'Lost': 'Whatever Happened' to baby Ben?

The following post discusses the April 1 episode of "Lost," "Whatever Happened, Happened." Join in the discussion below if you care to.

"Lost" has had a pretty swell run of episodes lately; many of the Dharma-ville episodes have been quite a treat.

Until now.

"Whatever Happened, Happened" irritated me in a number of ways, which ended up compounding each other. It was by far the low point of the season, in my opinion.

It wasn't just that it was Kate-centric, though any episode that dwells on Kate's love life or lack thereof generally irritates me, because I haven't cared much about Kate-Jack or Kate-Sawyer in a very long time.

So the fact that it was clear from the start that it was going to be a Kate episode didn't work in "Whatever's" favor. However I must say at the outset that Evangeline Lilly did a good job in the episode and its overall annoyance factor can't be laid at her feet.

The fault can be laid at the feet of Jack, though. I now dislike Jack more than I ever have before.

What a tool. And I feel he was made to act like a tool in the service of a plot that stretched credibility to the breaking point.

I know Jack has taken a fair amount of fan abuse over the years, for generally making wrong-headed decisions, for being obstinate and for ticking everyone on the island off with his bossy ways.

I get that, but for the most part, I remained ambivalent about Jack. He wasn't my favorite character, but as long as he managed not to annoy me greatly (and there wasn't as much of that once the show started focusing on newer and more appealing characters), I generally didn't get riled by him.

Now I'm riled.

Sure, we can all have arguments about whether, if we could go back in time, we would have whacked a young Hitler (my husband and I had that debate tonight, as a matter of fact). But the fact is, we've met the young Ben Linus on the island. He doesn't seem like evil incarnate. He's presented as a mixed-up kid being raised by an abusive father in a very strange, cult-y environment. The show has set Lil' Ben up as an object of pity, to some degree.

For Jack to be so blithe about the possibility that young Ben could die, well, that was just cold. No matter what Ben to anyone else did later, it was just cold. It made Jack seem like a total jerk.

Why, at this point, should I be invested in Jack as a character? He frequently makes the dumb decisions, he is often stubborn and arrogant about those decisions, and now I can't even respect him as a doctor. Perhaps medical professionals reading this post could weigh in with their opinions on the ethics of what Jack chose not to do, but here's my position: If you're in a life-saving profession, you save lives. End of story. You don't start picking and choosing and deciding whether you like a person before you'll agree to help them. 

For a doctor, I would have thought Jack's decision violated the Hippocratic Oath. How often in wartime have doctors treated and saved the lives of their enemies? That's just how being a doctor works. At least that's what I thought.

Then again, Jack had to refuse to treat Ben -- first, because it would produce the outcome that Jack is trying to prevent (Ben will actually end up more tightly bonded with the Others, naturally), and second, because it allowed the plausibility-challenged plot to move forward.

So, there apparently is a trained surgeon on the island, at another Dharma station. You're telling me that it makes more sense to tote a seriously ill gunshot victim across the island than to GO GET THAT OTHER DOCTOR and have him operate on young Ben?

And if that's not possible (and again, I'm really having trouble thinking of reasons that ferrying the kid around in the back of a Dharma van is a better idea), why not put a gun to Jack's head and tell him to operate? Problem solved.

I think the point where I wanted to put my fist through the wall came when Kate and Sawyer -- who were carrying a critically ill child through the jungle like it was no big deal, for criminy's sake -- paused to take a break and talk about their relationship.

Ye gods, this show is trying to kill me.

Yes, I know that the Others (or at least Alpert) know that Ben has Magic Island Mojo, or will have Magic Island Mojo at some point, so they'll do all they can to save him and obviously we know that Ben lives. But the whole way they got him to Camp Otherton just reeked of plot devices, and to throw the love triangle in there too was just… not awesome.

As for the final scene between Ben and Locke, it didn't do much for me. It felt tacked-on and not really all that ominous or shocking.

Then there was the Kate plot. Now at least we know where Aaron went. However that whole story line caused me aggravation too. Perhaps I'm being too literal-minded, but I was already in teeth-grinding mode so my mind just went to this place: What happens to Aaron if Kate doesn't come back?

She's given this small child to a virtual stranger, and given that the island is a freaky and dangerous place, there has to be a chance that she won't return. What legal claim does Aaron's grandmother have on him? She has a moral claim, sure, and she could get genetic testing proving that Aaron was her grandson, but if Kate doesn't return, wouldn't Aaron go into the child-services system?

I understand that morally, it was "right" to give the child back to a family member. But to give him back, then get on a plane and not provide for a stable future for the child, regardless of the outcome of the island adventure, undercut the drama of that moment for me.

It almost seemed like a Jack-like decision. In trying to do the "right" thing, Kate really didn't think much about the child's welfare. Surely he would have been much better off with Sawyer's ex, whom Aaron knows and likes. But no, Kate had to do the noble, "right" thing, which would probably end up causing a traumatic result for person she's allegedly helping.

But the episode was about Kate having to help Ben because she had to give up Aaron. As themes go, it wasn't exactly subtle.

And sorry, but Kate's not compelling enough for me to care about her losses. As was the case with Jack for a long time, I'm ambivalent about Kate. She doesn't really bother me per se, but I'd much rather have a Desmond or a Faraday or a Hurley or Juliet episode. I'm just sayin'.

The episode wasn't a total loss, though. I always like to see Horace in action. And I did like the debate scenes between Miles and Hurley, and my husband laughed throughout them, because they sound exactly like the debates that we have had during the current season of "Lost." I've never been a fan of mixed-up timeline storytelling, and my husband comprehends the time-travel stuff much more than I do, so everything that those two said sounded very familiar. And I was glad that the show acknowledged that the time stuff can be confusing.

Anyway, that's enough ranting from me. Let me know what you liked/disliked/could tolerate.

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