s5e12: Dead is Dead

Previously on Lost: Ben is a bad dude.

Widmore (I bet) rolls into Others camp to confront Richard for saving young Ben. Richard tells him that Jacob wanted it done. Sure enough, it's Widmore, and he tells Ben that he's among friends. Then it's 2007. Ben is indeed stunned that Locke is alive... except he claims that he knew it would happen. "It's one thing to believe it," Ben says. He tells Locke he was going back to the main island to be judged for breaking the rules. Locke asks who's going to judge him. "We don't even have a word for it," Ben says, but it's Smokey the Monster.

Hey, did you know The Unusuals is premiering next?

Still 2007. Ben plants the seed in Cesar's mind that Locke is Ethan-like and also "dangerously deranged." Cesar tells Ben he has his back. Even on his way to be judged, Ben is a scheming asshole? Christ. Back to... well, we don't know exactly, but based on Ethan's age I bet this involves Alex. Nice to see they went for goofy 90s haircuts even on the island. And, in fact, it's Rousseau and Alex. Ben takes Alex and tells Rousseau not to follow him, and to run if she ever hears whispers if she wants Alex to live. So, we finally got that flashback. A little underwhelming, right?

2007. Ben digs up a picture of himself with Alex (clearly Photoshopped) in the Hydra. Locke wants to talk about why Ben killed him. Ben tells him it was the only way to get everyone back. Locke asks the obvious question that everyone was asking a few episodes ago - why stop him hanging himself only to strangle him seconds later? - and Ben gives the obvious answer, that Locke had information Ben needed. After that he just didn't feel like talking Locke back into hanging himself. Ben also notes that it worked - everyone's back (somewhere or other) and Locke is alive. "I was just hoping for an apology," Locke says. He also wants to accompany Ben to the main island. They go for a boat but bossy ol' Cesar, having been egged on by Ben earlier, shows up and tells Locke he's not going anywhere until he tells them how he knows so much about the island. When Locke declines to do so, Cesar attempts to produce a gun, only to find that Ben has it, and uses it to blow the hell out of Cesar. (Really? That's all we did with that character? Okay.) "Consider that my apology," Ben says.

When they arrive, Locke notices Sun and Frank's boat. When Ben mentions that Sun clocked him with the oar, Locke asks if she hurt his arm, too. Ben says that someone else did that. Locke tells Ben that he doesn't believe Ben wants to be judged for breaking the rules, but rather for being responsible for Alex's death. Ben again looks fairly shocked. Back to - when was this, do we think? 1987 or 1988? Lostpedia says '88 was when the distress call started, so it would be around then, I guess. Widmore tells Ben he was supposed to kill Rousseau; Ben protests that Rousseau poses no threat, since she's crazy, and doesn't want to kill the baby. Ben asks if Jacob wants that. "Then here she is," Ben says, "you do it." Widmore walks away.

Back at the dark, deserted New Otherton. Locke asks if moving into the village was what the island would have wanted. Ben tells Locke that he doesn't have the first clue about what the island wants. Then a light creepily goes on in Alex's old room and a female figures moves in shadow. Creepy! Ben enters the house as Michael Giacchino attempts to scare the shit out of us. It turns out just to be Sun (and Frank) inside the house. Frank shows Ben the 1977 photo. Ben professes ignorance of it. Sun says Christian told them to wait there for Locke if they wanted to find their friends again, and Ben reveals that Locke is alive. Sun looks outside to see Locke giving a little wave.

Frank tells Sun they should go back to the plane, but Locke says he "has some ideas" on finding the others. Sun insists on staying, while Frank leaves. Sun asks Locke how they find Jin, but Locke says Ben has something to do first. Ben heads for his secret closet, where he pushes aside a runic stone, heads down some stairs, crawls through a passageway, and comes to... a puddle. Reaching into it, he unclogs something (or something?), the water drains into a hole, and Ben says - one assumes to the Monster - "I'll be outside."

Back to... 1993 or so. Ben heads to the sub to "say goodbye" to Charles, who's being escorted away. "You left the island regularly, you had a daughter with an outsider - you broke the rules, Charles," Ben says. Widmore asks why Ben will be a better leader, and Ben says he'll sacrifice anything for the island. Widmore notes that he wouldn't sacrifice Alex. "You're the one that wanted her dead," Ben says. Widmore asks what will happen if Ben's wrong about that.

