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The body of the doctor from the tanker washes up on the Lostaways' beach with a slit throat, which leads Jack to request/demand that Daniel try to contact the freighter via morse code and find out WTF is going on. Daniel does so, and relays the message that a helicopter is coming in the morning. Lucky for the Lostaways, Bernard knows morse code too, so he tells Jack and the others that Daniel is lying and that the real returned message was "What are you talking about? The doctor is fine." Jack bullies Daniel into admitting that they never intended to rescue anybody from the island. None of this is good news to Jack's sudden onset of sweeps-related appendicitis.
Alex's captors force her call in a message -- "code 14J" -- to Locke's camp. Ben immediately springs into action, boarding himself, Locke, Hurley, and Aaron (and later Sawyer and Claire) inside his house. Miles eventually shows up, too, with a walkie-talkie from the commandos, who march Alex right out in full view of Ben and threaten to shoot her unless he surrenders himself. Ben tries to sell the idea that Alex, not being his real daughter and all, holds no value to him, and thus no value as a hostage. In response, they totally shoot Alex dead! Which leads Ben to sprint into his secret passport room, then into some sort of hidden tunnel, and then somehow (offscreen) he unleashes the smoke monster to wreck shit and take out all the commandos. Ben sends Locke and the rest to safety while he tearfully says goodbye to Alex. Then it's to the woods, where Ben informs everyone that the step is to seek out Jacob. None too keen on heading off to see the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Sawyer takes off for the beach with Claire, Aaron, Miles, and Hurley. Only Locke and Ben need Hurley to find Jacob, and Locke pulls a gun on Sawyer to ensure he gets his way. Hurley, not wanting to see a firefight around the baby, agrees to stay behind.
The episode's flash-forward finds Ben in Tunisia in 2005. There he spots Sayid on TV, and he travels to Iraq to find him. Seems after Sayid got off the island, he found Nadia, then married her, only to see her killed by a hit-and-run in L.A.. Ben tells Sayid she was killed by a man hired by Charles Widmore. And so it was that Ben and Sayid began taking out any and all Widmore associates. But to what end? We find that out when Ben breaks into Windmore's hotel room and pledges to return the favor by tracking down and murdering Widmore's daughter. That would be Penny. Widmore says that Penny is too well hidden to be killed, but I say that smoke monster can find just about anybody. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
Previously, the Boaties showed up with a mad desire to capture Ben. And on the way to do that, they captured Alex (and shot Rousseau, the bastards!).
Beach. Kate is preparing to wash her shoulders, causing Jack to shoot her a flirty look. I never would have pegged him as a shoulder man. Jack's holding his side, and he makes his way to the tent where the medical supplies are kept. He's pouring some pills from a bottle when Kate interrupts to see what he's up to. He claims he's taking antibiotics due to a stomach bug. But he's acting kind of shady, so I think we're supposed to think he's suddenly become an addict. Dr. Kate tells Jack that her recommendation is that he eat some crackers. Kate's worried that Sayid and Desmond aren't back from the boat yet, and Jack reassures her that he's certain everything is going to be just fine. And then we hear some barking, and someone screaming for help.
I kind of had my hopes up that we were finally going to see Vincent going crazy and attacking someone, but he's just barking at a body floating in the water. The person screaming is Bernard. Everybody comes running, and they pull a man from the surf. Based on the fact that he's been floating face down the entire time they were trying to rescue him, it seems pretty obvious that he's dead. It's even more obvious when they turn him over and see that his throat has been slit from ear to ear. Jack sees Daniel and Charlotte exchange ominous glances, and he asks them if they know the dead man. I would think the first lesson you would learn in conspiracy school is not to exchange ominous glances with your co-conspirators. Daniel tells Jack that the dead man was the doctor on the boat.
