The Variable SE5 EP14

Welcome to the meeting, Twitchy.

Ok, freaking AWESOME episode with a lot of mythology addressed and a couple of big reveals. I’m quite sure I missed a ton of stuff; I was so busy taking notes. Everything was relevant; it was hard to leave anything out. Literally the only time I got a bit of a break was during the shootout. Anyway, let’s dive right in:

Daughters, sons and the fate of Desmond
The episode opens with Penny running alongside a gunshot Desmond. They take him to emergency and Penny goes to wait. As she is stroking a sleeping Charlie’s hair, Eloise Hawking approaches. “He has his father’s hair.” Maybe that’s a family trait that Brits comment on but it sounded damn odd to me. Penny’s all, “I’m sorry? Do I know you?” Eloise explains that she knows Desmond. “It’s my son’s fault that Desmond has been shot.” Penny is confused. “Your son in Ben Linus?” “Oh no,” Eloise says in disgust. “My son is Daniel Faraday.”

Eloise is there to apologize and explain. “Your husband is a casualty in a conflict that is bigger than all of us.” Penny is panicked with all this talk of Des being a “casualty.” “Is he going to be ok?”She asks. Eloise looks close to tears. “I don’t know,” she says. “For the first time in a long time I don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

The nurse come out and tells Penny that Des is ok, so Penny rushes to him. Hooray! Des is ok! “I promised you,” Des says, taking her hand. “I promised you I’d never leave you again.”

Eloise is leaving the hospital and she runs into Charles Widmore. “Is he all right?” Charles wants to know, which is odd since we’ve kind of had this idea all along that Widmore could care less about the fate of Desmond. “Yes, Charles. He’s fine.” Eloise snaps. “Good.” Again, what’s up with Widmore's goodwill towards Des? “Your daughter’s in there,” Eloise offers. “Why don’t you go in to say hello.” Widmore sighs a long suffering sigh. “My relationship with my daughter is one thing I had to sacrifice.” This pisses Ellie off. “Don’t talk to me about sacrifice. I had to send my son…”

“He’s my son, too,” Widmore begins, which earns him a huge slap in the face from Ellie before she storms off. Oh yeah. Nice piece of the puzzle, even though many of us already expected that one.

Long ago and Faraday
The little kid playing the piano is Daniel. The overbearing schoolmarm mother is Eloise. “Daniel, do you know what destiny means?” Eloise asks Daniel. “If one has a special gift, it must be nurtured. How many beats has that metronome kept since you started playing?” “864,” Daniel answers like Rainman counting toothpicks. “Your gift is your mind, science, mathematics. My job to keep you on your path. There’s no more time for distractions.” “But I like playing the piano,” Daniel protest. “I can MAKE time.” “If only you could,” Eloise answers.

Eloise shows up at Oxford to celebrate some award Daniel has received. Theresa, the girlfriend we first saw last season in a catatonic state, is blown off by Eloise. It seems she wants to celebrate only with Daniel. After she leaves, Eloise scolds Daniel. “You should be focusing your energies on your work. You’re not going to have time for relationships. The women in your life will always be hurt.” Daniel tells her about the grant he has received. “Grant? From whom?” She asks. “Widmore. Charles Widmore,” Daniel answers. Eloise starts and then seems placated. She does not want to fight, “I came to congratulate you. Good luck. I do mean that.” She passes a present to Daniel and leaves. Inside the package is Daniel’s famous notebook and inside the front cover is an inscription: “No matter what, always remember that I love you.”

We next see Daniel where we first met him: watching the news of the discovery of 815 and crying. Widmore shows up, but Daniel doesn’t remember him. It seems his time travelling experiments have rendered his memory useless. “I tested it on myself first—I would never hurt Teresa,” he explains to Widmore, assuming that that is why he has come. He continues crying, looking at the scenes of Flight 815 on TV. “It’s so sad,” he tells Widmore. “I don’t know why it’s affecting me this much. All those people are dead.” “What if I told you those people were alive? That it was an elaborate fake. That I put it there?” “Why would you tell me that?” Daniel wants to know. “Because come tomorrow, you won’t remember I did. The real 815 crashed on an island with special scientific properties. It will heal your mind and your memory. You’re a man of tremendous gifts and it would be a shame to see them go to waste.” Widmore explains, pitching the idea of Daniel going to the island. “You sound like my mother,” Daniel says. “That’s because we’re old friends.” Old friends. Yeah. Right.

Eloise shows up at Daniel’s little house. “Hello Daniel. I hear you have been offered a job.” “How do you know that?” Daniel asks. “It’s my business to know. It is very important that you say Yes to Mr. Widmore. That you accept this opportunity. This place he mentioned to you, did he tell you it could make you better? What if it’s true? You could go on with your work. Think about all you can accomplish.” “Will it make you proud of me?” Is all Daniel wants to know. “Yes Daniel, it will.” “Then I’ll do it.”

Faraday is here again, the skies above are clear again
We return to 1977 with Daniel getting off the sub, and Miles wants to know why he came back. “I figured once you left for Ann Arbor, you invented the DVD or something and got rich. What are you doing back here?” Daniel pulls out the Namaste picture with Jack, Kate, and Hurley. “This is what I’m back here for. When did they get here?” And Miles takes Daniel back to Dharmaville.

The first person Daniel sees is Jack. “How did you get back here to 1977?” Daniel wants to know. “On a plane,” Jack answers. “Who told you to get on the plane, Jack?” “It was your mother.” Daniel shakes his head. “And how’d she convince you? Did she tell you it was your ‘destiny’?” “Yes,” Jack replies, still not sure where Daniel is going with this. “As a matter of fact she did.” “Well, I’ve got some bad news for you Jack. She was wrong. You don’t belong here at all.” Jack has more questions, but Daniel has an errand to run.

