Benjamin Linus and the Temple of Doom

It's hard to believe this is only the third Ben episode Lost has ever had. That's because the other two - "The Man Behind the Curtain" and "The Shape of Things to Come" - were not just two of the best, but two of the most significant episodes. In the former, we first learned of Jacob's otherworldly status, and found out about the Purge. The latter used Alex's death as the trigger point to set up the Ben/Widmore war as the driving force behind the latter half of the series.

So with such high expectations, does "Dead Is Dead" hold up? Hell yeah! That's because it did what Lost does best: fill in some major pieces of the puzzle while keeping everything rooted firmly in character. Ben is obviously one of the most fascinating characters on the show, shifting drastically along the hero/villain scale week to week. This week pushed him a little bit closer to hero, but not without giving us many different visions of Ben.

We got a large range of flashbacks this week, from Harry Potter Ben to yesterday, but there was one main connective thread: Alex. We finally saw the baby-stealing incident that led Ben to adopt Alex, but it went down a bit differently than I expected. It seems Charles ordered Ben to kill Rousseau, and he chose to take the child and spare her instead. Remember last year when Alex died and we were all like, "OMG, Ben is totally Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood and Alex is his HW?" Yeah, that again.

If there was a second connective thread, it was the Ben/Charles feud. They seemed friendly enough upon first meeting, once Richard name-dropped Jacob and Charles let his flowing hair waft in the breeze. But once Charles told Ben to kill Alex, that courtesy was over. Next time we see Charles, he's being led to the submarine for his exile. Why? Still not sure on that, other than Ben's comment about him being off-island and fathering Penny (who can't be Ellie's daughter). But Ben was sure happy to see him go, far away from his own daughter.

Speaking of Penny, after six (!) episodes of suspense over what Ben did to her at the marina, we finally got the answer. I had just about accepted he killed her, but yet again Ben proved less evil than I thought. Ok, yes, he did shoot Desmond, which is especially uncool after Desmond called him brother. And he gave his little Inigo Montoya speech with gun raised. But then Little Charlie ran out, and Ben lost his resolve.

Now, there's a lot of Lost history in that moment. Perhaps Charlie reminded Ben of Alex on the day he took her from Rousseau. Maybe he saw Penny as the mother he lost on the day of his birth. But the Lost scene this most reminded me of was when Sawyer gave up his con when he saw the woman's child, reminding him of his own ruined family. Touching, cowboy, touching, but I still cheered when Desmond rushed out and beat him up, saving his Penny. We missed you, brother.

As emotional and informative as the flashbacks were, I shouldn't short-shrift the present, which could best be called the Ben and Locke show. As the show's absolute best pairing, their relationship grew to even more complicated levels this week. Right away we saw Ben confide in Locke, betray him, win him back, and think about killing him again. And how great is Resurrected Locke, so cool and detached, able to talk about his own murder with a bemused smirk? To think I had said that those left in the present were the rejects. Ben and Locke don't need anyone else.

The episode all led up to the temple, that mythical setpiece that has gotten greater and greater importance this season. As Ben made his way down, he was back in full Indiana Jones mode, gazing at the hieroglyphics on every wall before Smokey sifted out around him. As with Eko, Ben saw images, this time of his history with Alex. Watching Ben watch Alex die all over again was him at his human. A close second was when Ghost Alex appeared, and Ben wanted to believe that maybe she came back like Locke, that dead isn't dead. But no, just Smokey in human form, there to deliver a message: Locke is island prophet, do not kill him. Locke may be the Ben to Ben's Charles, but this time Ben gets to stay on the island. Does devoting his energy to fighting Charles mean he and Locke can get along for a little while?

Finally, I should probably mention what's going on with Nikki and Paolo 2. At first it seemed like Ben was going to make Caesar his new Sayid (convenient, since the actor's name is Said), but that ended when Ben shot him in the chest. Surprising, yes. Actually dead? No. Dead may be dead, but this is Lost. As for Ilana of the inconsistent accent, she seems to have acquired guns, men, and cryptic sayings. Am I curious enough about what she's doing to tolerate another scene with her? Do I have a choice?

Next up: A Miles episode, which will put his ghost whispering powers to use. It's about time.