"Dead Is Dead" episode review

Man, this episode of LOST was a complete win. All of the various scenes from all different time periods felt relevant and shed some light on specific situations which have been referenced in LOST throughout.

I was super excited about another Ben-centric episode for two reasons: 1) Since Season 3, when Ben concretely became a main character of the show, we've been treated to only one Ben-centric episode per season and 2) because they're always bamf. "Dead Is Dead" was no exception.

Oh, by the way, in my last review, I listed a few unanswered questions and unexplained stories which are supposed to be covered before the end of season, according to Team Darlton. In this coming week's episode, "Some Like It Hoth," an episode centered on Miles technically but I suspect also will explain Hurley's mental-institution-to-boarding-Ajira-Airways-Flight-316 journey, I'm guessing it will be explained what exactly Miles' demand to Ben in Season 4 for 3.2 million dollars meant, what it was code for. This is something that I forgot about that Team Darlton said would be explained this season, and I'm guessing it will be explained next episode.

While I'm on the subject of making predictions about next week's episode, I'll go ahead and make a couple more: We'll undoubetdly learn more about Miles' spiritualist nature, as in how he can speak to lingering dead people's selves. I'm also guessing that, assuming my prediction of Miles being Dr. Pierre Chang's son is correct, Miles will see and be confronted with his baby self, perhaps only in passing, and that he will be surprised to learn that he was born on the Island and even more surprised to find out who his real father is.

All that aside, on to a brief episode synopsis! (I'll cover the events chronologically, as they occurred linearly in time.)

• In 1977, after Ben's apparent visit to The Temple with Alpert, a man on horseback rides into The Others camp, a man revealed to be Charles Widmore. He protests the fact that an outsider was taken to The Temple, but Richard insists that the Island wanted it done and that Jacob chooses who Jacob chooses. At this point, Widmore concedes Alpert's decision and goes into a tent to talk to young Ben who is still recovering from his gunshot wound. Widmore explains to Ben that though he has to return to live with the Dharma Intiative, that does not mean that he cannot be one of them.
• Fast forward to 1989, and we see Ben with little Ethan getting ready to make their move on the beach, watching Rousseau's tent. Ben goes into the tent alone, with every intention of killing Rousseau, but at the sound of her crying baby, is startled and knocks over the music box, waking her up. Ben takes the child in his arms and warns Rousseau not to try anything. She accuses him of being a carrier of the infection and is ready to try and attack him but Ben fires a warning shot and tells her that she's lucky to be alive and warns her that if she ever hears whispers to run the other way. Ben leaves the scene abruptly with Ethan and upon returning to The Others' camp, Ben is confronted by an obviously older Charles Widmore as to why he has a child. Ben explains that the French woman had a baby and asks what exactly he was supposed to do, just kill her anyway? Widmore says yes, saying it is Jacob's will. Ben says that if it is indeed the will of the Island, that Widmore should be able to do it as much as he. At this, Widmore turns away.
• In 1992 or later, we see Ben pushing Alex on a swing at the Barracks. Richard comes to him and says the submarine is leaving and that he can see the passengers off if he wants but that he doesn't have to. Ben goes, where a handcuffed Widmore is being led to the submarine. Widmore says he knew that Ben would come to gloat over his victory in getting him exiled from the Island for "breaking the rules," notably by making frequent trips to and from the Island and also by having a family off the Island, having a daughter with an "outsider." Widmore essentially tells Ben that one day if the Island did want Alex to die, she will, and that he will eventually end up like him: banished from the Island.
  
