"Dead is Dead" (Season 5, Episode 12)

It was all about Ben last night. Ben, the boy. Ben, the unexpected father. Ben, the leader. Ben, the killer. Ben, the manipulator. Ben, the repented. And how great to see the various stages of Ben and Charles Widmore's relationship from first meeting to confrontations to expulsion from the island. Although this wonderfully insightful episode focused on Ben, I have to say that death has done wonders for Locke. He is a new man with a twinkle in his eye, a smirk on his face, and a renewed confidence, going so far as to finally being able to put Ben in his place.

Best Line

• "Consider that my apology." Ben to Locke after shooting Caesar in the chest.
  

Did You Notice?

• It was perfect casting of the forty-something (?) Widmore in the the opening scene. I knew right who this was supposed to be. Something with the eyes.
• Are we to presume that the scene with Hitler-haired Ben and young Ethan took place prior to the Purge? The Others are still living in tents and not Dharmaville. If so, what happened to his parents?
• So Ben knows about the whispers since he warned young Rousseau to run the other way when she hears them.
  
• Ben's shooting of Caesar was such a shock, more so than Sayid's shooting of young Ben a couple of weeks ago. The question is whether Caesar is really dead.
• Why did Locke remove his shoes prior to the boat trip? Did he not want them to get wet or was there some other significance since these actually belong to Christian?
• At this point, we've seen Ethan born on the island as well as baby Alex. When did women stop being able to give birth there? And what caused it?
• Why was Charles Widmore so adamant that baby Alex should be killed?
  
• The board game Risk that Hurley was playing last season was on the table in Ben's house.
• We once again saw the portrait of the blond woman in Ben's house. Is it possible this is Juliet as he remembered her from the 1970's?
• I'm not sure I understand (or want to know) why Ben unclogging his closet's drain summons the smoke monster. Was the drain clogged with the hair from all the bad wigs on this episode?
• I loved Ben's line to Penny that what's about to come out of the jungle is something he can't control only to have Locke appear. Foreshadowing!
  
• Desmond and Penny's boat, "Our Mutual Friend", has the same name as the book by Charles Dickens in which Desmond stored his love letter from Penny while in jail.
• So the vine covered walls are not the Temple itself but a protective wall around it. Could the Temple itself be a pyramid in keeping with the Egyptian theme?
• Hard to miss the significance of little Charlie appearing just in time to give Ben second thoughts about shooting Penny.
  
• We now know that Ben shot Desmond, but the question becomes what happened to Desmond after he tossed Ben into the water? Did he survive? He seemed pretty aggressive for someone who was apparently shot in the chest. Or did his bag of groceries contain some bullet-blocking item? Spam? Ben seemed to think Desmond was okay based on his comment to Sun about apologizing for him should she see Desmond again.
• The shot of the blood-belching Ben underwater was both artistic and horrific at the same time.
  
• I once again ask are we really supposed to believe that Desmond and Penny sailed their boat from England to California? Possible, I suppose, but if he desperately wanted to reach Ms. Hawking, why would he take the time?
• Was Ilana's query "What lies in the shadow of the statue" a recognition code phrase or an actual question? Could she be on Widmore's payroll? Are the three men helping Ilana in his employ as well?
  
• The Temple hieroglyphic featured a devil-headed smoke monster face-to-face with a kneeling Anubis, the Egyptian god of the dead who lead them to the afterlife. For a closer look, here you go:

• The stone grate had 49 holes, of which the smoke monster only came out of certain ones.
• Ben's encounter with Smokey was reminiscent of Eko's encounter with it as scenes of the past played out before him. Of course, Ben's outcome was more successful. Also, Alex appearing to Ben was like Yemi appearing to his brother, Mister Eko. It's now obvious the smoke monster can manifest itself into people.
  

The Numbers - 2 3 4 5 6 8 10 15 16 23 42 108

• One of the Flight 316 survivors informed Lapidus that Ilana and 3 others found guns.
  

Previews - Next week's "Some Like it Hoth" will feature the adult Miles on a road trip with Hurley and flashbacks to a young Miles. There is also a scene of Jack in front of a chalkboard with references to the Egyptians on it. In two weeks, there will not be a new episode but a recap special of the first 13 episodes, then a return in three weeks to new episodes leading up to the two-hour finale, "The Incident", on May 13.