Dead = Dead

LOSTaways-

What did I tell you? Last night's episode was to television watching what Barack Obama is to blowing through your children's inheritance: very good. Dead is Dead was so good that it made the prospect of dying more attractive. I have never been holistically judged in the cellar of a decrepit temple on a magical island by a pillar of black smoke that emerged from what looked like a waffle fry of stone...but that's about as close as one can get to that experience without having to live through it themselves. The acting, the writing, the directing, and the mood lighting in which Dan Hase and I watched the episode were all phenomenal. LOST has raised the bar yet again.

There's so much to say about this episode so let's just jump right in, shall we?

Working backwards in time, we find the Others camp in the jungle and a Heath Ledger-like figure riding on horseback towards the encampment. Turns out the handsome British-sounding bloke is Charles Widmore (wow did that guy get ugly with age) and he is none too happy with my boy Richard Alpert for taking Baby Ben into the bowels of the Temple. The 'tude Widmore gives Richard seems to dissipate with the mention of Jacob, but Charles seems still underwhelmed by the prospect of bringing in a new kid on the island block.

This seems to me to be because, as we will see later in both Widmore and Ben's attitudes, leaders on the island fear competition. Richard said to Charles "The island picks who it picks" and so it wasn't just that Alpert was saving some dorky kid from the Dharma and Greg Initiative, he was saving (and then grooming) the future leader. Widmore, by the end of this episode, might have moved neck-and-neck with, or ahead of, Ben as the front-runner for Bad Dude of the Year and Series.

But Charles eventually goes in and talks to Baby Ben who remembers other things, just not how he was shot. This was what Alpert had said would happen should he take and save Ben last week. Hence, he would not remember Sayid as the man who shot him later in life when our favorite Iraqi crashed on Oceanic 815. And along those lines, before I forget, it occurred to me recently that the whole "brain-washing thing when the Others save/kidnap you" is likely the explanation for why the stewardess and children from the tail section in Season Two were seemingly fine with living with the Others when Jack (who was in one of the polar bear cages) saw her and the two kids in Season Three.

Maybe I'm alone here, but I've always wanted to know why Cindy (the stewardess) and those kids who had been kidnapped by the Others would suddenly be cool with 'illing on the island with their captors. Maybe some who are "chosen" or taken go through the same type of process Ben did in the Temple and subsequently can't remember exactly why they are even with the Others and end up embracing the lifestyle of dressing up like 17th century hobos from the Count of Monte Cristo, living in tents, and intense encounters with supernatural forces beyond their control. I'm in, if you're reading this Others.

Back to the tent convo between Baby Ben and Widmore, Charles tells the

boy that despite his protests he will be going back to live among the Dharma people, but that the kid will always be "one of them." There's a lot of "one of us", "one of them" talk in this show. Actually those are two names of two different episodes. One of Them was when we first got to meet Benry Linus-Gale way back in Season Two and it turned out he really was "one of them." The One of Us episode was from Season Three and was a Juliet tale. It turned out (eventually) that she was one of the castaways, if only in the fact that she desperately wanted to get the heck off that island.

Moving right along in chronological order, we find Ben (with a Trump-bad hair cut) and a young, spry Ethan on the beach about to carry out Widmore's order to off Rousseau. Widmore has told them it is for the safety of the island. Ben is determined to kill the nutty French skirt and when Ethan offers to do it he gets mad. But when Ben gets in the tent he can neither end Danielle's life nor leave without taking the baby. So Ben warns Rousseau to never come after Alex or she will be killed, and in fact, if she ever hears "whispers" she is to run the other way. Ben returns to the Others camp and makes his case to an angry Widmore as to why they should leave Rousseau alone ("she's crazy") and why they should not kill the baby.

Now this two-part scene has a lot going on in it. First off, Ben is shown to have something of a softer side, and at the very least is more of a complicated fellow than we've been led to believe. At least earlier in his life he had something of a conscience. He did not want to kill Danielle and could not kill her child. Ethan, who was obviously much younger than he at the time, was willing to kill Rousseau for him which means Ethan knew his elder friend was a softie at heart. This brings to mind the fact that Ben was, later in life, so mean to Locke who could not kill his own father. Ben was the same way at one time. Maybe Widmore was testing Ben like Ben would later test Locke?

