Woo!
Lost is back, it’s good, and bloody as hell.
Oh and, holy SMOKE MONSTER!
I don’t even know where to begin, except for the very beginning where Hurley says to Sawyer during a game of Risk: “Can’t believe you’re just giving him Australia. Australia is the key to the whole game.”
A clue? Probably, but to what? Who the frak knows.
The Beach People
Let’s get the beach out of the way because it was the minor story.
Over on the beach the dead doctor washes up. They finagle a Morse code thingamajig out of the phone and get a response back. Daniel tries to lie about what the response was, but Bernard, that cagey old man, he knows he’s fibbing.
The boat says, “What are you talking about, the doctor is fine?”
Steaming mad, Jack asks Daniel if they ever meant to rescue them.
“No,” comes the reply. Finally, a real answer. Doesn’t make anyone happy though.
On top of it, Jack is sick with some intestinal issue. What’s that about? (I know now thanks to ABC’s horrible previews for next week, which give so much away)
Although we do know his gut says they are getting off the Island. Good guts.
The Attack and Smoke Monster Madness
So the freighter mercenaries are the ones that blew away Karl and Danielle. They capture Alex and force her to turn off the protective grid outside Locke’s camp. But of course she put in a secret code, which rang a phone in Locke’s cabin and repeated “14J.”
They tell Ben, he freaks out and they barricade themselves inside the house with guns galore. Sawyer goes to rescue Claire, and in the meantime watches three random people in succession walk out of their cabin and get blasted.
Despite her house getting blown-up, Claire survives and is brought back by Sawyer to Locke, Ben, Hurley and the baby.
Then things start getting crazy. Miles rings the doorbell (along with the phone, just seemed funny because it’s just so out of place), and brings walkie-talkie to Ben. They have his daughter, so he watches out of the window and tries to tell them she isn’t his. Alex is just a pawn he says. And he’s not coming out.
So Keamy, the leader of the freighter mercenaries, shoots Alex in the back of the head.
Bam. People are dropping like flies.
Ben stares for a few moments (what an awesome face too – see right) at Alex’s dead body and then turns to everyone in the room:
“He changed the rules.”
Who what where? We’ll find out.
Ben rushes quickly into his hidden room, shuts the door and disappears into some ancient doorway in the back of his closet. It’s got markings and stuff all over it.
When he comes out, Ben is covered in dirt. He tells them all to be ready to run towards the tree line when he tells them to. And that they don’t want to be anywhere near the soldiers waiting for them in the trees.
And then comes the greatest Smoke Monster moment of all-time. The house shakes and rumbles, and Ben yells for them to run.
They get outside, and stop, and we see the Smoke Monster come snaking over the houses like a freight train. It dives into the woods and starts killing all the soldiers, snaping trees, and making all kinds of gruesome sounds. All the while there is the same old roller coaster clanking sounds of metal on metal like we’ve heard countless times.
I still want to know how it’s supernatural, but sounds mechanical as well.
He changed the rules. So did Ben. Whatever the rules are, the Smoke Monster wasn’t a part of it before. Now Ben is playing dirty.
They all meet up at the creek, and Sawyer, Claire, Aaron and Miles all leave to go to the beach, choosing not to hang around with the whack jobs.
But Hurley has to stay with Ben and Locke, because he’s the only one who can find the cabin for some odd reason.
And Jacob. They are off to find him to learn their next move. Can’t wait to see what happens with Jacob.
Ben in the Desert, Sayid becomes The Assassin
So the first scene after the opening was a shot of Ben waking up in the middle of the Sahara desert. He does it with a gasp, followed up by vomiting. He’s also wearing a parka and looks to have been shot.
Two men ride up on camels and he proceeds to own them with a telescoping rod weapon in his pocket.
Next we see him in Tunisia, renting a room in a hotel under his Moriarty alias, and while he’s there, Sayid appears on the screen saying he just wants to bury his wife.
Turns out, Nadia was killed by Ishmael Bakir, who works for Charles Widmore.
Ben finds Sayid at the funeral procession and tells him who killed Nadia. They form a little plan and Sayid ends up shooting a load of bullets in Bakir.
