Ben takes Alex from Danielle Rousseau, young Ethan waits nearby

In 1989, Ben (who is about 24 or 25) is with a young Ethan Rom (who is about 12) looking at Danielle Rousseau's camp on the beach. Ben is just looking at the camp when Ethan asks him twice if he wants him to do it. Ben tells Ethan to shut up and stay there. With his gun drawn, Ben moves into Rousseau's camp, stops at the entrance and the moves in. Once inside, he hears a baby (Alex) cry which startles him causing him to knock Rousseau's music box to the ground. Rousseau wakes up and reaches for her gun but Ben tells her to stop. Rousseau says "You're the one who infected us, aren't you?" Ben moves towards Alex and Rousseau begins screaming "Rendez-moi mon bébé!" Ben picks up Alex and Rousseau asks him not to take her. Ben asks her "Do you want your baby to live?" Rousseau screams "Why are you taking her?" and steps towards Ben who then fires his gun into the sand. He tells her to "Be grateful you're still alive." He continues saying that if she follows him or ever comes looking for him, he'll kill her. He then tells her "Everytime you hear whispers, you run the other way." Ben the darts out of the tent/hut.

So this explains why Danielle Rousseau was so paranoid about the whispers in the first few seasons. It also gives us a glimpse of young Ethan who seems to have already joined the others. What's weird about this is that the purge didn't occur until 1992, so Ben and Ethan were working with the others while Ben was still living with the Dharma Initiative. Did Ben sneak out at night to help the others and then go back to the barracks?

Ilana and Bram moving a crate, Ben talks to Caesar about Locke

On the beach of the Hydra island, there is a wide shot of the beach with the Ajira 316 plane still visible in the background. Ilana, Bram and some others are around a large, silver crate. Ben asks Ilana what it is and she just says it's "Some stuff we need to get moved." Ben asks if they need a hand and Bram says that they've got it.

Ben grabs an Ajira water bottle from a suitcase as Caesar approaches him to ask how he is feeling. Ben just says it feels like somebody hit him with a oar. Caesar asks Ben what he thinks of Locke who is standing at the edge of the water behind them. Ben asks Caesar what Locke told him. Caesar says that Locke was watching over Ben while he was unconscious and that Locke says that Ben killed him. Ben just laughs and plays it off saying "He looks fine to me." Ben then says that he doesn't remember Locke from the plane and asks Caesar "Do you?" Caesar says no and Ben says "What if he was here before we crashed." He continues saying "We may be dealing with a man who is dangerously deranged" and then asks the question "What are we going to do about it?" Caesar tells Ben not to worry and shows him the gun he took from the Hydra office. Caesar says "I've got your back." Caesar extends his hand and introduces himself and Ben does the same.

It seemed here that Ben was trying to betray Locke once again but it appears that he was making Caesar paranoid in order to find out what he knows and what his plans are. Clever, clever Ben.

Ben tells Locke he came back to the island to be judged

This scene picks up where "Whatever Happened, Happened" left off, though it's slightly different. Here, Locke wakes Ben, but at the end of the last episode, Ben woke up on his own. Ben is wide eyed when he sees Locke alive and gasps "My god, you're alive." Ben says that he knew that this would happen and Locke asks why he looks so surprised to see him. Ben says it's one thing to believe it would happen and another to actually see it. Ben says he was trying to leave go to the main island because he "broke the rules." Ben says he was going to answer for what he had done and to be judged. Locke asks who he is going to be judged by. Ben says that they don't have a name for it, but he says that Locke knows it as the monster.

Was Ben really going to be judged or did he have other plans back on the main island? If he's lying, what was he going to do when he got there with Sun?

Benjamin Linus and Charles Widmore meet in 1977

At the beginning of "Dead is Dead," we see a 40 year old Charles Widmore arriving at the others camp on a horse. He quickly heads straight for Richard Alpert and asks him what he has done. Richard tells him to calm down and that it doesn't concern Charles. Charles objects that he brought "one of them" to their temple. Richard tells him that he is just a boy who was dying. Charles says that he should have let him die. Richard tells him "Jacob wanted it done." This stops Charles cold. Richard continues saying "The island chooses who the island chooses, you know that." Charles replies, "Yes, yes of course."

Charles then goes in to see Ben. Ben asks him what happened and Charles tells him that he was injured. Ben doesn't seem to remember what happened, just like Richard said would happen. Ben asks where he is and Charles tells him "You're among friends" and they're going to take care of him. Charles tells Ben he'll be back to his dad soon and Ben panics and says he doesn't want to go back. Ben then says "I want to be one of you." Charles tells him "Just because you're living with them, doesn't mean you can't be one of us." He continues telling Ben that he should be dead, but the island saved him. Ben asks Charles who he is because they haven't formally met yet.

So this is when Benjamin Linus and Charles Widmore meet. At the moment Charles does seem to be the leader, much like he said he was in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham." This scene does once again prove the power of Jacob since the mention of him stops Charles' complaining.

Locke welcomes Ben back to the 'land of the living'

Back in 2007, Ben is sleeping in the room with the other injured passengers where we saw him back in "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham." John Locke is sitting by his bed, waiting for him to wake up. As Ben slowly wakes, he is stunned to see a living, breathing Locke sitting by his side. Locke says "Hello, Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living." End episode.