5.12 - Dead Is Dead

Title’s significance: Reversing his position with Locke, Ben tells Sun, “Dead is dead. You don’t get to come back from that.”

Recap: Ben gets flashbacks that first feature his recovery in the camp of The Others and his first meeting with Charles Widmore. Years later, Bad Haircut Ben (variant action figure) abducts Alex from Rousseau with young Ethan’s help; at Widmore’s orders, Ben was supposed to kill Rousseau and Alex but disobeyed. After The Purge, Ben exiles Widmore, and years later he attempts to make good on his promise to kill Penny before Desmond stops him. In 2007, Ben tells Locke that he knew he’d come back to life, but Locke’s not buying it. Ben confesses that he broke the rules by coming back and that he was going back to the main island to be judged by the smoke monster. Ben tries to play Caesar against Locke, admitting to Locke that killing him was an unfortunate necessity to bring everyone back. When Caesar tries to stop Ben and Locke from taking a boat, Ben blows him away with his own shotgun, and Locke suggests that Ben needs to be judged for killing his daughter. At the barracks, Ben finds Sun and Frank in his house, where he learns about who’s in 1977 and reveals that Locke’s not so dead. Frank returns to the Hydra island as Ben summons the monster, but only Locke comes stumbling out of the jungle and says it’s time to go to The Temple. At The Temple, Ben asks Locke to apologize to Desmond for him, and Bram and Ilana seize control of the 316ers’ camp. Ben falls through the floor in The Temple, into a chamber where the smoke monster emerges and judges him; the monster then takes the form of Alex and tells Ben not to hurt John Locke.

Thoughts: Ben’s been overdue for a set of flashbacks, and this set is just as good as the last one, answering so many more questions about Ben while setting up for the rest of the season. I’m surprised this episode wasn’t written by Damon & Carlton, though I’m sure they were looking over the shoulders of the episode’s actual writers. This episode is also noteworthy for confirming every one of my suspicions that the smoke monster is Jacob’s nemesis, but more on that in the Roundup.

Favorite moment: It’s a tie between Ben’s apparent murder of Desmond (seconds before he gets back up) or the judgment of Ben.

Characters introduced (in order):

• No new characters introduced in this episode.

What we learned:

• Bram and Ilana are in cahoots.
• Ben claims to have known that Locke would come back to life, but he tells Sun he was lying about that.
• Ben kills Caesar.
• Ben was ordered to kill Rousseau and Alex, but he refused.
• The secret chamber in Ben’s house leads to a cavern and a pool that Ben drains in order to summon the monster.
• Ben exiled Widmore for having a family off-island.
• The smoke monster seems to reside inside of The Temple.
• The smoke monster's function seems to be to judge people.

Questions:

• What’s in the crate that Bram and Ilana have?
• Why did Ben tell Rousseau to run from the whispers?
• Was Caesar just a giant red herring?
• Why can’t Locke remember how he got out of the coffin?
• How does Locke know where The Temple is?
• Who built The Temple?
• What lies in the shadow of the statue?
• What does the riddle mean?
• Who are Bram and Ilana really working for?
• What doe the hieroglyphics in The Temple mean?
• Why doesn’t the smoke monster want Locke harmed?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• Was Caesar a red herring or not? He seemed very important, and with an old-timey name like Caesar he might have connections to Jacob, but this isn’t the first time that seemingly main characters have been whacked without warning (see “Exposé”).
• Big hint for the “Jacob’s nemesis is the smoke monster” theory – Ben summons the smoke monster to come out of the jungle, but only Locke emerges, and we already know that UnLocke is Jacob’s nemesis.
• The Temple hints at an Egyptian connection, also at some kind of connection between the smoke monster and the statue under which Jacob lives.
• Note also that Locke disappears when Ben goes to be judged; the monster takes the form of Alex, disappears, and then Locke shows up again, only after the monster tells Ben to obey Locke’s every word. Seems awful suspicious to me. To recap, UnLocke = Jacob’s nemesis = smoke monster.