Quick note today, and as always: SPOILER ALERT!

Another fantastic episode of Lost last night, and it was great to see the adventures (or is that misadventures?) of Jeremy Bentham. A strong case was made in the episode that Ben is the villain of the story (which we’ve long suspected) and that Charles Widmore is, in fact, the good guy. I’m hesitant about that, not just because he sent some damn scary mercenaries to the Island, but because of the way he snapped the neck of a fellow Other when he was 17.

Widmore mentions an upcoming war, which one presumes would be a Linus vs. Widmore affair. But what if this “war” is nothing more than a distraction. Think the Separatists vs. the Galactic Republic. Wait, Alan, that doesn’t make sense – why would Widmore be trying to kidnap Ben if they were on the same team? Well, remember the time Darth Sidious had Chancellor Palpatine kidnapped? Except here’s the thing – spoiler alert – they were the same dude. It was all an act.

My evidence for this Lost theory? Exhibit A: Widmore did not want Ben killed, only extracted. If they were true rivals, why not just kill him? Exhibit B: When Alex was killed, Ben told Widmore he had “broken the rules” – or something to that effect. Why are they playing with a set of rules? Exhibits C-R: Um, still workin’ on it. And as for WHY they’d be staging this battle – I also have no idea.

As for Heroes, the show has gotten so boring and unoriginal it actually bums me out a bit. Now Parkman’s making prophetic paintings, this time of Washington D.C. being blown up. That’s how far they’ve come in three seasons: New York gets blown up to D.C gets blown up? And both are predicted by prophetic paintings made in the exact same loft? So lame. 24 has recycled some plot points and moved locations to D.C., but they’ve managed to keep things interesti8ng and fresh enough (mostly) for the change of locales to have worked to their advantage. Heroes has just gotten incredibly stale, and it’s a dang shame.