Dead Is Dead

“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

That’s biblical man. So who is this man that comes riding into camp with his flowing locks? He quickly dismounts and goes off to confront Richard. Richard tells the man that he brought a boy that was dying to their temple. The man tells him that he should have let him die. Richard says that taking him to the temple was what Jacob wanted. This seems to quiet the equestrian douche bag. Richard also tells him “the island chooses who the island chooses“. The man goes in to see Ben. It would seem that when Richard said that Ben wouldn’t remember anything, he meant about the shooting. Ben remembers his father but says he doesn’t want to go back to Dharma. The man tells Ben "Just because you're living with them doesn't mean you can't be one of us". This is similar to Isabel telling Jack the meaning of his tattoo: "He walks amongst us, but he is not one of us". Ben asks the man who he is and of course he is Charles Widmore, the 1970’s version.



Wakey-Wakey, Eggs and Baccy!

That is not biblical. Back in 20007 Ben wakes up and sees Locke alive and seems surprised. He says that he is shocked to actually see Locke alive even though he expected it would happen. Locke asks Ben why he was trying to go to the main island and we get quite the explanation. Ben says he broke the rules and he came back to the island to answer for what he had done. He came back to the island to be judged. Dun Dun Dun! Locke asks who Ben is going to be judged by and Ben says they don’t have a word for it but that Locke calls it “the monster”. DUN DUN DUN!!

Et Tu Bug Eyes?

Ben approaches as the Ajira gang are doing something to a big metal crate that Illana says they have to move. Is Locke's coffin in there? What if the real Locke is still in there? Ben offers to help but they tell him they don’t need his help. Ben walks away after saying “Have a great day!” a funny but weird scene. Caesar walks up and has some questions for Ben concerning Locke. Ben tries to convince Caesar that Locke wasn’t on the plane. Ben is such a sneaky bastard! When Ben introduces himself to Caesar it seemed like Caesar might have known who Ben was. The two make an agreement to keep an eye on Locke. Caesar tells Ben he will have his back and shows Ben the sawed off shotgun that he has in his pack.

Does That Thing Come With A Chinstrap?

We flashback to a younger Ben who is wearing a horrible toupee. He is with Ethan and he approaches a campsite. He looks to be about ready to shoot someone when he hears a baby crying. As he is startled and looks around he knocks something onto the ground which is shown to be the music box that belongs to Danielle Rousseau. She asks Ben if he is the one that “infected” them. Then I think she cursed him out in French. Ben gathers up the baby and tells Rousseau that if she wants her baby to live and if she wants to live she will not follow him or try to find him. He also says that if she ever hears whispers she should run the other way. Very intriguing. Danielle had claimed to Sayid in Solitary that she had never seen any of the Others, though this could be attributed to the fact that she is insane. Also, the pillar of black smoke which Danielle claimed to have preceded Alex's kidnapping was not shown.

Office Space/Corporate Takeover

Ben is in his office going through some drawers and pulls out a picture of Alex and himself taken during happier times. Funny that neither of them are looking at the camera. Locke is enjoying his new found power over Ben, he tells Ben that running his people from an office seems a little too corporate for him. Then he puts his feet up on Ben’s desk, classic. Locke is letting Ben know that he is no longer in charge. Locke asks Ben why he killed him. Ben tells Locke that he had to die in order to get everyone back to the island. He had failed in his attempts and he was going to off himself anyway. Locke asks Ben why he didn’t just let him commit suicide? Ben goes on to tell John that he, John, had important information that Ben needed first. He killed Locke because he didn’t have time to talk him back into hanging himself. Great line. Ben tells Locke that he was doing what was best for the island. Locke tells Ben he was only hoping for an apology which Ben does not offer which seems to surprise Locke. Watch the smile fade from his face to fear. Or is it anger? A mixture of the two is my best guess. After all of this, Locke declares that he has decided to help Ben. Ben tells Locke that being judged is not something John wants to see. John tells Ben that if everything that Ben has done has been in the interest of the island then the monster will understand. At no point do I think Locke thought everything Ben has done has been in the best interest of the island. Locke wasn’t really into helping Ben as much as he was making sure Ben actually would be judged. I think Locke might have felt that Ben was going to be found guilty, not worthy, or however you want to describe it, and end up dead like Eko after he was judged by Smokey and he wanted to make sure it actually happened.

