LOST 5x12: Dead is Dead
Sooooo despite Ben being my favorite character, I kinda felt that despite us learning a little more about the Ben-Widmore rivalry and learning the fate of Penny and Desmond, that this was just a filler episode. Well, maybe not completely filler, but it seemed very drawn out just to get to one point, the one game-changer: Ben following Locke's command. And, well, not killing him again. Which you so know he was planning to do, even before they brought it up.
But it's like, why didn't the smoke monster appear when Ben summoned it? So the writers could stretch out the episode by having Locke magically know where to find the monster and go after it themselves. Not that it wasn't informative learning about where the smoke monster "lives" and getting clues about its mysterious nature by the hieroglyphs on the walls of the Temple, but yeah. It was a very thin episode to me.
Maybe because I expect so much from Ben episodes? I mean, geez, we finally see exactly how and why Ben stole Alex from Rousseau, and they make it an act of mercy rather than an act of cruelty, and even that isn't enough for me. Maybe I'm being picky.
I guess my problem wasn't the flashbacks, most of which were interesting. It just felt like the present action moved to a snail's pace after all the wham-bam excitement in the 70s with Sayid captured, young Ben shot, and Juliet/Kate/Sawyer's quest to save his life. That shit felt like an express train zooming along from one riveting sequence to another. And this week it slowed down as we get... Ben and Locke getting a boat, Ben and Locke arriving at a dock (cool reference to Ben's childhood arrival on the island though), Ben and Locke investigating Ben's house, Ben and Locke walking through the jungle.
It was more a character piece and an answering-questions-from-the-past piece I guess. Not necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps I just like the 70s Dharma set-up so much that I missed its presence this week.
Anyway, I'm glad they didn't kill Ben because I am really interested in more of his flashbacks. I just hope next time they give him a flashback, they set it against something more interesting in the present.
I should also mention I'm REALLY glad they didn't kill Penny. Or Desmond for that matter. I was worried when Ben shot him! And I'm also glad they showed that Ben has a heart, no matter how small it may be, because as soon as he saw Penny was a mother, it was obvious he wasn't going to kill anyone. He put his gun down even before Desmond knocked him over.
And he also refused to kill Rousseau in the past when he easily could have, sparing only her baby. Maybe he has a thing against killing mothers since his own mother died when he was born.
I still want to know if there's "more to it" than just that for why he decided to raise Alex. Specifically, my theory that Annie was pregnant when she died. (This is assuming, of course, that she died.) I found it conspicuous that in an episode of Ben flashbacks, Annie wasn't mentioned or referenced once. Come on! ;)
But it's like, why didn't the smoke monster appear when Ben summoned it? So the writers could stretch out the episode by having Locke magically know where to find the monster and go after it themselves. Not that it wasn't informative learning about where the smoke monster "lives" and getting clues about its mysterious nature by the hieroglyphs on the walls of the Temple, but yeah. It was a very thin episode to me.
Maybe because I expect so much from Ben episodes? I mean, geez, we finally see exactly how and why Ben stole Alex from Rousseau, and they make it an act of mercy rather than an act of cruelty, and even that isn't enough for me. Maybe I'm being picky.
I guess my problem wasn't the flashbacks, most of which were interesting. It just felt like the present action moved to a snail's pace after all the wham-bam excitement in the 70s with Sayid captured, young Ben shot, and Juliet/Kate/Sawyer's quest to save his life. That shit felt like an express train zooming along from one riveting sequence to another. And this week it slowed down as we get... Ben and Locke getting a boat, Ben and Locke arriving at a dock (cool reference to Ben's childhood arrival on the island though), Ben and Locke investigating Ben's house, Ben and Locke walking through the jungle.
It was more a character piece and an answering-questions-from-the-past piece I guess. Not necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps I just like the 70s Dharma set-up so much that I missed its presence this week.
Anyway, I'm glad they didn't kill Ben because I am really interested in more of his flashbacks. I just hope next time they give him a flashback, they set it against something more interesting in the present.
I should also mention I'm REALLY glad they didn't kill Penny. Or Desmond for that matter. I was worried when Ben shot him! And I'm also glad they showed that Ben has a heart, no matter how small it may be, because as soon as he saw Penny was a mother, it was obvious he wasn't going to kill anyone. He put his gun down even before Desmond knocked him over.
And he also refused to kill Rousseau in the past when he easily could have, sparing only her baby. Maybe he has a thing against killing mothers since his own mother died when he was born.
I still want to know if there's "more to it" than just that for why he decided to raise Alex. Specifically, my theory that Annie was pregnant when she died. (This is assuming, of course, that she died.) I found it conspicuous that in an episode of Ben flashbacks, Annie wasn't mentioned or referenced once. Come on! ;)