The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for "The Shape Of Things To Come," the ninth episode from the fourth season of ABC?s "Lost."

After about a month-long hiatus, "Lost" returned with an action-packed episode that does what "Lost" does best: It simultaneously provided a few answers while it opened up new mysteries and revealed character motivations.

In what is becoming a trend this season, the highlight of the episode was the superb acting of the lead, Michael Emerson. This was a very well-written, well-crafted episode that somehow managed to make Ben more villainous, less trustworthy, and sympathetic all at the same time. I actually felt sorry for him -- for about a minute.

The episode also featured a major shootout, an explosion, the death of yet another character. Alex?s death was shocking to me. I had seen several commercials for the episode, but I don?t recall any proclamations about characters dying.

Alex was not a major character, but she was more significant than Karl, who was obviously killed in the previous episode. Would the previews really advertise the death of Karl as a major event, but not the death of Alex? This strengthens my belief that Danielle was indeed killed in the previous episode, but I?m not ready to put money on it. Dead characters always seem to find work on "Lost."

The best episodes of ?Lost? are those that incorporate as many of the main characters as possible in meaningful ways. Sawyer continues on the heroic path, risking his life to save Claire and threatening to kill Ben if he hurts a single curly hair on Hugo?s head. At the same time, we see the opposite path that Sayid takes to becoming an assassin.

This divergence is not only believable in the context it is presented, but the stories are much stronger running in parallel. And all this development was done in an episode focused on Ben. The writers didn?t stop there. This episode was the return of the smoke monster, revealed Faraday to be a liar, introduced Jack?s illness (featured prominently In the preview for next week), and started to connect the dots between Widmore and Ben. Ben?s threat to kill Penny as retaliation for the death of Alex sets up an array of future conflicts.

While other episodes of "Lost" this season have been strongly acted and extremely emotional (?The Constant? comes to mind), this episode may be the best-written one of the series so far.

What Worked

I loved the opening scene with Hurley, Sawyer, and Locke playing Risk. I knew what they were playing immediately. Hurley said the Australia is everything -- of course, that is where this whole adventure began. It also set up the theme about the importance of following rules, which is central to the episode.

The scenes with Ben globetrotting were reminiscent of the "Bourne" movies, even down to some of the camera work. I don?t know if it was an intentional homage, but it worked for me nonetheless. But ... .

What Didn?t Work

Michael Emerson is an excellent actor, but he?s not at all convincing as an action hero. The pseudo-"Indiana Jones" styled garb just made him look ridiculous.

Somehow, Sawyer managed to avoid all those bullets by hiding behind a picket fence and a wooden picnic table. Unless there is a force keeping him alive for some unknown purpose (like we saw with Michael several weeks ago), this was a bit clich?d.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

"The Shape of Things to Come" was written by Brian K. Vaughan and Drew Goddard. It was directed by Jack Bender. "Lost" stars Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Jorge Garcia, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Michael Emerson.

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