Matt and Justin's Lost Rewatch

Dead Is Dead

JUSTIN SAYS:

“Dead is Dead” is really the episode that begins the final march to the season finale as we see Ben’s return to the Island as well as the new John Locke emerging powerful, dominating and somewhat different to the Man of Faith we’ve known in the past. Watching him in this episode is incredible. The subtle changes in his behavior and his subtext-loaded dialogue make this one of my favorite episodes of Season Five.

The episode opens with Charles Widmore riding back into camp on a horse. We find out he is none to happy about Ben being at the Temple just as Aldo predicted last episode. Alpert doesn’t really care and pulls out the Jacob card indicating Jacob had told him to do it which is a lie. We are then treated to the first meeting between Ben and Charles who would later become the greatest of arch enemies. Charles sets the tone for the life of young Ben as he tells him “Just because you’re with them [DHARMA] doesn’t mean you can’t be one of us.”

Ben tries to lie to Locke when he wakes up by saying, “I knew it. I knew this would happen.” Locke isn’t buying it and asks him why he was trying to secretly leave for the other Island. Ben replies, “I broke the rules. I was going back to be judged.” By what Locke asks. “We don’t have a word for it. I believe you call it the monster.”

We see a young Ethan lying in wait with Ben. Seems Ethan got his baby snatching training early. He was quite eager to go and take Alex in Ben’s place.

Ben charges the camp and takes Alex, knocking over her infamous music box in the process. His conscience gets him in the end and he spares her life telling her, “Every time you hear whispers, you run the other way.” Knowing what the whispers are, this makes no sense, however, it does explain Rousseau’s paranoia over them as well as her obsession with them.

Ben explains why he killed Locke: to reunite the Oceanic 6. He reiterates that Locke had failed to get them together but his death would unite them. When asked why he didn’t just let Locke commit suicide Ben answers that he had to get critical information, Eloise’s name. It was in the best interest of the Island for Locke to die. Or rather, in the best interest of MIB.

Ben expresses his nervousness at being judged by the monster. Locke answers him, “If everything you’ve done is in the best interest of the Island, then I’m sure the monster will understand.” It is just AMAZING watching these scenes now knowing that Locke is the monster.

Cesar attempts to stop Locke and Ben from leaving in the outrigger. “You looking for this?” Ben asks, then blows him away with the gun he’d stolen. Cesar dies. What was the point of him again?

Ben and Ethan bring Alex back to camp. Widmore is not pleased to see the baby. Ben asks what he was supposed to do with the baby and Charles says kill it. But, seems this was not as easy as it sounds as he declines to do it himself when Ben tells him to.

Another brilliant line knowing that Locke is MIB. Ben says, “You don’t know the first thing about what the Island wants. Locke answers, “Are you so sure about that?”

MIB as Christian told Frank and Sun they needed to wait to see John Locke. Essentially, he told them to listen to him.

Ben was truly shocked to see the photo of the DHARMA days with all the LOSTies in it which makes sense seeing as how the Temple wiped all memory of them from him.

I’ve always loved the relationship between Ben and Locke but maybe never as much as at this point in Season Five. Their banter is awesome. Also cool to see Locke have the upper hand as he does in this episode.

Ben opens his secret entrance and we see the inner door with hieroglyphics all over it. This will later be referenced when we find out that New Otherton is built over the tunnel portion of the Temple. He goes down and summons the monster by pulling the plug in that puddle of muddy water. A couple of thoughts occurred to me. Did this water source have something to do with the water source at the heart of the Island? Interesting that MIB went down that creek into the waterfall into the “cork area” to become Smokey then Ben reaches in and seeming pulls a cork to empty the reservoir to summon him.

Charles is being loaded on to the submarine in handcuffs to be sent off the Island. Ben comes to send him off. He mentions Penny by saying that Charles left the Island multiple times and even had a child with a woman off-Island. Funny that Charles’ little prediction comes true that one day the same things would happen to Ben. This truly begins the feud between the two of them. Charles even mentions the idea of Alex dying. The conversation ends with maybe Widmore’s best line of the series, uttered with as much vitriol as he can muster, “I’ll be seeing you, BOY.”

Ben returns from summoning the monster to find Locke is gone. Sun says he “had to do something”. Sun questions whether or not Locke really was dead off-Island. Ben assures her he was and tells Sun “Dead is Dead. You don’t get to come back from that.” He tells Sun to go inside because “What’s about to come out of that jungle I can’t control.” Locke walks out. The clues were right in front of us all along.

Locke says they should go to where the monster is. Ben tells him “I only know how to summon it. I don’t know where it is.” Another clue as Locke says, “I do”.

We see the errand that Ben went on when he left Jack in the hotel room in early Season Four. He calls Widmore and gloats that he’s going back to the Island and that he’s going to kill Penny. She is aboard her and Desmond’s boat “Our Mutual Friend”, of course a reference to Desmond’s favorite author, Charles Dickens.

They arrive at the wall around the Temple that we’ve seen several times. Locke says, “We’re not going in your Temple Ben. We’re going under it.” We then see the same hole that Montand was pulled into. Ut oh.

Ben asks Sun if she ever gets off the Island to tell Desmond Hume he’s sorry. For what? she asks. He’ll know. Sun never will leave the Island, but Desmond will return so I guess Ben can just tell him himself.

We then go back to the dock where Ben shoots Desmond. He calls out to Penny and is about to shoot her when, just like Rousseau, he can’t kill her because he sees Charlie. In that moment of indecision Desmond knocks him down and beats the living snot out of him.

Numbers Alert! The box with Locke’s body in it has AA823 on it.

Ilana asks the now infamous question: “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” for the first time. Unfortunately for Lapidus he doesn’t know and is knocked out. It is revealed that Ilana, Bram and some others are there for a purpose.

On the way down to be judged in the bowels of the Temple, Ben showed true repentance about being responsible for Alex’ death to Locke. That is why Smokey spared him after the judgment. He was truly sorry about what had happened to her.

There are many hieroglyphs down in the Temple, but the camera settles on one with a picture of the infamous four-toed statue on it squaring off with what looks to be a great pillar of Smoke. A very nicely veiled Jacob vs. MIB reference there.

The Smoke Monster arrives, seeping out of the altar of sorts and swirls around Ben. He begins to see flashes of light and flashes of his past. It is again confirmed that he is truly sorry for Alex’ death and the smoke gently goes back into the holes.

Ben then turns and sees Alex. Or rather what he thinks is Alex. He apologizes to her and then things get weird. She grabs him by the throat and says she knows he wants to kill Locke again. But instead he must follow every word that Locke says. Again, looking back knowing that the Smoke Monster was all of these people and manipulating things into completing his plan is absolutely genius.

As soon as Alex leaves, Locke appears back up above Ben with a vine to pull him up with. He asks Ben, “What happened?” Ben responds, “It let me live.” It did indeed.

An awesome end to one of the most satisfying episodes from start to finish of Season Five. And that is a tall order to fill.