Now I have often said the greatest thing is the world is hyperbole. So when I say this episode is the best of the season, you know that I mean what I say. I’m also going to say that Michael Emerson is among the very best actors working today and this episode continues to prove that point. We start off the show with a dude on a horse. Makes sense. He’s walking around the Other’s camp and walks up to Richard Albert rather upset that a boy has been brought into their camp. Richard says that Jacob wanted it done and the dude still seems a bit annoyed at that. So the dude goes up to the tent and sees Young Ben resting. He awakes and doesn’t remember getting hurt. He wants to stay with the Others. Then the dude says just because you are living with Dharma doesn’t mean that he is one of them. Then the dude reveals himself to be Charles Widmore. Oh yeah.
Flashfoward to present day on the island. Ben awakes to John Locke sitting next to him. Needless to say Ben is rather put off by that. Ben starts rambling off about he knew this would happen, but Locke doesn’t believe him. So Locke asks why Ben was scurring off to the other island. Ben says that he came back to the island to be judged by “the monster.” HOLY JACOB!
Back on the beach, the Ajira people are making a fire and basically repeating Season One except with less drama. Ben offers to help because he’s that awesome. Caesar asks how Ben’s doing and questions him about Locke. Then Ben continues his awesome streak by planting the idea that Locke was on the island before the plane went down. Caesar says not to worry because he has a weapon that appears to be a pop gun.
Flashback to the 80s when Ben is older and wearing a bad wig. He’s with a young version of Ethan and they are sneaking into Rosseau’s camp. He goes into her tent and accidently knocks over her music box. She wakes up and starts yelling that he infected her crew. Ben grabs her baby, which upsets Rosseau. (Kate should take notes.) Ben puts Rosseau at gunpoint and says if she wants her child to live she needs to stay put. Also he said the very mysterious line “If you hear whispers run the other way.” Another clue onto those mysterious whispers that seem to be appear whenever the Others are involved. He leaves and Rosseau cries.
Back in the present, Ben is searching around the office we saw Casear investigate a few episodes back. Locke walks in when Ben was taking out a picture of him and his daughter Alex. Locke mocks Ben for leading his people from an office and then decides to take a seat in it, which was a nice touch. Locke asked the big question of why did Ben kill him. Ben says he did it to make sure everyone came back. He said he stopped Locke from suicide because he needed his information first. Ultimately it’s all about the best interest of the island. Locke said he was just hoping for an apology, but Ben is silent. Then Locke says he wants to help Ben be judged. Ben looks really nervous.
So Locke and Ben start to uncover one of the long boats to head over to the main island. Caesar is a bit whinny though. He says that everyone should stay put. Also he said that Locke should explain why he knows so much about the island. Caesar starts to reach for his gun, but Ben has it. THEN HE SHOOTS CAESAR IN THE CHEST. He then throws the gun to Locke and says “Consider that my apology.” I love Ben. Yet look at that great LOST misdirection. The show sets up these Ajira characters and makes them mysterious. Who are they and what is their involvement to the main story? Yet the most mysterious one just gets blown away. Fantastic and truly unpredictable.
So Ben and Locke start to row over to the main island. They tie up the boat to the dock and Ben has a feeling of déjà vu. Locke notices the other boat at the dock and Ben tells him about Sun and Lapidus. Locke wonders if it was Sun who also hurt his arm. Ben says nope and leaves it at that. They start the trek over to Ben’s house for that’s where Ben knows how to summon the monster as we saw last season when he sic-ed it on the goons from the freighter. Locke says he doesn’t believe Ben about wanting to be judged for breaking the rules. Ben is surprised. Locke says that Ben wants to be judged for the death of his daughter. Ben has no retort.
Flashback to Ben bringing Alex back to his camp. Charles Widmore asks if Ben killed Rousseau. Widmore is rather annoyed that a baby was brought back. Widmore says the baby should have been killed off. Ben asks if that is what Jacob wanted and Widmore has no response. Ben hands over the baby to Widmore and tells him to kill it. Again, Widmore has no response and just walks away to also contemplate ditching his bad wig. Richard seems amused by all of this.
Back in the present Locke and Ben arrive at the Barracks, the former Dharma village. Locke wonders if moving in there was Ben’s idea. Ben basically admits it was. A light was turned on in Ben’s house and Ben is a tad freaked out, but don’t worry: Locke is calm. Ben looks around and finds Sun looking around. Then Lapidus walks in and shows Ben a Dharma picture with Jack and etc. Ben seems genuinely surprised by it, but then again he could be lying about that too. He also responded when Sun mentioned Christian’s name. Apparently Christian told Sun that if she wants to see Jin again they have to wait there for John Locke. Then they look out the window and see good ‘ole Locke waving back at them. Then Bruce Willis walks by.
So they all sit around staring at each other in confusion. Lapidus is freaked out and votes for going back to the plane. Locke says that he will help Sun find Jin so Sun stays with Locke. Lapidus wishes her luck and skedaddles. Yet before they can go searching for Jin, Locke reminds Ben that he has to be judged. So Ben pulls out his bookcase, goes into a secret room, goes into another secret room and into a tunnel. He goes down into the tunnel to find a pool of murky water. One may even say smoky water. He reaches down and pulls something and all the water goes down a drain. Seriously. This show rocks.
