Plotholes in "Dr. Linus"

[Xanderman]

There's one really big one that bugged me because it stood out as very poor writing. That being Dr. Linus having to give in to Principal Pervert's counter-threat. I mean Linus had more than enough on him to completely ruin his life, he could have used it as leverage to make the principal not only quit and hand over his job, but to also force him to write a good letter for Alex, no? Massive plot hole. (Unless I'm missing something?)

Another one is what McFly pointed out in his thread, that being Hurley's remark to Richard about him not having aged in 30 years. However if memory serves only Jack saw Richard in the past, not Hurley. Should have given the line to Jack instead of "audience surrogate" Hurley who's job as usual is to ask the questions we would ask (again, as McFly said).

And this one's not really a plot hole I guess (in a way it is) but Hurley not telling Jack about what Jacob had warned about the temple attack felt off. Unless Hurley is now afraid of Jack ever since he smashed the mirrors and fears incurring more of his wrath? lol Speaking of being afraid, Hurley running off like a coward also seemed silly. Just as Jack is now a "believer", so really should Hurley be after all the things he himself has experienced. He also shouldn't even really be that afraid of death itself given he sees that dead people still live on (as spirits/ghost whatever). lol Clearly they had to make Hurley react that way to add more tension/conflict to the scene, and to make Jack's own personal new faith be felt more strongly via contrast.

[Tabularasa]

The thing with Ben and the principal wasn't a plot hole. The best he could do was to force him to resign but he could never black mail him into writing the letter for Alex. He either writes the letter for Alex or he steps down and suggests Ben. If he steps down for personal reasons, his letter of reccomendation doesn't hold as much weight and no point since he's no longer the principal. Ben could've then written the letter but it won't mean as much since the college Alex is trying to get into won't know who the hell he is. The principal made that ultimatum with Ben because he knows that Ben this Ben, in the alternate universe, cares too much about his students like Alex. Ben was given a choice between obtaining power and sacrificing that power for Alex's future. Unlike in the regular time line, Ben makes the right choice and makes a sacrifice to help Alex.

[Xanderman]

I thought about that but couldn't he have still written the letter and then stepped down/resigned afterward, after some time had passed? Plus if he stepped down for personal reasons (like health) his recommendation should still hold weight. He could write the letter as principal, and then if he steps down right after that it shouldn't be the end of the world (people change jobs/careers/retire all the time). Just a silly plot device.

[WhoRU?]

It wouldn't work that way if it took time. . . . he could squeeze out of the situation if time was given and Ben could end up in trouble from it. Best to settle it immediately just in case someone goes back on their deal. Ben cares too much about his students to leave the school.

This way he gets to keep an eye on the principal and make some difference to the students that remains by standing up for something he disagrees with. The principal has made changes already by not dumping unfair demands (sudden detention supervision and removing of the history club) on Ben and so already they have an understanding. It is quite possible that Ben still has the choice pull the card out if he feels strongly about something and have the principal under his thumb a bit without needing to be the principal himself.

[superhippie2000]

i think the ben and principal thing was to show off the island ben turned out to be a better guy and not so greedy. he still has tendancies to mess with people but he is a little less postive in what he does.

[Xanderman]

It wouldn't work that way if it took time. . . . he could squeeze out of the situation if time was given and Ben could end up in trouble from it. Best to settle it immediately just in case someone goes back on their deal. Ben cares too much about his students to leave the school.

This way he gets to keep an eye on the principal and make some difference to the students that remains by standing up for something he disagrees with. The principal has made changes already by not dumping unfair demands (sudden detention supervision and removing of the history club) on Ben and so already they have an understanding. It is quite possible that Ben still has the choice pull the card out if he feels strongly about something and have the principal under his thumb a bit without needing to be the principal himself.

