Lost 4.09

[selenak]

A Ben episode; which basically guarantees quality.



So, should we nickname this season like Farscape's season 3, season of death? That's another I definitely did not see coming. Alex. Good lord. Neither, apparantly, did Ben, and of course the next set-up mystery is "rules?!"?". As in, who set them up, what were they (other than the non-killing of daughters, which Charles Widmore has now broken), why were they ever kept in the first place, and how come Ben can't kill Charles in his flashforward? (Other than: because that would shorten the show.)

Current wild-running speculation, going by Charles Widmore addressing Ben as "boy" and the "all you have, you took from me": Charles Widmore was the original financer of the Dharma project. And the "taking" would be the "purge" (read: wholesale slaughter via gas) Ben and the "Hostiles" conducted in the Man behind the Curtain flashback. This still doesn't explain why Ben can't kill him, and I'm toying with a Dorian Gray explanation there, i.e. killing Charles would somehow result in dying at the same time, but I don't know whether they'll get that mystical on this show.

This episode does seem to settle two questions from the last ones, i.e. whether Ben or Widmore were telling the truth in the matter of who produced the fake sunk plane with the corpses, and whether or not Ben set Danielle and Karl up. He appears to be innocent in both cases, which had been my guess. Otoh, I'm entirely convinced that he did lie to Sayid about Bald Guy having been Nadia's killer; that whole thing was a very skillfully executed recruitment with the added bonus of getting one of Widmore's people killed.

Speaking of Nadia: as she was in Charlie's flashback last season, we knew she was still alive somewhere, and people wondered whether she and Sayid would reunite. But the season of death makes mincemeat of that idea, or rather, it says it happens and then kills her off. Between Jin (who at least has the option of maybe being alive on the island due to the fake death date on the tombstone), Karl, Danielle and Alex, that's five people in nine episodes. Good grief. And yet this really heightens the sense of danger and threat for the rest. (Other than the Oceanic 6.)

Over at the beach, Jack finds out that Daniel and Charlotte might have had no intention of killing them but didn't want to help them off the island, either, and gets a demonstration of the climate on board that freighter via a dead body. Is it me or does Bernard get more and more screentime this season? Which makes me happy, as I like him, but also makes me very worried for his survival. It would just be like the show to make him as endearing and important as possible (dealing out marriage advice to Jin, helping with his Morse skills here) and then killl him off.

The showdown at the compound was truly shocking, firstly with Alex' death, and secondly with the use of the smoke monster. When Ben started his little "she's not my daughter" speech, I was thinking of the rules, too, of those for tv and the genre, that is, and thought I knew where this was going - he would successfully outbluff the mercenaries, and Alex would never forgive him for having gambled with her life, thus creating further angst and tension. Storytelling wise, it was a masterstroke, because at this point, after his successes with the castaways and with Sayid in the future, we've all grown accustomed to Ben's manipulative skills and believe, as he does, that he can basically talk his way out of anything, persuade everyone. But here audience and Ben learn he can't, and Alex dies for it. It's a punch in the gut.

Then we get the smoke monster (btw, I might be wrong, but did we ever see it post Eko's death last season?) unleashed and killing the mercenaries like, well, a force of nature. Again, this begs the question that if Ben has such a weapon at his disposal, why did he never use it until now? Rules again or a price to be paid?

Ben's pseudonym in the future, err, in 2005: Dean Moriarty, which is amusing both because I hadn't pegged Ben as a Jack Kerouac reader. (Does this make Sayid into Sal Paradise?) "Moriarty" of course is also an allusion to Sherlock Holmes' foe.

One more thing: if Charles Widmore can say about Penny with some confidence "you'll never find her" as Ben can say about the island "you'll never find it", it stands to reason Penny in 2005 is not on the island, which probably means Desmond won't return there, either, but will reunite with her, and be... somewhere.

The survivors calling it quits with Locke after that one wasn't surprising; Hurley, ever the peace maker, being willing to go on the trip to Jacob wasn't, either. I was a bit afraid for Claire before Sawyer found her because she evidently isn't around in Kate's flashforward, but on the other hand whatever happens to Claire must have something to do with Jack, because he clearly guilt trips about Aaron, so this couldn't be it.

So: Saywer, Claire and Aaron go back to the beach and receive the happy news that there is no rescue coming from the freighter, Ben, Locke and Hurley are off to see the wizard Jacob, who probably will be elusive just because, and we still don't know what became of the Michael situation. Can't wait for next week!