Second thing from this part of the episode that emerges is that Widmore's relationship with Jacob or the "powers" of the island seemed to be strained. First there was Alpert knowing about Ben's selection as an Other while he (and presumably Ellie) did not. Then there was when Widmore told Ben to go kill Rousseau, but didn't tell Ben about the baby, and when Ben came back to the tents and asked if Widmore had suggested they kill the two on the beach because of his own desires or because Jacob had told them he didn't really give a good answer. Then again, he did warn Ben that if the island wanted the two French ladies dead, it would happen. And it did.

Third thing, Ben actually and really did care about Alex from the beginning. I'll take more about this when I get to Smokey's Moral Trial in the Temple, but I thought they did a good job getting the audience to see that Ben had been (and could be) a nice guy who loved this girl. I know he stole her from her mom, but one reason for doing this really could have been that he thought Rousseau was nuts...which is a fair assessment. So he could have been acting out of kindness to the baby. But, one could also presume that Ben did this as one of his first "con's", knowing that if he returned to the camp and showed the rest of the Others that their fearless leader Widmore would not kill the child to carry out Jacob's alleged orders that the group would think at the very least that Widmore isn't in-tune with Jacob like he claims to be, and also that Ben might really be the great leader they want/need.

A huge character flaw of Ben's is obviously his compulsive lying. He does it so much and to so many people that we have to take what he says and does with a grain of salt at all times. For example, the next part of the story took us to the day Widmore was banished and before he is put on to the submarine Ben comes to say goodbye. Widmore accuses him of gloating but Ben appears to be sincere that he did not want things to end as they did. Charles, he says, is being removed from the island for "breaking the rules." Again with the rules. Apparently there were rules about leaving the island and having a second family back in the real world, because that's what Charles had been doing. This is how Penny and his corporation back in England enter the picture.

What does this tell us about the island that it isn't good enough to hold the attention of its leader? He's submarine-setting around the globe when he's got a fun, creepy island of mystery to oversee and carouse on. This is a common theme throughout human history: people are never settled with even the greatest of things. In the Old Testament, weeks after being delivered from 400 years of bondage and seeing the Red Sea parted in front of them, the Hebrew people built golden images to worship because Moses had, in their demented opinion, taken too long conversing with Yahweh on the mountain. King David, having all he could want in the world at his finger tips, took another man's wife and then had the man killed to cover things up. The list goes on (and doesn't just include OT Bible stories). From what we know as of right now, Widmore was corrupted by the power he had, and even though he might have been truly acting in what he thought was the best interest of the "island", he eventually LOST his way.

Ben would do the same eventually, and Widmore predicted it. It almost seemed like on that dock before Widmore got in to the sub he was warning Ben that not only was his own eventual corruption a possibility...it was an inevitably. What implications does this have for Locke I wonder?

The afore mentioned Dan Hase pointed out that the line "you had a daughter with an outsider" Ben delivers to Widmore before he's banished is akin to the often-repeated mandate of the nation of Israel to remove from the midst the foreign wives Hebrew men had taken. For those who don't know, the Old Testament is the story of God's chosen people, the descendants of Abraham, who after being brought out of Egypt were to be a holy nation, set apart from their pagan neighbors. Without getting in to all the examples and starting some historical/theological debate, it was a common theme for God to tell the people through his Prophets that the nation was suffering because they had brought "outsiders" in their midst that did not believe in Him. I mention this mostly because I know the writers of LOST put many interesting themes in their story-lines that have been borrowed from many great books, including the Good one.

Next in the time-line is Ben's visit to Desmond and Penny's boat. One quick thing, as Ben first walks down the dock, the name of the boat in the background is "Savage". I'd like to think its a shout-out to conservative radio talk show host Michael Savage, but I'm guessing it's a reference to the kind of person Ben can be. (And is about to try and be.) Ben shoots Dez in the shoulder blade, and with how good of a shooter and fighter we know Ben to be, it was apparent Ben didn't want to kill Desmond. He did however want to kill Penny, yet couldn't pull the trigger, especially after seeing little Charlie. Again, the fact that Ben would go this far to hurt Widmore's daughter I think shows how much he cared about his own daughter.