The way the scene was played out was like this: threat, counter-threat. Linus tells the principal he wants his job, otherwise he'll ruin him. Principal counters with a threat against Linus' precious Alex, who he would not only not give a recommendation letter for, but would specifically "torch" instead (implying he would make it his mission to make sure she never gets in, since he apparently has pull/connections etc.). However this is silly because Linus holds all the cards here. As soon as he said this all Linus could have said was fine, I'll go have a chat with your wife. The principal would then have obviously immediately reneged on that empty threat he came up with on the fly. And while I agree Ben could possibly pull the card again in the future, this is not the impression we were left with. We were left with the impression of a man nobly sacrificing his own dreams/ambitions in order to not risk endangering Alex's future, just in case the principal would actually live up to his threat. Basically Ben was eliminating the possibility that his own actions could ever result in harming Alex, directly or indirectly. But again, the sticking point for me remains that Linus should have instantly realized that the principal would never execute that comparatively meaningless threat when it would result in his own complete and utter self-annihilation (both professionally and personally).

[WhoRU?]

Maybe so, but it was a safe and a choice that most of us would do and hence making Ben a normal fellow like what we can relate to.

It would have been pointless to take a risk and have his own job, the principal's job and Alex's future in jeopardy in foul move.

The thing is that we don't really know the principal's ability to go to the extreme measures to destroy Alex. While it is unlikely that the principal threat has less tangible merit, it is nevertheless a threat that Ben can do without on Alex.

If the principal has lost everything, the angle would be that he will exact revenge to those he can reach. A lion backed into a corner. It is totally unnecessary circumstances to be under. And Ben does not need to be a principal. The principal's threat was if he was damaged from the fallout, then he will do something in turn because he has lost everything (ie. his position as principal, his affair being exposed and hence loses his wife plus family and his standing with the community) and so he would make Alex (his best and favourite student) life a living hell to destroy the only thing that Ben appreciates in his lonely life.

So I see that the threat is very possible from the fallout.

[FotW]

Maybe you're not missing that Ben could have had the upper hand, but in my opinion it's not about who had the upper hand it's about how Ben (like the rest of the people we've seen in the flashes sideways) are somehow mystically connected to their parallel world selves. Somehow they can learn lessons from the pain they experience in their alternate universe life. It seems to me that Dr. Linus's choices are showing us that Ben learned (though his parallel self's experience) that it's love that matters more than any struggle for power. A lesson he could not learn on the Island until it was too late and Alex was killed. Maybe I'm reading too much into the flashes sideways but Claire did say she "knew" Aaron's name somehow so why not?

There's one really big one that bugged me because it stood out as very poor writing. That being Dr. Linus having to give in to Principal Pervert's counter-threat. I mean Linus had more than enough on him to completely ruin his life, he could have used it as leverage to make the principal not only quit and hand over his job, but to also force him to write a good letter for Alex, no? Massive plot hole. (Unless I'm missing something?)

[Xanderman]

If the principal has lost everything, the angle would be that he will exact revenge to those he can reach. A lion backed into a corner. It is totally unnecessary circumstances to be under. And Ben does not need to be a principal. The principal's threat was if he was damaged from the fallout, then he will do something in turn because he has lost everything (ie. his position as principal, his affair being exposed and hence loses his wife plus family and his standing with the community) and so he would make Alex (his best and favourite student) life a living hell to destroy the only thing that Ben appreciates in his lonely life.

So I see that the threat is very possible from the fallout.

Right, and I have no doubt the principal was serious that he would ruin Alex should Ben ruin him, but clearly he would never let it get to that point. After quitting for personal reasons, he would never go through with ruining Alex, not while Linus still had the goods on him (to completely bury him, ruin his reputation/marriage etc with the affair scandal). It was a desperate bluff, and poor easily beaten Ben didn't have "what it takes" to call it (just like Christian always said about Jack--a common theme on this show it seems. lol). Unlike Island Ben, who would have probably just shot that principal in the head and buried him in his backyard and called it a day. lol

Ben (like the rest of the people we've seen in the flashes sideways) are somehow mystically connected to their parallel world selves. Somehow they can learn lessons from the pain they experience in their alternate universe life. It seems to me that Dr. Linus's choices are showing us that Ben learned (though his parallel self's experience) that it's love that matters more than any struggle for power. A lesson he could not learn on the Island until it was too late and Alex was killed. Maybe I'm reading too much into the flashes sideways but Claire did say she "knew" Aaron's name somehow so why not?

And also, the same people are connected with each other in both universes for some reason, as unlikely as that is.