S4: The Shape of Things to Come

The gravity of this episode really hit home during the infamous Ben and Charles bedroom scene before the episode ended.  "You changed the rules."  What rules?  What game are they playing?  Did Ben really take everything he has from Charles.  The questions will be answered in season 5, but the answers aren't important right now.  What is important is that this episode shapes future events even though all are not evident at this point.  While Widmore is on the continued hunt for the island, Ben's personal mission is to avenge the death of his "daughter" and kill Penny, Widmore's daughter, yet Ben's mission will change or get altered due to the fact of what he did to wind up in Tunisia at the beginning of the episode...I'm getting ahead of myself.

Important points:

- Ben appears to summon the smoke monster which I don't think ever getting full explained but I believe we'll visit the door again in a future episode.  

- It's finally confirmed by Faraday to Jack and the others on the beach that they are NOT there to rescue the survivors of Oceanic 815

- The group at the Barracks are split up.  Sawyer, Miles, Claire and baby Aaron head to the beach while Locke, Ben and Hurley search for Jacob's cabin

Again, while this episode was fantastic the first time I watched it, it just lost a little pizzazz on the second viewing.  The surprises and realizations were not as powerful as they were on second watch.  So far, I think I've found that episodes that drive the plot, on second viewing, less intriguing than episodes that delve into the characters and their connections with each other.  Thankfully, this episode and others like it continue to make me crave more and it's so great not having to wait weeks, months or even years to watch the next episode.