The Enemy Of My Enemy Is My Friend

And you have to make sure you say that with a really annoying accent. Just like Caesar has, or had. Caesar tries to stop Locke and Ben from taking one of the outriggers and heading to the main island. Notice Ben sort of screws with Locke for a second when he tells Caesar “He didn’t really give me a choice.” and Locke is like Huh? Locke stands up to Caesar and tells him that he is taking a boat and Caesar is not going to stop him. Caesar goes for his gun and Ben points it at Caesar and asks; “You looking for this?” and then shoots Caesar. Shocked the hell out of me I can tell you, I did not see that coming! Locke didn’t seem very surprised by it but what he did find surprising was Ben tossing him the shotgun and telling Locke to consider that his apology. My course of thinking here is Ben needed Locke to trust him again and the way to gain a mans trust, especially a man you had already killed once, was to save his life. We saw Ben purposefully putting Caesar on alert concerning Locke a couple of scenes ago. His line about Locke not really giving him a choice served to enforce the doubt and suspicion Caesar had for Locke. Knowing Caesar had the shotgun Ben was able to snatch it away before Caesar could use it against Locke. Would Caesar have shot Locke? Hard to say but one thing is for sure, Walt’s vision about people surrounding Locke on a beach wanting to hurt him came true. And unless Ben is a horrible shot, bye bye Caesar, who by the way, holds the title of “worst accent on the show ever” in my eyes. It was even worse than Paulo’s. I also liked how Ben served notice to the rest of the Ajira group when Ben went all Dirty Harry on them. “We’re taking a boat. Anybody else got a problem with that?” Notice that as Locke was packing his shoes before returning to the main island or his "home", if you will, he cleaned them off by banging the heels together three times prior to putting them in the bag. A really obscure Oz reference?

The Return Of The Lost Son

That’s biblical too, man. Ben and Locke arrive at the main island and Ben remarks; “Home Sweet Home”. Locke notices the other boat already docked there and Ben tells him it would be from Frank and Sun. Ben says “someone else” hurt his arm and Locke comments that Ben makes friends everywhere he goes. Ben reminds Locke that sometimes friends are more dangerous than enemies. The scenes in this episode between Locke and Ben were some of the duos best scenes they have had together. I like them better than most of the Locke/Jack scenes we have had in the past. Ben has to go to his house to summon the monster so he can be judged. Locke says that Ben is lying; that he doesn’t want to be judged for breaking the rules but rather he wants to be judged for killing his daughter. Ding Ding Ding!

Waiter, There’s A Child In My Soup

Ben returns to the others camp carrying baby Alex. Widmore is there eating soup wearing a hairpiece almost as horrible as Ben’s and asks Ben if he did it. Ben says there was a complication. Widmore says that Ben’s orders were to kill Danielle. Ben says he didn’t kill Danielle because she is not a threat to them and she is insane. Then Ben says that Charles had not told him about the baby to which Charles says Ben is to kill “it”. We sure do go back and forth between who is the bad guy and who is the good guy amongst the Others all the time, eh? Widmore reminds Ben that everything he has done has been in the best interest of the island. Ben asks if killing the baby is what Jacob would want. Again Charles is quieted by being asked about Jacob. I’m starting to think Widmore didn’t have a connection to Jacob, or at least not as strong of a connection as perhaps Richard or Ben did or does have. Ben offers up Alex to Widmore and tells him that if he wants the baby dead for Widmore to do it. Widmore chuckles and walks away. In a way, we know Widmore made good on Ben’s offer about 16 years later. Ben’s a happy papa and looks to Richard for approval.

