Michael Emerson is probably the best actor on that show, so it was nice to have a decent Ben-centric episode. I thought Ben's off-island story was definitely better than most, although there were a couple moments where I was afraid there was going to "Don't Stand So Close To Me" moment with Alex, which would have been icky. I enjoyed the suburban version of his conniving manipulation and it was swell seeing him get to make the right choice this time regarding Alex.

On-island, I really can't tell if Ben's important any more or not. Smokey seemed at least a little interested in keeping him alive, although something tells me he was happy having Ben stay with Ilana's people. I suspect he's got one more big moral decision left coming up, probably a possible betrayal.

On the rest of the island, not much happened. We got a little confirmation of what we all already suspected about Richard and Jack got to show that he's so exhausted from exercising his free will that he's now come around as a man of faith. I'm not sure whether I enjoyed the bit of cheese of the submarine with Widmore in it, but I will point out that it seemed a little close to the beach. I reckon he was finally able to find the island because he put a tracking device in the plane? And is he on Team Smokey or Team Jacob? I normally think of him as being on whatever team Ben isn't on, so I'm confused. I guess he's Team Jacob since he used to hang with Richard.

Oh, and I liked Miles digging up Nikki and Paolo's diamonds. Hope he gets to cash them in.