LOST Analysis 5×12: “Dead is Dead”

I know, I know, I haven’t released one of these in a month. I just didn’t know what to talk about – I could point out the obvious things that everyone else noticed, but I prefer to come to my own conclusions. This time, all I have is my own knowledge of Lost; I haven’t read anything from anyone else. I hope you enjoy.

Who amongst Lost fans does not love the well-oiled machine that is Benjamin Linus? Ever since his first appearance as “Henry Gale from Minnesotta” (which I actually rewatched yesterday), he’s been leaving us awestruck and speechless at his actions, considering whether he’s the true evil of the show or actually one of the good guys. Ever since his first centric episode, the fantastic classic “The Man Behind the Curtain”, he’s been portrayed as a more likable and human character than the all-knowing evildoer he appears to be, and once again we see his humanity on “Dead is Dead”, Ben’s very own Season Five episode.

On the last two episodes (the ones I didn’t analyze), Lil’ Benjy was shot and left for dead by Sayid, and then brought to the Others’ Temple (which has clearly nothing to do with DHARMA, in spite of being portrayed with a DHARMA symbol in a map back in Season Four’s “Meet Kevin Johnson”…) to be healed. This episode begins with a flashback that picks off after his stay at the Temple, with Charles Widmore introducing himself to the kiddo. It’s an interesting, if simple, scene to watch, because it’s such a friendly start to their rivalry. Almost (God forgive me for this reference) like Obi-Wan and Anakin in Star Wars Episode I.

I also like how Richard defends that it was Jacob’s call. Back in “The Man Behind the Curtain”, Ben told Locke that Richard didn’t answer to Jacob, only him; apparently, that’s either not true or Richard just passed that role onto Ben, but the fact is that Richard is perfectly aware of Jacob’s identity and it’s likely that he introduced Ben to him after his leadership was established.

Then, we skip to Ben waking up to face newborn John Locke and to swiftly lie about knowing of his rebirth, which he complements with some honesty on why he returned – to be judged by the Smoke Monster, Cerberus itself (oh, and later we get to finally see the “Cerberus Vents”, as DHARMA called it, which we first glimpsed back in Season One’s finale when Locke was almost dragged down them).

Cut to Ben hanging out with the increasingly suspicious “survivors” of Flight 316. More and more I believe Ilanna was sent by Widmore’s faction (or perhaps someone else’s – maybe even Eloise Hawking herself) to board Flight 316, taking Sayid with her, and arrive on the Island to fulfill some mission; the code she asks later on, “What lies in the shadow of the statue?”, just gives me the same vibe, as it could refer to the Anubis Statue (it’s Anubis, I’m sure) we’ve seen before.

Caesar, who, in spite of his suspicious attitude some episodes ago, actually seems to be the less weird of all them, is conned by Ben to question Locke’s sanity, in his move to once again try to eliminate his power nemesis. Later on, Ben has a change of heart, apparently stopping Caesar’s with a well-aimed blow to the chest using a sawn-off shotgun.

As I usually say, the plot thickens.

Flashback time! Back in ‘89, younger Ben and teenage Ethan do a very Otherly mission for Widmore, being sent to eliminate Danielle Rousseau, again portrayed by the very charming Melissa Farman (with all due respect to Mira Furlan, who’ll always be the Danielle Rousseau). It was a very good scene to watch, especially because it’s a continuity question that’s been burning in my mind for long: how Ben had a daughter with the Others and yet stayed in DHARMA, since Alex was stolen pre-Purge. Now we know, and it makes sense.

By the way, since I didn’t make a LOST Analysis for “Namaste”, I didn’t have a chance to propose this, but I was thinking Ethan might be stolen from Amy as a baby, as the Others had the habit of doing. However, having watched this episode and seen Charles’s attitude regarding baby Alex, I’m not so sure anymore.

Anyway, despite loving the scene, it’s a bit of a noticeable retcon because of two things. First, back in her first appearance in “Solitary”, Rousseau told Sayid she never saw any of the Others, but here she is, staring at Ben’s face back in ‘89. Second, and this is very fresh in my mind as I watched the episode recently, in “One of Them” Rousseau gave “Henry Gale” to Sayid for interrogation. She did make it clear he was an Other, but she didn’t seem to recognize him. Of course, back then Michael Emerson wasn’t expected to have such a big role, but it’s a bit of a stretch to ask us to believe that, after such a traumatic event, Rousseau didn’t memorize the face of the man who took her daughter.

