The Shape of Things to Come

Lost is back, and so is Antiborium. We both had a good excuse for our respective leaves of absence.

Last week's episode? Brilliant. In my opinion, The Shape of Things to Come surpassed The Constant as the best episode of the series thus far. It was a gamechanger. No answers, but a whole lot of new questions.

"Hi, Jack...I'm just washing my shoulders. Honestly."
Here's Kate doing what she does best, i.e. reconfirming herself as my least favorite character. How many times is Mrs. Self-Interest going to bounce between Jack and Sawyer? How long until they both figure out she's a manipulative little girl?

Dead Doc?I have problems with this development. So far this season, we've been led to believe that time off the Island is congruent with time on the Island. The only discrepancy has been when objects (Dan's rocket) or people (Frank, Sayid, Desmond) travel to or from the Island, during which time is "dilated" (it passes regularly for them, slower for us depending on their speed).

I'm hoping that Sayid slit Doctor Ray's throat open with a fingernail and then commandeered the communications room, and is lying to Dan about Ray's fate.

The Real Ben
I honestly hope Michael Emerson wins an Emmy for this episode. Performances aside, think about all that we learned about him in 4.09:

1. He can apparently teleport through time and space (more later).
2. He dresses like Jeff Probst.
3. He can speak both Urdu and Arabic.
4. He visits Tunisia often.
5. He's very comfortable with a variety of guns and telescopic batons.
6. He has a secret room inside of another secret room.
7. He has some means of summoning the Smoke.

I absolutely loved his flash-forwards in the Middle-East, and would religiously watch a spin-off called The Linus Identity or Bendiana Jones.

The biggest questions from those scenes are:

1. How did he get to the middle of the Sahara?
2. Why was he wearing a parka that belonged to Dr. Halliwax (a Marvin Candle alias)?
3. Why was there cold vapor coming off of his skin?
4. What logo was that on his parka?
5. Why was his arm injured?
6. Did he kill Nadia himself so that he could manipulate Sayid into working for him?

"Well if we aren't playing by the rules anymore..."
Apparently Ben can summon the Smoke from his secret room, behind a door covered in hieroglyphs that appear to come from two separate cultures. How? What's in that room? A bunch of volcanic ash that he dropped down through a Cerberus Vent? Did the Island take his "offering," embody it with electromagnetic energy, storm up through the underworld and wreak havoc on those who posed a threat to It?

Best Scene EverI won't even attempt to analyze this instant classic. I will simply list the questions I had afterwards:

1. Widmore: "I was wondering when you'd show up..."
Why was Widmore expecting Ben? Because of Alex's death?

2. Ben: "Iraq is lovely this time of year"
Why does Ben mention this? Is he letting Widmore know that he killed Bakir in Iraq?

3. Widmore: "Since the nightmares started..."
Why is Widmore having nightmares? For how long? Are they related to the nightmares that Walt's grandmother mentioned were plaguing that child?

4. Widmore:"Are you here to kill me?"...Ben: "We both know I can't do that."
Why can't Ben kill Widmore? Do they need each other alive? Is the Island keeping Widmore alive? Is he immortal and ageless like Richard Alpert?

5. Widmore: "Don't look at me with those horrible eyes of yours..."
Why do the writers keep mentioning Ben's eyes?

6. Widmore: "I know who you are, boy..."
Why does Widmore call him "boy"? Did he know Ben as a child? Is he hundreds of years older than Ben?

7. Widmore: "I know what you are..."
Who says that? Does he mean Ben's a murderer (the Purge), or that he's not quite human?

8. Widmore: "Everything you have, you took from me."
Is Widmore just talking about the Island, or more than that?

9. Ben: "You'll wish you hadn't changed the rules."
What rules? No killing family members? In what context? I refuse to believe that the show is about a game between two rich white men. I think he may have been referring to Fate.

10. Ben: "I'm going to kill your daughter."
I wonder if Ben will get Sayid to do it...that will make for a great scene somewhere down the line. Sayid was there for the phone call in The Constant.

11. Widmore: "You'll never find her."
Where is Penelope hidden in 2005? Isn't she trying to find the Island/Desmond?

12. Widmore: "That Island's mine, Ben. It always was. It will be again."
Was Widmore in charge of Dharma, or was the Island "his" even before then? Was he on the Black Rock?

13. Ben: "You'll never find it."
How has Ben hidden the Island from Widmore?

Big Question: What is the relationship between these two men? What history do they share? What do they each want with the Island? To protect it versus exploit it? I doubt it's that simple anymore...

Stray Observations:

Sawyer was definitely the Hero in this episode. Do I sense a budding romance with Claire? I hope so. Less men for Kate to manipulate.Charlotte is very attractive. I'm hoping the writers make her more likable pretty quick, before she turns into another Anna-Lucia. And do I sense some chemistry with my fellow-geek Dan?
Hurley is a terrible babysitter.

Complaints
Danielle better not actually be dead. And I'm mad that they took out Alex. Why do all the women on this show get shot just to act as a plot device for a male character? Shannon, Anna-Lucia, Libby, Ben's mother, Nadia, Alex, etc. I will be extremely upset if Juliet, Charlotte, or Claire goes out this way. Is there no room for heroines on Lost? Kate and Sun could bite it next week, though, and you wouldn't hear a word from me.

Next Week
Something Nice Back Home: What's this with Jack? Menstrual cramps? In the promo for next week, I'm pretty sure Juliet mentions his appendix, which has me worried that this subplot is a meaningless diversion. I'm hoping there's an Island-related reason for his illness. My mother made a good point, though, that we could be witnessing the genesis of Jack's painkiller addiction.