Speaking of ominous, we cut to a close-up of Hurley telling someone, "We're all gonna die." He's talking to Sawyer, who tells him to calm down. The conversation is very mysterious, talking about how someone wants them to fight among themselves, etc., etc. But it turns out that the "he" is Locke, and the thing he wants them to fight over is a game of Risk. The only redeeming thing about this scene is that Aaron is sitting on Hurley's lap, looking completely adorable.
And speaking of risk, here's Alex being shoved along by a group of armed thugs. They shove her to her knees and take off her blindfold. She's near one of the control pillars for the sonic fence, and they tell her to turn it off or they'll blow her brains out. Alex tries to plead for the safety of Aaron, but the gun barrel shoved against the back of her head convinces her to enter a code on the fence.
Back at Casa Locke, the phone rings. Locke picks it up and hears a recorded voice saying "code 14-J." Damn telemarketers.
And now we're in Ben's house, or the house they're letting Ben use, or something -- I can't figure it out. He's playing the piano (pretty well, in fact) when Locke and Sawyer walk in. Locke asks what code 14-J is, and Ben freaks out. He opens the piano bench and pulls out a shotgun. Locke really didn't take a single precaution when he gave Ben a little freedom, did he? But he's not going to shoot them -- he hands the shotgun to Sawyer, and tells them they have to get to the other house, from which it will be easier to defend themselves. Locke doesn't understand what's happening (natch), so Ben tells him the Boaties are on their way. Credits.
Flashback! Or forward, I can never tell. Oh, but this one's about Ben -- maybe he'll commit genocide again. We start with a close-up of his face, shaking like he's having a seizure. And then he wakes up, wearing a Dharma parka, lying on the ground in the desert. He throws up, and then sees that there's a bloody bullet hole (maybe?) in the arm of the parka. There's a name embroidered on the parka, but it's a name that's only been mentioned in a DVD and website extra, so I'll be damned if I'm going to try to figure out the possible connection. (And really, ABC, if something is going to be important in the show, it had better appear in the show.) Ben hears some horses approaching, and looks kind of scared. Which is probably a good response, as a couple of rifle-toting dudes gallop up. I mean, the horses are galloping. It's not like some Monty Python sketch. We're just going to call the guys "generic Middle Eastern and/or North African" and be done with it. There's lots of pointing of guns and inability to communicate due to language barriers. One of the guys comes down and checks Ben out for weapons. He feels a mysterious cylinder in Ben's pants and gestures for him to take it out. (I'd make a sex joke here, but it's Ben, and I don't think my stomach could handle it.) Ben timidly pulls the cylinder out of his pocket. It doesn't look very threatening, until Ben gives it a shake and it turns into a baton. He spins around and hits one guy in the face, and then grabs the guy's rifle from behind him and shoots his friend. And then he knocks out the other guy. Damn, he's kind of a badass. I hope he doesn't know about all the mean things I've said about him. The scene ends with Ben taking a gun and one of the horse and riding off into the desert.
Locke, Sawyer, and Ben stride across the Barracks. Sawyer pesters Ben with questions until he tells them that code 14-J is a panic code to be used by one of his people in the event they were captured, to give an early warning that bad guys are on the way. As they walk, there are other Losties wandering about the place -- none of our heroes bothers to give them the tiniest warning that something bad is about to happen. However, Sawyer does think he should tell "Frenchy" and the kids that something's going down. Ben tells him not to bother, since he already sent Rousseau, Alex, and Karl away. And then Sawyer realizes he should find Claire. As Sawyer walks away, Ben tells Locke that it's very important that he (Locke) survive -- and the way to do that is to stay close to Ben. Ben thinks that the people that are coming won't risk hurting Ben, so they won't hurt the people immediately around him.