• In 2008, before boarding Ajira Airways Flight 316 to come back to the Island, we see Ben at a marina, where he calls Charles Widmore to tell him that he's about to make good on his promise of killing his daughter Penelope. After hanging, Ben approaches Penny and Desmond's Boat, Our Mutual Friend, but is momentarily stopped by Desmond. Ben pulls out a gun and shoots desmond around the right side of his chest, knocking him off his feet and deliberately approaches the boat, warning Penny not to move. Penny frantically explains that she has no relationship with her father, and Ben apologizes but insists that he still has to kill her because of his conflict with Mr. Widmore. Right then, Charlie, Desmond and Penny's son, runs aboard the boat, wondering what's going on. Penny tells him to go back inside, but his appearance makes and impression on Ben, who temporarily lets his guard down. Desmond attacks Ben from behind, knocking his gun out of his hands, and whales on his face with his left arm repeatedly and then dumps his pummeled body into the water.
• Finally, in present time, Ben is greeted by Locke as he wakes up in the infirmary after being knocked out by Sun. Ben tells Locke that he knew that he would come back to life upon returning to the Island but is still shocked to actually see that it has happened. Ben tells Locke that he has come back to be judged for "breaking the rules," for returning to the Island, something he was not supposed to do. Locke asks who he has returned to be judged by, and Ben replies that they don't have a name for it but that he believes they call it "The Monster." Locke tells Ben that he'll go with him to the main Island to accompany him on his way to being judged. Ben first, however, retrieves a picture of Alex and him from his office at the Dharma Initiative's Hydra station.
• On the beach, Locke is confronted by Caesar as he tries to take one of the outrigger boats to the main Island. Earlier, Ben had agreed with Caesar that Locke knew a little too much about the Island and planted the idea in his mind that he didn't remember seeing Locke on the plane. It wasn't difficult to convince Caesar that Locke was a psychotic, insane inhabitant of the Island, considering he had told Caesar before that then unconscious Ben was the man who had killed him. Caesar told Ben that he had his back if Locke tried anything. Seeing this as an opportune time to stand up to Locke, Caesar denies Locke permission to take a boat. As tensions begin to rise, he reaches for the shotgun in his bag, when Ben reveals that he had taken it and shoots Caesar at point blank, knocking him off his feet. Ben then asks if anyone else has a problem with them leaving with a boat and tosses the shotgun to Locke.
  
• As Ben and Locke arrive at the main Island at the dock, they notice Frank and Sun's boat and make their way to the Dharma Barracks. At Ben's house, Ben finds Sun and Frank. Sun shows Ben the picture off the 1977 Dharma recruits that Christian Shephard showed her. Ben insists that he is legitimately suprised by this. Sun also tells Ben that she and Frank were told to wait for John Locke to find out what to do to save their friends in/from the past. Frank pleads with Sun to leave with her, but Sun tells him that she has to stay, that she feels that that's the only way she'll ever see her husband again. Frank respects her decision but feels that it's in his best interest to leave and go back to the main group on the Alcatraz island. Upon returning to the main group, Frank asks Ilana what is going on, considering her and some others have rifles and are moving a huge crate sitting on the beach. She responds by saying, "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" Frank doesn't understand the question and Ilana knocks him out with the butt of her rifle, telling the man next to her to gather the others, saying, "It's time," and that Frank is coming with them.
  
• Back on the main Island, Ben goes into the secret chamber connected to his house and summons the smoke monster. It doesn't come for quite some time, however, and finally Locke tells him that if it won't come to them, they'll go to it. Locke, Sun, and Ben set off and make their way to the exterior wall of The Temple. Along the way, Locke accuses Ben of being in the position that he had always been in before, not having all the answers and not liking it. Once at The Temple, Locke informs Ben that they'll be going under it rather than passing through the wall, and so they do. While Sun waits outside, Ben admits to Locke that the real reason he came back is to be judged not for returning to the Island but for killing his daughter in a sense, just as Locke had guessed. Suddenly, Ben crashes through the floor into a lower passage. Locke leaves to find something to lift Ben back up to safety, and Ben takes the time to observe his surroundings.
• Ben quickly realizes that he's come to a place that he's never seen before and takes note of the picture on the stone wall in front of him. Suddenly, his torch goes out and the smoke monster comes before him and encircles him, presenting a juxtaposition of his life memories revolving around Alex, culminating in the image of her death. The smoke monster then dissipates, reigniting Ben's torch, and Ben is greeted by someone who appears to him in the form of his daughter Alex. Alex tells Ben that she knows that he's planning to kill Locke again and warns him that if he does, she will hunt him down and destroy him. She makes Ben agree to follow Locke and do whatever he says. She then leaves a very frightened Ben, backing away into the darkness, and Ben makes his way back to where he fell through the floor, where a concerned Locke has hurried back with a vine. "It let me live," a relieved Ben reveals. LOST
  

