It may contain one minor spoiler at the end.

Below is the transcript:

The A.V. Club: Darth Vader and the Joker were two of the bigger names that Entertainment Weekly’s readers put higher on the villains list than your character. Do you want to talk any shit about Darth Vader?

Michael Emerson: [Laughs.] He’s a great force of darkness, I guess, but how much acting goes on behind a plastic head? I’m not sure about it. [Laughs.] It seems like his costume does more work for him than mine does for me. I should get handicap points, I think.

AVC: Your character isn’t necessarily a straight-up villain; he’s sometimes portrayed as having the best of intentions. Why do you think Benjamin Linus has been so easily labeled as a villain?

ME: I don’t know. I’m happy to live with it, but I think it’s interesting that I make these best-villain lists when it’s not even clear that I am a bad guy. I think it’s something in the playing of the part. I think it worries people when they can’t get a handle on a character. I tend to play him kind of ambiguously. There is a sinister quality to him, but I think the verdict is still out about what his position is on the scale of good and evil. To a large extent, people’s interest in the character is the mystery of the character.

AVC: Because there are no clear-cut heroes and villains, it’s interesting to watch people discuss the show and say, “Obviously this person is good and this person is evil.” In the end, Hurley will probably wind up being the major villain, because nobody will see it coming.

ME: [Laughs.] Yeah, because that’ll come out of left field. That would be the last thing anyone was expecting. I’m going to make a broad statement here and say that I think people respond to villains because people in general are more villainous than heroic. I think it speaks to the human condition. I think we all secretly understand that we have our sins and our dark thoughts, but we put a face on it for the world. When we see villains played, we sort of perk up. We go, “How’s he doing?” [Laughs.]

AVC: Are you worried about being typecast?

ME: It’s on my mind, and it’s something I will have to deal with. Who’d say no to a role for fear of being so popular that they become typecast? You just do your work and let the chips fall. I really do think that every time you play a role well, you are in danger of being identified with that role until the next big thing comes along. My break on the live stage was playing the character Oscar Wilde in Gross Indecency. So for a while, it looked like all I would ever play was flamboyant Englishmen. But then I get a couple of things on TV where I’m a little bit sinister, and now that’s the thing I’m in danger of being forever. So I’ll have to be a little bit careful about what I pick next, and try to bust out and find another part that is such a good fit that I’m in danger of being pigeonholed.

AVC: You’ve done a lot of theater work, and you were once referred to as a stage actor who also does movies and television. Was it an easy transition from the stage to television and film?

ME: It wasn’t that easy, not so much in acting terms as in social terms. It’s an adjustment, you know, just to find your way around to those studio lots and stuff in L.A. The drill is different. It’s a different kind of working regimen. It just didn’t have all of the old comfortable rituals: the first table-reads, the meet-and-greet, all those things I’m used to; starting out at the table and gradually getting on your feet and having four weeks to rehearse the thing. Suddenly in television and movies, you’re left to be ready on the day. Your rehearsal was auditioning for the part. Now you’re ready to go on. Higher stakes, in a way. But now I really like it. I don’t think it’s a huge acting problem. Anyone with any sense can see that you just have to dial it back a little bit when the camera’s up your nose.

AVC: The show has become huge, and so has your role. But when you were starting out, was it hard to tell whether what you were doing was going to be well-received, as opposed to being onstage, where you can gauge an audience in real-time?

ME: It is a different feedback system. You depend a little bit more on a set of subtle signals from the crew, or from the director of the episode. But in your actor’s heart, you know when you’re playing well. Others may not always agree with you, but I’m always aware of when the scene is cooking or not. You have an instinct about that from years of doing scenes and plays, and I think it stands you in good stead even in the TV world.

AVC: When it comes to what’s going to happen next on the show, the cast is largely kept in the dark, getting scripts just before shooting begins. At what point did you realize that Benjamin Linus was going to be an integral part of the story?

ME: That really dawned on me gradually. As you know, I was originally engaged to be a guest player, to do a few episodes and go away, so I wasn’t thinking in terms of staying in Hawaii. The scenes I was in in the early going, when I was Henry Gale, they had a kind of ambiguity about them. There was a mystery in there, and no one could really figure it out. I remember one day, a director came to me—I had a line, Sayid was waving a gun in my face saying, “Tell us who your leader is,” and I said, “If I tell you, he’ll kill me,” and the director came and said, “That’s good. Let’s take it again, and this time, act as if the leader is the scariest person on Earth.” And I said, “Okay, I can do that, but what if the leader is me?” And he blinked at me a couple of times and said, “I can’t discuss that.” [Laughs.] And that was it. From then on, I thought, “Oh, I see. This could turn into something.” I’m like a slower factor on those kinds of issues; if even I can see that that’s a possibility, then it must be in there somewhere. And as it turns out, it was true. It was a great development.

