the principal with this information and take his job; however, Reynolds says that he will write a negative letter of recommendation for Alex's college application if Ben makes good on his threats. Ben, unwilling to sacrifice Alex's future, backs down. He does, though, use his new leverage with the principal to get out of covering detention and re-start the history club. Ben is also seen at home caring for his sick father (Jon Gries
), who says he wishes he and Ben had never left the Island and the Dharma Initiative.
", Ben, Ilana (Zuleikha Robinson
), Miles Straume
(Ken Leung
), Sun Kwon (Yunjin Kim) and Frank Lapidus
(Jeff Fahey
) flee from the temple, after the devastating attack by the Man in Black
(also O'Quinn). Ilana discovers that Ben killed Jacob, after Miles examines Jacob's ashes using his ability to read the last thoughts of human remains. After the group travels back to the original survivors' beach camp, Ilana ties Ben up and forces him to dig his own grave, so that she can exact revenge as Jacob was, according to her, a father figure
to her. The Man in Black arrives and attempts to recruit Ben, stating that he wants Ben to take over the Island once the Man in Black leaves with his followers. After their conversation, Locke frees Ben and tells him of a rifle standing against a tree about 200 yards in the jungle. As Ilana is trying to recapture him, Ben finds the rifle and gets the drop on her. But Ben only wishes to explain why he killed Jacob; he was afraid of losing his leadership position on the Island and felt rejected by Jacob, was angry because he chose the island over his daughter's life and was unable to forgive himself for letting her die. Ilana allows Ben to rejoin their group.
Following the events of the episode "Lighthouse
", Jack Shephard
(Matthew Fox
) and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia
) agree to return to the temple. Hurley attempts to stall Jack, as Jacob had warned him of the attack at the temple. But they come across Richard Alpert
(Nestor Carbonell
), who leads them to the grounded
18th century slave ship, Black Rock. Richard has become suicidal since Jacob's death because he believes that his life on the Island has been meaningless. He attempts to kill himself using dynamite. Jack even helps, knowing the Island won't let him. When the dynamite fuse goes out, Jack convinces him that they are on the Island for a reason; they do have a purpose. They travel back to the beach and reunite with Ilana's group. Meanwhile, Miles has dug up some of the diamonds from Nikki and Paulo's grave
.
During the reunion, Charles Widmore
(Alan Dale
) is shown to arrive near the island in a submarine.
gave the episode a score of 92 out of 100, indicating "Universal Acclaim". The score was up on the previous week's score of 82, and is the best reviewed episode out of the first seven. Steven Kurutz of The Wall Street Journal
deemed it the best episode of the season, containing "the perfect mix of action, drama and mysteries revealed." Kurutz felt that Ben's storyline in the alternate universe was "so much tighter" than the other characters' presented in previous episodes, and that it was "heartening" rather than "hokey" to see Ben join the other characters on the beach at the end. Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger
deemed "Dr. Linus" "easily the most compelling episode of this final season so far," enjoying even the scenes involving Jack, despite his "pathological hatred" of the character. Zap2it
's Ryan McGee named the episode his second favorite of the season, kept only from superseding "The Substitute
" by the overuse of Arzt. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune
called it "a tautly constructed and thus very satisfying episode of TV", deeming Emerson's performance "awe-inspiring" and the storylines "heartbreaking". She agreed with Kurutz's assessment of the alternate universe storylines, writing that "Dr. Linus" did "the best job yet" of linking the themes from both timelines together. Todd VanDer Werff of the Los Angeles Times
wrote that the episode was the best since "The Constant
", and also approved of the alternate timeline, feeling that it "takes the basic components of Ben's fall from grace on the Island and uses them in a new fashion, reinventing not just the story of how he became who he was but also the story of who he is at his core."
Noel Murray of The A.V. Club
described the episode as having a "strong finish" but "very shaky start". He found the resolution of Ben's blackmail plot implausible and the subtext excessive, commenting: "every scene and line in this episode seemed designed to make sure that we got the point about the cruelty of fate, the burden of power, and so on and so on." Murray enjoyed the episode's "poignant and tense" final minutes, however, and rated the episode "B-" overall, later rethinking his grade and changing it to a "B". BuddyTV
's John Kubicek was similarly critical of the episode's subtext, and commented on his growing frustration with the alternate universe: "If the point is to show us how the Island made everyone a more interesting person, we get it, so please stop before we have to watch another watered-down character wuss out." Kubicek also criticized the episode's ending, describing the scene shot through the submarine's periscope as "one of the most ridiculous things Lost has ever done."