Jack goes to see Sawyer and tells him about Faraday. Jack is suspicious that Sawyer and Juliet are hiding something because they are not reacting with proper interest to Jack’s news. Jack wants to know what’s going on, but Sawyer starts to give him the bum’s rush. Juliet stops him. “Tell him what’s going on.” So Sawyer relents, pulls Jack inside and tells him about the tape Phil has of he and Kate taking Lil Ben to the Others. “Where’s the tape?” Jack wants to know. “The tape is with Phil,” Sawyer says. Phil is tied up in the closet. Sawyer makes the introductions.

Daniel and Miles go out to the Orchid. “Here he comes, right on time,” Daniel observes. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.” Daniel follows Chang into the Orchid and we recognize this scene from when the island was skipping back at the beginning of the season. Daniel overhears Chang yelling at a workman. “If you go 1 cm further you would release that energy then God help us all!” Daniel gets Dr. Chang aside. “I need you to order the evacuation of the island. In about six hours, the energy you released from drilling will release in the Swan station with catastrophic results.” “That’s preposterous,” Chang scoffs. “What would make you qualified to make such a prediction?” Daniel delivers that priceless line: “I’m from the future.” Is Daniel is warning Chang about “the incident’? Is this the “incident” where Dr. Chang/Halliwax/Candle loses his arm? This seems a safe bet.

Chang isn’t buying any of Daniel’s nonsense, though. “You heard me talk about time travel and now you’ve had your fun.” Daniel tries to tell him that Miles is his son. Miles counters this move by telling Dr. Chang not to listen to him and that Daniel must have taken a lot of drugs. When Chang leaves in disgust, Miles wants to know what Daniel is trying to do. “I’m just making sure that your father does what he’s supposed to do.”

Meanwhile, back at Dharmaville, Sawyer is having trouble letting go of his Dharma life. “This is our home. We don’t want to leave.” “Where do we go?” Hurley asks. Sawyer says there are two options: “Get back on the sub or back to square one in the jungle.” As the debate ensues and everyone seems to be opting for the jungle (since they went through all this trouble to get here anyway) Daniel knocks at the door and the whole gang is back together again. Sawyer asks Miles, “Is he still crazy?” “On a whole new level, man,” Miles affirms. Daniel is in a hurry and in no mood to explain. He apologizes for being rude to Jack then explains that he is there for a reason. “Does anyone know where I can find the hostiles?” Juliet wants to know why Daniel wants to know that. “Because one of them is my mother and she is the only one who can get us back to where we belong.”

Jack thinks they should help Daniel find the hostiles since he’s totally all about the whole “we don’t belong here” theory that Daniel has been promoting. “We belonged with here just fine until you came back,” Sawyer says. Jack looks at Kate, “You know where they are.” Kate is torn between loyalty to Jack and Sawyer and Juliet solves her dilemma for her by announcing the code to the security gate. “You should take Daniel,” she tells Kate. “It’s over here for us anyway.” Kate, jack and Daniel start to leave and Sawyer calls after them, “When you realize you’ve made a huge mistake, we’ll be back at the beach right where we started.” He looks a Juliet, “Time to go.”

As they are walking out, Daniel can’t help himself when he sees Lil Charlotte swinging on the famous Dharma swing set. “I’ll meet you at the motor pool. I need just a minute.” He tells Kate and Jack. “We aren’t allowed to have chocolate before dinner,” Charlotte tells Daniel, which is also the last sentence she utters before dying. “Listen do you know Dr. Chang? You have to leave. I tried to avoid telling you this; I don’t think it would change things. You cannot be here and you cannot come back.”

The Charlotte business having been disposed of, Jake, Kate and Daniel go to collect some guns, but they are caught by some Dharma hippies. A huge shootout occurs in which our heroes blast their way out of Mos Eisley and make their getaway in a jeep and I rest my poor, poor hands.

As Kate dismantles the sonic fence, Jack attends to the graze wound on Daniel’s neck. “This is our present, Jack. Did I have a scar on my neck when I met you? Any one of us can die, Jack.”

Meanwhile, back a Dharmaville, Sawyer, Jules et al are getting ready to fly the coop. “You called it the minute those yahoos got here,” Sawyer tells Juliet. “You still got my back?” “You still got mine?” Poor Juliet. I think she thinks Sawyer is going to leave her for Kate. They exchange pledges of love, when the alarm starts going off. The hippies who just got into the shootout with Jack Kate and Daniel arrive and want Sawyer to do something about it. In addition to the claim that, “I just got shot by a physicist!” Baldy insists they’ve been infiltrated. Phil takes this opportunity to make some noise and he is discovered by the shootout hippies and Sawyer and Juliet are in heap big trouble.

On the trek through the jungle, Jack begins to question Daniel. “Are you ready to tell me why she was wrong, why we don’t belong here?” This came at me really fast, so here’s a pretty good summation of Daniel said, if I do say so myself:
“In about 4 hours the Dharma folks are going to drill into a pocket of energy with catastrophic results. They will have to cover up the whole area with concrete like Chernobyl. (Remember back in season two with Sayid and Jack beneath the hatch and Sayid said something similar about Chernobyl???) I think you called it the hatch. The Swan hatch. They will spend the next twenty years pressing a button to keep that energy at bay. Then one day, Desmond will fail to push the button and it will cause your plane to crash. The entire chain of events is going to start happening this afternoon.”

