Quote:
Originally Posted by Murgatroyd
I've seen people on other forums saying they were almost glad Alex was killed, not because they didn't like the character but because it was the level of punishment (and reality-checking) that Ben needed. I won't go that far, but certainly I thought it was a case of too little too late. He's never demonstrated an ounce of sympathy for all his victims and potential victims in the past. How much do you think he pondered Claire's feelings when he ordered Charlie's death, or Rose's when he ordered the deaths of any men who tried to prevent her being kidnapped? I doubt Desmond features much in his Penny-murdering plans either. I'm sure his grief at Alex's death was genuine, but there are so many ways in which he could've prevented it (not in that episode specifically but over the past three seasons), and he is, in my view, an astonishingly hard character with which to sympathise.
|
I guess part of it is that Ben received such a sharp shock in reality checking that can garner him some sympathy: like Ben said to Micheal when at war he does what he has to do, and even I won't argue that all of his decisions were right or justifiable, but if you're the leader with very high stakes to protect you have to close off part of yourself in order to make the hard calls.
It is of course possible (probably more than likely) that Ben doesn't feel a huge amount of sympathy for the people he sends to their deaths, but who's to say for certain that's the case? Even if they haunt his conscience he wouldn't be a very effective leader if he allowed them to interfere with every single action he makes. On the surface it does seem much easier - it's far more clear cut - to sympathise with someone who openly and freely expresses emotions, especially grief and regret, but just because someone may not choose to show them - or doesn't experience them to the degree that they 'should - does not, for me anyway, mean that they don't deserve sympathy at times. I'd say that Ben is a hard character, but I don't really find it that hard to sympathise with a lot of what he's gone through.