I read somewhere that they've given up on new viewers. This was proof of that. It was almost pure fan service and I loved every second of it.
At the fifth season mark it would be pretty ridiculous to expert new viewers to jump on given the nature of the show. Doing so would require a level of pandering that the show does not need.
BTW, this has probably been touched on before, but does anyone find it a little odd--if not off-putting--that, at this point, Ben is practically the show's lead character/hero?
