Gentle Ben

Oh dear sweet gentle Ben. He may be a manipulative killer, but he also likes little kids. Awww ....

Anyway, that was one humdinger of an episode, answering many questions and opening up many more. Let's go through it, shall we?

Things we now know: How Ben got all battered before he ended up on the plane. How Alex ended up with Ben.

Things that are more clear, though still not totally understood:
-We have a better sense the Whispers are, as we generally thought, an indicator the Others are near (since Ben told Rousseau if she ever heard the whispers to run the other way).
-The smoke monster does judge people and kill some (like Eko), though we're still not sure what it is and what its criteria are and what other role it plays.
- How/why Whidmore got kicked off the island. Apparently going on and off the island and having a kid off the island violates some kind of rules, though what rules? And didn't Ben violate these same rules as he seemingly was off quite a bit? Same too with Richard Alpert.
- Dead people seen on the island seem to be a manifestation of the smoke monster (case in point, Alex last night) doing the island's bidding.
- Chronology. Ben took Alex back in 1988 when Rousseau shipwrecked there, so he was an active Other then. Four years later, he helps wipe out the Dharma initiative? How's he go back and forth between those two lives? And Widmore was banished from the island sometime after the Purge (given the fact he was taken away on the sub)? But he's mentioned how he's been gone from the island for 20 years.
- What's up with Ben's hair when he goes to kill Rousseau and ends up taking Alex? It's like something Andrew McCarthy would've worn in "St Elmos's Fire."

Things that we have no frickin' clue about: Illana and the other survivors of the second plane crash, what's up with them? Are they just going gun crazy because of what happened with Caesar, which would be understndable? Or is there something more, given Illana sking that weird 'what's in the shadow of the statue?' question? (And was that a literal question or some kind of code phrase ?) The Dharma folks built their houses atop this subterranean series of caverns that can access the smoke monster? Didn't they have zoning? Is Caesar dead? What is the temple for - the worship of what? What's in the box? Who is Penny's off-island mom?

Things that were awesome:
- Ben heading to kill Penny. Ben shooting Desmond. Ben pointing the gun at Penny. Penny surely is going to buy it. Then Ben drops his arm when he sees baby Charlie and Desmond pummels the heck out of him. No one does 'getting the tar beaten out of him' better than actor Michael Emmerson.
- Ben's line "i just didn't have time to talk you back into killing yourself."
- the sudden sense that while healing is a commonplace miracle on the island, resurrection is suddenly some other entirely crazy realm no one has seen before.
- the fascinating religious imagery going on here, with death and resurrection, judgment and repentence.

Your thoughts?