There’s A Light Over At The Frankenstein Place

Locke continues to question Ben about some of his past actions concerning the Others. Specifically he asks about them moving into the barracks. Ben tells Locke that he has no idea what the island wants. Then a light comes on in Ben’s house. Ben says that it is Alex’s room where the light is coming from. Locke tells Ben he better go check it out. Don’t know if I like the “new” Locke as much as the “old” Locke. Ben walks into his house that he hasn’t been in for three years and it would seem everything is still as it was when he left. The Risk set that Hurley, Locke, and Sawyer were playing is still there as if they had just recently stopped playing. I for one was certain that it was going to be Alex’s ghost that was in Ben’s house. It turned out to be Sun and Lapidus is with her. Lapidus shows Ben the picture with Hurley and Kate in it from the 70’s. Ben says he didn’t know about them being in the Dharma Initiative. They go on to tell him about the “crazy old guy named Christian” that gave them the picture. He also told them that if Sun wanted to see her husband again she would have to wait for John Locke. Before they crash to commercial we are treated to a creepy/humorous wave from John Locke after Lapidus and Sun see that he is back from the dead.

Silence Is Golden

So how long did they all stand there looking at each other in silence. That was kinda funny. Frank wants to go back to the plane to be with the rest of Ajira and try to call for help. He doesn’t want to trust a murderer and a guy who can’t remember how he got out of a coffin. Locke tells Sun that he is the only help she will need to find her husband. Frank leaves and Locke reminds Ben that he has something to do before they can get to the business of finding Jin. Ben goes into his secret room where Ben went when he summoned the monster against the freighter goons last season. Ben goes further underground and he finds Smokey in a mud puddle? Huh? Ben turns something that seems to flush the mud puddle and after the water drains he says “I’ll be outside.”. I call shenanigans! That’s how Ben summons the smoke monster? Are you frigging kidding me? Why not some blood letting, some lit candles and some chants. That’s how you summon the smoke monster who is some sort of ancient judge, jury, and executioner? You just simply have to flush a toilet apparently. Seriously, I’m getting more annoyed by this the more I write about it. WTF? OK, moving on.

I’m Leaving On A Submarine, I don’t Know When I’ll Be Back Again

We are treated to a moment where Ben is pushing his daughter Alex on the swing set and Richard comes up to talk to Ben. Notice Richard is cordial to Alex, as if he is happy to have her with them. Richard tells Ben the sub is about to leave but that Ben doesn’t have to see them off. Ben says that he does. Widmore is being escorted to the sub in handcuffs as Ben arrives to say goodbye. Ben says that Widmore brought all of this on himself. Widmore asks Ben if this is really what he wants. Ben runs down a few things Widmore has done wrong which includes leaving the island regularly (something we thought Ben was also doing later on), having a daughter with an “Outsider”. Charles asks Ben what makes him think he deserves to take what is his. Ben tells him because he will do whatever it takes to protect the island. He won’t be selfish and he will sacrifice anything to protect the island. Widmore leaves with the warning that if the island wants Alex dead then she will be dead. Widmore claims that one day Ben will have to choose between his daughter, Alex, and the island. Which we know did happen and Ben chose the island over his daughter. Charles also tells Ben that if Ben is wrong, one day he will be standing where Widmore is now standing. He leaves as he tells Ben, “I’ll be seeing you, boy.”. Let’s interpret this scene a little bit. Widmore was the one who gave the order to kill Alex. Ben didn’t do it thinking that the island didn’t want Alex dead. Flash forward sixteen years and Alex is killed by men hired by Widmore. So did the island want her dead or is Widmore more powerful than the island? It's hard to believe that Widmore could be that powerful so I believe the island did in fact want her dead. Maybe, though, it wanted her dead exactly when she died, not when Widmore ordered it to be done. If you have a "to do" list and on it are dishes, wash the car, vacuum, go grocery shopping, and take out the garbage and you do all of them in that order. Now say it takes you longer than you would expect and you end up taking out the garbage after the trash men have already went by your house, then what? You did what you were supposed to do just not when you were supposed to do it. Maybe that’s how the island gives out its list of things it needs done. It doesn’t put a time stamp on it so it can be difficult to know when it wants certain things done. One thing we do know is that Widmore and Ben both were forced from the island for one thing or another but under different circumstances. Widmore was not doing what was in the best interest of the island and has never been able to find the island again in order to return. Ben has. Therefore I am confident in saying that although Ben’s actions or motives may have been questionable in the past, the island has allowed him back so it must not be all bad. Right?

