TV Fan

Benjamin Linus.

This is an easy one. Michael Emerson has played the uber-Other with a creepy conviction that can't be rivaled on TV right now. In tonight's episode we got a big fat chunk of new characterization from him, and it was in the form of...a crush.

That's right, Big Bad Ben is jones'n for sweet Juliet. I gotta say I did not see that one coming! All the signs were there, as The Other Woman so eloquently pointed out. (I always love the way Lost is able to blend new story into previously shot footage seamlessly.) 

"How obvious could it be?" the show asks.

"You're right, Lost, I feel pretty silly," I say.

Raise your hand if you got psyched out by the first minute of the show: Juliet troubled by her newfound celebrity. I'm proud to say I was not fooled in the slightest. (Lindelof, Cuse, nice try!) - she couldn't be one of the Oceanic 6 because she wasn't on the flight anyway. Her anxiety was coming from the pressure of helping mothers have babies on the island.

The oddest thing about tonight's episode was that it didn't do much in moving the overall show story forward- it was more of a fill-in-the-blanks backstory on some relationship drama in Othersville. We see how Juliet and Goodwin met. We learn that Goodwin is married, and as the two have an affair, the tension grows between them, Ben, and the shrink wife.

So apparently Goodwin's death at the hands of our heores was what Ben wanted all along, a means to rub out the competition for his love. A little cheap, but a neat story development. Elizabeth and Michael always have great scenes together, and this one was no dissapointment. "You're mine!" Linus declares. A chilling jump from cute crush to creepy posessive psycho. I loved it!

There was also some filler dealing with freak-genius and his Aussie buddy being sketchy and weird some more. Turns out they were just trying to stop Ben's lethal gas from coating the Island in death again. No worries. 

The big nugget of plot came from what Ben revealed to Locke: Penelope's father is on a desperate crusade to find and exploit the Island. Carlton, Damon and co. have been hinting at the theme for this season,  and now we have it. Our castaways may have to work together to protect it. (I get the feeling Whitmore is a big reason why 6 survivors come home at the end.)

Anyway, the moral of the story this week is don't F with Ben Linus! Juliet pleaded this to Jack, because, it would seem, this dude is in control at all times, especially when it seems like he's not...

Biggest laugh: Ben's cute excitement over his "dinner-date" with Juliet. 

Helllloooo, Nurse! Elizabeth Mitchell finally gets her "bikini shot."