And that’s how Sayid became Ben’s henchman. His life is nothing now, and if Ben is after the same guy who had Alex killed, then it’s now Sayid’s war as well.
This all begins in October of 2005, which is very early on in the flash-forwards. The second earliest to be exact according to Lost Pedia.
Ben and Charles
So wow, the meeting at the end of the episode was flat-out awesome. Ben walks into Charles Widmore’s room in the middle of the night and tells him to wake up.
And the amazing thing is…he’s not scared, he knows who Ben is and what Ben is.
Everything that Ben has, he’s taken from Charles. The Island belonged to him before, and it will belong to him again. It’s always been Charles’ Island.
Ben shows up not to kill Charles, but to let him know that he’s going to kill his daughter, Penelope.
Desmond’s Penny.
An eye for an eye. A daughter for a daughter.
Charles shouldn’t have changed the rules, Ben says.
Charles says he’ll never find Penny, and Ben tells him that he wont find the island.
Both are now on a hunt. The Shape of Things to Come?
Questions
Okay, first off, what are the rules?
Secondly, my theory is starting to come true. At least, some of it. I thought early on that Charles has been trying to find the Island because Ben took it away, or cut off communications somehow. And now that’s sort of being proven true. It’s always been Charles’ Island. But he lost it somehow, because Ben took it over and “hid” it from Widmore’s eyes.
How does Ben land in the Sahara like that wearing a parka and having been shot? Was he in a cold climate before? Was he on the Island?
Is Ben traveling like Desmond did? It doesn’t seem to, because otherwise Ben’s other half would have just been sitting in the Sahara Desert waiting to wake up, so that doesn’t make sense. But how did he get there?
So Ben is either controlling the Smoke Monster, or knows how to control it when he wants. Obviously he told it exactly where to go.
Or perhaps the Smoke Monster isn’t being ordered around, maybe it’s more like a watchdog on a lease, and Ben set it free? And why is Ben all dirty? Where did that tunnel go?
What did you think of the episode? What questions do you have, or theories?
Amazing episode. It will take some time just to process it.
Great, great, great.
I am a total sucker for things like this, but I just love the way Sawyer is looking out for everyone now. I loved it when he told Locke he would kill him if he harms Hurley.
Did you notice the smirk on Ben’s face after Sayid asked him who was next and Ben walked away? Classic manipulative Ben.
By the way, I was completely wrong. I didn’t think that Ben belonged in the Ultimate Bad Ass competition, but this episode proved that he did. Wow.
Steven’s last blog post..Top 100 Movies: Christmas in Gotham, Life in a Convenience Store, and A Real Life Hero
Okay, I got a few things.
First of all, if we had seen Ben mess up those two guys in the desert a couple of weeks ago, he might have been a contender for Ultimate Bad Ass.
Secondly, the three people who all got shot back to back to back…was kind of silly. And it still seems odd to me that the characters we watch only care about themselves and each other and couldn’t care less about the other people who fall like dominoes apparently.
Thirdly, did anyone think it was funny that Ben had that shotgun in his piano stool the whole time?
Also, shooting Alex in the head was sweet.
I don’t remember exactly what Ben said when Sayid asked him how he got of the island, but I’m thinking that his wearing the parka and the polar bear that was found in the desert in a previous episode are probably related. I’m guessing that Ben had to go to a place where it’s cold (where the polar bear was at some point) and somehow there’s a gateway from there to the desert. Don’t know why he was injured.
That was funny (about the gun). The look on Sawyer’s face when he pulled it out of the piano bench was great.
I don’t think that the main characters don’t care about anyone else other than the other main characters. Don’t you think that Sawyer may have been a little more frantic to get Claire because of Aaron? He was also trying to get those people to stay in the house.
One thing that was a little silly or improbable was how Sawyer avoided getting shot at all. That was a lot of firepower coming at him as he hid behind a picnic table. That being said, a Smoke Monster helped them survive, so I am not going to complain too much
Steven’s last blog post..Top 100 Movies: Christmas in Gotham, Life in a Convenience Store, and A Real Life Hero
I guess we know now where Juliet learned kung-fu, or should we say Ben-fu. Ben seems to have several cans of whoop-ass available at all times, ranging from a baton to a sawed-off shotgun to Smokey.
