Well, no answers on Daniel this week, and I don’t think there will be any anytime soon. Oh, well. There is never a shortage of things to talk about on Lost. This week, I want to turn my attention to Ben. This past week’s episode focused on the young version of the diabolical other, and judging from the previews for this week’s episode, it will focus on the older version that we have grown to know so well.
I really hope that we get to see what happens to young Ben when Richard Alpert brings him into the temple, where he will become an Other for the rest of time. I have a feeling that a lot of the island’s secrets lie inside that temple, and damn it, I want a look inside! We saw that it turned Rousseau’s crew into mind-warped killers, and the argument could be made, I suppose, that it did the same thing to Ben.
The previews also showed that Ben will be facing a “judgment” by the island. I can’t wait to see what that entails exactly. Is the smoke monster going to come and eat him after flashing pictures of his life in front of him, like it did with Ecko? Is he going to have to face his peers, a trial by the Others like Juliet was forced to go through? Or will it simply be something completely different?
I’m also very eager to see the interaction between John and Ben in the upcoming episode. Clearly there is a large bit of unfinished business between the two, namely Ben having strangled John to death. That always makes for an awkward reunion.
The other loose end that is likely to be tied up in this episode is Ben’s promise of revenge to Widmore. He swore that he was going to kill Penny in retribution for Alex’s death and the more I think about it, the more I believe that he succeeded in that quest before boarding Ajira 316. I think we’ll get an answer this week, and I fear that Desmond’s wife is going to meet a bloody end at the hands of Ben. Ben is not the type of man to leave things unfinished, and we’ve seen that he is willing to go to just about any length to get what he wants, or what he feels that he needs. As I said in this week’s review, if Penny ends up dead I’m going to be seriously pissed. I’m not backing down from that, but I am preparing myself for the possibility that it’s going to happen. I just hope that the writers understand that the Desmond and Penny relationship is not to be messed with!
Do you have any theories on Ben and his fate?
I just want “old” Ben alive at the end of the episode. He’s still the most interesting character, and one of the best actors, on the show.
I’m also still hoping, somehow, that his telling Jack “We’re the good guys” can still be true. Even killing Locke could be forgiven if he knew already that the island would revive him. I know he’s smart and manipulative, often coercing people into things they don’t want to do, and he certainly is not functioning right emotionally in his dealings with people, but I’m not ready to write him off as the Big Evil, as it seems nearly everyone else has.
…But if he killed Penny, then of course he’s irredeemably evil.
Nah Bob, Memory loss cop-out sounds just fine as a theory ;-)