Lost (season 6)
The sixth and final season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing in the United States and Canada on February 2, 2010. The sixth-season premiere was the first to climb in the ratings year-over-year since the second season, drawing 12.1 million viewers. The season...
of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's drama television series Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
. It is the 110th episode overall. The episode was written by executive producers Edward Kitsis
Edward Kitsis
Edward Lawrence Kitsis, also sometimes credited as Eddy Kitsis, is an American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on the popular American television series, Lost and Once Upon a Time.-Life and career:...
and Adam Horowitz and directed by actor Mario Van Peebles
Mario Van Peebles
Mario "Chip" Cain Van Peebles is an American director and actor who has appeared in numerous Hollywood films. He is son of filmmaker Melvin Van Peebles.-Life and career:...
. The episode is centered on Benjamin Linus.
In 2007, Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...
) is forced by Ilana Verdansky
Ilana Verdansky
Ilana Verdansky is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Zuleikha Robinson. Ilana is introduced in the sixth episode of the fifth season of Lost as an officer boarding Ajira Airways Flight 316, with Sayid in her custody...
(Zuleikha Robinson
Zuleikha Robinson
Zuleikha Robinson is an English actress, raised in Thailand and Malaysia by a Burmese-Indian mother and an English father. She is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, and best known for playing Ilana in the ABC show Lost.In 2006, she played a Bengali character called...
) to dig his own grave as a consequence of an uncovered lie. Meanwhile, Jack Shephard
Jack Shephard
Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and protagonist of the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Lost follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to survive and escape, slowly uncovering more of the much broader...
(Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox (actor)
Matthew Chandler Fox is an American actor. He is mostly known for his role as Charlie Salinger on Party of Five, and for portraying Jack Shephard on the supernatural drama television series Lost.- Early life :...
) attempts to convince Richard Alpert
Richard Alpert (Lost)
Ricardo "Richard" Alpert is a fictional character played by Nestor Carbonell in the American ABC television series Lost. Alpert is introduced in a flashback of the character Juliet Burke , where he claims to be a doctor for a bioscience company called Mittelos Bioscience; he is later revealed to...
(Nestor Carbonell
Nestor Carbonell
Nestor Gastón Carbonell is an American actor, known for portraying Richard Alpert in ABC's drama Lost and Mayor Anthony Garcia in the film The Dark Knight...
) that they have a purpose. In the "flash-sideways", Ben copes with internal matters in his workplace.
2004 (flash-sideways timeline)
Dr. Benjamin Linus (Michael EmersonMichael Emerson
Michael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...
) is a history teacher at a high school. One day, he has a particularly loud conversation with fellow teacher Leslie Arzt (Daniel Roebuck
Daniel Roebuck
Daniel James Roebuck is an American television film actor, writer and producer, primarily in films, soap operas and television.-Life and career:...
), in which they complain about the lack of funding at the school, especially since Principal Reynolds (William Atherton
William Atherton
William Atherton , born William Atherton Knight II, is an American film, stage and television actor.-Early life:Atherton was born in Orange, Connecticut, the son of Roby and Robert Atherton Knight...
) has made Ben watch over the kids in detention, instead of chaperoning the school's history club. John Locke
John Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
(Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
), a substitute teacher, suggests that Ben become principal instead. While tutoring his star pupil, Alex Rousseau
Alex (Lost)
Alexandra "Alex" Linus is a recurring fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Tania Raymonde. She was born 16 years prior to the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, but was taken from her mother, Danielle Rousseau by the Others. She was raised among them, believing her mother to...
(Tania Raymonde
Tania Raymonde
Tania Raymonde is an American actress. Raymonde's first prominent casting role was the recurring character of Cynthia Sanders in TV series Malcolm in the Middle between 2000–2003, followed by a popular role as Alex Rousseau in ABC's Lost from 2006 to 2010.She can currently be seen as UTF officer...
), Ben learns that the principal is having an affair with the school nurse. Ben enlists Arzt's help in hacking the nurse's e-mail account and tries to blackmail
Blackmail
In common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
the principal with this information and take his job; however, Reynolds says that he will write a negative letter of recommendation for Alex's college application if Ben makes good on his threats. Ben, unwilling to sacrifice Alex's future, backs down. He does, though, use his new leverage with the principal to get out of covering detention and re-start the history club. Ben is also seen at home caring for his sick father (Jon Gries
Jon Gries
Jonathan Francis "Jon" Gries is an American actor, writer and director. He is also credited under the names Jon Francis and Jonathan Gries. He is known for his role in Napoleon Dynamite as Uncle Rico, and more recently as recurring character Roger Linus on Lost...
