Episode 512 - Dead is Dead

- Boo, why did the island want to save Ben?

- So, now we see when Widmore first meets Ben.

- Ben's lying.  I don't think he really wanted to go back to the island because he broke the rules and to be judged.  I do think he was headed back to the temple and maybe even the monstor.  Ben is the king of half-truths and I don't think this is any exception.

- I HATE Ben.  I HATE the way he manipulates...and gets away with it.

- YES!  Way to call his bluff Locke!  I'm really enjoying this episode so far.  :)

- In an interesting twist, we actually see Ben showing compassion to Alex, Rouseau's daughter, and to Rouseau herself, actually.  I'm not really sure why he shows that compassion as I wouldn't peg him as a compassionate person.  The flipside that's interesting is that we see Widmore and he's not so compassionate.  We get to see a bit of the rivalry between the two men.

- So it appears that Ben knows who Christian Shepherd is.  Is that because he's encountered him before, or because he was a part of getting him onto the island in the first place, either in reality or in the form that he's currently in?

- I LOVE that Locke is in control and Ben isn't!  It feels sooo good for Ben to be on the defensive and not knowing/understanding what's going on.

- Way to go Desmond.  Yet, I'm still a bit confused as to why Ben hessitated.  Why does he have compassion on children?  Is it because he remembers his horrible childhood, perhaps?  Its the one thing that I can't really understand about Ben.  He's so purely evil with everything except for children, apparently.  Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he is, but it just surprises me.

- Hmmm, the whole smoke monster thing has been really interesting.  First, the fact that it is just smoke blows my idea that its mechanical out of the water (unless there are 2 parts to it and we only saw one part tonight).  Second, it let Ben live, which is somewhat surprising on one hand, but not from a storytelling standpoint.  Third, when we saw Alex alive again, I'm pretty sure its not Alex, but actually the smoke monster, just like Yemmi was for Echo.  Fourth, Ben's supposed to follow Locke and not kill him like he planned (which doesn't surprise me that he was planning on re-killing Locke), but I'm not sure if Ben will actually follow Locke or not.  Only time will tell

This was a really good episode, I thought!  We got more answers/additional information, but with it came many different ideas and things to think through and process.

Have I ever mentioned that I love this show?!