Dr. Linus

"Dr. Linus" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of ABC's drama television series Lost. It is the 110th episode overall. The episode was written by executive producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and directed by actor Mario Van Peebles. The episode is centered on Benjamin Linus.

In 2007, Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson) is forced by Ilana Verdansky (Zuleikha Robinson) to dig his own grave as a consequence of an uncovered lie. Meanwhile, Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) attempts to convince Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell) that they have a purpose. In the "flash-sideways", Ben copes with internal matters in his workplace.

Plot

2004 (flash-sideways timeline)

Dr. Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson) is a history teacher at a high school. One day in the teachers' lounge, he has a particularly loud conversation with fellow teacher, Leslie Arzt (Daniel Roebuck), in which they complain about the lack of funding at the school, especially since Principal Reynolds (William Atherton) has made Ben watch over the kids in detention, instead of chaperoning the school's history club. John Locke (Terry O'Quinn), a substitute teacher, suggests that Ben become principal instead. While tutoring his star pupil, Alex Rousseau (Tania Raymonde), Ben learns that the principal is having an affair with the school nurse. Ben enlists Arzt's help in hacking the nurse's email account and tries to blackmail the principal with this information and take his job. However, Reynolds says that he will write a negative letter of recommendation for Alex's college application if Ben makes good on his threats. Ben, unwilling to sacrifice Alex's future, backs down. He does, though, use his new leverage with the principal to get out of covering detention and restart the history club. Ben is also seen at home caring for his sick father (Jon Gries), who says he wishes he and Ben had never left the Island and the Dharma Initiative.

Linus

Linus may refer to:

People

Linus van Pelt

Linus van Pelt is a character in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts. The best friend of Charlie Brown, Linus is also the younger brother of Lucy van Pelt and older brother of Rerun van Pelt. He first appeared on September 19, 1952, but was not mentioned by name until three days later. He was first referenced two months earlier, on July 14. Linus spoke his first words in 1954, the same year he was shown with his security blanket.

The character's creator, Charles M. Schulz, has said of the character, "Linus, my serious side, is the house intellectual, bright, well-informed which, I suppose may contribute to his feelings of insecurity."

Lee Mendelson, producer of the majority of the Peanuts television specials, has said that Linus is his favorite character:

Personality

Linus (mythology)

In Greek mythology Linus (Greek: Λῖνος Linos) refers to the musical son of Oeagrus, nominally Apollo, and the Muse Calliope. As the son of Apollo and a Muse, either Calliope or Terpsichore, he is considered the inventor of melody and rhythm. Linus taught music to his brother Orpheus and then to Heracles. Linus went to Thebes and became a Theban. According to a legend, he wrote the story of Dionysus and of the other mythical legends in Pelasgic writing. His life was ended by Heracles, who killed Linus with his own lyre after he reprimanded Heracles for making errors.

Linus may have been the personification of a dirge or lamentation (threnody), as there was a classical Greek song genre known as linos, a form of dirge, which was sometimes seen as a lament for Linus. This would account for his being described as a son of Apollo by a Muse.

Linus was also the name of a son of Apollo and Psamathe, whose father was the King Crotopus of Argos. Fearing her father, she exposed the child which was found and killed by sheepdogs. For this reason, they say, Apollo sent Poine (Vengeance) to punish the Argives, by snatching children from their mothers. Coroebus then slew Vengeance, causing a second punishment to fall upon the city that was devastated by plague.