Back on the beach, we're still staring at the dead guy. Jack covers him with a blanket and asks Charlotte and Daniel if they know why his throat would be slit. Daniel says the doctor was fine the last time they saw him. Jack asks when that was, and Daniel tells him, "When? When is kind of a relative term." For the love of all that is holy, would someone please ask him a follow-up question? Like, maybe, "What the hell do you mean by that?" Anyone? I guess not then. Instead, Juliet asks if Daniel's been able to fix the phone. He hasn't -- the microphone is smashed up, so the best they would be able to transmit is some beeps. Bernard points out that's all they'd need to send a message in Morse code. Daniel names some specific things he would need to make that work, and Kate offers to show him the material they salvaged from the plane. As they leave, Jack asks to speak with Bernard.
Back at Casa Locke, Ben is dragging furniture around and piling it up in front of the door. Locke asks if Ben is scared of the people who are coming. Actually, he just felt like redecorating -- the flow of that room was all wrong. Yes, of course he's scared. Hurley walks out of the kitchen with Aaron and asks how Sawyer's going to get back in if they barricade the door. Ben: "He's not."
Speaking of Sawyer, he runs into an unnamed Lostie and asks him if he's seen Claire. The guy asks him why he's running around with a gun, but before Sawyer can really answer there's a gunshot and the unnamed Lostie goes down. Sawyer exchanges gunfire with the Boaties, and yells at another Lostie to get back inside -- but it's too late, as she gets shot. And then another one. They're really thinning the ranks out this episode. And then we get a couple of minutes of Sawyer running, shooting, ducking, and hiding as he tries to find Claire. For some reason, the Boaties just can't seem to hit him. So they fire a rocket at the building towards which he's running. The house blows up just before he gets there. Finally, an explosion we can't blame on Locke. Commercials.
We return to Ben, still wearing the clothes from the last time we saw him in the desert, walking through a charming north African city. He's at a hotel, and tells the clerk (who speaks English) that he'd like a room. She asks him if it's the first time he's been in Tunisia, and he tells her it's been a while. She asks for his name, and he tells her that he's a preferred guest, listed under "Dean Moriarty." And he's got the passport to prove it. The clerk looks up his name in her book and then looks slightly terrified. But she's a professional, and after she hands him the key she asks him if there's anything else she can do for him. He asks for the date (it's October 24), and then asks her to verify that it's 2005. Which makes this a flash-forward from the date of the plane crash. Maybe. Probably. Perhaps. As he walks away, he notices a television showing footage of Sayid telling a crowd of reporters that he just wants to bury his wife in peace.
Back at Casa Locke, Hurley can see the wreckage of Claire's house from the window. Ben tells Locke that the Boaties are trying to scare him into surrendering. Locke tells Hurley to take Aaron to an interior room, and then asks Ben why it's so important that he (Locke) survive the coming massacre. Ben: "'Cause there's only one person who can help us now, and that's Jacob. And we have to go to him together." Locke points out that he doesn't even know how to find the cabin. Ben's response? "I know. But Hurley does."
Outside, the Boaties have stopped shooting long enough for Sawyer to look at the wreckage of the exploded house and find Claire on the ground under a sheet or something. He uncovers her and wakes her up. She's groggy, but not obviously wounded. Sawyer picks her up and carries her towards Casa Locke.
Back at the house, Hurley improvises a bed for Aaron by putting a pillow in a laundry basket. And then he hears Sawyer screaming at them to open the door. He looks out the window and sees Sawyer carrying Claire. Hurley runs into the living room to move the barricade, but stops when he sees that Ben is pointing a gun at him. When Sawyer gets to the door and finds it unopened, Hurley gets decisive -- he picks up an ottoman and throws it through a window so Sawyer can climb in. Sawyer asks Ben why the Boaties would start shooting with no provocation and without making any demands. Ben thinks their plan was to make the Losties angry so they would give up Ben. Sawyer thinks that's a great plan. And then the doorbell rings. Murderous Avon calling? Locke and Sawyer both peek out of windows and then start removing the barricade. Sawyer opens the door and we see that Miles is standing there. Sawyer yanks him inside and then closes the door behind him. The Boaties sent Miles in with a radio -- they want to speak with Ben. Commercials.