Because of the incident.

Daniel continues, “I’ve been spending so much time thinking about the constants, I haven’t been thinking about the variables. We’re the variables: people. I think I can negate the energy and stop the entire chain of events from happening and your plane will land just like it’s supposed to.”

“What are you going to do?” Kate wants to know. “I’m going to detonate a hydrogen bomb.” Kate’s all, “Well, that seems rather harsh.” But you can see that Jack is intrigued with this whole, I-can-erase-the-past-by-blowing-up-the-island idea. Jack would rather risk vaporization by H-bomb than live through the last three years, even though he already did it.

They arrive at camp Other and Daniel leaves immediately to walk into Camp “Wish me luck.” He raises his gun and begins demanding to see Eloise. Richard, who was enjoying his second or third cup of Other coffee comes out and tries to be reasonable, saying, “I’m sorry. Ellie isn’t here right now, can I take a message?” But Daniel is having none of it. He recognizes Richard, and Richard recognizes that Daniel recognizes him. “Where’s the bomb?” He asks Richard, after a brief explanation of how they know each other. Suddenly Daniel is shot from behind and it’s Ellie who has shot him. Eloise leans over him and Daniel tells her in his dying breath, “You knew. You always knew. You knew this would happen but you sent me here anyway.” “Who are you?” Eloise wants to know. “I’m your son.”

Next week
Jack wants to erase the past using the extreme eraser...

Ben Linus reads a nursery rhyme

Ok, Losties, we got totally gypped with that loser recap episode this week, however this little three minute clip may more than make up for it. Enjoy.

The Story of the Oceanic Six

I must admit, I'm more than a little insulted by this special. This is season freakin' five after all! Those of us who are still sticking around have been paying really really close attention. We're following the timeline because we know it's important. We get it.

So we didn't need a Michelle-bumps-her-head-and-loses-her-memory-only-to-regain-it-by-reliving-past-episodes-while-DJ-Stef-Danny-Joey-and-Uncle-Jesse-wring-their-worried-hands episode. We needed a new ORIGINAL episode. This is like a cheat for lame part-time fans who have lives that mean something outside of this show.

Anybody get anything out of that episode that we didn't already know?

Some Like It Hoth SE5 EP13

That douche is my dad.

A so-so episode filling in more of the mythology of Miles, one of the two more interesting cast additions from last year who are still with us. (The other one shows up at the end of this episode.) This was a total fanboy (or fangirl) episode in that we return to the geeking out over the numbers and of course Hurley’s awesome Star Wars dissertation at the end. Heavy themes of father son relationships have permeated the whole series and this episode was another piece in that mosaic.

The origins of the Maelstrom
The scene opens with a shot of the microwave clock showing 3:16 which is the number of the flight that brough back Kate Jack Hurley, et al. Young Miles is about five and we see his “ability" in more depth. Miles knows when an incident has occurred and the dead “speak” to him. He suspects something has happened at the new apartment complex where his mother is renting an apartment and follows his instincts to an apartment. He gets into the apartment by finding a key—that’s under the White Rabbit. He can “hear” the dead man speaking to him.

Later, we see a pierced teenage Miles looking very much like his mutant character in the X-Men. Miles is visiting his dying mother at the old apartment. He needs his mother to tell him why is the way he is. Where is his father? He wants to know. “Your father kicked us out when you were just a baby. He didn’t want anything to do with us. The less you knew, the better. He has been dead a long time.” Miles’ mother explains. “Where is his body?” Miles asks. Miles’ mother knows why he is asking. “Somewhere you can never go.”

Miles is meeting with a client to talk to his dead son. He is a bit taken aback when he finds that the boy has been cremated. The distraught father, Mr. Gray, only wants to know if his son loved knew that he loved him. After Miles tells him that it’s going to cost extra, he says, “Your son says he knew that you loved him. He always knew.” He lies. He pockets the money and walks away. As he is leaving, he is approached by our old friend Naomi. Naomi brings Miles to a restaurant where there is a dead man in a body bag. This is Miles’ “audition” to join the Widmore expedition. “What can you tell me about this man?” Naomi asks. “His name is Felix, he’s on his way to deliver something to a guy named Widmore. Pictures of empty graves, purchase order for an old airplane.” That’s enough for Naomi. “I’m leading an expedition to an island. I need you to find a man. There are many dead people on this island that he killed that may lead us to him.” Miles is not interested in looking for a mass murderer and passes. “My employer is willing to pay you $1.6 million dollars,” Naomi says. Miles is interested.

Later, Miles is eating a fish taco (and by the way, “fish taco”? Yuk!) and is jumped by some men in a van. “My name is Bram.” The leader tells him once he gets him in the van. “Do you know what lies in the shadow of the statue?” Miles does not. Bram tells him he’s not ready to go to the island and tries to convince him to work with his guys instead of Widmore. “If you come with us you’ll know. You’ll know why you have a gift, you’ll know who you are. You’ll know who your father is.” “I don’t care about my father,” Miles protests. “I care about money. So if you want me to join your team, your going to have to double Widmore’s offer. $3.2 million dollars.” Bram shakes his head sadly and dumps Miles out. “You’re playing for the wrong team.” “Oh yeah? Which team are you playing for?” Miles counters. “The one that’s gonna win.”

Before Miles leaves on his expedition, he re-visits Mr. Gray. “I’m about to go on a boat trip,” he says as he gives back the money. “I lied to you. I wasn’t able to talk to your son.” “Why are you telling me this? You could have let me go on believing,” Mr. Gray wants to know. “If you needed your son to know you loved him, you should have told him when he was still alive.”