But regardless, Dez form-fit tackles Ben to the ground and unleashes a Scottish fury not seen since Braveheart. Ben is tossed in to the ocean and that's the last we are allowed to see of what happens in the confrontation. Now later Ben tells Sun to let Desmond know he is sorry should she ever get off the island. Could it be that he just meant he was sorry for even trying to kill the dude's wife...or will we later find out that Ben went through with it before he got on the Aijira 316 flight? My money is on Penny being alive and well...for now.

Now finally we arrive at Present Island Time. Locke welcomes Ben to the "land of the living" again and picks up right away on the blatant shock-and-awe Ben has at seeing his thought-to-be-departed protege. Ben says he knew that Locke would come back to life, which we later find out is of course poppycock. Locke seems to be wiser than ever and is done falling for any of Ben's old tricks. Ben was telling the truth that he was there to be judged, but it's hard to tell whether or not that is his TRUE or REAL purpose in coming back.

I mean the guy is still conniving and playing people off of each other. He tells Caesar that Locke is bad, but then steals Caesar's gun and shoots Caesar. He tells Locke he's only there to be judged but then seems to trying to avoid that the whole time. We're even left at the end of the episode wondering whether or not Ben will bite the humble-pie flavored bullet and tell Locke that the island wants Ben to follow Locke's lead from now on.

Regardless, they return to Othersville and find Sun/Frank in Ben's old house, even waiting in Alex's old room. Frank wants to bail and heads back to the Hydra Island. Sun, taking Christian Shepard's advice, follows the newly-risen John Locke and Ben to the Temple. First though, Ben goes in to his secret room, the one where he stored passports and currency that he would use to leave the island (like Widmore had before him), and summons Smokey. Smokey doesn't show, but Locke seems to know right where the trio ought to head. Again, something has changed in Locke since pulling a Lazarus. Even Ben can tell and comments on it. Locke finally gets a chance to really show Ben how he had felt the past two seasons (and really, the past 40+ years of his life), not knowing what is going on and trusting in people (like Ben) who keep letting you down (and trying to end your life).

Smokey also seems to want Ben to come to him. Other times Smokey judged people, like Mr Eko, out in the open, but Ben needs to come to Smokey's lair for his pronouncement. Ben is visibly and understandably terrified of what is about to happen as they approach the Temple.

Ben explains that there was a wall built to keep people out and that the actual Temple is some distance beyond that wall. But Locke knows Smokey isn't above ground, he's under it in the same hole that the French male scientists went down in to and came out "infected" (according to Rousseau). Ben, before going in the hole to test his fate, admits that Locke was right that Ben was there to be judged because he let Widmore's commandos shoot her in the head. In a way, you could say he was also being judged for ever having taken the girl from her mom. (More on this below in Thoughts/Theories.)

Ben and Locke enter the hole and Ben soon falls to another level even deeper in the recesses of the Temple. It appears, from the look on his face, that Ben either never knew about this place or knew about it but had never seen it. The hieroglyphics around the room were very cool. The ones back on the door in Ben's secret room in his house translate to "grief" and "summon." The ones in the Frozen Donkey Wheel that both Ben and Locke have turned stand for "resurrection", and those were also seen on the Temple wall before the pair entered it. Last night, some of the new symbols we saw included what appeared to be a portrait of Smokey facing the Egyptian god Anubis, the god of the afterlife.

Smokey then emerges from the Waffle-fry Stone grate at the base of that picture and surrounds Ben. He is shown a highlight/lowlight reel of his experiences with Alex, including her murder that he could have prevented. The Monster specifically shows Ben the part where he said he never really cared about Alex and that she meant nothing to him. Ouch. Zing. Alex then appears, but she was for sure just the Monster manifesting itself in the personhood of someone Ben was sure to get the message from. That message? STOP TRYING TO KILL LOCKE YOU PUTZ!!!

And here we have it irrefutably confirmed that Ben really did want to kill Locke all along and planned on trying to kill him (and his pants) again. Smokey as Alex makes Ben promise that he will both stop trying to kill JL, but will also now follow him faithfully. If Ben doesn't, Smokey vows to hunt Ben down and finish the job. Ben agrees and we're left with an emotionally-jarred Ben staring at an inquisitive Locke.

