Lots happened on Lost last night. I don’t know where to start but I think I’m starting to understand why Michael Emerson was signed for two episodes and the Powers That Be kept him around.
Spoilers about “The Shape of Things To Come” after the jump.
The execution of Alex, in my opinion, wasn’t necessarily unexpected. It adds to the story by Ben having an emotional vendetta against Charles Widmore. That was brutal and I believe that we have entered a new phase in Lost. We were given some answers but then again, not so much.
Why do I think this? Because “it changed the rules.” Apparently Ben had been following some sort of moral code of some kind. It could be based on time-jumping or even an inner knowledge of how this “war” was to be conducted. Widmore said to him in that creepy scene in dark shadows of the penthouse bedroom that the island was his. I’m still not sure who the bad guy is here.
I do know that lots happened and the episode was compact. Each scene worked. I liked this first post-strike episode. We know there is some time travel going on, or at least I think there is and it could explain also, for lack of a better word, transported polar bears in the Sahara Desert. Was Ben transported there? He obviously had been put through some kind of ordeal when we saw him lying in the desert. And he threw up some nasty stuff which made me think “how did he get there?”
With that said, what do we know now?
Well, we know that Sayid found and lost Nadia.
We know that the smoke monster is still a bad ass but was it controlled by Ben or did it just show up?
We know that Ben didn’t know what year it was at the hotel and had to have it confirmed.
Who would of known that Ben could be Action Jackson? That one was a surprise to me. I like that the accountant looking guy kicked butt actually.
We know that Faraday and his posse is not going to help the losties. But the preview from last week looks like Frank just might be key in helping the Oceanic Six.
We got to see Sawyer be the good guy in helping Claire and Aaron.
We also got to see Hurley be brave by going with Locke and Ben to Jacob’s cabin.
This episode also creates many new theories. When Ben went into his bat cave, was he there to just call Smokey or was he gone for a long time? I don’t know, that seems significant to me.
And why is Locke so important? Has Ben lost some of his mojo with Jacob?
The saddest part of this episode was the execution of Alex. The last words she heard was her father’s bluff which were cutting and cruel. And then he said the sentence as he stood shell-shocked at the window about the rules being changed.
What rules are Widmore and Benjamin Linus following? What changed? And why can’t they kill each other?
Henry Gale stood at the controls of Oz. Is Linus losing control of his Oz?
I guess we will have to wait and see.
Newscoma 
i thought a most curious element was that Ben “arrived” in 2005 (though unsure of the year) wearing a heavy parka with a Dharma insignia, that he “awoke’ lying in the desert.
here’s my thought on the hidden room – in addition to him releasing the Cracken,
er, the Smokemonster, could that room also be his portal to time travel. Think about it… that room is where his wardrobe, passports and money are stored. It’s logical that the room is the way he’s leaving the island.
Also, while Ben was in that room, although it seemed like only a short while, could that short while on the island be the moment in which he time traveled to 2005 — his daughter was just killed and he goes to the room — then he’s in Charles Widmore’s penthouse telling him he’s going after Penelope.
More numbers in this episode – the number sequence Alex pushed on the gate was
1623. Also, when Hurley, Sawyer and Locke are playing Risk, Hurley says “everybody knows the key to the game is Australia” — funny, since Oceanic 815 left from Australia – is Australia the key to the game Ben and Widmore are playing as well?
I also caught the Australia bit. I think that was a key statement. I think there will be more flashbacks to Australia next season.
But then again – who knows? I don’t, and I love it!
Coma your probably right about the time travel angle but it could also be a swerve. Also whats with Sawyer reading all those books? Why would a murdering playboy like himself be so interested in reading books? Also why is Sawyers hometown Jasper, Al? Out of all the places in this country why pick Jasper? Is it a coincidence that Corridor X runs right through Jasper? Just some things to think about….
Oh and regarding Risk, the map is divided into 42 territories. There goes another number again…
(me = geek)
Ok…
I read something like this somewhere, and here’s what I think about the smoke monster thing now–it is a time correcting on the island what happened in the real world.
Time creeps more slowly on the island than in the real world, so 20 minutes on the island is longer in the real world–let’s say 2 years. Ben goes forward in time to 2005, finds Sayid, convinces him to go kill all those guys who are at the same “time” waiting to go after Ben on the island.
It takes Sayid a while to do this in the real world, let’s say another year. Meanwhile only 20 minutes are passing on the island–notice it was dark when Ben came out, and they said it was 20 minutes until dark before he went in.
Since Sayid has killed these guys in the future, they’re lives have to be snuffed out on the island as well–they can’t be alive and dead at the same time. So the smoke monster comes and kills them after the 20 minute period on the island to match what has passed after 2 years off the island.
Make sense?
BTW, isn’t Austria the key to risk, not Australia?
I find myself bored with Lost. The whole “riddle wrapped in a conundrum cloaked by a mystery” thing is irritating after three years. They should have gone into saying, “if this thing is a hit, we’ll quit after four seasons” or some such. Now I feel like I’m just being manipulated so the can drag it out another season to keep ABC’s ratings up.
Feh.
I’m over it.
Sorry for the typos, BTW.
Ahh, I’m still in.
I dig it.
Although I can imagine it being tedious for some. I am a masochist.
Southern Belle, they did go into it saying they’d have 5 or 6 seasons. They have also announced the exact number of episodes left. The roller coaster hit the top of the hill and we are on the ride down and enjoying it!
I find it hard to believe time is passing differently on the island itself as related to the outside world. Remember, on the freighter there was as calendar that said it was Christmas, 2004, just as it was on the island.
There’s a barrier around the island that presents a kind of time displacement, but it doesn’t interfere with the flow of time inside or outside of it. The barrier, I believe, is caused by or an effect of the tremendous electromagnetic power source on or inside/under the island that the Swan Station was designed to control.
I was, until this episode, thinking that Ben’s off-the-island transporter was unable to work now since the big “purple sky” implosion, but apparently it does. Perhaps now instead of just site-to-site transport, it also displaces in time and place – which is why Ben was confused as to the year, and why he appeared in the middle of the desert in a parka. (Or a “Dharka” as the producers are calling it) 😉
I don’t think he controls Smokey, just knows how to call it. Since the Freighties lowered the outside barriers, It was free to swoop in. Why it distinguished between them and Ben and the Losties is still to be determined. Maybe it recognizes Ben and Jacob’s connection and doesn’t attack him or anyone who’s with him.
Alex’s execution was brutal and totally unexpected. And more than a little disturbing that an innocent girl was killed. All the folks killed on the show had their faults and share of bad mistakes and decisions in the past. For her to die simply to fuel Ben’s rage – a character we shouldn’t be asked to identify with or root for – is unfortunate plotting, I think.
Great comments… the big question then is if Ben could pop on and off of the island at any time, why the whole ruse with getting Jack to perform surgery on him? Why not just get to the real world and get the help he needed? That whole chapter of LOST seemed ridiculous in hindsight. Why not just say “Hi I’m Ben. I live on the island conducting experiments but we’re not here to hurt you, uhm could you take this lump out of my back and I’ll pat you and yours on your collective head and send you on your way”
I guess there wouldnt’ be much of a show (or a season three in any event) but my blood pressure would be a lot lower! 🙂