Terrific episode, although many will complain as getting some answers about the monster is exciting but also potentially disappointing. I think it stands alongside "This Place is Death" as the best episode of this season, and I'm not sure which I prefer. A couple of similarities between the episodes:
1. Each have death in the title, and death as a major theme
2. Each feature flashbacks of key events in the Island's history
3. Each focuses heavily on the Monster, one of the key mythological questions of the show
Thoughts in rough episodic order:
I'm a sucker for horses, so nice to see that the Hostiles had those (we know the Others did, at the Flame if nowhere else. And of course Kate's horse.)
The Ben-Widmore meeting the first time had little dialogue of note, but the seeds of their rivalry were planted from the beginning as Widmore questioned Alpert's decisions to bring him to the Temple. But Alpert insists that the Island chose Ben.
Ben tries to tell Locke he knew that he would be resurrected, and thus was serving the Island by killing him. I didn't buy it, and for once it appears that Locke didn't either. Of course the pivotal conversation later with Sun would clear this up.
Ben knows that he needs to be judged, and Locke is more than happy to oblige in helping him. But what is more interesting is learning that the Others have no name for the monster. This is also a confirmation of what so many have suspected; that one of the functions of the monster is judgment (widely suspected since the Eko smackdown).
We saw Ben offer to help Ilana with a crate and wondered what was in it. And who says LOST doesn't give quick answers?
I love how quickly Ben starts playing Caesar and turning him against Locke, planting the seeds of the infiltration that he orchestrated on the Oceanic survivors three years earlier.
I love the mop on Ben during his flashback scene, and little Ethan. These Ben flashback scenes were great--people have been hoping for a "This is your life, Benjamin Linus" episode, with scenes of pivotal events from his view, for some time. And that led me to worry that Ben was going to bite the dust at the end of the episode.
Anyway, the takeaway from the scene is that Rousseau DID see the Others (specifically Ben); that she may have intentionally curtailed her Island travels due to Ben's threat; and that Ben planted the idea that the whispers were the Others in her head.
The one nagging inconsistency: when Rousseau trapped Ben in her net, shouldn't she have recognized him as THE man who kidnapped Alex? Or can we assume that at night, under a state of extreme loneliness and fear, she didn't get a good look at them? One scene that I would have liked to see in the Ben flashback parade was his actions immediately prior to getting snared--was he really going to get Locke? Did Rousseau attempt to interrogate him? Along those lines, a scene with the real Henry Gayle would have also been nice.
When Locke told Ben that his office "seem[ed] a little corporate", I couldn't help but wonder if Locke had Widmore in mind, getting in a subtle jab.
And as quickly as Ben tried to make friends with Caesar, he blows him away. That's the Ben we know and love. In the next scene, Ben tells Locke that "friends can be significantly more dangerous than enemies". Anyone specific in mind there, like Widmore?
A fascinating scene as Widmore ordered Ben to murder Rousseau, but Ben did not, and spared Alex as well. It seems at the end as if Alpert smiles at Ben in approval. And this is really the first evidence that Widmore is EVIL, as opposed to just evil. While Ben did the right thing in this case, he's EVIL too.
There has been a lot of conjecture about the condition of the Barracks when Sun and Frank visited, and whether something had changed in the timeline that altered them. While the DHARMA trappings are still present, the inside of Ben's house looks the same as it did when Locke and company fled, right down to the Risk game.
So, Christian told Sun and Lapdius to wait for Locke, but understandably Frank is off put by the whole situations and decides to go back to the Hydra island. Oops.
We get to see what is behind the door in Ben's house, and it's steps down to a muddy pool of water which Ben lets run through. I would love to speculate on how this would be related to the Monster, but I have absolutely no idea.
Widmore (and Eloise, we are left to presume) leave on the sub, and Charles correctly observes that Ben comes to gloat. Ben says that he broke the rules by having Penny with an outsider and frequently leaving the Island. Widmore retorts that Ben has broken the rules by keeping Alex and that some day she might be dead and Ben will be in his place. Smart guy.
This still doesn't answer how Widmore broke the rules by killing Alex, though. From Widmore's perspective, it appears as if he was simply fulfilling the will of the Island.
