Lost, I've been with you on some crazy twists. I watched Jack and Kate and Sawyer break rocks to build a runway that paid off two and a half seasons later. I watched all of Eko's spiritual journey, with no real narrative payoff whatsoever. But tonight, with the journey into the temple and the talk of being judged by the smoke monster and the return of lines like "Every decision I've made has been to protect this island," I found myself feeling a little skeptical. My inner John Locke took a holiday, and sadly, Jack Shepard took his place. Maybe I can work through my mixed feelings by writing a good ol' recap.
1. "I killed him? Because he looks fine to me?
After a brief interlude with Lil' Ben in his recovery room with the Others, where he comes face to face with a young and shaggy Charles Widmore, we meet back up with Ben on the beach with the Ajira Air castaways, and a very smug, very confident Locke. For once, every time Ben says something faux-confident and cryptic-- "I knew that this would happen!"-- Locke responds with his own witty, self-assured retort-- "Then why are you so surprised to see me?" Ben tells Locke he's back on the island to be judged by the smoke monster-- I mean, duh--, and Locke convinces Ben to let him tag along, but only after Ben SHOOTS CESAR IN THE DAMN CHEST, putting an end (maybe?) to the guy who seemed like the New Jack. But how about a serious surprising death to kick off the show!
2. "If you want your child to live, every time you hear whispers, you run the other way."
Meanwhile, in the flashback-- yeah, we're doing flashbacks again, didn't you hear?-- Ben is training Lil' Ethan in the way of the Others, taking him on a mission to kill a mystery person in a tent, who is of course Rousseau. Ben, demonstrating a 100% bona fide heart of gold for the first time ever, rescues baby Alex and spares Rousseau's life, pissing off a slightly older and crankier Widmore back at camp. Back then Widmore was the one pulling lines about how he was doing everything to protect the island, but it was Ben who had the last laugh-- later on, after the Dharma purge and when Alex is an adorable little girl, Widmore is being escorted off the island for some kind of undefined insubordination. Widmore has some chilling final words for Ben: "One day, you'll be standing where I'm standing now. You'll be the one being banished. and then you'll finally realize that you cannot fight the inevitable. I'll be seeing you, boy." He's a man of his word.
3. "As long as that dead guy says there's a reason, then I guess everything's going to be just peachy."
Ben and Locke slip immediately back into their awesome buddy-comedy mode, with Ben explaining why he killed Locke (typical Ben self-aggrandizing and evasion) and Locke constantly taunting Ben about everything from having an injured arm to being at fault for Alex's death. Unfortunately, on hand to interrupt the bicker party once they arrive at New Otherton are Sun and Lapidus, who have been instructed by Christian Shepard to wait in Alex's old room until John Locke shows up. Obviously they're both shocked to see a dead man wave at them from outside, but while Lapidus does the logical thing and heads back to the beach to help out the other survivors, Sun decides to go off with Ben and Locke on their magical mystery tour with the slim hope of finding Jin. This involves the three of them trekking off in search of the smoke monster to that dadgum temple, where Locke knows how to find the smoke monster and Ben just remembers being healed there as a wee one. Locke tells Ben to stop asking questions, and get used to blindly following-- just like he used to. Again, Locke is 100% in control right now, and it's amazing.
4. "Find Desmond Hume for me. Tell him I'm sorry."
Before descending into the dark underbelly of the temple, Ben asks Sun to tell Desmond, if she ever gets off the island, that he's sorry. Finally we get the story of what Ben got up to at the marina before they headed back to the island, and it's exactly what we expected-- Ben tried to kill Penny, and Desmond laid the smack down. Actually, Ben was planning to kill Penny, to get revenge on Widmore and all that, but was stopped by the sight of Lil' Charlie, who reminded him all too much of Baby Alex crying in Rousseau's tent. Ben decides to spare Penny, but Desmond beats the hell out of him anyway-- and everyone should be happy about that.
5. "If you so much as touch him, I will hunt you down and destroy you. You will isten to every word John Locke says."
Meanwhile, down in the temple, shit's going down-- Ben falls down a hole, Locke runs off to get help, and in the meantime Ben is completely surrounded and engulfed by the smoke monster. Honestly, this is where I think things might have gone a bit off the rails, even if it was keeping in line with what we've seen from the smoke monster before. It's capable of showing scenes from Ben's past, all of them about Alex, and all of them making him feel even more guilty about causing the death of a little girl he genuinely loved. Then Alex herself shows up! And at first she looks all penitent and glad to see her dad, but then she totally mans up and slams Ben against a wall, and tells him that if he doesn't hang on every one of Locke's words, she will personally hunt him down and destroy him. Nothing like a betrayed daughter with a vendetta, eh Ben?
6. "What lies in the shadow of the statue?"
As a brief coda to the important parts of the episode: Lapidus returns to the beach, and everything has gone crazy! Ilana and some other dudes have guns, and they're protecting some giant box, and knock out Lapidus for apparently not knowing the password. What on earth happened to them while he was gone? Is it related to Rousseau's sickness? And will anyone ever learn that handing guns to castaways never, ever works out?
I think I was disappointed in the end by this recap, despite the Ben and Locke awesomeness and a Desmond smackdown, because it didn't really teach us anything new. We knew Ben and Widmore had an old rivalry and that Ben would probably try to kill Penny to get back at Widmore for Alex's death, and figured Desmond gave Ben the gimp arm. And for all the intrigue the smoke monster has had, I think the more I know about it, the less I like. Not that I'm complaining about learning more about the island and solving some of these damn mysteries, but every time the mysteries wrap up how I'd expect, I feel a little disappointed. Maybe next week's Dharma-tastic episode will be more unpredictable and, somehow, soothe me.
