The Man Behind the Curtain (9 May 2007)

As Ben takes Locke to see Jacob and reveal the island's secrets, Ben's background on the island is exposed--as well as what happened to the Dharma Initiative.

Director:

Bobby Roth

Writers:

Jeffrey Lieber (creator), J.J. Abrams (creator),

Stars:

Naveen Andrews, Henry Ian Cusick, Emilie de Ravin

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Naveen Andrews	...	Sayid Jarrah
Henry Ian Cusick	...	Desmond Hume
Emilie de Ravin	...	Claire Littleton
Michael Emerson	...	Ben Linus
Matthew Fox	...	Jack Shephard
Jorge Garcia	...	Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes
Josh Holloway	...	James 'Sawyer' Ford
Daniel Dae Kim	...	Jin Kwon
Yunjin Kim	...	Sun Kwon
Evangeline Lilly	...	Kate Austen
Elizabeth Mitchell	...	Juliet Burke
Dominic Monaghan	...	Charlie Pace
Terry O'Quinn	...	John Locke
Nestor Carbonell	...	Richard Alpert
Andrew Divoff	...	Mikhail Bakunin

Storyline

On the day of his birthday, Ben recalls important parts of his life: when he was born, his mother Emily, pregnant of seven months, was hiking with his father, Roger, dying after the delivery in the woods nearby Portland, Oregon. Years later when he was a boy, Ben's unemployed father moved to the island with him accepting a job offer, but becoming a frustrated man with a simple position of janitor in the ultra-secret project 'Dharma'. His drunkard father blamed him for the death of his mother. But because of the island's mysterious power, the young Ben had visions of his Dharma teacher, Olivia, and decided to leave the compound, meeting the so-called 'Hostiles'. Years later, the grown-up Ben kills his dysfunctional father with poison gas while he leads the 'Hostiles' in an all-out attack against the village, killing the entire staff of Dharma Initiative, and Ben becomes their leader. In the present, Locke brings the dead body of his father, and meets Ben and The Others at their new ...

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Plot Keywords:

gas | dead mother | father son relationship | invisible | fight

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 May 2007 (USA)

Filming Locations:

O'ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bad Robot, Touchstone Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

43 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ben's Dharma Initiative jumpsuit is different from those worn by other characters - it doesn't have a Dharma logo on it, and is a slightly lighter color.

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Goofs

In one of Ben's flashbacks to his childhood, his father drinks DHARMA Initiative beer. The cans have wide mouth openings - but this type of can wasn't first manufactured until much more recently.

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Crazy Credits

The producers gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of the people of Hawaii and their Aloha spirit.

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Connections

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

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Soundtracks

"Main Title"
Written by J.J. Abrams

User Reviews

The Wizard of Oz

On the day of his birthday, Ben recalls important parts of his life. When he was born, his mother Olivia, pregnant of seven months, was hiking with his father Roger, dying after the delivery in the woods nearby Portland. Years later, when he was a boy, his unemployed father moved to the island with him accepting a job offer, but becoming a frustrated man with a simple position of worker in the project Dharma. His drunkard father blamed him for the death of his mother; the young Ben has visions of Olivia and decides to leave the compound, meeting the hostiles. Years later, the grown-up Ben kills his dysfunctional father with gas while the hostiles kill the staff of Dharma Initiative, and Ben becomes their leader. Locke brings the body of his father and meets Ben and The Others in their camp. Ben brings Locke to meet Jacob, his superior and leader that knows the secrets of the island and after the weird reunion, he show the ditch where the remains of Dharma people is dumped. Meanwhile, Sawyer shows the tape to Sayid and the other survivors exposing the betrayal of Juliet. When Jack and Juliet arrives, the situation becomes tense.

"The Man Behind the Curtain" is certainly the most intriguing episode of "Lost". The mystery of Jacob is impressive, and it does not seem to be another trick of Ben. Are the "ghosts" in the island (Jacob, Dave, Emily) real or fruit of the imagination of lonely and stressed survivors? Locke ends the episode in a terrible situation, and I do not see any expectation how he can survive, but I hope the writer finds a twist to save and heal one of the best (maybe the more complex) characters of "Lost". Jack seems to have been submitted to a brain wash in the period he stayed with The Others with his attitudes. Ben is really an evil, despicable, Machiavellian and manipulative character, a treacherous and insensitive man, using any means to reach his objectives. In the confrontation between the survivors and The Others, I hope that Sayid and Sawyer be able to plot an effective defense system for their camp. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

Note: On 12 April 2013, I saw this episode again on DVD.