FlashBen. There are a bunch of Arabic men and women walking with a casket down the street while a bunch of American soldiers look on. So I think it's safe to guess that we're in Iraq. Several of the mourners are carrying a picture of a woman, which I'm pretty certain is a picture of Sayid's true love Nadia. It's all very sad and kind of chaotic. A white truck with the word "press" written on the windows drives down the street. And out hops Ben. He climbs some stairs to the roof of a nearby building and looks down on the scene below him. Amid all the emotional mourners, he notices one man nonchalantly sipping some coffee while he watches the funeral pass by. Ben pulls out a camera with an enormous lens and takes a couple of pix of the guy. And then he zooms in on the pallbearers. One of whom is Sayid. Sayid has an amazing spider sense, because he turns and looks up right at Ben. Ben throws his camera in his bag and runs for it -- but Sayid catches up to him and throws him to the ground. Sayid is apparently under the impression Ben is just a tabloid photographer trying to make a buck off his pain. But then he sees who it is and asks him what he's doing there. Ben: "I'm here to find the man who murdered your wife." Sayid picks him up off the ground and shoves him into a more secluded pile of rubble, and then asks him how he got there. Ben tells him that he snuck across the Syrian border; what Sayid really wanted to know, of course, was how Ben got off the island. Ben tells him he used Desmond's boat. Ben tells Sayid that Widmore arranged for Nadia's murder, using the man who was watching the funeral procession. Ben: "He goes by the name Ishmael Bakir." Yes, but what does he want you to call him? Ben pulls a picture out of his pocket and tells Sayid that it's a picture of Ishmael taken by a traffic camera on the day Nadia was killed in L.A., just blocks from the scene of the murder. Sayid can't understand why Widmore would want Nadia murdered. Ben tells him he doesn't know either. Doesn't anyone realize that every single thing Ben says is a lie?
Casa Locke. Sawyer is patting down Miles while Locke asks him how many Boaties there are. Miles thinks there are around six, but he's not too sure. He didn't realize the guys on the boat were killers -- he was told they were just security, to escort Ben back to the mainland after he was captured. Ben: "Well, Miles, sounds like you're not going to collect your 3.2 million dollars." Ben tells Miles that he has no intention of using the radio to speak with the Boaties; Miles tells him that the Boaties have a hostage. Ben thinks the Boaties have made a big mistake, because "every single one of my people is prepared to die in service to this island." Even Alex? Upon hearing that the hostage is his daughter, Ben takes the radio and says hello. A voice asks if he's Ben; when he confirms that he is, the voice introduces himself as Keamy (and also claims to work for Widmore). Keamy asks Ben to look out the east window of the house. Keamy's standing there alone. He tells Ben to surrender and nobody else in the house will be harmed. Ben tells Keamy that after he surrenders, he knows Keamy will kill everyone else on the island. Keamy: "What kind of guy do you think I am?" Ben responds with a mini-bio of Keamy, including his service in the army and his work for morally reprehensible mercenaries. He knows exactly what kind of guy Keamy is. Keamy whistles, and one of the other Boaties brings Alex out of the trees and shoves her to her knees to Keamy. Keamy tells Ben to get out of the house right away or he's going to kill Alex. Ben thinks for a few seconds and then offers a counterproposal, which is for Keamy and his pals to go away and never come back. Keamy ratchets up the pressure by giving the radio to Alex so she can plead with Ben to save her. Keamy tells Ben that he has ten seconds. As Keamy counts down, Ben tells her that Alex isn't his daughter and he really doesn't care what happens to her. "I'm not coming out of this house, so if you want to kill her, go ahead and do..." And then Keamy shoots Alex in the head. Keamy walks away, and Ben looks outraged. Commercials.
