The Judgement of Benjamin Linus

 

    Benjamin Linus is finally judged.  Smokey came out of the floor and surrounded him with his sins, much like we saw the Monster do for Mr. Echo so long ago (well, to us, not them).  I hate to say, but there really wasn't anything that amazing in that huge cloud of smoke.  We knew about these sins.  Further, we knew that he felt bad for these sins.  What about his treatment of the islanders?  What about killing Locke?  Was Smokey trying to tell us that these actions were justified?  So is Ben the good guy of the island who simply made a few mistakes?  If so, when will the other islanders be judged?  Let's face it!  They all have made mistakes. 

    While I was quite underwhelmed by the episode, I was interested to see how wrong I was about my "Eloise + Charles = Penny and Daniel" Theory.  It seems that Charles had relations with an outsider, according to Ben.  Naturally, we may find out that Eloise was, at some point, banished from the island, hence becoming an outsider.  This doesn't seem too far fetched considering the plot lines of LOST.  There is also the notion that the Ellie of the island is not Eloise Hawking.  I think this is a stretch, but still a notion to mention.

    While it was another disappointing "Bomp," we did watch Ben receive a visit from his dead, adopted daughter, Alex.  Earlier in the episode, we learned how he apprehended her from Danielle in an attempt to keep her safe.  Quick question for other LOST fans: did anyone really care about how that occurred?  I apologize if I see too negative towards the show, but if we needed to know that, it should have been told to us earlier.  At this point, no one cares.  Anyway, I digress.  Alex told Ben that, despite his plan to kill Locke again, he will listen to everything that Locke says and will follow him in his every move.  It was a clever way to reveal that Ben was planning on killing Locke again.  I can't help but mention that this goes well with my Cain and Abel theory.  Ben really wants Locke dead.  It was not just because the island wanted it.  I'm telling you: they're brothers!

    While we are used to seeing dead people on the island, this is the first character who was killed on the island to make a Lazarus-like appearance.  Alex's appearance seemed to complement Smokey's, but I must bring up that she, Locke, or the Monster never appeared together on screen at any point.  Also, where had Christian gone when Locke showed up at Ben's house?  What if this Smoke Monster had the ability to take on the form of people, particularly dead ones.  I know.  I know.  You're thinking, "Joe, that's crazy and totally unrealistic!"  You know what, the moment we started watching (and loving) a show where there was a Smoke Monster, we threw away reality.

    Anyway, I now am starting to wonder if Alex was the Smoke Monster.  Further, are Locke and Christian Sheperd also the Smoke Monster performing impersonations of dead LOST characters?  This raises the question of whether or not the island can actually bring back the dead.  Apparently, Ben didn't actually think this was possible.  He seemed pretty surprised to actually see John Locke in front of him. 

    One more thought: assume for a moment that Smokey can become the image of dead people.  This Monster seems to have many crazy abilities, almost as if it were a god of the island.  Who else is a god of the island that Ben seemed to worship?  Jacob!  It may be that Smoke Monster is actually Jacob and takes the form of different dead people.  Remember: Christian Sheperd was sitting in the rocking chair in the cabin and later appeared with Claire in the cabin.  That was our best link to Jacob so far.  Also, John Locke seemed pretty confident that he "just knew" what to do to get Ben to his judgement place.  Jacob would "just know" as well. 

    Next week's episode looks very promising.  I can't wait to finally learn more about Miles, one of the more intriguing characters on the island.  He also may be able to shed some light on the dead-people-waking-up conundrum.  But seriously, writers, where is Daniel Faraday?  This many episodes without him is like Back to the Future III with Doc Brown!!  Great Scott!