Sometimes, Dead Is Better

Ben goes outside, like he said he would, after summoning the mud puddle monster and asks Sun where Locke is. She said he had to go do something. Sun suggests that Jack lied about Locke being dead but Ben assures her that John was most definitely dead. Then she asks Ben if he knew that Locke would come back to life if they brought him back to the island. He tells Sun that he had no idea it would happen. He says he has seen the island do some incredible things but never anything like this. “Dead is Dead” he tells Sun, “you don’t get to come back from that.”. He then says that the fact that Locke is walking around scares the living hell out of him. Ben tells Sun that she should go inside when Ben hears rustling in the jungle. He tells her that what is about to come out of the jungle is something he cannot control. Locke walks out of the jungle and ironically I think Ben was right about what he said even though he wasn’t talking about Locke because now Locke has all the answers and Ben doesn’t know dick. For those of you reading this in Canada, dick is the same as squattah. Ben says he doesn’t know where the monster but Locke tells him that he does. Locke assures Sun that although his situation is odd he is still the same man he used to be. John is getting a lot of pleasure from being the one that Ben has to follow now instead of the other way around.

Teaser

Now for the scene I was really looking forward to. Seeing what happened at the Marina. Ben calls Charles and tells him he is about to kill Penny. He also tells Charles he is going back to the island. I was touched that the name of the boat is “Our Mutual Friend”, the name of the book Desmond had with him for so many years. And they cut it short. Damn them!

Surely, This Must Be The Temple. No, It’s Not And Stop Calling Me Shirley

Ben has many questions for Locke who tells Ben that he doesn’t like the shoe being on the other foot. Sun interrupts their dick waving session and tells them they should keep moving. Ben says he knows where they are going. It was a place they took him when he was a child. He tells Locke that it was the place they took him to be healed. Locke says that they should hope it is as generous this time around. Zing! So that’s not the Temple, it is the wall around the Temple that was built to keep people like Sun and Locke out. Locke tells Ben they are not going into the Temple, they are going under it. Before Ben goes in he tells Sun that if she ever gets off of the island she is to find Desmond and tell him that Ben is sorry. She asks him for what and he says that he will know.

Oi! What You Doing Here Brutha?

We go back to the marina and Desmond sees Ben and asks him what he is doing there. Ben shoots Desmond and goes on to confront Penny. He begins to tell her about how terrible of a man her father is. She says that she has nothing to do with her father. Ben continues to tell her that Widmore killed his daughter. He is then interrupted by the appearance of Charlie Hume. Ben doesn't shoot Rousseau when he sees her child, Alex. He later doesn't shoot Penny when he sees her child. Can we cut this guy a break yet? He lowers his weapon as Desmond (nobody thought he was actually dead did they?) tackles Ben and gives him the whipping we saw that he had received way back in “316”. Nice camera and effects work when Ben is floating in the water with the blood flowing from his mouth. Nicely disturbing. Another connection to this scene is the appearance of Charlie Hume stops Ben from killing Penny, just as the appearance of a young boy stopped Sawyer from implementing one of his cons. Ahh see you didn't think of that one did you?

You Cryptic Bitch!