And we return to see Alex's lifeless body on the ground in front of the smoldering ruins of Claire's house. Ben sits, utterly silent, as Sawyer and Locke try to figure out what to do. And then Ben says, "He changed the rules." And then Ben walks over to the bookcase that leads to his secret room, moves it, and walks right into said secret room. Sawyer tries to follow, but Ben flips a switch that drops a metal door behind him. Ben walks over to the row of suits hanging on a bar, pushes them aside, and opens another panel behind them. Behind that panel is a stone door, which Ben pushes open. He walks into the passage behind that door and, I'm guessing, straight onto the set of the new Indiana Jones movie.
Ben's at a little café, I'm guessing still in Iraq. He's sipping some tea at the bar and watching Ishmael in a mirror. Ishmael walks away from his table, and Ben follows him. The chase leads through a crowded market. As Ben emerges at the other end of the market, Ishmael walks up behind him and shoves a gun into his back. Ishmael shoves Ben into yet some more secluded ruins and asks him why he's following him. What, a guy can't have a thing for sexy bald Middle Eastern men? Ben tells Ishmael that his name is Benjamin Linus and that he has a message for Ishmael to pass on to Charles Widmore. Ishmael: "And what message is that?" And then Sayid shoots Ishmael in the back. And then shoots him several times more for good measure, until his gun runs out of bullets. Ben starts to walk away, and Sayid asks him where he's going. Ben tells him to get on with his life, but Sayid wants to keep working with Ben. Ben tells him that it's not his war, but Sayid's dead wife begs to differ. Sayid: "Benjamin, who is ?" Ben: "I'll be in touch." As Ben walks away, he had a positively evil little smile. He's kind of like a James Bond villain -- one of those villains named after a distinguishing physical feature. I think they would call him Bugeye if he were an actual Bond villain.
Casa Locke. Sawyer continues to bang on the metal door. Hurley leads Claire, a tiny bandage, and Aaron out from the bedroom. And then the metal door open and Ben walks out. There's a great bit where's face to face with Sawyer, who's blocking the way, and he calmly says, "Excuse me, James." I don't know why, but it was funny. Ben won't tell them what he was doing, but tells them that in one minute he's going to give the signal and he wants them to run as fast as possible away from the house. And then everything starts shaking. Ben looks out the window, and we see a huge stream of black smoke rushing out of the trees past the house. As it passes, he tells them to get outside and run like hell.
Outside, it's dark -- either because the sun set or because of Smokey, I can't be certain. In the trees, we see Smokey coiled up in a big knot and we can hear all kinds of sounds (screams, gunfire, metallic groans) and see flashes of light. A Boatie comes running out of the trees towards them, but a tendril of Smokey reaches out and drags him back. Hurley and Miles realize it's a good time to get out, and they lead the rest of the Losties in the other direction. Ben tells Locke that he'll catch up with him in the trees; but first, he wants to say goodbye to his daughter. And then the sounds of Smokey recede off in the distances as Ben walks over to Alex's body, closes her eyes, kisses her on the forehead, and sobs. Commercials.
Back at the beach, Daniel has rigged up the phone to broadcast Morse code. He taps out a message, and Jack asks him what he's saying. So Daniel speaks the words as he spells them out: "What happened to the doctor?" There's a long series of beeps in response. After it finishes, Daniel tells them, "Okay, they didn't exactly say what happened to the doctor, but your friends are okay and the helicopter's coming back in the morning." Kate looks relieved, but Bernard tells Jack, "He's lying. What the message said was 'What are you talking about? The doctor is fine.'" Oh, Daniel -- don't cross a ham radio geek. Jack asks why Daniel has been lying to them, and then grabs him by the shirt and asks him, "Were you ever going to take us off this island?" Daniel: "No." Jack doubles over in pain, but walks away before anyone can help him.