The Circle of Trust…and Life
Sawyer calls back to Miles at the observation post and asks him to erase the tapes that show him and Kate taking Lil Ben over to the Others. Miles has just finished complying when Horace walks in asking for LeFleur. Miles covers for him so Horace has no choice but to bring him into the “Circle of Trust”. He hands something to Miles and tells him to give it to Radzinski in sector 334 and bring back whatever Radzinski gives him. “Isn’t that hostile territory?” Miles wants to know. “Just bring it back, no questions asked.” Horace tells him.

When Miles gets back from sector 334 (and after asking our man in the body bag what befell him) Horace tells Miles to bring the body out to Dr. Chang at the orchid (home of white rabbits) which Miles is clearly uncomfortable doing. What a coincidence, Hurley is going there too. He hitches a ride with Miles since he is clearly clueless at the hints Miles is giving him about his secret mission. By the time Hurley figures it out, Miles has given up and Hurley is along for the ride.

Meanwhile, Kate has returned and updates Juliet on Ben’s delivery to Richard Eyeliner. Then Roger bursts in and wants to know where Ben is. Juliet give him some lame, half finished response about how she left for ten minutes and came back to find him gone. Roger is so panicked that he doesn’t even question it—he leaves in a huff.

We next see Hurley and miles on their way out to the Orchid. In spite of fabulous dialog and interaction between Hurley and Miles in the rest of the episode, this scene felt not only forced, but contrived with Hurley “smelling something foul”. But whatever. The whole purpose of the scene was to advance the following plot points:
A) For Miles to reveal how the guy died. “His name was Alvarez. He was digging a hole when he felt a sharp pain in his mouth, which was a filling that then blew through his skull.” Working on building the Swan, are we?
B) For Hurley to discover that Miles can talk to dead people and to promise that his secret is safe with Hurley because….
C) Hurey: “I can talk to ‘em too.”

Back at New Old Otherton, Roger is getting drunk on the swingset. For some strange reason, Roger inspires sympathetic tendencies in Kate and she feels like consoling him about Ben. “I just have a feeling that he’s gonna be ok,” She tells Roger. “Wait. A ‘feeling’?” Roger is suspicious. “You know something don’t you?” Clearly, this was a big mistake. Kate starts to walk away shaking her head. “I’m just trying to help.” “Well next time,” Roger calls, “Mind your own business.”

Now we’re getting to some good Miles/Hurley dialog. Miles is incredulous that Hurley talks to dead people, but it’s not the same as how Miles talks to them. “You have conversations with them, like they’re your pals? What I can do has nothing to do with talking, it’s just a sense.” Hurley retorts, “You’re just jealous that my power’s better than yours.”

Hurley and Miles arrive at the Orchid. Dr. Chang/Candle/Halliwax is pissed that Miles is with Hurley. “You were supposed to come here alone.” “He came here to deliver lunch,” Miles explains. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone about the body,” Hurley promises. Dr. Chang is still in a high state of agitation.“You stay here till I get back,” He barks at Hurley. “Dude, that guy’s a real douche,” Hurley observes. “That douche is my dad,” Miles admits.

To Hurley, this revelation is the coolest thing ever. “How weird is that your dad was in all those movies?” Dr. Chang rejoins them before Hurley can get too far into it and threatens to assign Hurley to Hydra Island where he will be doomed to weigh Polar Bear feces for his entire stay on the island if he talks. “You got it?” “Polar Bear poop, got it.” Hurley replies. “What happened to the body?” Miles wants to know. “What body?” Dr. Chang answers.

Back in New Old Otherton, Jack is having a little janitor on janitor action with Roger. “This room is on my rounds,” a drunk Roger whines. “I figured I’d cover for you on account of your kid,” Jack offers. Roger, who really never has anything nice to say to anyone tells Jack, “Kate’s got some sort of weird thing for my kid. I’m beginning to think that she’s got something to do with this. I should go to Horace and report her. What do you think?” Jack thinks it’s a bad idea and he thinks Roger is drunk. Furthermore, “I know that woman and she’d never do anything to hurt your son.”

The ride with Dr. Chang was a priceless piece of Hurley antagonistic dialog and totally overshadows that previous awkward conversation on the way out.. “So! Dr. Chang! What is it that you do you do here?” “That’s classified.” “Really, so you can’t tell your wife or your kids?” “No. And my son is only three months old.” “What’s his name?” “Miles.” “Miles! What a coincidence! Isn’t that YOUR name, Miles? Small world! We should all get together AND HAVE SOME BEERS. Wouldn’t that be awesome?”

Miles and Hurley drop Dr. Chang off at the Swan building site---in sector 334 where they are not supposed to be. Two workers are working on the hatch. “What’s the serial number?” We all know it “4 8 15 16 23 …”. But of course the last number is smudged. “42.” Says Hurley. “How’d you know that?” Miles asks. “Because. They’re building our hatch. The one that crashed our plane.”

On the way back to New Old Otherton, Hurley continues his wonder at the awesomeness of Miles discovering his dad on the island. ”This is kind of awesome for you. He was totally down with that beer. Maybe he’ll let you hold baby you.” Miles angry, annoyed and frustrated by Hurley, insists he doesn’t want to know his father because his father was never around. “He’s dead! He’s gone!” “Dude, he’s not gone. He’s here.” Miles has had enough of this. He steals Hurley’s copy book and starts reading what he wrote. It's the opening scene of The Empire Strikes Back. “It’s 1977, right?" Hurley explains. "Star Wars just came out and it’s a huge hit. Since I’ve seen Empire Strikes Back like a million times, I though I’d save Lucas the trouble and send him the script. With a few improvements.” Miles thinks that’s the dumbest thing ever, but I think it’s a great idea, except for the fact that Empire was the best of all the Star Wars movies. Now if he could go back in time and re-write “Revenge of the Sith”, that’s something I could totally get behind.