Lapidus makes it back to the Hydra island and is informed by a guy in a red shirt, (don’t you just love TPTB‘s sense of humor?), that Illana and some others have found guns and have put themselves in charge. Frank goes off to find them and they are still working on the metal crate thingy. The pull rifles on Frank and he asks what is going on. She responds by asking: “What lies in the shadows of the statue?” Say what now? Let's go back for a moment. Shortly after we met Caesar and Illana for the first time I thought that it was possible that Caesar had been on the island before. Perhaps he was one of the original Others and that Illana would be some easy kill fodder in an upcoming episode. Seems I was wrong about who would be kill fodder and possibly I was wrong about who was on the island before. Maybe Illana was. “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” sounds like some sort of security answer or even password. Something like “What did one snowman say to the other snowman?”. It’s not a Dharma security question it seems to be an Other’s security question. Or could it be something else entirely? Anyway, after seeing that Frank was not going to be able to answer their little riddle, Illana smashes Frank with the rifle, almost knocking him out. She tells her lackey to get everyone else and to tell them “it’s time”. She also instructs them to tie up Frank and that he is coming with them. Nightey night time for Frank.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Underneath the Temple, Ben tells Locke that he was right, that Ben is looking to be judged for killing Alex. Ben tells Locke that he can go on from there by himself. Ben crashes through the floor and John goes to look for something to get Ben out. Ben walks around and we see a crap load of hieroglyphics. There is a broken statue in a little niche in the wall and a really interesting carving on the wall. It would seem that Anubis is depicted in the carving and he is communicating or perhaps summoning the smoke monster. We hear Smokey in the grate (Cerberus vent?) and he starts to come out of the grate and fills the room slowly engulfing Ben. Smokey shows Ben his history with Alex. I for one feel that what he is shown hurts him more than actually dying would have. Unlike Eko, Ben is sorry for some of the things he has done and would like to ask for forgiveness. This showing of the need for forgiveness and repentance and is enough for the Smokey to allow Ben to live. But not before one last warning. Earlier, Ben gave his "Dead is dead" speech, explaining that he doesn't believe people can walk around after they die, even on the island. Now, right here in front of him, he sees his deceased daughter, Alex doing exactly that. Alex returns and Ben apologizes and tells her that it was all his fault. She says “I know” and grabs him and shoves him against a pillar. She tells him that she knows he already intends to kill Locke again and if he does she will hunt him down and kill him. Watch Ben’s face, he was going to try and kill Locke he has a shocked look as if to ask “How did you know?” He is then forced to declare allegiance to John Locke and that he will follow him and do everything he tells him to do. Alex leaves and Ben is an emotional mess. John returns with a vine to pull Ben out and he asks Ben what happened. Ben seems surprised to be able to say “It let me live.”.

Final Thoughts

Last week when I watched the preview for this episode I immediately thought “Uh oh, Ben’s last episode.” There’s a rampant rumor of a major death coming very soon and last night Caesar eating a bullet wouldn’t count as the major death to me. Ben dying would. Even throughout the episode I kept thinking “Wow, they really are going to kill Ben. His story is complete.”. But they didn’t, at least not yet. Ben’s story is told. He’s all done with flashbacks. We’ve seen all we need to see. So therefore the only thing left is he isn’t telling the truth when he said he would follow John Locke and do everything he said he would. Of course unless it is his destiny to die protecting Locke. But Ben got a stern warning from Alex/Smokey. Perhaps the threat of harm to Locke isn’t over yet for Ben. Either way, I don’t see Ben making through the rest of this season.

This episode was good. It wasn’t great and certainly not what I had hoped it would be. I think we have gotten all of the answers about Smokey that we are going to get. More of the story will come out as we get more info on the statue and what Anubis has to do with it all because it was definitely Anubis in the carving. Since Anubis is the Guardian of Death can Smokey be considered to work for or with Anubis? Is Smokey the souls of the dead? Spirits gathered together as one entity doing the job to either allow souls to continue on or to devour them. We see that when the spirits i.e. Yemi, Christian, Alex return they are not exactly as we or the people seeing them quite remember. The form was that of Alex and at the beginning of the conversation it was Alex but after slamming Ben up against the pillar it was Smokey. Do you see Alex hunting Ben down and killing him if he hurts Locke or do you see Smokey doing it? My other question is what is the deal with “What lies in the shadow of the statue?”? This is a code, but for what? When Ben called Widmore to tell him he was going back to the island did Charles contact Eloise and get the flight information as well? If so, does Widmore still have people he can call, like Illana, to gather together and also be on the plane? Since it was such short notice perhaps Widmore couldn’t arrange for all of the people to meet prior to the flight so “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” is the code in order to know who is in the group and who is not? That seems to make the most sense to me at this point. The biggest question still to be answered is who will be on the outrigger that finds Sawyer, Juliette, and the rest and begins shooting at them? Who does Juliette shoot? So many answers are yet to come.