AVC: Tell the truth, you were getting online and posting anonymously, “Who is this Ben Linus guy? He’s great! They should give him more screen time.”

ME: I wish I had the savvy to do that. I don’t go online much, and of course I don’t even have the sense to have an e-mail name that isn’t my own name, so I can never do any of that stuff anonymously. I’m hopeless.

AVC: About a year from now, you’re going to be done, and people are going to be packing up and leaving the island. Do you fear having a post-Lost depression?

ME: It will be a sad time. You know, your body just lets down. I’ve been ill since we wrapped 10 days ago. When the pressure’s off, that’s just natural. It will be sad to see this amazing chapter… It’s a great show, the show really interests me, and I’ve had so much visibility because of my work on it, it’s a great thing. I’ll never duplicate this experience. But on the other hand, it will be good to move on and embrace the unknown future and see what that holds. I will say that life will be simpler when I don’t spend two-thirds of the year in the middle of the Pacific.

AVC: But is that so bad?

ME: No, no, it’s great. I have a great time there, and the people are so lovely. Not every TV show is as welcoming and warmhearted as the Lost company. Everything’s good about that. It’s just the logistics of being so far from Carrie, my spouse, and loved ones, and the world of theater, and the life of New York City. That’s sort of my life for many years now. But I’ll go back to it.

AVC: Do you have any predictions for Ben in the sixth and final season?

ME: No, I don’t know. I wouldn’t even venture to try and second-guess Damon Lindelof. He’s so brilliant. I’m really curious to where it will go. People say, “What new angles and developments for your character do you long for?” and I say I don’t really long for any. I think Ben has a kind of constancy, that Ben’s mission remains the same. His character is rather set. I’ll be curious to see what sorts of challenges or situations they provide for me. Having said that, they may completely change the character, for all I know. [Laughs.] I don’t think so, though. I’ll be glad to be in it, because I’ll be curious to see how far into the last season I’ll survive. We’re going to have to start losing people next year.

Source : TheOnion

Michael Emerson talked to Hollywood411 about the season finale, Ben Linus, the smoke monster, and tries to discreetly spoil, but if you watch the show at all, it is not discreet!

Some points he touches on include :

- being judged

- filming the 100th episode

- what his plans are post-Lost

- if we will see the monster again

- what he thought of Dead is dead

- and how fans react to him.

Source : sl-LOST

It’s very appropriate that the first episode I review for my new column, “Breaking Lost,” is entitled “The Shape of Things to Come,” for it is in the shape of the story that we can best understand the underlying message.” There’s an underlying message?” you ask. Of course there is. It’s the one that allows us to see how an individual episode fits into that big, overarching monomyth I was talking about in “Journey to Redemption.”

First off, let me explain what it means to “Break” story, or to be precise, let me let Alex Epstein explain:

“Breaking a story down into teasers, tags, acts, and act outs is called breaking story” (“Crafty TV Writing” p70).

“The teaser is the first segment on the show. It’s intended to pull you in. It often sets up the A story [in Lost the A-story is often who the story is about, for example, episode 409 is "Ben's story," so the A-story is about Ben]…[t]he teaser isn’t required to have anything to do with the A story, though. It can be a quirky, scary, funny, or dramatic moment that reminds you why you like the show…

The tag is the last segment of the show…it reveals how the core cast feels about what happened. The tag is where you can establish the next threat the cast will face, or reveal that this episode’s threat has not been fully dealt with…[n]ot all shows separate their tag from their last act with a commercial; in that case your tag is both you Act Four out and your episode out [in his book Epstein points out that this the case with Lost]…

One-hour dramas have four acts [emphasis mine]…whatever the act ‘goes out on’ – is called the act out…An act out is typically a cliffhanger…[t]he jeopardy or stakes can be physical, emotional, or moral…[w]e might stay tuned to see how the hero is going to get out of this pickle…[b]ut it can be more intense to put someone the hero cares about in personal danger, instead of him…the act outs are nearly as important as the acts themselves” (“Crafty TV Writing” p66-68).