Oh, and in Lostpedia they also pointed out that Rousseau said there was a column of black smoke when her daughter was kidnapped, which they considered a continuity error. Two things (again) wrong with that supposition: she said that while planning to steal Aaron, so it could have been a lie to distract the castaways (as she started a fire herself later to create a pillar of smoke and lure them away), and we see on that flashback that the Others were camping. It’s not so hard to believe that she might have come out of her tent afterwards, saw the smoke of the campfire in the sky, and memorized that image because of the shock.

Returning to the Other’s camp, Ben faces the wrath of Charles, who wanted Danielle dead. Ben valiantly defies his leadership and, most importantly, his reasoning, proving once and for all that he didn’t take Alex off her mother’s hands out of mere evil, but because he wanted to protect the child, and possibly reunite her with her mother later, as he also tries to convince Big Other Charlie to let crazy young Danielle to live.

However, Charles proves how much of a heartless bastard he actually is by demanding the baby be killed. No wonder he had so many problems with his own daughter.

Thankfully, Ben is a good guy when it comes to children, and so he takes Alex as his daughter. Yay!

There’s also a very good Ben/Locke scene in the midst of those two flashbacks, with the usual great delivery of both actors, and Locke reading Ben like an open book, realizing he didn’t came back because of the Island’s rules, but because of his guilt. This is when I understood the whole point of the episode – it’s Ben’s father-daughter story, literally the beginning and end of it.

Ben and Locke get to the Barracks and find that there’s someone in Ben’s old house. There’s a very nice horror movie-style scene -  I actually thought it was Christian inside the house, so it worked -, and it turns out it’s only Sun and Frank who’re waiting for the big Messiah, under orders from Christian.

Also, is it just me, or does Ben seem to recognize Christian’s name? There’s more to that story than they’ve let us know…

Frank serves as the voice of reason against Locke’s story of “I died, resurrected, and now you must follow me”, wanting to return to the closest they’ll get to the real world now – the other survivors. Sun, however, is intent on getting back to her husband, so she stays behind.

In the meantime, Ben gets down and dirty in the secret basement of his house, trying to wake the Monster up by flushing the toilet. Not the most hygienic method.

Flashback to: the tyrant’s banishment! Hooray! Now we know the truth behind Penny’s life – she was never on the Island, as she’s part of Charles’s family off-Island. Hopefully that means her mother’s not Ellie, i.e. Eloise Hawking, because that’d give Lost yet another story of half-siblings who don’t know about each other (Jack-Claire, anyone?), which would be a bit too much. I’ll swallow any “coincidences”, but please don’t give us more half-siblings. I’ve had enough with Boone&Shannon and Jack&Claire. And Christian&Jacob.

DUN DUN DUUN!

Nah, just kidding.

The following speech by Charles Widmore – “And one day, you’ll be standing where I’m standing now. You’ll be the one being banished. And then you’ll finally realize that you cannot fight the inevitable.” – actually makes me think of the time Ben turned the wheel himself. That scene has always been on my mind as a weird, quasi-retconned moment, as Ben turns to the top of the wheel and says “I hope you’re happy, Jacob”, when later we find out Jacob wanted Locke to turn the wheel and not him. It felt weird that Ben might say that when he’s disobeying Jacob’s own desires, but now I’m thinking that perhaps he just means the fact that he’s being banished off the Island, which would happen sooner or later anyway (and, since Locke had been “chosen”, sooner than he thought).

Back in 2008’s DHARMALand, Ben waits for the Smoke Train, but it doesn’t seem to show up, so Locke tells him he’s gained precognitive knowledge with his rebirth, and leads him to the Temple, bringing the episode full circle (Lil’ Ben coming out of the Temple, Big Ben going back in). However, he must not take the scenic route, but rather go through the Cerberus Vents (or probably the Temple’s sewers, if we remember the “toilet” Ben had in his house).

Oh, but wait, I’m getting ahead of myself. Before he gets to the Temple, we have a flashback to that mysterious pier that we saw bloodied Ben call Jack from. And we find out what exactly went on that got Ben so beat up, both metaphorically and literally.

To be honest, I realized last night (I watched the episode today, FYI) how stupid I was for not deciphering the oh-so-obvious scene. A pier. Desmond and Penny were living in a boat, and Desmond was in Los Angeles not two days before. Of course Ben was going after Penny, why else would he be on a pier? D’oh!