Story/Narrative - First of all, I really liked to see the truth behind the Rousseau baby-stealing situation. We had been under the impression that The Others were in the business of stealing kids for a while now, but, at least in 1989, they weren't. In a way, Ben was being completely honest and truthful when he told Rousseau, "Be grateful you're still alive." If he hadn't taken Alex, she would've been killed along with Rousseau, a command which Ben didn't carry out. So is he that much of a monster? Apparently not by this point, if you're a viewer who sees Ben as the epitomy of evil. Maybe some event yet to occur past 1989 will really push Ben over the edge...the death of Annie, perhaps? Or maybe Ben really does have some redemptive qualities and we got a huge glimpse at them in "Dead Is Dead." I dunno...either way, I loved it.

Moving on, I have to say, I loved the parallelism presented in the episode as we see Ben's will to kill Rousseau thwarted by her child's crying out and then his determination to kill Penny distracted by Penny and Desmond's son Charlie's sudden appearance. Maybe he does have a heart... Either way, it was interesting to see Ben's intentions of murdering someone diminish at the sight of innocence. Could this be a reflection of his regret for his own once-innocent self? I suppose time will tell...

In regards to said confrontation, for some reason I get the feeling that there was more to Desmond and Ben's fight than what we saw. I mean, c'mon. What am I supposed to think? Desmond just punches Ben a few times and dumps him in the water? Really? That's it? He just threatened your wife and child's life! There's no way Desmond would have been content with just throwing Ben in the water; he would have wanted him dead, for good. So will we see more later, or are we just meant to fill in the blanks? What do you think?

STILL on the subject of Ben (most of this post-recap analysis will be), I have to say, I'm not convinced that Ben is telling the truth about Locke. He says he knew that Locke would come back to life upon returning to the Island but that he looked so surprised because, in his words: "...it's one thing to believe it, John. It's another thing to see it." After all, consider a few things: 1) Why would Alex have said in her rebuke of Ben, "I know that you're already planning to kill John again, and I want you to know that if you so much as touch him, I will hunt you down and destroy you"? She didn't make it sound like Ben knew that he would come back to life but that he had repeated his attempt in Season 3 when he shot Locke and left him to die in the mass Dharma grave at finishing of John Locke and, in so doing, eliminating a problem. Thinking more about this, it would seem to make sense. After all, Ben might have wanted Locke to be on the plane simply to recreate the original flight to the best of his ability... I can't remember; did he directly say any words to anyone concerning Locke actually coming back to life upon returning to the Island? I don't think so. And this would seem to make sense because who did Ms. Hawking explain Locke's role as a proxy in replacing Christian Shephard's dead body upon the plane to? Jack. Alone. As in, Ben wasn't there. So Ben had no idea about Christian Shephard, it would seem, which would explain his reaction when Sun mentioned Christian Shephard showing them the 1977 Dharma recruit picture. All that being said, Ben is shocked to see John Locke freaking alive. He can't believe it. But, he adapts his story and tells John that he thought the Island would bring him back to life, getting maybe just a little bit back into his good graces. Let me know what you think about Ben: How much of what he said last episode was true and how much do you think was complete bull?

Moving on into some new territory, I have to say, I'm a bit shocked at what would seem to be Caesar's apparent death. Is this the "minor death" that was said would occur before the season finale? Anyway, I feel like Ilana and Caesar are on separate "sides," if you will. That being said, I have absolutely NO idea who Caesar is "with." But Ilana, I've got her pinned! There are either two possibilities: Ilana and the rest of her team are either modern-day Dharma Initiative people looking for some good ol' fashioned revenge or they're Widmore's men. Seeing as the whole Widmore-hiring-people-to-attack-the-Island story plot has aleady been used, however, I'm gonna go with modern-day Dharma Initiative people. Besides, that would be really interesting to see the contrasting images of the seemingly Utopian Dharma society with modern-day Dharma Initiatiave people complete with guns and ready to own The Hostiles once and for all, after almost twenty years since being "purged" from the Island. And actually, there's a third possibility that I skipped over: Perhaps they're the descendants of the original inhabitants of the Island. I'm starting to think that maybe the Hostiles, the indigenous people of the Island, originated from the Black Rock survivors who, after they wrecked upon the Island, spread throughout and populated it. If this is true, it would seem that the truly original inhabitants of the Island (Egyptians or Tunisians, perhaps?) have long since been gone. And maybe they've finally decided to come back, right in time for the show's final season. I'm not sure. But that is another possibility.