Everyone get that? Good. Let’s apply it to episode “The Shape of Thing to Come.”

TEASER

The episode opens on the B-story, as we’ll discover, when Jack takes some antibodies for his ailing tummy (“My gut says we’re getting off this island”) and a body, the freighter’s Doctor, washes ashore with a slit throat. Jack’s camp learns the “freighties” never intended to rescue them.

Then the A-story begins with Hurley, Sawyer, and Locke playing a “war-game” (“Australia is the key to the whole game”) when the phone rings and a voice says, “Code 14-J.”

The act-out of the teaser is when, after learning of the message, Ben hops up, reveals he has a shotgun, gives it to Sawyer and tells Locke, “They’re here.”

ACT ONE

We return from the commercial break with Ben transported off the island to Tunisia (supporting my “tentpole” theory) in a “flash-forward” where he evades capture by killing one man and leaving the other to die.

Jack’s group decides to make a telegraph to contact the freighter about the dead doctor.

Camp Locke comes under attack by the “militant freighties” and Claire’s bungalow, with her inside, is destroyed by a rocket (cliffhanger!!!).

ACT TWO

We return to the flash-forward where Ben checks into a hotel (“What is today’s date”) then makes contact with Sayid and reveals to him that his Nadia was murdered. Ben shows him the picture of the man responsible.

The B-story disappears in Act Two, but back on the island, we learn that Claire is still alive (I thanked God) and the militant freighties send Milo into Ben and Locke’s bunker with a walkie so they can negotiate a trade: Ben for Alex’s life.

Ben refuses to come out and we have the shocking execution of Alex.

ACT THREE

This sequence is intercut (jumps back and forth from island to flash-forward) so I will summarize.

Ben openly follows Nadia’s murderer leading him into a trap where Sayid shoots him in the back, empties his clip into him, and continues pulling the trigger (I think I counted four dry clicks, but don’t quote me on that). Sayid commits to Ben’s war and Ben’s smile reveals he has masterfully manipulated Sayid.

Back on the island Ben is recovering from the shock of his daughter’s murder (“He’s changed the rules”) and he enters his secret crypt. The others argue about what to do and Ben emerges, covered in soot, and tells everyone to prepare to run.

In what is surely the coolest act-out of the series thus far, Smokey is unleashed on the militant freighties and we realize that Ben is responsible (in the voice of Joey Styles “Oh-My-God!”).

ACT FOUR/TAG

We return to the B-story where Daniel is able to contact the freighter. Bernard reveals that Daniel has lied about the message and that on the freighter the Doctor is still alive.  Jack collapses from his stomach pain .

Then, after a stare-down between Locke and Sawyer, Hurley agrees to join Ben and Locke for a journey to Jacob’s cabin while Claire, Aaron, and Milo follow Sawyer back to the beach.

The episode ends off the island in a verbal confrontation between Ben and Charles Widmore where we learn that Charles was the one to “change the rules” and as a result Ben plans to kill Penelope ( “Holy $&!%, Holy $&!&”).

Now, as I promised, by looking at the shape of the episode we should be able to see how it fits into the overall series. In the act-outs we learn that:

1.      The war has started

2.      Widmore’s men are extremely ruthless and willing to kill innocent people

3.      Widmore ‘s men are cold-blooded murderers

4.      Ben has his own weapons…and they trump Widmore’s

5.      Ben can be just as ruthless and cold-blooded

While the episode reveals that Charles Widmore is a truly powerful and dangerous adversary, it also shows that Ben is even more dangerous…and powerful. Consider that Widmore has money and resources at his disposal, but that by the end of the episode we see that Ben is not only he’s equal, but that he might even be his superior. Ben is standing tall and looking elegant while Widmore appears sick and feeble in bed.

As I stated in my conclusion to “Journey to Redemption,” Ben is the shows true antagonist and this episode revealed that, though Widmore is a powerful, ruthless and dangerous man, Ben doesn’t need money to wield power and he is extremely dangerous.

In upcoming articles I will focus on the breakdown of the show and discussing what it reveals about the monomyth. My thanks go to Alex Epstein and his fine book on television writing. I hope you enjoyed this article. I welcome your comments.

Works Cited

Epstein, Alex. “Crafty TV Writing: Thinking Inside the Box; A Professional TV writer’s real-world guide to getting paid to write great television.” New York: Owl Books, 2006.