My pet theory from this scene: Widmore's breaking the rules by having a child with an outsider is what caused the pregnancy problem. If the Island's women aren't good enough for Hostile men, they're just not going to have children, dangit.
Knowing that Widmore frequently left the island makes it a little more believable that he was able to build a business empire and have still been on the Island within the last two decades--before, the timeframe seemed a bit scrunched. Did he set up the phony companies like Mittelos Bioscience, and if he did, why do the Others still have control over them? We also did not see how Widmore was tricked into leaving the Island by Ben; of course, that could have been a story made up for Locke's benefit.
A very important scene as Sun suspects Jack of lying about Locke being dead. But Ben steps in and confirms for her that she was dead, saying that while he's seen the island work miracles, "dead is dead", and Locke's resurrection "scares the living hell out of me". For once, I believe him.
And then we see that Ben doesn't know from whence the Monster comes, but suddenly Locke does? I'd be scared too.
Ben taunts Charles before attempting to kill Penny, and we see that Desmond's boat is named "Our Mutual Friend". Nice to see Desmond again, even though it's punctuated with worry about whether or not he'll have a tragic ending. But the presence of Charlie seems to be enough to distract Ben for a moment, making him think of his own loss and allowing Desmond time to beat the living crap out of him. I still don't think this show wants to kill either of the principals in the one true love story, although we are still waiting to see how they will fit in to the new paradigm of the show.
Ilana and three others have taken command of the Ajira survivors with the guns that were apparently in the aforementioned crate. And speculation that Ilana was doing more than just capturing Sayid (like working for Widmore) seems justified as she asks Frank, "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" What indeed? No one has ever gone and checked up the statue up close. Assuming that is a literal question and not some kind of code, like "What did one snowman say to the other?"
Also, I think it's pretty safe to assume that it was Ilana and company who opened fire on Sawyer, Juliet, Locke, and company in the canoe gun battle. They may not have been able to see Locke, but if they did, his presence as Ben shot Caesar would explain why; if not, they still know that they had taken the canoe, even if they didn't know that Locke specifically was inside as they fired upon it. This will still be a fun scene to see from the reverse perspective.
Ben asks Sun to relay an apology to Desmond--why the change of heart? I think it's because he thought, as I did, that he was a goner.
Yes, I really thought Ben was going to die. I realize that he is an important and popular (in a certain way) character, but that would have given it a great deal of shock value. I just thought that his (seeming--with him you can never know) recognition of his sins and humility in this episode, coupled with his great flashbacks, would spell the end. I'm happy to be wrong.
So we have not actually seen the Temple--that is a half mile behind the stone wall. But I do question that Ben was not previously aware of the Monster cave. Anyway, we see that the Monster comes out of a vent (as suspected) in a room that looks something like a throne room. Like others, Ben sees flashes of his life, but these are more vivid than anything we've seen before, and then a vivid, touchable manifestation of Alex, which tells him it knows he's already plotting to kill Locke, and that instead he should listen to everything that he says.
We also saw the hieroglyphs, with what appears to be the Egyptian jackal-headed god Anubis meeting with the Monster. More evidence that the statue is of him, and possibly that the ancient residents of the island recognized the Monster as an incarnation of that deity.
So, how long do you think that will last? Has Ben been scared straight by the Monster, or will he back to his scheming in no time? And does the Monster's orders to follow Locke means that Locke is somehow possessed? I vote yes. Locke tells Sun that "he's the same man he's always been", or something like that. A) that wouldn't comfort me, since Locke has always been a lunatic and B) it doesn't explain how he suddenly has knowledge about where the Monster resides and the like. Trying too hard, I think.
Or, alternatively, when Locke went into the jungle as Ben summoned the Monster, did he go visit Jacob and get instructions. Neither Ben nor Sun knew where he went. I still lean towards the former theory though, and I think it is foreshadowed by Ben's warning to Sun to go inside the house..."I can't control what the thing that comes out of the jungle" is going to do, or something to that effect. Sure, Ben thinks it's the Monster, but Locke may be beyond anyone's influence now too.
