Episode Report Card Cindy McLennan: A+ | 1 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT L'chaim!
By Cindy McLennan | Season 5 | Episode 12 | Aired on 04.08.2009
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Ben has to summon ol' Smokey and submit himself to judgment for his past deeds. Locke, Sun, and Frank tag along for the ride, and we see some of our favorite special and unique snowflakes. What else can I tell you in so little time? Writing recaplets for this show sometimes seems a fool's errand. Luckily, I'm just the woman for the job!
I know you must have been surprised as I was to see Prince Valiant riding his trusty steed through Craphole in 1977, but it turns out it was just Charles Widmore, who isn't valiant at all, and doesn't think Richard should have rescued Ben. Ben doesn't want to go back to Daddy Dearest, so clearly, he remembers some things, just not how he got injured or why he's now with the Others.
In 1989, Ben and an adolescent Ethan sneak up on painfully young Danielle Rousseau's shelter. Ben steals her infant daughter, Alex, and warns Danielle that if she ever hears whispers, she should run the other way -- if she wants her child to live. An older Widmore is angry that Ben didn't follow his orders to exterminate the woman and says he should have killed it, too. Ben's all "It's not an it; it's a baby. If killing a baby is what Jacob wants -- you do it."
Circa 1992 (?), Widmore is exiled from the island for, among other things, leaving it frequently, and having a daughter with an outsider.
In 2007, Ben wakes up and is shocked Locke's alive, even though he "knew" it was going to happen, because he says there's a difference between believing and seeing (I thought seeing was believing). He tells Locke he has to evoke Smokey so he can atone for his past sins. Current sins must not count, though, because he then manipulates Caesar into being suspicious of Locke. But then when Ben and Locke decide to take an outrigger from Hydra to Craphole and Caesar tries to stop them (because he thinks he's saving Ben) Ben shoots Caesar with the weapon he stole from Caesar. Isn't that just like him?
Back on Craphole, Ben and Locke meet up with Frank and Sun who, as per Christian Shephard's instructions, have been squatting in Alex's room in Ben's house, waiting for Locke to arrive. Undead Locke is too much for Frank to handle, so after failing to talk Sun into accompanying him, he returns to Hydra Island alone.
At some point, Locke tells Ben what he really has to atone for is "killing" his "daughter" Alex. And at another point, Ben admits to that. Ben enters a secret doorway hidden inside the secret compartment in the hidden room in his repurposed Dharmaville cabin to summon Smokey. Ben takes the plug out of some mystical drain which lets the water out, which I guess is supposed to materialize (or is that vaporize) into Smokey. When Smokey fails to appear and judge Ben, Locke leads Ben to the Temple, but they do not enter it; they go underneath. Ben finally sets out alone and falls through a hole in the floor, and right smack dab into the Smokey Summoning Center. Smokey shows him scenes from his life and appears to judge him not guilty. BUT THEN!!! Alex appears (or maybe it's Smokey or the island, or my Shiraz that is just fueling an Alex vision) and she tells Ben that from here on out, he is to follow Locke and what ever orders he may issue, or she (he/it) swears she (he/it) will hunt Ben down and kill him.
But the very, very, very best part of the episode doesn't happen on any island. It happens at the Long Beach marina. Ben is there to hunt down and kill our darling Penny as he gloats to Widmore on the phone. Since Ben first runs into our special, unique, beautiful snowflake Desmond, he SHOOTS him (the dirty bastard), and then approaches the boat. Penny appears and Ben tries out his warped Inigo Montoya impersonation, despite Penny's protest that she hates her father as much as anyone else does. And then? Wee tot Charlie Also-A-Snowflake Hume appears and makes it clear Penny's his mom. Ben can't do the dastardly deed and leave another little boy motherless. But just to make sure, our special, unique, beautiful, precious, loveable and oh-so-handy, yet sadly gun-shot senior snowflake rises up and beats the tar out of Ben. He tosses him and his nasty, snowflake-shooting gun into the drink. Hurrah!
I'll catch you on the flipside with the full recap. Until then, a Good Passover and Happy Easter to you.
Want more? The full recap starts right below! Ben has to summon ole Smokey and submit himself to judgment for his past deeds. Locke, Sun, and Frank tag along for the ride, and we're treated to flashbacks starring some of our most favorite special and unique snowflakes. But first...Previously on Lost: Sayid shoots Ben. Sawyer and Kate deliver Ben to Richard and ask him to save the boy. Richard says if he does, Ben will never be the same again. "He will always be one of us." And we see him carry Ben into the Temple (which will learn is just a gate). Keamy orders Ben to come out of his cabin or he'll kill his daughter. Ben says, "I stole her as a baby from an insane woman. She means nothing to me, so if you want to kill her, go ahead and do it." Alex cries until a gunshot silences her for good. Frank reminds Sun that Ben is dangerous. "That boat I came here on was filled with commandos whose only mission was to get him." Ben snarks, "How'd that work out for everyone?" Sun, standing in for all her peers and much of the audience, clocks Ben with an oar from the outrigger -- knocking him cold. In the Hydra Island makeshift sickbay, Caesar and Locke stand over an unconscious Ben. Caesar says, "Do you know him?" Locke says, "Yeah. He's the man who killed me." And now...
Either they hold Ren Faires on the island, or that's Prince Valiant riding his trusty steed through the forest to ye merry olde encampment. Exactly how far back have we flashed? Is that a serf walking in front of the camera as Prince Valiant dismounts? Oh, wait, we're not that far back after all. Prince Valiant is wearing modern shoes and pants, which is a shame, because I wouldn't have minded seeing him in tights. And yeah, I've probably got my garb eras all garbled, but am I wrong about the rightness of him in tights? I think not. I'm also not wrong about using "am" in the previous sentence, even though MS Word insists I meant to say, "is I wrong," which is just wrong. Anyhow, this guy, by the way, is played by David S. Lee, and we're going to find out he's Charles Widmore, and that this is 1977, so I'm dropping the pretense, even though it will take away from the reveal, because once he opens his mouth it's pretty clear from his accent who he's supposed to be.
So, this young and yummy Charles approaches Richard and demands to know what he's done. Richard tells him to calm down. "This has nothing to do with you." Charles is incensed that Richard has brought one of "them to our temple." But Richard explains that he's just a boy -- a boy who was dying. Charles says he should have let him die. So they've met? Richard plays his trump card: "Jacob wanted it done." Charles looks at Richard sort of like you're always saying that shit. I think you make it up as you go along, I do, so Richard adds, "The island chooses who the island chooses. You know that." Charles all but bites his tongue, takes a breath and then says, "Yes, yes of course. What's his name?" Gee these two are pretty. I could watch them standing there talking right in each other's face for the whole hour. Who's with me? Not the writers and directors, apparently, because we cut to...