Season 5, Episode 12:
Dead is Dead
In flashbacks, a 40 year old Charles Widmore is furious with Richard for healing the young Ben at the Temple. He tells Ben that he is one of the Others now, but he will have to return to the Barracks and his father for a while. Ben, with a young Ethan watching, kidnaps Alex from Danielle Rousseau, and warns her to run away if she ever hears whispers. Widmore tells him he wants mother and child killed, but Ben refuses to kill Alex. Ben has Widmore banished from the Island for having a child with an outsider, and takes his place as leader. The day Ajira 316 takes off, Ben shoots Desmond at the Marina, but can't bring himself to kill Penny in front of her son. He hesitates long enough for Desmond to tackle him and beat him to a pulp before throwing him in the water.
Ben tells Locke that he knew he would be resurrected when they landed on the Island, but Locke is unconvinced. Ben tells him they must return to the main Island so he can be judged by the Smoke Monster. Caesar tells Ben that Locke says he killed him, which Ben dismisses as ridiculous. He convinces Caesar that Locke is insane. Caesar tries to stop Locke and Ben from leaving, but Ben steals his gun and shoots him.
Ben and Locke meet Sun and Lapidus at the Barracks. Lapidus heads back to Hydra Island, where Ilana asks him what lies in the shadow of the statue, and knocks him out when he fails to answer. Ben tries and fails to summon the Monster from a chamber in his house. Locke says he knows where to find it, and brings Ben to the Temple. The two are separated in the underground tunnels, and Ben falls into a secret room. The Monster emerges, and shows Ben flashes of his past deeds. Alex appears, and warns Ben that she will kill him unless he obeys every word Locke says. Locke finds Ben, who tells him that the Monster let him live.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Foreshadowing: Plenty for The Reveal that Locke is actually the Smoke Monster in "LA X".
- Lapidus and Sun state that Christian, who is also later revealed to be a form of the Monster, told them to wait at the Barracks for John Locke.
- When Ben tries to summon the Monster, he waits expectantly for it to emerge from a spot in the jungle, only for Locke to walk out instead.
- Locke somehow knows where the Monster lives, despite never being seen to learn this information and never having been to the Temple.
- Locke and Ben are conveniently separated just before Ben finds the Monster's chamber and it appears before him.
- The Monster demonstrates the ability to impersonate the dead by taking Alex's form, and tells Ben to obey everything that Locke says.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Caesar thinks that Ben is a trustworthy ally who is going to be his faithful Number Two when he takes command of the survivors. This belief gets him killed.
- Hypocrite: Widmore orders Ben to kill baby Alex, but is unwilling to get his own hands dirty when Ben tells him to do it himself.
- It Is Dehumanising: Charles refers to baby Alex as "it" when telling Ben to kill her. Ben insists on using "her" and "she".
- Metaphorically True: Locke, who is really the Man in Black, tells Sun "I'm the same man I've always been." He never says that man is John Locke.
- My Greatest Failure: The Smoke Monster forces Ben to relive his failure to save Alex from Keamy, and Ben ruefully admits to Locke that her death was his fault for not surrendering.Ben: When Charles Widmore's men came, they gave me a choice. Either leave the Island or let my daughter die. All I had to do was walk out of the house and go with them. But I didn't do it. So you were right. John, I did kill Alex. And now I have to answer for that.
- Would Hurt a Child: Widmore plays with this, as he has no problem ordering other people to kill children, but seems unwilling to do the job himself.
- He is furious that Richard brought Ben to the Temple to be healed in spite of him being part of the DHARMA Initiative, and outright tells him that he should have let him die.
- He orders Ben to kill baby Alex, but Ben refuses, and tells him to do it himself if he wants it done. Widmore doesn't go through with it.
- Would Not Hurt A Child: Ben demonstrates this twice.
- In 1988, he defies Charles Widmore's orders to kill Danielle Rousseau when he sees that she has a baby, and refuses point blank to kill Alex when Charles tells him to.
- He is unable to go through with killing Penny in front of her son, hesitating long enough for Desmond to tackle him and give him a beatdown.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Caesar thinks that he's the heroic leader who's going to take charge of the Ajira survivors, when in reality, he's just an unsuspecting dupe for Ben to manipulate and kill.Caesar: I'm sorry, but I'm calling the shots here, and I say you are not taking anything.