@Steven – The amazing thing is that, in real life, people can be in a maelstrom of gunfire and walk away unscathed even though those nearby are wounded or killed. Also, our mercs are packing light sub-machineguns and handguns which aren’t all that accurate at the ranges shown. They were lucky/good to get the hits they did. And WTF are they doing with a light anti-tank weapon? The thing to have would have been a grenade launcher with anti-personnel and flash-bang grenades.
I suspect “the rules” were some sort of agreement, formal or informal, reached after the purge between Ben and Widmore. Mikhail (aka Patchy) alluded to this when he first met up with the survivors but he wasn’t all that truthful about things at that point.
This is also what allowed the Swan station to be occupied by Widmore’s representatives without having The Others try to take it out. Ben, of course, manipulated Locke into doing his dirty work for him by not entering the numbers.
Frank C’s last blog post..Zebras on the Prowl in Metro Atlanta
Excellent point. I just found it kind of convenient that they picked off one person after another with one shot and then Sawyer comes out unscathed. Why am I being nitpicky anyway? I love this show!
Steven’s last blog post..Top 100 Movies: Christmas in Gotham, Life in a Convenience Store, and A Real Life Hero
Steven, you aren’t nitpicky, it was high cheese! 3 in a row, boom, boom, boom caused both myself and Jina to laugh out loud.
Great episode though, and good stuff Frank.
Unfortunately I am delaying the reading of this post due to an HD meltdown last night. For some reason, ABC was having broadcast issues for the first 25 minutes. The screen was just black. Therefore, I will be logging onto abc.com to watch the first half and then back to the DVR t finish it up in HD. Was not amused!
Wow Kory, that sucks!
All those soldiers should have simply run to a non-smoking area, in order to be safe from the monster…
Hilarious Cap’n!
Steven’s last blog post..Top 100 Movies: Christmas in Gotham, Life in a Convenience Store, and A Real Life Hero
Cap’n is the funniest guy who never watches the show
I think we are gonna try to start it coming up within the next week…
Why do I have the theme song to Charles in Charge running through my head?!? I love that Widmore is an awesome bad guy who knows how to push Ben buttons (like he does to everyone else)… they need someone like that to be a strong nemesis for Ben.
Side note, I totally didn’t care when they shot Alex in the head. That relationship was always kind of creepy to me anyway.
Dang, Jina’s cold.
Oh wait, I didn’t care either.
Yeah, we talked about it last night…Daniel, Alex…all dead, and we don’t care.
It seems like after Eko, no one’s death has been that impactful yet.
But I still like that they kill people off like that. Makes the show so much more interesting.
Wait! When Charlie died, Mike teared up.
The ONLY thing I can think about with Sawyer not getting shot is the whole island protection thing if he still has ‘work to do’. Sawyer could be under that protection.
Yeah, funny how the producers get the idea that some deaths don’t bother us. They just get it out of the way. But they do know the important ones. Mike, you forgot one very important death after Eko… Charlie.
Yeah, I’m a nut for leaving Charlie out…in fact, that’s the biggest death I can ever remember, even back to Boone. It’s the one that affected me the most.
I did tear up…I admit it.
Incredible episode! The ones from here to the end of the season ought to be just as intense.
I had mixed emotions about Alex being executed, but I will say this – Ben is one cool customer and extremely calculating. Not that I did not already know that, but WOW.
I loved the end with Ben and Charles – that was awesome. The entire episode was soooo good. Loved it.
The Trousered Ape’s last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? Parts 5 thru 10 of 10 with Dr. Craig
@Mike – Sissy. You’re no Ultimate Bad Ass. You’re no Ultimate Bad Ass at all!
@ Jason – Mike hasn’t owned a Man-Card in quite some time…
The Trousered Ape’s last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? Parts 5 thru 10 of 10 with Dr. Craig
I traded it in for a skirt
and flip-flops…
The Trousered Ape’s last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? Parts 5 thru 10 of 10 with Dr. Craig
I’m carrying his child, so I would have to disagree.
Don’t worry, babe, I got your back!