Back to 2007. Sun says Jack must have lied about Locke being dead. Ben insists that Locke was dead. Sun asks if Ben knew that Locke would come back to life, and Ben says he had no idea - "Dead is dead," and while the island has done miraculous things, it's never resurrected anyone before. "So the fact that John Locke is walking around this island scares the living hell out of me." Then Ben tells Sun to go inside when he hears trampling in the brush. It turns out to be Locke, who says that they should go to the Monster. "I only know how to summon it," Ben says, "I don't know where it actually is." "I do," Locke replies.

And now it's 2007. Ben calls Widmore from the marina, taunting him that he'll succeed in getting back to the island where Widmore has spent 20 years failing. (Bit of an overstatement, right? More like 15 years. Whatever.) But first, he's going to kill Penny. "Don't you dare," Widmore hisses. Ben hangs up. Well, we all saw this coming. I've paused it - does he really do it? I say no, but stranger things have happened.

Well, back to the island before we see anything. Ben asks Locke how he knows where he's going. Locke says that Ben doesn't like having to follow someone blindly in the hopes that they'll lead him to the right place. Ben admits that he doesn't. Locke says that now Ben knows what Locke's life used to be like. Turns out they're headed for the Temple (gee.), although according to Ben, what we know as the Temple is just the wall around it, with the real Temple being a half-mile distant so that outsiders wouldn't see it by accident. Locke says they're not going in, however; instead, they're going under it. Before heading into the "vent," Ben tells Sun that if she ever gets off the island, she should find Desmond and say Ben was sorry. "For what?" Sun asks. "He'll know," Ben says, and heads down.

And back to the marina. Desmond spots Ben before he can get to Penny and asks what he's doing there; Ben shoots him, although through a grocery bag, so I'm assuming he's fine. Then he approaches Penny, who's running over. Penny insists that she and her father have no relationship (true!) but Ben doesn't really seem interested, telling Penny that her father is responsible for the death of his daughter. Charlie pops his head up just then and Penny tells him to go back inside. Ben lowers the gun, and the just-fine Desmond gets him from behind, beats the crap out of him, and throws him into the water.

Island, 2007. As Frank arrives at the Hydra, one of the survivors yells at him that Ilana (sp?) and a few of the others have guns and are saying they're in charge. When Frank asks about this, Ilana asks him, "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" Frank has no idea what she's on about, and gets a face full of rifle butt for this. She tells another guy to tie Frank up and bring him with the others. Say what, now?

Locke lights two torches and he and Ben proceed into the Temple's guts. Ben tells Locke that Locke is right; he could have saved Alex by leaving the island with Widmore's men. "I appreciate you showing me the way but I think I can take it from here," Ben says. "I'll meet you outside - if I live," and then he falls through the floor. Locke goes to look for something to help with, but Ben gets up and examines the columns, then finds his way to some sort of altar, where a carving of what looks a lot like Anubis is on the wall. Ben's torch extinguishes and Smokey starts coming out through a grate of sorts. (Anubis, you may recall, is associated with the judgment of the dead prior to their passage to the Underworld in Egyptian myth. Fitting, no?) Smokey surrounds Ben and starts playing back moments from his life (similarly to what it did with Eko), fixating pretty much entirely on Alex, from when he didn't kill her at the camp to the moment he watched her die. And then Smokey recedes into the grate and Ben's torch comes back...

...just in time for Alex to appear behind him. Ben admits it was all his fault. "I know," Alex says. Then she grabs him and throws him up against a column and tells him she knows he's already planning to kill Locke again. She (Smokey?) tells him that if he harms Locke in any way, she will hunt him down and destroy him, and that he is to follow Locke's every order. Ben swears he will, and then Alex vanishes and Locke shows up at the hole with a vine. "What happened?" Locke asks. "It let me live," Ben says.

Next time: back to 1977! Remember how Miles can talk to dead people? Well, that's gonna get real-ass important. And! Does Pierre Chang know that Miles is from the future? Maybe? Remember that secret video.

Not a bad episode all told. Good to get some mythology in there again, and it's good to see that Ben actually has some humanity and vulnerability, although since he was planning to kill Locke again, clearly not that much. But will he really follow that order?