So Ben goes to the pier after gloating a bit over the phone to his ol’ rival Charles, shoots Desmond’s grocery bag (but not Desmond, thankfully), turns to Penny, aims… and then Charlie Widmore II comes along and Ben loses his nerve. I found it so awesome that he can’t do anything bad to children – if there has ever been a clear sign that he might just be “the good guy”, it was this episode. First he spared Danielle after finding her daughter, and now, twenty years later, he spares Penny after finding her son. He can’t hurt mothers, as he’s missed his own his whole life.

But Desmond can hurt him, and he sure does. As tradition demands, every season Ben must be beaten and broken, and this was no exception. I particularly love the underwater scene with blood coming out of his mouth.

By the way, it’s good to see Desmond again. He, along with Ben and the forever-misused Miles, have been the most underused characters this season.

Back in real time, Frank gets to the shore, Ilanna asks some sort of code, beats him up, and sounds eerie. Sorry, Ajira 316 plot, the rest of this episode is just too enthralling and your characters too underdeveloped to pay you too much attention.

At the Temple, Ben opens up with Locke on the true reason of him being there – to atone for his daughter’s death, which he could have avoided had he not been selfish. He thanks Locke for supporting him even though he strangled him to death, and then falls through a hole. Typical.

In the Heart of Darkness, Ben spots some more hieroglyphs (too bad there’s no online translator for those, eh?) and an image of Anubis, the Egyptian God of Afterlife, which once again brings us to the theme of “underworld”, which dates back to Season Two and the Swan’s hieroglyphic message, which, in case you haven’t realized yet, meant “underworld”. It also pretty much confirms that the Four-Toed Statue is of Anubis (which was clear enough before, what with the profile and ankhs on its hands and all that), but I guess some people will need to see it painted in the skies to believe it.

Then Smokey appears. Oh boy!

Cerberus, guardian of the underworld, surrounds Ben and looks into his past, not unlike what it did with Mr. Eko back in “The 23rd Psalm”. And what does it show? Ben killing people? Ben defying Jacob? Ben lying? No, it shows Ben and Alex during their time together, up to her death. It was a great emotional beat and honestly heartbreaking, especially when Smokey materializes into Alex in order to pass its message.

Back when “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” came out, I theorized that Yemi and Christian were Jacob’s way of communicating his will through the Monster, and now I’m pretty sure I’m right. The “Alex” we saw in this episode falls more into the category of Faux Yemi (that is, just a manifestation of the Monster) than Christian (the very same person, brought back to the “land of the living” in an undead state, to do Jacob’s bidding), as, after playing Alex for a bit, “she” threatened to “hunt [Ben] down and destroy [him]“. I don’t want to sound derogatory, but I find it hard to imagine Tania Raymonde, with that slim physique, hunting Ben through the jungle. Now if we assume, just assume, that it’s the Monster, then that sounds more believable, don’t you think?

And then, Ben promises to follow the leadership of John Locke, breaks down in tears (it’s never nice to be threatened by your dead daughter. Not that I would know), and “Alex” leaves. I always love it when a previous guest star comes back in an unknown capacity, and the scene was flawless. They could have just used Christian Shephard in some way again, but having the Monster act as Alex brought much more gravitas to the scene.

And the jury’s out – Ben lives. Thank God, man, because I can’t imagine Lost without him anymore.

Okay, I guess that’s a wrap-up. I bet that was a long read, and trust me, it was even harder to write – I’ve been at this for over two hours. My arm hurts, but I’m satisfied. I can’t force myself to write these LOST Analysis posts, but when I’m inspired, it’s enjoyable.

Next week we have… GASP! A Miles episode? You mean… the most underused Season Four newbie is getting his own centric episode? Finally! He’s got that ghost-whisperer ability and that charisma and yet everyone seems to look down on him. I’m glad they’re finally giving him the screentime he needs.

And teaming him up with Hurley? Nice move. Dead is dead, and Miles knows that some of the dead like it… hoth. “Some Like it Hoth”, next week – don’t ask me what it means! All I know is that there’s some movie called “Some Like It Hot” that I never watched, and Hoth is a planet from Star Wars (two Star Wars mentions in one post, ha!). Other than that, it feels like it’s the most random episode name ever, more suitable as a codename.

Maybe it is… but for what?

Well, I dunno! That’s all from me. See ya next week? I’m not sure, but Miles Straume is awesome, so perhaps you will.