That’s the crazy preggers hormones talkin’ – you don’t mean it.
The Trousered Ape’s last blog post..Who was Jesus of Nazareth? Parts 5 thru 10 of 10 with Dr. Craig
He’s being defended by his pregnant wife…
One thing, if you guys remember the Mirror Moon theory, it’s quite possible Ben could be “deposited” in the Sahara as the Island passes by it, with only a portion of it interacting with the physical ground.
Sort of like how the polar bears, etc., appear in various parts of the world.
Thats tougher than the red Imperial guards that protects Emporer Palpatine!!
By the way, thanks for all the insults, and thanks for trying to back me up Jina
Of course, if I had been a real man, we’d have been pregnant a long time ago *grin*
Mo youre being to harsh on yourself bud… I would on the other hand blame your avatar picture… looking like that I would have low swimmer count as well…
OH, DOG! It’s the STANDING O for the Cap’n! ROTFL
Good news is with Penny becoming a target, we might finally be able to find out what has happened to Desmond in the flash-forwards.
I would just like to say that I voted for Ben in the Ultimate Bad Ass Contest. I knew he had it in him!
Too bad the Smoke Monster couldn’t have been in the Ultimate Bad Ass competition.
Amazing episode. Loved the expressions on Sawyer’s face after Ben pulled out the shotgun and on Ben’s face after he manipulated Sayid.
Loved Ben’s little bat cave that allows him to time travel. Look forward to learning more about that.
It should be noted that in the history of the show, I think it’s safe to say Sawyer has showed the most character growth. Maybe a tie between him and Jin.
I agree. Sawyer is definitely in my top two favorite characters. He’s the big watch dog protecting his pups.
Very very very crazy/amazing/impressive episode X_____X All this wait was totallllllllllllly worth it. Back on track:
My theory checked about who shot Karl and Rousseau >_> *demands rewards and candy*
Things I thought of about this episode:
The smoke monster usually kills people on sight when it “has the intent” to kill them. We saw what it did to Eko. We saw what it did to the soldiers. Also keep in mind it can take 6 armed soldiers on at once with no problem. All these facts to support this theory:
Ben does have a certain amount of control over the smoke monster. How? Remember during Season 1 when Jack, Locke, Kate, Hugo and Arzt went to the Black Rock to get Dynamite? Locke got grabbed by the Smoke monster and it was dragging him into a “hole”. I believe Ben wanted to meet or talk to Locke. That’s why he didn’t want to have him killed, therefore the smoke monster didn’t kill him. Even though he was perfectly capable of killing him.
Also, remember when Michael and Kate were installing the signal thingies for Saiyd during season 1? When they thought Locke was dead because the monster was heading in his direction? Again.. nothing happened to Locke.
Ben clearly stated Locke’s importance in this episode. But I still don’t get why would Ben shoot Locke if he was this important.. I guess he is running out of allies and understands how serious is Locke about protecting the Island after throwing a knife in Naomi’s back.
Back to the topic: I believe the Smoke monster was dragging Locke into the hole and throwing him into the same ruins Ben went into to unleash it on the soldiers… When that attempt failed, Ben decided to take matters into his own hands and go see Locke personally, by falling into Rousseau’s trap on purpose. Crazy, but who knows?
“Two men ride up on camels and he proceeds to own them with a telescoping rod weapon in his pocket.”
Mike, weren’t they riding horses O_o ? lol
As for the rules.. Apparently Ben and Charles agreed to use any means to get the island except killing family members? Also, if Ben can’t kill Charles, and Charles can’t kill Ben, does this mean the Island is protecting both of them?
I am starting to believe the Island wants Charles to be the master of the Island.. Why would Ben suddenly get a tumor (which Jack removed)? But then again, why is the Island giving such a hard time to Charles’ men?
Ugh I need more Lost T___________T
MadFan, yeah maybe they were horses
sure seemed like they should be camels out in the middle of the desert though 
The introduction of time travel into this is starting to make it wierd. They seemingly travel to the future as Ben has demonstrated or even the past as Richard does, but how do they get back to their time? If they travel back to the island they are still in the future time and at the island… I dunno about this…