All about Ben in last night's Lost!!

Man, oh, man did I scare myself silly yesterday.

 

After putting up the post about the rumor that two people are destined to die on Lost, I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire hour wondering if we were going to lose two in the same episode.

 

The line between who is good (but really bad at it) and who is bad (but really good at it) is blurred once again.  We learned that Ben has been anxious to return to the island so he can be judged by the Smoke Monster.  It seems he has a few things he has to atone for ... first and foremost, letting Widmore's men murder his poor 'daughter', Alex, in cold blood.

 

In his flashbacks we see the teenage Ben, recovering from his wounds, being told by Richard Alpert that he can be one of the Hostiles, and still live among the Dharma Initiative.  We also see a mid-30's Charles Widmore (not played by Alan Dale this time) hating Ben's presence from the very beginning.  It appears Widmore is viciously jealous and protective of the island.  In another flashback we see that he is the one who ordered Ben kill Rousseau, but Ben couldn't go through with it and instead he kidnaps her baby and warns Rousseau to run away from the whispers in the jungle.

 

But I have to stop myself ... I'm recapping the entire episode again.  So let's just give a quick rundown of the LLOL: Lessons Learned On Lost:

 

1. Ben's beat-up appearance before his flight back to the island came courtesy of Desmond.  Why?  Because Ben was about to kill Widmore's daughter, Penny, in revenge for Alex's death.  Ben shot Desmond first, but he was only wounded and beat the snot out of Ben just as he was about to pull the trigger on Penny (I thought for sure she would be dead-cast member #1!)

 

2. Widmore was banished from the island (the reasons why I'm sure will be explained in a long-overdue Widmore-centric episode in the future) and has been trying to get back ever since, through any means necessary, including killing Alex to get Ben surrender.  As it stands now, he's the Really Good Bad Guy.

 

3. Ben (if he is to be believed) stopped Locke's suicide only because Locke had necessary information about how to get back to the island, then killed him because time was running out and Ben knew that Locke had to die to get everyone on-board the return trip.  

 

4. Ben isn't afraid to kill, as we saw when he shot an increasingly ominous Caesar before taking the outrigger back to the main island. (It appears the few who were able to get tickets for Ajira flight 316 have a few secrets of their own.)

I don't believe Caesar's death is one we're waiting for.  But combine it all with Ben's 'benevolent-in-hindsight' abduction/adoption of Alex and Ben reestablishes himself as the Really Bad Good Guy.

 

5.  We saw the hole in the ground that Ben used to call out the Smoke Monster from last season (but we don't know how or why it works.)  When the SM didn't come around, Locke lead Ben and Sun to the temple where the SM lives.  When the SM slithered out of its hiding place I thought Ben was then to become dead-cast #1 ... but no.

The SM gave Ben a quick recap of Alex's life, then Alex herself showed up and ordered Ben to obey Locke's every order.

It seems our bald-headed hero is, indeed, the one the island has been waiting for.

 

So what did you think?  How will Ben, Locke and Sun get to the other Losties? Will Ben ever remember that it was Sayid who shot him as a boy?  And if the rumors are true, which two will not make it to May sweeps? 

Lemme know!