Sawyer reurns home after a tough day at the office. “What a day. D’ya ever feel like that little Dutch boy with his finger in the dam?” Juliet demurely clears her throat to indicate that Jack is there. Jack informs Sawyer that Roger thinks Kate had something to do with Ben’s disappearance. “She talked to him, tried to make him feel better. Her heart was in the right place.” “Thanks for filling me in doc.” Soon after Jack leaves, Phil shows up. “We’ve got a development. I know who took that kid.” “Who?” Sawyer asks. “You.” “There’s an explanation for that. Did you tell Horace yet?” Sawyer says as he leads Phil into the house. Phil, feeling like after three years of working together thinks he owes Sawyer some loyalty, never really gets to finish his thought because Sawyer knocks him out. “Get some rope.” He tells Jules.

Hurley, meanwhile , is not letting up on the dad thing with Miles. “My dad left when I was 10 Best thing I ever did was give him a second chance.” Miles says he never knew his dad and doesn’t want to know him now. Hurley begins to analize Miles in the context of Empire Strikes Back, which is priceless. “That’s was Luke’s attitude too. Darth Vader was his father and Luke didn’t want to put the light sabers down and talk it out. But at what cost? It got his hand cut off. Two Death Stars destroyed. Boba Fett got eaten by the Sarlak. And we got Ewoks. Ewoks, dude. And let’s face it, Ewoks suck.” Amen brother!

Miles is observing Dr. Chang play with baby Miles through the window, contemplating the great circles of life, Ewoks and unknow fathers. Maybe Dr. Chang is NOT on the dark side, Miles thinks. Then he comes out of the cottage and asks Miles for a ride down to the dock. “There are scientists arriving from Ann Arbor.” When they arrive at the dock, climbing out of the sub is Daniel Faraday. “Dan!” Miles says, surprised. “Hey Miles!” Daniel says. “Long time no see.”

Next week:
I’m confused. Is there a new episode, or just a new “special”? Is there something more special about the 100th episode as opposed to the 99th, assuming this episode was not the 99th?

Dead is Dead SE5 EP12

“I assume you’re referring to the fact that I killed you.”

There was a lot to digest in this episode tonight, what with Smokey’s lair, the lore of Alex and standing in the shadow of the statue. Not to mention the whole “orderly regime change” theme throughout, from Charles to Ben and Ben to Locke. Plus, we still don’t know what happened to Penny or why Ben needs Sun to apologize to Desmond, unless it’s just for shooting him through his groceries. By the way, I love Locke. Especially now with his new found confidence and power.

Daddy’s girl
Charles rides up into a rather primitive looking Otherton and confronts Richard as to why he took the boy to the Temple. “Jacob wanted it done,” Richard explains. “The island chooses who the island chooses. You know that.” Widmore does know that and goes in to the tent. Ben tells Charles he wants to stay with the Others and not go back to his dad. Charles explains that just because he doesn’t live with them, doesn’t mean he’s not one of them.

And that is how Benjamin Linus and Charles Widmore first meet.

Flash forward a few years to young Ben and Ethan on a mission in the jungle. They come across young Rousseau’s tent. Ben pulls his gun on her because he is there to kill her. But when he hears the baby cry, he cannot do it. So he takes the liberty of changing the mission. “Do you want your baby to live? If you want your baby to live, every time you hear whispers you run the other way.” Ben shoots into the ground, takes Alex and walks away, leaving and insane Rousseau behind.

“Well, did you do it?” Charles asks, upon Ben’s return to camp. “We had a complication.” Benn announces, and holds up Alex. Charles is disappointed and he and Ben have an argument over the best interests of the island and who has them in mind. “Is killing this baby what Jacob wants?” Ben challenges Charles. “Then here she is; you do it.” Obviously Charles doesn’t do it because we see Ben pushing a young Alex on the swingset in the next scene.

Ben walks out on the dock, where Charles is boarding the sub. “I came to say goodbye.” “No, you came to gloat” Charles counters. “You brought this on yourself, “Ben explains. “You left the island again and again. You had a daughter with an outsider.” (oops, Jeni, scrap that “Penny and Daniel are twins” theory. It was good while it lasted.) “I’ll sacrifice whatever it takes for the island,” Ben says smugly. “You won’t sacrifice Alex. If the island wants her dead, she’ll be dead,” Charles warns. “One day you’ll be standing in my place as here as an exile.”

Ben is back on the mainland at the marina. He phones Charles. “I’m going back to the island today. But first I’m going to do one thing. I’m going to kill your daughter. In fact, I’m looking at ‘Our Mutual Friend’ right now. That’s the name of the boat, right?” Charles pleads in vain for Ben to stop. Ben shoots Des then raises his gun on Penny. Ben tells Penny who he is and why he is there. Penny begins trying to negotiate with Ben in much the same manner that Ben tried to negotiate with Keamy before he killed Alex. Little Charlie hears the commotion and comes out, which causes Ben to pause—just like he did when he was sent to kill Rousseau and just long enough for Des to revive, tackle him from behind and pound the living crap out of him then dump him in the drink.