), who says he wishes he and Ben had never left the Island and the Dharma Initiative.
2007 (original timeline)
Following the events of the previous episode, "SundownSundown (Lost)
"Sundown" is the sixth television episode of the American Broadcasting Company's sixth season of the serial drama television series Lost and 109th episode overall. The episode aired on March 2, 2010 on ABC in the United States...
", Ben, Ilana (Zuleikha Robinson
Zuleikha Robinson
Zuleikha Robinson is an English actress, raised in Thailand and Malaysia by a Burmese-Indian mother and an English father. She is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles, and best known for playing Ilana in the ABC show Lost.In 2006, she played a Bengali character called...
), Miles Straume
Miles Straume
Miles Straume is a fictional character played by Ken Leung on the ABC television series Lost. Miles is introduced early in the fourth season as a hotheaded and sarcastic medium as a crew member aboard the freighter called the Kahana that is offshore the island where most of Lost takes place...
(Ken Leung
Ken Leung
Kenneth "Ken" Leung is an American actor best known for his role as Miles Straume in the ABC television series Lost and roles in such films as Shanghai Kiss, Rush Hour, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Saw.-Early life:...
), Sun Kwon (Yunjin Kim) and Frank Lapidus
Frank Lapidus
Frank J. Lapidus is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Jeff Fahey. Frank is introduced in the second episode of season four as a pilot hired on a mission to the island where Oceanic Flight 815 crashed. He aids the survivors of the crash against mercenary Martin Keamy ...
(Jeff Fahey
Jeff Fahey
Jeffrey David "Jeff" Fahey is an American film and television actor. He has portrayed Captain Frank Lapidus on the ABC series Lost and the title role of Deputy Marshal Winston MacBride on The Marshal.-Early life:...
) flee from the temple, after the devastating attack by the Man in Black
Man in Black (Lost)
The entity referred to most frequently as the Man in Black is a fictional character on the American ABC television series Lost, and is the main antagonist of the...
(also O'Quinn). Ilana discovers that Ben killed Jacob, after Miles examines Jacob's ashes using his ability to read the last thoughts of human remains. After the group travels back to the original survivors' beach camp, Ilana ties Ben up and forces him to dig his own grave, so that she can exact revenge as Jacob was, according to her, a father figure
Father Figure
"Father Figure" is the U.S. number-one song written and performed by George Michael and released on Columbia Records in 1988 as the third single from the album Faith.-History:...
to her. The Man in Black arrives and attempts to recruit Ben, stating that he wants Ben to take over the Island once the Man in Black leaves with his followers. After their conversation, Locke frees Ben and tells him of a rifle standing against a tree about 200 yards in the jungle. As Ilana is trying to recapture him, Ben finds the rifle and gets the drop on her. But Ben only wishes to explain why he killed Jacob; he was afraid of losing his leadership position on the Island and felt rejected by Jacob, was angry because he chose the island over his daughter's life and was unable to forgive himself for letting her die. Ilana allows Ben to rejoin their group.
Following the events of the episode "Lighthouse
Lighthouse (Lost)
"Lighthouse" is the fifth television episode of the American Broadcasting Company's sixth season of the serial drama television series Lost and 108th episode overall. The episode aired on February 23, 2010 on ABC in the United States and 2 hours earlier on A in Canada due to the 2010 Winter Olympics...
", Jack Shephard
Jack Shephard
Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and protagonist of the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Lost follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to survive and escape, slowly uncovering more of the much broader...
(Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox (actor)
Matthew Chandler Fox is an American actor. He is mostly known for his role as Charlie Salinger on Party of Five, and for portraying Jack Shephard on the supernatural drama television series Lost.- Early life :...
) and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia
Jorge Garcia
Jorge García is a U.S. actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show Becker and later for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in the television series Lost. Garcia also performs as a stand-up comedian.-Early life:García was born...
) agree to return to the temple. Hurley attempts to stall Jack, as Jacob had warned him of the attack at the temple. But they come across Richard Alpert
Richard Alpert (Lost)
Ricardo "Richard" Alpert is a fictional character played by Nestor Carbonell in the American ABC television series Lost. Alpert is introduced in a flashback of the character Juliet Burke , where he claims to be a doctor for a bioscience company called Mittelos Bioscience; he is later revealed to...
(Nestor Carbonell
Nestor Carbonell
Nestor Gastón Carbonell is an American actor, known for portraying Richard Alpert in ABC's drama Lost and Mayor Anthony Garcia in the film The Dark Knight...
