The previously takes us to Locke’s camp and the news that Myles is there to get Ben and kill the rest. We then get a reminder that Carl and Danielle were arrowed down on the way to the sanctuary, but Alex seems to survive. Let’s go, I spent too much time without my lost fix and I can’t wait any more.
On the island: Jack’s popping some pills and tells Kate their antibiotics. I hope he’s telling the truth because a drug addiction is not something I want to see on the show. I mean another one, after Charlie. Just as he reassures her that they’re getting off the island, there are some distress calls from outside. And it’s a dead body! Haven’t had one of those in a while – it’s the doctor from the boat who washed up to the shore. In the mean time, Locke, Hurly and Sawyer are spending their time in camp playing board games.
And here’s Alex!!! Some dudes in army fatigues drag her around to the electric fence at gunpoint and she deactivates it. This immediately sends a phone alarm signal back to camp. That’s a pretty advanced fence they have. As soon as Ben hears that, he goes into full panic mode and even draws a gun (hey, how did he get to hide a gun in his home?!). So the action begins. Cool.
flashback/forward: Whoa!!! Talk about going far! Ben, wearing a Dharma parka, wakes up in the Sahara Desert, of all places. And two horseback locals arrive there with their friendly AK-47s.
Holy cow! BADA$$ Ben!!! He takes them both out with his best Rambo impression. Damn that was good! And he manages to end with a snarky John McLane comment. I love Ben.
On the island: And we’re back to panic mode as Ben shares the meaning of the alarm with Locke and Sawyer. Suddenly he also wants Locke to survive whatever is about to transpire. Weird.
On the beach the Lostaways want Dan to try and make the sat phone useful again, Good luck with that. But Jack has some sort of plan for Bernard. Good, this means we’ll see more of him.
Back in Locke’s camp, they’re barricading themselves. I winder who are those people who are coming? Are they from the boat? They were all wearing uniform when they grabbed Alex, so it’s a bit fishy.
Damn it, that shot came from nowhere!!! Sawyer was talking to a red shirt when that guy was just shot in the chest and killed over! Sawyer even got some blood on him. Another one is dead! The shots are coming from everywhere! And a third red shirt is out! COOL!!! The attackers have a rocket launcher!!! Awesome! But they took out Claire’s home, with her presumably in it. So not awesome. But that was a great battle scene.
flashback/forward: Ben’s in Tunisia. If it’s a flash forward I bet Sayid will make an appearance. Ben’s acting all James Bond at the hotel (I know, I use a lot of movie references today, bare with me) with a codename and special treatment. Interesting. But we get a date for Ben’s scenes – October 24th, 2005. So flash forward. But he wasn’t sure about the year himself. Another time travel thing? HOLY SHIT! A news report on the TV is talking about the Oceanic Six! And they show Sayid!
On the island: Ben explains to Locke that he needs him to survive because they both have to go to Jacob, the only one who can help them. And they need Hurly to get there.
Man, Claire’s house is completely gone. But luckily she isn’t, yet. Sawyer, with Hurly’s help, gets here into the barricaded house where the rest are. And then the bell rings. I can’t remember the last time a doorbell was that scary. Damn, it’s only Myles. The attackers sent him there. Damn it’s scary.
flash forward: This location feels more like Iraq than Tunisia. Ben appears to be on a recon assignment, following Sayid who’s leading Nadia’s funeral. Where they married? And Sayid spotted him. Good one. Sayid expected Ben to be someone else, and he actually looks relieved to see Ben.
Exposition time! Ben used Desmond’s boat to get off the island, using the heading to Fiji. Nadia was killed in a car accident in Los Angeles by someone allegedly hired by Charles Whitmore. And I guess this is how Sayid started working for Ben.
On the island: So the attackers did come from Whitmore’s boat. While Ben seems very cool at first, things change when he hears they have Alex and he aggress to talk to them. Their leader is Martin from the boat and he asks Ben to just step out. I love how Ben just throws Martin’s entire biography in his face. Michael must have done a good job. Martin realizes he can’t play nice with Ben so he bring out Alex and threatens to shoot her. I believe he would. Ben is so cool, never flinching even when Alex is begging him for help. He must have a plan. OH MY GOD!!! Martin killed Alex!!! He didn’t even finish the 10 count! For the first time ever, Ben is truly broken and speechless. He is human after all.
Hold on, Ben has his own batcave? That’s so cool.
flash forward: Ben’s following Ishmael, Nadia’s killer. Ishmael’s is on to him and turns the table, but perhaps that’s what Ben wanted all long. He asks him to deliver a message to Whitmore. HOLY CRAP! Sayid killed Ishmael! He must have been working with Ben! And Sayid is the one who initiated the working relationship with Ben for future killings. I love how we get answers with the action. And Sayid is smarter than Locke, so I don’t think it’s another case where Ben manipulates someone else into doing something they never really wanted.
Okay, I was dead wrong. Ben’s smile at the end of the scene means he totally manipulated Sayid. And me.
On the island: Ben is back from the batcave and he has a plan. Okay, I’m using up my monthly holy shit quota but HOLY SHIT THE SMOKE MONSTER IS BACK!!! It’s attacking Whitmore’s men!!! Did Ben summon it from his batcave? While Smokey is finishing off the bad guys, Ben is bidding farewell to Alex. Told you he’s human. He’s crying.
Back on the beach, Dan turned the phone into a morse code machine. Cool. But Dan lied about the messages he’s getting. Thank god Bernard knows morse code and tells Jack the truth. Now Jack gets Dan to admit the truth, that they never going to rescue the Lostaways. Jack is suddenly very very sick.
Ben wants to go to Jacob, but Sawyer has had enough. He’s taking Hurly, Claire, Aaron and Myles and head back to the beach. And now they’re pointing guns at each other in a fight over Hurly. And he agrees to go with Locke and Ben. I love how Sawyer evolved, threatening to kill Locke if he harms so much as one hair on his (Hurly) curly head.
flash forward: Ben’s in London. I want to be there. Again he’s acting all James Bond. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him kill Charles Whitmore in this episode. YES! He is after Whitmore. Ha! They really were in Iraq. WTF? Ben can’t kill Charles? What’s that about? DAMN! Ben says he will kill Penny! Talk about an eye for an eye. Charles says Ben will never find her. Then he claims that the island is his, but Ben replies he will never find it. Man, this battle of the great evil minds between Ben and Charles is wonderful. I can’t wait for it to resume.
Man, that episode had everything – action, drama, new questions, some answers, Bernard being a star and whole lot of Ben. The producers said on the official Lost podcast that every time we see the smoke monster we learn something new about it, and that it would be the same this season. They weren’t lying. The fact that Ben can summon it from his batcave is amazing. It was also great to see how the Ben/Sayid partnership was formed. This episode also gave the official stamp that the Ben vs. Whitmore is the biggest story of this season, and perhaps the entire show, with more coming out every week about Whitmore’s involvement. Ben and Whitmore have a long history together – I guess they were working together in the past. I guess Charles made it “personal” rather than “business” when he had Alex killed – Ben seemed so sure Martin will never do that. When you go back to the past, you can see where everything stems from, and I have to give the producers all the credit in the world for proving that they actually did have a plan in place all along and they were not just winging it as they went on. This season, even with the WGA strike appears to be the best so far and it only gets better.