Smoke gets in your eyes
“Hello Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living.” Locke is sitting over Ben’s bed on the mini island. Ben seems genuinely shocked that Locke is alive, then he says he knew it would happen. Locke asks the same question—if you always knew it would happen then why are you so surprised? “I’ve always believed, but it’s a whole other thing to see it.” Locke asks him why he was going to the main island. “I was going back to be judged.” “Judged by whom?” Locke wants to know. The Others apparently don’t have a word for it but we all know it and love it as the Smoke Monster.

Cesar and Ben have a little interaction wherein Ben plants just enough suspicion in the already paranoid Caesar’s head to make him dangerous with his sawed off shotgun. “I couldn’t have killed him! He must be crazy! What if he was already here?” Ben, recognizing an easy mark, works his charm on Cesar against Locke

Ben rummages through his old desk and finds a ….photograph? old report card…..? drawing…? Whatever it is, it’s sentimental. Locke seems bemused that Ben sat behind a desk and ran things from an office on the island. “I never pictured you in an office. It just seems so corporate.”

Locke then requests that they talk about the elephant in the room. “I assume you’re referring to the fact that I killed you?” Ben asks.

It was then that Ben launched into one of his patented lengthy monologues, babbling on about WHY he killed Lock, about it being “the only way to get you back to the island” and “in the best interests of the island.” And how Locke had valuable information that Ben needed”….blah blah blah. Then Locke interrupts him. “I was just hoping for an apology.” He smiles. “I’ve decided to help you do what you said you were going to do: be judged. If everything you said was true that it was in the best interest of the island, I’m sure the monster will understand.”

They head out to the beach to take a boat, but Cesar mistakenly thinks he’s in charge here and, suspicious of Locke because of Ben’s prior manipulation, attempts to stop them. He goes to draw his gun but –surprise!—Ben has it. “Looking for this?” BOOM! Bye bye Cesar and thank you writers. He was already 10 spoken lines past annoying.

Ben and Locke make small talk about Ben’s various injuries and who inflicted them (Ben never seems to be 100% healthy in this show; he’s always recovering from an ass beating.) Ben cryptically offers, “I’ve found sometimes that friends can be significantly more dangerous than enemies.”

Locke confronts Ben about what he is atoning for: it’s not for breaking the rules, or coming back to the island, or killing Locke. “I think you are lying. You need to atone for killing your daughter.” You can pretty much see that Locke has nailed that one just by the look on Ben’s face.

As it becomes apparent that they are making their way back to New Otherton, Locke wants to know “Whose idea was it to move into these houses? Because it just doesn’t seem like something the island would want.” “You don’t have the first clue as to what the island wants.” Ben replies prissily. “You sure about that?” Locke smirks.

A light goes on in Alex’s room and there is movement by the window. It’s Sun and Frank. She shows Ben the picture of the Lostaways in 1977. Ben is/acts shocked. “Your friends were in the Dharma initiative?” He asks incredulously. “I knew nothing about this.” Sun, bored with trying to figure out whether Ben is lying or telling the truth, sighs and changes the subject. She tells him about Christian telling them to wait there for John Locke so that they can see their friends again. “But since Locke is dead, we’re not holding our breath,” Frank grumbles. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Ben replies, indicating that they should look out the window. And there’s John Locke, offering them a friendly wave.

Frank delivers two lines here that clearly belonged to Hurley, because they totally bomb as humor without Jorge Garcia’s delivery. “As long as the dead guy says everything is ok, Your friends are somewhere in the past and we’re going to follow the dead guy.” Frank, voice of sanity and the mainland is clearly confused about the rules of the island. Frank is leaving to go back to the other island and try to fix the radio. He implores Sun to go with him. “If you leave with him, you’ll never find your husband again,” Locke tells her. That’s enough for Sun. Frank’s on his own. “We’ll start looking for Jin,” Locke promises.” But Ben has something to do first, isn’t that right?” “That’s right John.” Delivered with perfect creepy inflection “Better get to it,” Locke urges.

Ben goes down into the Smoke monster cave and pulls the plug on a muddy tub of water. He comes back up to the porch and asks Sun, “Where did John go?” “He had something to do,” Sun replies. Then she concludes that, “Jack must have lied. Locke was not dead in that coffin.” Ben assures Sun that Locke was indeed dead and he KNOWS this. “I’ve seen this island perform miracles and heal the sick. But dead is dead. You don’t get to come back from that, not even here. So the fact that John Locke is walking around this island scares the living crap out of me. Now, you may want to go inside, because whatever is coming out of that jungle, I can’t control.” This is truer than Ben thinks: It’s Locke.

Locke is impatient with Ben’s penance. “It isn’t here yet?” “It’s not a train, John; it doesn’t run on a schedule.” Locke thinks if it doesn’t come to them, they should go look for it. “I only know how to summon it, not where it’s going to be.” Ben whines. “I know where it is.” Locke answers.

“How is it that you know where we are going? Did you just wake up one morning with the secrets of the universe?” Ben complains. “You don’t like this, do you?” Locke replies. “Blindly following someone, asking questions you don’t know the answers to.” Ben does not. Welcome to my world, says Locke.

They come to the temple, or rather, the wall around the temple and Locke tells them they are not going in to the temple, they are going under it, as they come upon the hole where the Frenchy was sucked down. Ben turns to Sun and tells her, if you ever get back to the mainland, find Desmond Hume and tell him I’m sorry.” “Why?” Sun wants to know. “He’ll know.” Ben replies.
Meanwhile Lapidus makes it back to the beach but Alanah and some of the other survivors of 316 have found themselves a cache of guns and it’s all Lord of the Flies back there. Alanah summons Frank and begins asking him over and over, “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” Frank doesn’t have the first freaking clue, of course, so for his trouble he gets a rifle butt to the head. “Tie him up. He’s coming with us.”