Flashback to Ben pushing a young version of Alex on a swing in the Barracks. So this is post-Dharma, pre-Oceanic. Richard stops by to tell Ben that the sub is about to leave. Ben and Richard go to the dock where the sub is located. Charles Widmore is being taken away. Apparently Widmore left the island and returned several time and had a daughter with an outsider. He broke the rules and so now he is banished. Ben says that he won’t be selfish, unlike him. Yet we know he too will leave the island at will since he has all of those passports hidden away. Widmore warns that Ben will be in the same boat as him one day. Okay I’m not meaning the sub, but a situation like boat. Then he gives the cool line “I’ll be seeing you boy.” Ben just stares as Widmore is taken away.
Back in 2008, Sun is sitting on the porch contemplating time travel and dead bodies. Apparently Locke left to go do something. Sun suggests that Jack lied about Locke being dead. Ben confirms that Locke was truly dead. Then Ben says truly didn’t think that Locke would come back to life for dead is dead. It scares him that Locke is walking around, but I don’t believe that entirely. I think he was just messing with Sun to make her not trust Locke. Then they hear rustling in the woods and Ben thinks it’s his fate. Nope, it’s Locke. Locke says that the smoke monster isn’t coming so we should go to it. Ben says he doesn’t know where it is, but Locke says he does. Chilly.
Locke tries having a conversation with Sun, not like he had too many before. He tries to assure he is the same man that he was prior.
Flashback to a few months ago with a chipper Ben calling Widmore saying that he’s going back to the island today. Widmore says that won’t happen, but whatever. Ben says that he shall succeed right after he kills Penny. She’s on the boat Our Mutual Friend right now. That was the name of the Charles Dickens book that Desmond needs to read. He said that is the last book he will ever read. So right before the hatch was going to explode, he opened it up to find a letter from Penny telling him never to give up. Great moment.
Yet flashback to the island where Ben asks Locke how he knows where the smoke monster is. Locke just knows, apparently. Ben keeps probing, but Locke laughs for they had switched positions on the show. Locke has the information and Ben has to follow blindly. They keep on trekking and arrive at the Temple. We see that mysterious wall once again. Yet apparently it isn’t the actual temple. The actual Temple is a mile beyond the wall. Locke says we’re not going into the temple, but under it. They look into the hole that we saw the Smoke Monster pull the French team into. Before Ben goes down, he soberly begs to Sun that she apologies to Desmond for him. Then he goes down.
Back to the docks. Ben pulls out a gun and walks towards Penny. Desmond yells at him so Ben shoots him right in the groceries. He falls to the ground. Ben moves to Penny with his pistol pointed at her. He says he’s sorry but this has to happen. Baby Charlie comes out of the boat and Ben can’t go through with it. He puts down his gun, but it doesn’t matter for Desmond pops back up and beats the living poop out of Ben and throws him into the sea. That’s how he hurt his arm.
Back on the island, Lapidus returns to the smaller island. He finds out the Ajira survivors have found guns so he asks Illana about that. She of course has a gun pointed at him. She and some other dude ask him twice “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” Lapidus, like everyone else, is rather confused. So they hit him with the butt of a gun. Now I think these Ajira people are more than they appear. Yet we have only heard that sort of code used once before and that was when Desmond was looking for his replacement for the Swan. Could they be working for a new age Dharma? That’s my guess.
Back under the Temple wall, Ben and Locke walk down a creepy hallway. It seems like an Egyptian tomb. Ben confirms that he wants to be judged for Alex’s death not for breaking the rules. Ben blames himself for Alex’s death and wants to be answered for it. Ben says he can take it from here and starts to lead the way, but falls down beneath the floor. Ben looks around and sees this mysterious room—no surprise there. It once again has this very Egyptian feel with more symbols on the wall. There was one that was rather interesting. We had our good friend Anubis who I talked about previously and a symbol that looks like smoke monsters. Ladies and gentlemen, foreshadowing.
Then he looks down at all of these holes in the ground. His torch goes out as the smoke monster comes out of the holes and surrounds him. It’s like he’s in a pool of smoke as it rises up and encompasses him. It starts flashing around him. We’ve seen this before. When Juliet and Kate ran from the smoke monster in Season Three we saw it do those weird photograph like flashes. He sees clips from previously in this episode with Alex and Widmore. Then there’s some clips from Alex last year when she truly hated her fake father. To see Ben react to her death a second time was just fantastic. Seriously this is amazing acting because he has to be at a green screen for all of this. The smoke fades away into the holes. His torch flames up again and Alex is standing there. She walks over to him. He says how sorry he is and how it’s all his fault. She says she knows and then throws him up against a pillar. She yells at him that she already knows he’s planning on killing Locke again. She says that if Ben doesn’t obey Locke she will hunt him down and destroy him. Lovely. Then she simply disappeared. Locke then appears at the hole and throws down some rope. He asks what happened and Ben responds: “It let me live.”
L O S T
So that was interesting. It was a great comparison to what happened with Mr. Eko. His dead brother came up and asked him if he was remorseful for his sins. Eko said nope and then the smoke monster killed him. There’s some connection between the dead people and the smoke monster. Now it’s not like Christian Shepherd and John Locke who can walk around all the time without disappearing. Or maybe there is? I really don’t know. I think it’s interesting how all the dead bodies we’ve seen talk have had their bodies physically on the island. (Eko’s brother, Ana Lucia, Alex, Charlie, Boone, and even Horace.) I do believe there’s a connection there. Well next week we have Miles in the foreground in the greatest title of anything ever: “Some Like It Hoth.” Get excited.
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