Ben and Charlotte in the Desert

[Talontbo]

Maybe they were expecting him... maybe they weren't... Ben also has his stick in London... it seems to be a favored self defense device for him.. and totally benign on the surface..

it not a gun... so it has the element of surprise in its favor... so the the Baton is not really a strong selling point for me..

a stronger point would be...

Ben has popped into the region of Tozeur before... he has been there.. we know this... Who else could have know this...????? Widmore??? it was his island...


again the baton... seems a normal thing to carry for someone that knows people are hunting him... and wants to have a weapon less conspicuous was a firearm... otherwise.. why not just carry a gun with him????

[mugatu22]

Originally Posted by Talontbo

again the baton... seems a normal thing to carry for someone that knows people are hunting him... and wants to have a weapon less conspicuous was a firearm... otherwise.. why not just carry a gun with him????

Ben is obviously trained w/this weapon, and as mentioned it has the element of surprise, it's easily concealed, it won't set off gun detectors, and Ben's simply good disabling people with it...why kill them if it isn't needed?

I like Ben w/the baton...if you remember, he kicked Sawyer's ass in S2 or S3 w/the baton in the metal polar bear cage. He obviously has plenty of experience with it.

[erikau]

Originally Posted by Talontbo

again the baton... seems a normal thing to carry for someone that knows people are hunting him... and wants to have a weapon less conspicuous was a firearm... otherwise.. why not just carry a gun with him????

Why? Because Ben doesn't like to kill people with his own hands. Think about it, with all the nasty things we have seen done in his name, aside from pulling the pin on the gas can in the van with his dad, we have never seen Ben take a life. To me the baton stood out because as Mugatu said, he can easily disable someone with it without actually killing them. A gun would make that vastly more difficult.

And as you admit, he knows people are hunting him which is why he carries the baton. Admitting that, why is it then difficult to believe that the bandits he met in Tunisia were hunting him, or at least could have been waiting for him?

[fishhead202]

Originally Posted by Talontbo

Maybe they were expecting him... maybe they weren't... Ben also has his stick in London... it seems to be a favored self defense device for him.. and totally benign on the surface..

it not a gun... so it has the element of surprise in its favor... so the the Baton is not really a strong selling point for me..

a stronger point would be...

Ben has popped into the region of Tozeur before... he has been there.. we know this... Who else could have know this...????? Widmore??? it was his island...


again the baton... seems a normal thing to carry for someone that knows people are hunting him... and wants to have a weapon less conspicuous was a firearm... otherwise.. why not just carry a gun with him????

This seems to be the closest to what I'm thinking. When I first saw the scene, I thought "Random bandits. A bit odd, but it's cool. I got to see Michael Emerson go ninja on them"

After seeing the whole episode......... Think they're Widmore's thugs. Natural to expect Ben to show up at Nadia's funeral. Probably know about where he'll come from. Send out some patrols to keep an eye out.......

--Fish

[fishhead202]

Oh, note that we didnt get subtitles for that the guys on the horses were saying.

Could have been "Is it him?"

Could have been "What the F? Where'd this gringo come from?"

Probably would have shed some light on if they were expecting Ben or not.............

--Fish

sorry for the double post.

[Talontbo]

hey Erikua,

I never said they were not waiting for him... although the Sahara is a HUGE desert... to be in the right place at the right time??? think about that for a second.. consider for just a moment.. Ben travels from point A to point B... and point B may have a Variance of X amount... (polar bear)... not knowing the exact destination makes having someone at the B location all the more difficult.. the distance of every a 1/2 mile in the desert is massive...

But.. I am not discounting it.. it was at the very least fortunate for Ben.. having no water.. no food and no transportation.. so... it has to be.. someone sent the bandits to greet Ben... otherwise.. we see a very dead Ben in a couple days... not unlike the polar bear... LOL

and we have seen Ben kill... in that scene.. he took the one bandits AK-47 and blew away the other bandit sitting on the horse...

and then proceeded to only knock out the bandit that was begging for surrender.. but you still fail to answer the primary question..

aside from Ben carrying a person self defense weapon of non firearm nature... Why not just carry a friggin gun...??? Ben knows he is wanted... Everyone knows Ben is wanted.. and yet... Been opts to somehow find himself in the Sahara Desert, alone.. in a Parka... knowing Ben as we do... do you really think he would be unarmed under those circumstances??? un-armed meaning... without a 9mm... or some other gun of his choosing???

I don't think so....though he wasn't killed.. Ben clearly had no reservation in shooting Locke... and Locke would be dead had it not been for his kidney removal... so.. Ben is more than will to KILL by his own hands.... no question.. no argument...

[erikau]

That's a good point, T. I forgot about him shooting the one bandit. The Locke thing I won't go with, because I think Ben was just testing a theory and didn't really intend to kill Locke. But the bandit, you are correct that he shot him and that does make things different.

I don't know if there needs to be a "why" on the baton instead of a gun. Maybe Ben just prefers the baton, and it is clear he can handle himself with just that quite well. Oddly, or maybe not so oddly, it is reminiscent of the Economist and his reliance on older, outdated technology. Maybe Ben just doesn't like guns...

[Talontbo]

hey Erikua..

Ben doesn't like guns??? well.. not sure I could dispute that at this point.. it is clear he favors his little metal stick... but his is also not opposed to using what is at hand when the need arises..

as for Locke... I absolutely think Ben was mortified to see Locke alive...

let me tell you a little story...

years ago... while working in my Fathers Jewelry store.. A man walked in.. not so long after having been robbed at gun point.. This man.. was a well dress and seeming friendly person.. He walk up to the Watch case.. and bent over to get a closer look at the watches.. as he did.. from the small of his back.. the hand grip of his concealed pistol appeared.. I proceeded to draw my Walther PP.. and pointed right at him... at which point his eyes got as big as dinner plates... He slowly informed me he was an off duty Police Officer.. Calmly I asked him to slowly retrieve his badge... and he did and was... At which point I re-holstered my weapon.. and he was somewhat relieved.. and ending up buying a watch.. and becoming one of my better customers...

Having grown up with a Father that was a WWII Combat Marine.. and in an industry prone to such events as smash and grabs and armed robbery... understanding and training in the use of handguns is not at all uncommon... and one could say , because my father was who he was.. my training was first class....

but the one lesson I shall never forget is this..

If you point a gun at someone.. you had best be prepared to use it...

As for Ben shooting Locke and the Dharma Mass Grave.. Ben set Locke up... with all intent to kill Locke.. the shot was nearly center mass... it was delivered quickly at a twisting target... and when Locke was at the bottom of the pit... and Ben had extracted the information (Help Me)... Ben left Locke for dead... pure and simple.. and a fatal mistake.. well not so fatal it would seem.. Ben is still alive and hunting Evil Penny..

so... you ask.. Why wouldn't Ben jus tput another round into Locke?.. great question... but I don't think the answer is.. He knew Locke would recover.. I think he was very confident Locke was going to lay in that Mass Grave and die...because, for all of Ben's planning and all his manipulations.. he still makes mistakes....

[Bentiss]

It looks to me like the island has had to move before...
Way back in the day, the island was in Tunisia...
In the desert...

[mugatu22]

Originally Posted by Bentiss

It looks to me like the island has had to move before...
Way back in the day, the island was in Tunisia...
In the desert...

This is an interesting theory...I thought the polar bear in Tunisia was due to teleportation/time travel, similar to what happened with the #15 rabbits...but I don't know.