Ben admits to Locke that Locke was right about the Alex atonement mission. “The island gave me a choice. I could leave the island or let my daughter die. All I had to do is go with them. John, you were right, I did kill Alex. And now I have to answer for that. I appreciate you showing me the way, but I think I can take it from here.” Ben walks on and falls through the floor into the old set of Raiders of the Lost Ark. There are pillars with primitive hieroglyphics all around and in front of him, a grate on the floor with a graphic of Smokey confronting what looks like Anubis, the Egyptian dog-headed god of the underworld.

Smokey comes out and much like it did with Eko, shows flashes of Ben’s life—specifically about Alex. Then Smokey retreats and Ben is left alone---with Alex. Or rather, Ben is left alone with the island in the image of Alex, like Yemmi with Eko. Ben begs Alex’s forgiveness, tells her that her death was all his fault.

Alex knows this.

Alex then gets a little ticked off and jacks Ben up against the wall. She also knows that Ben is planning to kill Locke again and she warns him not to touch him and to listen to every word he says. She makes him promise his allegiance to Locke out loud or she will hunt him down. Ben complies, falls to the floor and rises to find Alex gone.

Meanwhile Sallah has found some Nazi flags to tie together to hoist Indy out of the crypt.

“Are you ok?” Locke asks from topside. “What happened?”

Ben, with more despair in his voice than I‘ve ever heard him use, replies,

“It let me live.”

Next week
We’re back in 1977.

Whatever Happened, Happened SE5 EP11

“Bye bye, Baby.”
More fill in of pieces we didn’t know. E find out more about Kate’s missing time and that she actually had a pretty close relationship with Cassidy ad Sawyer’s daughter Clementine. An ok episode with standout moments between Hurley and Miles and that devastating scene at the end with Kate and Claire’s mom.

1977 Dharma Time
Dharma CSI, consisting of the lone member Horace, is conducting an investigation, which is really more like jumping to rather obviously wrong conclusions. Horace just knows the Others, specifically Sayid, are behind the breakout and the burning hippie van. Jack, still steamed that he, the neurosurgeon, demonstrated an aptitude as a workman, asks Horace “If he was locked up, then how did he start the fire?” Horace tells him that his help is not wanted or needed. Not only that, but, “The Security cameras didn’t pick up anyone, that means it was one of us.”

Kate and Roger Workman work together to remove the hippie bus from the front of the house. They strike up an easy banter. Then Jin rolls in with the injured Ben.
Kate seeks out sawyer in his multi-TV screen security room. She wants to know whats going on. Sawyer tells her, “Keep your mouth shut and stop asking questions.” At which time Horace shows up and wants to know, “What is she doing here?” Sawyer lies to cover it up, but he knows that things are quickly spiraling out of control, so he enlists Miles to gather up the new arrivals and put them under house arrest. When Jack questions this arrangement, Miles delivers one of the best lines of the night, “No. You’re free to leave whenever you want. I’ll just have to shoot you in the leg.”

Sawyer checks in on Juliet, who is feverishly working on Ben. He’s bleeding, but Juliet cannot find the source. “He needs a real surgeon,” she tells Sawyer—meaning Jack. So Sawyer treks back to the cabin where Miles is holding the new arrivals under house arrest.

Hurley apparently read Sig’s comments last week and knows that the rules of time travel include, but are not limited to: if you go into the past and change the future, then you disappear. So Hurley is watching intently to make sure he’s not fading ala Back to the Future. Miles explains how idiotic this is because, as he says, Ben lived, “We just weren’t around to see how it turns out.”

Meanwhile, Sawyer has asked Jack to step in to help save Ben and Jack says no. Sawyer can’t believe it, “If you don’t come with me, Doc, that kid’s gonna die!” “Then he dies.” Jack says. After Sawyer leaves, Kate lays into him. Jack is unremorseful while he makes his sandwich. “30 Years from now that man is going to lock me in a cage because he needs surgery, then he’s going to send you into beg me to do it so he doesn’t kill Sawyer. I already saved Ben once for you, Kate.” Jack says, which is a good point. “Maybe the Island wants to fix things itself. Maybe I was just getting in the way.” Kate replies, “I don’t like the new you. You didn’t used to just sit around and wait for things to happen.” You didn’t like the old me either.” Jack retorts, which is also a good point.

Kate storms out without Miles shooting her in the leg and goes to Jules to donate blood. She is frustrated by Jack’s refusal to help and tells Juliet all about it. “Something happened between you two?” Juliet asks, sensing that Kate’s frustration runs deeper than what she’s letting on. “We were engaged, does that count?”

Roger comes in to see how Ben is doing and he looks genuinely broken up for a guy who was just pounding on the same kid a few hours before. Roger knows that Ben stole his keys. And he knows it’s because of him. Kate is sympathetic to Roger while he tells the sad story of Ben’s mom dying in childbirth. “I thought I was gonna be the best dad ever. But I guess a boy just needs his mother.” And you can see Kate reading the double meaning into this remark and applying it to Aaron.
One of the best exchanges of the night was Hurley and Miles discussing time travel. I was too busy enjoying it to take it down verbatim, but the general gist Miles was trying to get across to Hurley was, “All this already happened. The time line is not straight anymore” But Hurley out maneuvers him. “Sayid tortured Ben back in our time. So then why wouldn’t Ben remember getting shot by that same guy when he’s a kid?” Miles is stumped. “Good question.”

