Ben: "I will take you home."

[firebreathingfishies]

I got season 3 yesterday and after watching 'The Glass Ballerina', the last scene kind of stuck with me; when Ben is asking Jack to trust him etc, and he says this:

"And if you listen to me -- if you trust me -- if you do what I tell you when the time comes -- I'll take you there. I will take you home."

We all know Ben is the master of manipulation, and yeah he wanted Jack to do the surgery and then he was going to put him on the submarine to send him off home - but really he had no intention of doing that, because it wasn't in his plan. He's definately got more in store for Jack (or at least i think so ) it's just after the surgery the 'time hadn't came' for him to go home.

Maybe Ben has been holding the cards all the time, and he does take them home after this whole 'freighter' buisness blows over. Ben's not a man to break his word, and it seemed like he really meant what he said. Plus it would explain why Sayid is doing all this stuff for him, because he feels like he owes him.

I'm not so good at explaining but I'm sure you can kind of understand what I'm getting at I'll probably add to this when I can get across what I mean a little more

[firebreathingfishies]

And Ben says in 'One of Them' that he's not a liar, and that he keeps his word. I reckon there's going to be a big hoo-ha between the Losties and the freighties, and Ben's going to come out trumps.

[D-Roc]

I totally agree with ya on a few things:

Ben is not a liar - he is a man of his word, in that when he makes a promise - he invariably keeps it. Just ask Michael.

I also agree that Ben plays with a larger and more complete deck than many of the other characters - does he have flashes? can he project snippets of the future or of future probabilities? does he tap into the islands 'magic box'? (after all, the island CAn see the future..as can island spirits imho) ..all possibile imo. So you could be right, perhaps Ben didn't plan to let Jack go at that point.

Personally, and this isn't refuting your idea - merely giving you my perspective - I think that Ben was totally going to let Jack and Jules go - however, as Ben said in the King of the Castle Mobisode: 'if the island doesn't want you to leave, then the island wont let you leave'.

Whether Ben had a complete knowledge that the island wouldn't let Jack and Jules leave, i doubt..however what I don't doubt is that Ben 'willed' for something to happen to prevent them leaving - ala he used the islands 'magic box'..or the island itself intervened and manipulated it's hold over Locke to collide with the futures of Jack and Jules. As we've seen with Mike and even with Boones death etc - the island can do stuff.

But yeah, I think your perspective is also very possible, as '2-step Ben' is a guy who you wouldn't bet against being able to forshadow mere shadows in fates future bulding machine.