What's the surest antidote to a Kate episode? Why, a Ben episode. This one reengaged me with the island stuff, and even got me on board with the flash-whatevers.
Seeing Ben seeking the help of Arzt, of all people, to do the same kind of power-struggles on a high-school faculty that he's been doing on the island all his life put both in an interesting perspective. Making Alex Rousseau his star pupil rather than his "daughter" (they turned out not to be blood-related, and what he told Keamy was the literal truth) was a brilliant way to recall a moral test he failed--while confronting him with a new one I doubt anyone saw coming! I won't lie, I was really uncomfortable (like, my mouth went dry) waiting to see if they would cross a line that would be inappropriate between teacher and student and straight-up oogie in light of their island relationship. Lord knows they made her fetching and tempting enough with her wide-eyed "oh, Dr. Linus!" thing.
This was the first time I completely stopped caring whether a flash-thing was in-continuity or not. Just seeing Ben get a redemptive second chance to do right by Alex when she was in someone else's crosshairs was immensely gratifying. I honestly didn't realize how much I was craving that until it was right there on the table--to the credit of the writers and above all Michael Emerson.
The "woman over there eating a mango" was admittedly not an adequate foil for Ben in his climactic confrontation (jeebus, even Miles served better in their prior conversation), but Emerson was good enough for both of them, and I can't think of anything more I wish he could have delivered in that scene.
On to the next ep! Namaste.
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