Dr. Linus

[2] The episode was written by executive producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and directed by actor Mario Van Peebles.

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.

Following the events of the previous episode, "Sundown", Ben, Ilana (Zuleikha Robinson), Miles Straume (Ken Leung), Sun Kwon (Yunjin Kim) and Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey) flee from the temple, after the devastating attack by the Man in Black (also O'Quinn).

After the group travels back to the original survivors' beach camp, Ilana ties Ben up and forces him to dig his own grave, so that she can exact revenge as Jacob was a father figure to her.

Following the events of the episode, "Lighthouse", Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) and Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) agree to return to the temple.

[3] Steven Kurutz of The Wall Street Journal deemed it the best episode of the season, containing "the perfect mix of action, drama and mysteries revealed."

[4] Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger deemed "Dr. Linus" "easily the most compelling episode of this final season so far," enjoying even the scenes involving Jack, despite his "pathological hatred" of the character.

[6] Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune called it "a tautly constructed and thus very satisfying episode of TV", deeming Emerson's performance "awe-inspiring" and the storylines "heartbreaking".

He found the resolution of Ben's blackmail plot implausible and the subtext excessive, commenting: "every scene and line in this episode seemed designed to make sure that we got the point about the cruelty of fate, the burden of power, and so on and so on."

[9] BuddyTV's John Kubicek was similarly critical of the episode's subtext, and commented on his growing frustration with the alternate universe: "If the point is to show us how the Island made everyone a more interesting person, we get it, so please stop before we have to watch another watered-down character wuss out."