Kate and Juliet are discussing Ben’s condition. Kate seems almost desperate for Ben not to die. Suddenly, you can see the light go on for Juliet. “Maybe there’s something that they can do.” “They?” Kate asks. “The Others.” So Kate and Juliet load Ben into the hippie bus and Kate takes him out to the sonic fence. Ben tells Kate to tell his dad that he’s sorry he stole his keys. Kate looks up to see the approach of another hippie bus. It’s Sawyer. Kate thinks he’s there to stop her. “Dammit Freckles, I’m not here to stop you. I’m here to help you.”
“Why are you helping me?” Kate wants to know. “Because Juliet said, No matter what he’s going to grow up to be, its wrong to let a kid die. I’m doing it for her.” Sawyer tells her.

Meanwhile, Juliet has a bone to pick with Jack. “Where’s Jack?” she asks, barging in on Miles and Hurley’s continuing time travel discussion. Juliet walks in on Jack getting out of the shower. She’s mad because she needed his help and he wouldn’t give it. She wants to know why he came back. Jack says he came back to save them. Juliet doesn’t believe him. ”We didn’t need saving. You came back here for you.” Jack shakes his head. “I came back because I was supposed to.” “Supposed to do what?” Juliet wants to know. “I don’t know yet.”

Kate tells Sawyer that Roger knows that Sawyer knows that Ben stole his keys. “A kid will do almost anything if he’s pissed off at his folks.” “Is that why you asked me to take of your daughter?” Kate asks. “What’s she like?” Sawyer wants to know, so Kate tells him, her affection for the girl clear in every word. “When she smiles, she looks just like you.” “I’ll bet you and Cassidy had a lot to talk about,” Sawyer leads. “She had an interesting theory as to why you jumped off the helicopter. Because you were afraid of what would happen if you didn’t.” Which is true, since Ben completely manipulated Sawyer by telling him that once they got back to real life his con man didn’t stand a chance against Jack’s neurosurgeon. Sawyer had no way of knowing that Jack would become a pill popping paranoid junkie. Sawyer tells Kate he had no business being Kate’s boyfriend or Clementine’s father.
Their chat comes to an abrupt end as the Others surround them. Sawyer tells them, “This kid’s been shot and it’s both of our problems. So you’re going to take us to Richard Alpert now.”

Richard meets them in the woods and sawyer is all surprised to see him. You’;d think these strange Other powers would cease to be so surprising by now. Sawyer and Kate ask Richer to save Ben. “If I take him, he will never be the same. His innocence will be gone. He will always be one of us.” Kate and Sawyer, knowing this to already be true, agree to Richard’s terms and release him to the Others.
One of the Others scolds Richard, “You shouldn’t do this without asking Ellie. And if Charles finds out… “ he warns. Richard doesn’t care. “I don’t’ answer to either one of them.” Richard takes Ben to the Temple and disappears inside…

…and we flash to Ben in the present time, recovering from his injuries “Hello Ben,” Locke smiles.

“Welcome back to the land of the living.”

After the Crash
Kate shows up at Cassidy’s house right after the plane crash with a baybay Aaron. She is singing “Catch a falling star, never let it fade away.” Blah blah blah—look I know that song has some significance, but this annoying piece of Lost minutiae is eluding me at the moment. Cassidy is happy to see Kate—besides being old friends on the con game a couple months back, she’s seen Kate on TV and has told her friends she knows her. “What are you doing here?” Cassidy wants to know. “Sawyer sent me,” Kate replies.

“Sawyer asked me to take care of his daughter,” Kate tells Cassidy handing her a big wad of cash. Cassidy is having none of it; she has no romantic notions about Sawyer and furthermore, she knows Sawyer has somehow dumped Kate, too. “You got the same look on your face that I had when he dumped me.” Kate tells Cassidy the truth about the Oceanic Six, but lies about Aaron being her son. Cassidy calls her on it. “Why are you lying to me about him?” “Because I have to.” Kate explains cryptically.

Then we flashback to pivotal the dock scene. Again.

As they leave the dock, Aaron tells Kate he is thirsty, so Kate stops at the supermarket. Aaron wants a juice box. She takes her eyes off him for a second and he’s gone. She panics, looking for him but can’t find him anywhere. Then she spots him walking towards the exit holding the hand of a woman with long wavy blond hair just like Claire’s. She turns around and it’s not Claire, but man, did your heart skip a few beats like Kate’s? Don’t bother answering. You know it did.
Kate shows up at Cassidy’s house where Clementine greets her warmly at the door, “Hi Auntie Kate!”

Clearly rattled, Kate collapses on Cassidy’s couch. “I lost him. The crazy thing is, that as scared as I was, I wasn’t surprised. All I could think was, ‘its’ about time.’ Why would I think that way? Why would I expect him to be taken?” Kate wonders aloud. “Because you took him, Kate.” Cassidy answers. “But he needed me,” Kate explains. “No,” Cassidy counters, “you needed him, Kate. Sawyer broke your heart. How else were you supposed to fix it?”

We next see Kate at the door of a familiar motel. It’s Claire’s mom. Kate goes in and tells Claire’s mom about her grandson. She explains he’s sleeping peacefully two doors down. Kate hands her a picture of Aaron. “He’s so sweet and kind and good.” She says, with tears running down her face. “I told him you’re his grandmother and that you’ll take care of him until I come back.” “Where are you going?” Claire’s mom wants to know.

“I’m going back to find your daughter.”

Next Week:
Ben came back to be judged? Really? Who’s buying that? Can I have a show of hands?

Oh and that teaser about “the most dangerous man on the island?” Yeah. Don’t be so sure it’s Ben.