The last thing from this episode confirmed my prior prediction that Ilana is working for Widmore. When Frank gets back to the Hydra island he finds out that a few of the passengers have guns and appear to be some sort of sleeper terrorist cell that had been told to ask "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" to discover who else has been secretly sent by Charles. They have some giant case they are protecting and preparing to bring with them to the main island...maybe a nuke to finish the job that Jughead couldn't do? More on Ilana next week as more information comes to light.

Lets get to some...

Thoughts/Theories:

- Ready to have your mind blown....Rousseau was supposed to have been killed by Ben. Widmore was right. Even her lover Robert, after being in the presence of Smokey down in the basement of the Temple, emerged ready to kill the mother of his child. I think that when those French chaps went down the hole they were shown things and came out convinced that Danielle was supposed to die. Widmore later found this out and sent Ben/Ethan to finish the job. It didn't happen, Ben showed "weakness" (as far as the island is concerned) by not killing her and by taking the baby girl, and in the end fate (Smokey) had its way with both Parisian women.

-Locke and Desmond are the two people so far who have defied the way things usually work in the world of LOST. Desmond's time-line doesn't play by the same rules that everyone else's does. Locke can come back to life, even shocking the shocking Ben Linus. What implications does this have? Will Desmond be brought back to the island as the person to follow after Locke's done leading the group? Or is Desmond the rightful leader the island has REALLY been looking for all along? Maybe Locke's a stop-gap or temporary measure.

-The Temple and its wall in this episode has more allusions to the temple and city wall in the holy city of Jerusalem in the Old Testament. The temple was meant only for the people of Israel, with only certain holy men among the holy people allowed in to the inner sanctums. The wall of Jerusalem was destroyed and it was Nehemiah who helped get it rebuilt. Just thought it there were some interesting connections here, so if you have more ideas, please post them for all to read.

- Ben's house, where he found Frank and Sun, was in the same exact condition it had been the last time we saw anyone in it (near the end of last season when Alex was shot in the head). Yet the rest of the Othersville is messed up pretty good. Maybe it was Smokey's attack on the commandos that ruined things and now no one's been back to the town. But things just feel more ominous than that. Where are Benard and Rose and the rest of the beach-dwellers who we last saw running from the flaming arrow attack in 1954? Could they be linked to why the town is decimated? Or are they placing rocks in the sand to spell out HELP?

-Our Mutual Friend got another shout-out this week. That was the name of the Charles Dickens book that Desmond said he would make the last book he ever read before he died back in Season Two. It's also the name of his boat that he and Penny and Charlie live/float on. The writers of LOST said they got the idea to include this book from reading an article by another famous author (can't remember who...and it doesn't matter) who said he wanted to read that book before he died. The story might not have a ton to do with LOST story-lines, but in it a man forsakes his inheritance, conceals his identity and sets out to find out if the woman he was engaged to marry would like him for him...not because he's tough like Dirty Harry or makes her laugh just like Jim Carrey (he's like the Cable Guy). Some other books are shown in the episode on the book shelves of Ben's discheveled home, and those include: Flowers For Algernon, Roots, Uncle Tom's Cabin

- When Ben and Sun are talking outside of Ben's house they hear a noise in the bushes and Ben says "What's about to come out of that jungle...I have no control over" and what comes out isn't the Monster but Locke. Two things: One, this is showing that Ben's control/power over Locke is no more. Locke says a few key lines to back that idea up. Second, Ben and the Others have never had any control over the Monster. But then how does that sonic fence play in to this and how does it keep Smokey out? Especially if what Alpert said ("That fence might keep other things out, but not us") is accurate.

-When Ben summoned Smokey he unplugged some drain and water went down in to a hole. Then he speaks in to the hole, "I'll be outside." This shows some sort of personal relationship he must have with Smokey. Or it's just interesting, compelling writing for the audience's sake. Also important here is the fact that the house Ben lived in (and called Smokey from) was built before he even came to the island with his dad when he was a little kid so that, and that fact there is a sonic fence, means Dharma people must have known about Smokey and even built one of the homes over the room where Monster is summoned from.

Okay, I've written a lot here already so I will end things now. Next week's episode is called "Some Like It Hoth" and while I'm guessing Hoth will end up being the name of some character, its also the name of the frozen wonderland planet the rebel base is located on in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

Good luck and God's speed.

-John Locke's Pants