Additionally, I was intrigued by Ilana's question, which seemed to be a code: "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" Is there a real tangible answer? If there is, I'm gonna go ahead and guess "The Well." But maybe it was just a question set in place so that all the individual members of whatever group they're a part of could identify one another after the crash and spring into action... In which case, maybe Caesar was a part of the same group and he just didn't seem to know Ilana because they hadn't gone around asking the question yet and realized who all were their allies by that point.

One final thing about Locke: I don't get the feeling that Locke is entirely normal. I don't think this is just the whole Jesus complex thing, either (which is an understandably sentiment on his part, don't get me wrong -- I mean, he did resurrect from the dead...). I felt like Locke was acting a little eery throughout the entire episode...not exactly like Christian Shephard though, which struck me as odd. I guess we'll see more on this. Perhaps Locke is simply adapting to whatever differences he feels as being a physically dead person brought back to life rather than his previous, "normal" self. I dunno... I definitely feel like he was a little disappointed that he A) didn't get to see Ben get judged and B) that Ben was judged apparently so mercifully. Hm. I suppose we'll see. (...I feel like I'm saying that a lot: "we'll see." Am I? :P )

Oh, and what exactly was Locke doing out in the jungle? My guess is that he ran into Christian Shephard and that he was told to bring Ben to the Temple and to go under it. In a sense, I'm guessing that the Island wanted to see if Ben was truly repentant for killing his daughter and if he would admit that he, in fact, was responsible for her death, which she did before arriving at his judgment, which I why he was forgiven and allowed to live, I'm guessing. 5

LOST Theory/Mythology - Okay, so I'm a little confused about The Temple. Richard told Kate and Sawyer in the last episode, "Whatever Happened, Happened," before they handed young Ben over that if he took him and healed him, "If I take him, he's not ever going to be the same again . . . What I mean is that...he'll forget this ever happened and that...his innocence will be gone. He will always be one of us." Okay...but young Ben was pretty much the same as he had been before: He still is afraid of his dad, he doesn't want to go back to live with the Dharma Intiative, and he reeeaalllly wants to be a part of The Hostiles. The only thing that's changed is that he doesn't remember exactly what happened, how he got injured... So is that it? I guess we'll see more as to what exactly the side effects of somone being brought into The Temple are... I'm just a bit confused by that whole ordeal...

Also, Widmore told Locke after he found him lying in the middle of the Tunisian desert, at the "exit," after turning the wheel, that he wasn't surprised that Ben had tricked Locke into leaving the Island as well: "I was afraid Benjamin might fool you into leaving the Island, as he did with me." Well, nooo, not exactly. It would seem that Widmore was officially, "legally" banished from the Island by the Others' terms or whatever. It didn't seem like he was "fooled" into leaving. He was pretty much escorted off the premises by guys with bulletproof vests and rifles. I mean, he was sent away, not tricked into leaving. It would seem that now we're seeing more of a deceitful side of Widmore, kind of like with Ben earlier. Apparently he's willing to fudge the facts a bit, too, if it means relating to John Locke and winning him over to his side... So just how important is John Locke in the big scheme of things with the Island??! Apparently very...

Just to clear something up that Team Darlton had confirmed via podcast I think it was, the part of The Temple which we saw with Jin and Rousseau's team was not The Temple itself but the exterior wall, which was explained by Ben in this last episode: "We built this wall to keep people like the two of you from ever seeing it." So we haven't actually seen The Temple itself yet -- just the wall half a mile around it and what lies beneath it. But consider the implications of Ben's statement: If The Others truly did build that wall, they must have been on the Island for a loooong time. Because that wall was freaking old! And it was covered in Egyptian hieroglyphics in some places, too, I believe, so that would imply that the original Others had Egyptian roots. That or the wall was just really old-looking and it's mean to be as some sort of a scam, to trick the person outside the walls to believe that the structure is really way older than it actually looks. I don't know. That, or maybe the Others didn't even build the wall, or the Temple for that matter, and Ben was just lying!