), who leads them to the grounded
Ship grounding
Ship grounding is a type of marine accident that involves the impact of a ship on the seabed, resulting in damage of the submerged part of her hull and particularly the bottom structure, potentially leading to water ingress and compromise of the ship's structural integrity and stability...
18th century slave ship, Black Rock. Richard has become suicidal since Jacob's death because he believes that his life on the Island has been meaningless. He attempts to kill himself using dynamite. Jack even helps, knowing the Island won't let him. When the dynamite fuse goes out, Jack convinces him that they are on the Island for a reason; they do have a purpose. They travel back to the beach and reunite with Ilana's group. Meanwhile, Miles has dug up some of the diamonds from Nikki and Paulo's grave
Exposé (Lost)
"Exposé" is the 14th episode of the 3rd season and 63rd episode overall of the American Broadcasting Company 's serial drama television series Lost. It was aired as on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada on March 28, 2007...
.
During the reunion, Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore
Charles Widmore is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the south Pacific. He is primarily portrayed as an older man by Alan Dale; Tom Connolly and David S...
(Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Alan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale developed a love of theatre and also became a rugby player. After retiring from the sport he took on a number of professions to support his family, before deciding to become a professional actor at the age of 27. With work limited in New...
) is shown to arrive near the island in a submarine.
Reception
The episode received critical acclaim from critics. Review aggregate website MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
gave the episode a score of 92 out of 100, indicating "Universal Acclaim". The score was up on the previous week's score of 82, and is the best reviewed episode out of the first seven. Steven Kurutz of The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....
deemed it the best episode of the season, containing "the perfect mix of action, drama and mysteries revealed." Kurutz felt that Ben's storyline in the alternate universe was "so much tighter" than the other characters' presented in previous episodes, and that it was "heartening" rather than "hokey" to see Ben join the other characters on the beach at the end. Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
deemed "Dr. Linus" "easily the most compelling episode of this final season so far," enjoying even the scenes involving Jack, despite his "pathological hatred" of the character. Zap2it
Zap2it
Zap2it is an American website and affiliate network that provides news, photos and video, local TV listings and movie showtimes. The site is produced by Tribune Media Services , part of the publishing division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...
's Ryan McGee named the episode his second favorite of the season, kept only from superseding "The Substitute
The Substitute (Lost)
"The Substitute" is the fourth television episode of the American Broadcasting Company's sixth season of the serial drama television series Lost and 107th episode overall. The episode aired on February 16, 2010 on ABC. It was directed by Tucker Gates and written by executive producer Elizabeth...
" by the overuse of Arzt. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
called it "a tautly constructed and thus very satisfying episode of TV", deeming Emerson's performance "awe-inspiring" and the storylines "heartbreaking". She agreed with Kurutz's assessment of the alternate universe storylines, writing that "Dr. Linus" did "the best job yet" of linking the themes from both timelines together. Todd VanDer Werff of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
wrote that the episode was the best since "The Constant
The Constant
"The Constant" is the fifth episode of the fourth season of the American Broadcasting Company's serial drama television series Lost, and the 77th episode overall. It was aired on February 28, 2008, on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada...
", and also approved of the alternate timeline, feeling that it "takes the basic components of Ben's fall from grace on the Island and uses them in a new fashion, reinventing not just the story of how he became who he was but also the story of who he is at his core."
Noel Murray of The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club
The A.V. Club is an entertainment newspaper and website published by The Onion. Its features include reviews of new films, music, television, books, games and DVDs, as well as interviews and other regular offerings examining both new and classic media and other elements of pop culture. Unlike its...
described the episode as having a "strong finish" but "very shaky start". He found the resolution of Ben's blackmail plot implausible and the subtext excessive, commenting: "every scene and line in this episode seemed designed to make sure that we got the point about the cruelty of fate, the burden of power, and so on and so on." Murray enjoyed the episode's "poignant and tense" final minutes, however, and rated the episode "B-" overall, later rethinking his grade and changing it to a "B". BuddyTV
BuddyTV
BuddyTV is an entertainment-based website based in Seattle, Washington, which generates content about television programs and sporting events. The website publishes information about celebrity and related entertainment news through a series of articles, entertainment profiles, actor biographies and...
's John Kubicek was similarly critical of the episode's subtext, and commented on his growing frustration with the alternate universe: "If the point is to show us how the Island made everyone a more interesting person, we get it, so please stop before we have to watch another watered-down character wuss out." Kubicek also criticized the episode's ending, describing the scene shot through the submarine's periscope as "one of the most ridiculous things Lost has ever done."