Episode Title: The Man Behind the Curtain

• Has Ben never heard Jacob speak? Is he mad because Locke has heard Jacob and he hasn't?

• Why doesn't Richard age...and yes that was him in the jungle when Ben was still a boy. It doesn't make sense. Would Ben seeing his mother and seeing "Richard" be proof of clones?

• Will Jacob "help" John? What was the powder that Ben stepped over and John sniffed? It looked like gunpowder. --> It's probably volcanic ashes. (In the school flashback Annie asks if that was what happened on the island, when the teacher shows the workings of a volcano) (It also could be a border to ward off evil spirits (or even retain them in this case; what we saw couldn't have been human afterall..), such as those used by shamans and medicine men during their rituals. It is thought that evil cannot cross the boundary... It's also interesting that a circle (it looked to encompass all of Jacob's home) brings forth the Circle of Life idea here as well.. HomerJ)
  

• How did that one canister that Ben opened "purge" the entire island? Or did the "natives" unleash an assault with multiple canisters? (I think they used more than one canister, but I could be wrong. Anubis 5/10/07) (It is quite obvious that with the help of the "natives", the Dharma Initiative was "purged". As you could see, the one can Ben opened, only released the toxins inside the van, therefore making it unrealistic for the toxins to escape the van let alone the entire island. Kyle 5/10/07)

• Was the cassette shown to Juliet in real-time?

• Why does Jacob need Locke's help?
• Will John Locke die in that pit or will the island save/spare him as it did Mikhail? (Mikhail wasn't "spared" by the island. He explains that the fence was not set to lethal strength in his dialog during the scene. naknine 5/10/07)
• Could the Island Natives (those who were there before the Dharma Initiative) be aliens? Is the perimeter "fence" a line between heaven and hell? Does anyone think the Island may be purgatory?
• Why was Ben so insistent that Locke kill his father? Technically Locke did not kill his father... this may be his saving grace. Ben killed his father - very odd parallel or possibly just a fluke.

If Ben set out to kill all the members of the Dharma Initiative why was Kelvin Inman spared? We know Ben monitored all the stations from Pearl. Was Kelvin an Other in the same vein as Mikhail? Was he repairing Desmond's boat for reasons other than the ones he gave?

Trivia: Carrie Preston, guest starring as "Emily" is Michael Emerson's real life wife. With news from the official podcast that we're going to find out that Ben has loved someone before, could this be method casting? (She was his mother.)

Theories: Annie is the younger sister of Ben but was killed in The Purge. (Sorry, she wasn't.) Alex is there, but Rousseau isn't. Maybe it is Alex who will use the dynamite (the whole crate!) Ben's flashback? wait wait wait... Ben's claims that he was born on this island. Now we know that it is impossible to give birth on the island. Or Ben's mother was already pregnant when she arrived on the island? Still we know that it is probably impossible to leave the island, but some people outside know about it so they can bring in food and supplies. [NOTE: Ben might have come there as a child (son of a Dharma employee). It's reasonable to claim you've lived somewhere all your life if you've lived there 40 to 45 out of 50 years. And remember what a liar he is.]

Jon Gries as Roger Linus. Was Roger "Workman" Ben's brother? Close,but no cigar, Roger was none other than Ben's father. Is the title "The Man Behind the Curtain" a reference to the wizard of Oz? In that case, is it all fake? (Good call to WoO reference, you called it almost spot on!)

Pickett could be Jacob; there is a cleaned up image of Jacob floating around, and to me it looks a lot, if not dead on Pickett (whom we saw get shot by Juliet)
Pickett Picture Cleaned up Jacob Picture
How did they clean that picture up like that?(I'm assuming Photoshop or something like that, you can do some pretty amazing stuff with those programs. HomerJ)

Did anyone notice the resemblence that Jacob has to the picture of Alvar Hanso on the hanso foundation website...?

Also I'm not sure where to address this but how is it that Ben is in some of the flashbacks at the airport(as a bag checker) and yet is also on the island when the plane crashes? Are there two Bens?


The SURREAL of " The Man Behind The Curtain"....VisualCurtain"....Visual Metaphors all over the place in this romp thru the surreal. From a screaming birth to Locke showing up and dumping the weight of his old man,,Alex giving Locke a gun,return of White Rabbit and Man Bag,, mother showing up in flashback, all in all another twisted head bender. The question of Jacob is at the center of the episode, Illusion,,Psychotic vision,,out of Thin Air?

What happened here...what did we see? The humanity slowley squeezed out of a little boy until as a young man, with no future,,he is able to finally kill of his detested father..and all the Dharma Iniative as well..with out blinking a eye?,,execute a purge without a care? Stalin anybody? heck, any meglamaniac?How about the opposite scale? When the crunch comes..when your ideas fail, when its all your fault,,when you question What The Heck Is Real, ,,when you execute " root cause analysis" do you have enough Humanity left in you..to ask for help? Help is the last hope?,,and perhaps Hope is Humanity...the last grasp of ones Humanity..Of course John heard " help me" and had to deny it,,because the Island is beautiful and heals all...but Ben couldn't allow John to spread the word of Hope and Humanity. John heard the plea for ones Humanity, but to Ben who was born a killer, Humanity is just as much an Illusion to him,,as Ben's Jacob was to Locke. Fascinating parallel of opposites dealing with their Illusions. And in contrast..Jack simply saying,,when gettin to the bottom of things back at the beach.." I haven't figured out what to do ..yet..Its time to get caught up...Wow.. how about that.. seeking input from others...and knowing " when" rather than forcing it...Beautiful.

Once again Locke don't know when to keep his mouth shut,,threatens Ben with telling everybody that Ben is a fraud..same mistake he made with his Dad..Locke doesn't learn. Sawyer comes up shy a few cards of a full deck as well..again Jack beats Sawyers gambit. Think Sawyer would have learned by now to..And there it is..Its not about gettin even. Theres no real hope in gettin even. Its about rising above gettin even. Jacob asked John to rise above and John denied it. Sawyer tried to pull Jack and Julie down to his level and Jack and Julie denied Sawyer his effort. Plenty of Hope in the Surreal..