Near the Barracks, Locke's crew have stopped to light some torches. Sawyer tells Miles he's free to rejoin his pals from the boat, but Miles would rather hang out with the Losties for the time being, what with the killer monster on the loose. There's a noise in the trees, and everyone pulls their guns, but it's just Ben. Locke tells Ben that he's sorry that Alex died, and then goes on, "That being said, you lied to me." Which specific lie are you thinking of? Oh, it turns out it's the lie where Ben said he didn't know what the smoke monster was. Ben tells him he can ask Jacob all about Smokey when they go to the cabin. Sawyer's not happy to hear that there's some other dude who's going to be giving them even more instructions. He's starting to realize how stupid it was to join up with Locke in the first place, and he decides to head back to the beach. He tells them that Claire is coming with him, and then decides he should ask her if that's what she wants. It is. Miles and Hurley decide to join them. Everything's fine until Hurley starts to walk away, at which time Locke pulls a gun and tells them that Hurley has to stay with him and Ben. But Sawyer's got a gun too, so it looks like we've got a standoff. Hurley would rather be left out of the gunplay, but Locke tells him they need him to find the cabin. Sawyer seems prepared to ventilate Locke and/or Ben, but Hurley tells them to put the guns down; he'll go with Locke. Sawyer puts his gun down, but promises to kill Locke if Hurley is harmed. Sawyer, Claire, Aaron, and Miles leave. None of the unnamed Losties seem to have survived the attack. Or if they did, they're still cowering in fear back at the Barracks. When everyone else has left, Locke picks up his pack and asks Ben which way they should go. I thought Hurley was the one who knew how to find the cabin?
Ben gets out of a taxi in London. Ol' Bugeye's looking pretty dapper. He enters a posh building where a liveried doorman type asks him what he wants. Ben tells him that he's there to visit Mr. and Mrs. Kendrick in 4-E. The doorman is surprised, since it's so late, but Ben tells him that they're expecting him but that the doorman should feel free to call up if he wants to check. While he's taking, Ben is fingering his expandable baton behind his back. (Once again, I'm going to ignore the obvious sex joke.) The doorman spares himself a beating by letting Ben head upstairs. Once in the elevator, Ben pulls a key out of his pocket and uses it to send the elevator to the penthouse floor.
We see Ben enter a darkened bedroom that's about twice as large as my apartment. He calmly says, "Wake up, Charles." And we see that Widmore is sleeping in the bed. He's a cooler man than I am -- if I woke up and saw Bugeye standing over me, I'd jump right out of my skin. But Widmore just tells him that he's been expecting Ben to show up. They trade some small talk -- Ben coyly lets Widmore know that he was in Iraq when Ishmael was killed, and then mocks him for sleeping with a bottle of scotch by his bed. Widmore wonders if Ben is there to kill him. Ben: "We both know I can't do that." Because Widmore's immortal? Because the island won't allow Ben to kill? Or because it would violate his finely developed moral code? Widmore asks why Ben is there. Ben: "I'm here, Charles, because you murdered my daughter." Widmore: "Don't stand there and stare at me with those horrible eyes of yours." Heh. Oh, wait -- he thinks that Ben is the one who got her killed. Personally, I think Keamy was the one who did it. Widmore accuses Ben of creeping around like a rat. I think ferret is the word he's looking for. Widmore thinks it takes balls for Ben to act the victim, since he's the one who started all of this by stealing Widmore's island from him. He asks again why Ben is there. Ben: "I'm here, Charles, to tell you I'm going to kill your daughter. Penelope, is it?" Widmore thinks that Ben will never find Penny. Ben returns the favor, telling Widmore that he'll never find the island. But...didn't he already find it? I swear, there's some time travel shit going on here, and it gives me a headache. I wish Captain Janeway was here to explain it. Ben walks out of the room, but not before telling Widmore, "Sleep tight, Charles." Credits.
LTG is a pension and benefits lawyer in Washington, D.C., which explains why he's so bitter and mean. You can reach him at ltg.jon@gmail.com.