The Tail Section

Here is the continuation of TVGuide.com’s interview with Michael Emerson.  Read part 1 of the interview here.

TVGuide.com: When the Others’ shrink said to Juliet, "Of course Ben has a crush on you.  You look just like her," who is "her"?  Ben’s mother, or the little girl he befriended on the island…?

Michael Emerson: It could be either… or a third choice.  That’s a really tantalizing question.  I still think we’re going to revisit that little girlfriend of his that made him the carved image.

TVGuide.com: The moment where Alex was killed, coming on the heels of Rousseau’s death.  Was it hard to lose your ‘family" there?  Or did you suspect it would put this new fire in Ben’s belly?

That is the way it’s to function in the show – Ben now has the great motivation.  He was cheated, and the game was upset.  Now we see him prone to a feeling of grief and vengeance that is perfectly human.  That will fuel his mission for the rest of the series.

TVGuide.com: When do you like playing Ben the most?

There are a couple of ways I like playing Ben.  I like it when he’s in a jolly mood.  Like when he had his little dinner party for Juliet.  He’s bustling around the kitchen, fixing food…. There’s something surreal to see him do that.  That’s a fun antic Ben.  Ben’s stock-and-trade is those tense scenes in confined spaces, where a lot hangs on a high-pressure conversation.

TVGuide.com: At the end of the day, what do you think will be harder to explain: Who or what is Jacob, or who or what is the Smoke Monster?

The explanation of who or what is Jacob is going to be richer and more satisfying than who or what is the Smoke Monster.  I have my own ideas about what the Smoke Monster is, and it’s purely scientific.  The explanation of Jacob, I think, may be more.

TVGuide.com: When that series finale airs, do you think it will be indisputable that Ben is "the good guy" here?

I would be surprised if we walked away from Ben feeling anything but… ambiguous.  I don’t think they’d let that go.

TVGuide.com: Because in the future he seems to be doing the right thing.

Certainly his mission is going to be recontextualized — maybe many times — before the end of [the series]. Short of some amazing transformation – his becoming a monk or an alien or something like that – Ben seems a man fated to go on with this battle.  And I wonder if the battle ever ends….

TVGuide.com: You seem to give your character a lot of thought.

I think about him because I sometimes have to explain things to myself in my own head.  I don’t really have interaction with writers, so I just try to impose meanings and contexts on it, partly for my own amusement but partly so I know what to play.  It helps me make an unpredictable choice in a scene if I have a new idea about what’s going on.

TVGuide.com: Do you feel as if you stumbled upon something special here at Lost?

Oh, yes.  It’s a wonderful role.  The ambiguity of it lets me paint it the way I please, episode after episode.

TVGuide.com: Is there anybody you wish you had more scenes with?

There are characters that I’ve never had scenes with, it’s so crazy. I’ve never had a scene with Sun or Jin; Michael only briefly; Desmond…. Now that could be interesting.  What could bring Desmond and Ben Linus together?  Something in the future, I am thinking.  Since Ben seems to have Penny in his sites now, that’s going to bring him into a collision with Desmond at some point, I assume.

TVGuide.com: What are you doing with your hiatus?

We have three months off. I don’t really have any work to do.  My wife (actress Carrie Preston) is working on a series in L.A. that films until the middle of July.

TVGuide.com: She’s working on True Blood (based on Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire novels), right?

Yes, and that could be really interesting.  It’s so tantalizing, this idea of [Six Feet Under creator] Alan Ball tackling vampire material.

TVGuide.com: And he has a colorful cast there, not the usual suspects.

Right, fresh faces – and from what my wife tells me, some astonishing performances are being given.  It’s very exciting.