Keeping on the subject of Egyptian mythology, it would seem, considering the depiction on the rock wall above the area where Smokey apparently comes from, that our famed statue is, in fact, Anubis, seeing as he is clearly the god depicted in his image. Take a look for yourself. Beyond that, though, notice the Smoke monster-looking part of the picture that looks as if it may be in conflict with Anubis...that or Anubis is summoning it... And what of the snake behind Anubis... I know there's a snake-like creature in Egyptian mythology that I gathered is basically the original bad guy in their mythology. Could that be him? I'll have to do some research. But right now it's late, so..

But yeah, as I said above, we found out where Smokey comes from!! Cool, right? Except that we don't really understand it, nor do we understand what exactly is happening when Ben summons him, even though we saw how he does. Apparently he drains a little murky pool full of muddy water and poof! he arrives (or at least he's supposed to). And apparently the smoke monster seeps through numerous holes on a panel which sits underneath a picture of the Egyptian god Anubis.

So is Smokey sort of Anubis's "right hand," allowing him to act on the Island, so to speak? I don't think so... I think they're two separate entities. Oh, and by the way, I think that the numerous holes in that room that Ben was in which lined the sides of wall were the "CV"s, or "Cerberus vents," which were labeled on Radzinsky's hatch map, presumably the tunnels leading to the holes in the ground where Smokey can and does appear from. Pretty sweet... But then again, he can also kind of just uproot trees and pop out from where they were rooted, can't he?

Anyway, back to the whole Anubis thing. Did anyone else think that Alex looked a little bit like Anubis in her scene with Ben?!?! I mean, maybe it was just the lighting, but I feel like that was definitely a direct comparison that we (or perhaps only some of us...) were meant to make.

In regards to Alex: Who exactly was she?...obviously she wasn't actually Alex reincarnate. The context of what she had to say rules that out. So was she a manifestation of the smoke monster then, like Yemi when he talked to Eko in Season 3 before his "judgment" at the hands of the Smoke monster? No, I tell you! Consider this: While Yemi's conversation(s) with Eko were very judgment related ("It's time to confess, brotha" and things of that nature...), Alex's words to Ben were much more directions-related, which reminded me more of Jacob, or the Island. It felt like there was more of a relationship there ("Listen to me, you bastard!"), and one with some sour feelings, which would make sense since Ben wasn't actually playing fair with Jacob it would seem, keeping him in a cabin and encircling it with apparently confining soot/ash-type stuff. Jacob finally has a chance to free himself and realize his control again, and he will not let Ben touch his man. I think it had to have been Jacob, or the Island or whatever -- I'm still not exactly sure how those two entities are related... 5

BAMF moments - Wow. Finally some good ownage! It had been a while for LOST. First of all: Holy cow. Caesar got freaking owned. Oh my gosh. Ben totally owned him. At first I was like, "Wow. Ben is a douche. He's already turning people against Locke." But it was all really a manipulation-play on Caesar so that Ben could nab his shotgun and get him on his good side, allowing him to eliminate him as a threat when they needed to get a boat and get to the main island. That being said, Ben epic owned Caesar and it was brutal.

It would also seem that Ilana and her people are going to be providing us with some future ownage, considering the huge box of what I'm guessing are weapons. Oh, and I bet that they're the ones that'll take that boat and fire at Locke and the other time-traveling Losties, something we confusedly saw back when they were all skipping through time earlier in the season.

Finally, the smoke monster is just bamf in and of itself. The way it encircled Ben and presented him with the good that he had extinguished in indirectly killing his daughter was crazy. Pretty sick stuff...

Finally, Desmond owned Ben, right before he was about to own Penny, and I am soooo glad he didn't. Desmond and Penny are my favorite love story / relationship in the show and if they had died, I would have been pissed. 5

Overall Score - (5 + 5 + 5)/(3) = 5