Thursday, April 9, 2009

Dead is Dead


I felt like this was a very good episode. A lot of loose ends were tied up and we got to see Ben suffer....which is always a plus.

I absolutely loved the power struggle and reversal of roles between Ben and Locke! They way John kept taunting him and reminding him about his impeding judgement was hilarious. Wasn't it great to see Ben squirm? I think this is the first time we've ever seen Ben really afraid. And now Ben has to do everything John says. Boy, this oughta be good.


I never bought Ben's whole, "I'm here to be judged" line. After a while I did believe he cared about Alex and felt bad for letting her be killed, but really, why would the smoke monster care about that? Ben's killed a lot of other people (or allowed them to be killed). I don't think the smoke monster is real picky when it comes to death...at least not for the average person.

I liked the emphasis on children in this episode. (Children besides Aaron, that is.) We see Ben sparing Rousseau's life because of Alex and then Ben sparing Penny's life because of Charlie. It is nice to see that something is sacred to Ben.


And speaking of little Charlie....I almost jumped up and cheered when Desmond (after having already been shot) beats Ben to a pulp. I have a feeling that, like the rest of us, he had been waiting to do that for a long time. I did feel like that scene was way too short and there wasn't enough Desmond in the episode, though.

Poor Ceasar! He just got on the show. We were just beginning to get interested in trying to figure out who he was and what his role would be when Ben killed him. I felt really bad for him....although when I think about it......would you rather just be shot down in cold blood or have to live on the island for 3 years, travel through time until your nose bleeds, and then get stuck in Dharma land for 30 more years all while trying to unravel the mysteries of the island? It really is a toss up.

I think this episode is further proving what I've been saying for quite some time. The smoke monster is Jacob. He takes on a host body so that he can be seen and heard by the living. He has appeared in the body of Echo's brother, Christian Shephard and now Alex....not to mention several others. I think he is also using the body of John Locke.

That's right. John is dead! As Ben said, "Dead is dead. You don't get to come back from that. Not even here." I think we will discover that John never really did resurrect, his body is just being used by Old Smokey to do the work of the island. John is the new Jacob. As always, we will have to wait and see.

Most Hurley-esque line of the night:
Frank Lapidis, "As long as the dead guy says there's a reason I guess everything's gonna be just peachy."

Typical Ben line of the night:
Benjamin Linus, "I just didn't have time to talk you back in to hanging yourself."
"Is That Supposed to Make Me Feel Better" line of the night:
John Locke, "I assure you Sun, I'm the same man I've always been."

Best Commercial of the night:
Metallica Guitar Hero (Made even funnier by the fact that even though we were watching LOST on our DVR my husband chose not to skip that particular commercial. When he realized Heidi Klum wouldn't be appearing it was priceless.)

Newest Mysteries:
What is up with Ilana and her goons? What could they possibly be up to?
What lies in the shadow of the statue?
Why was Ben able to return to the island when Whidmore has never managed to?

Revelations:
There were horses on the island...maybe Sawyer wasn't crazy after all.
Whidmore had some whacked out hair back in the 70s. Didn't we all?
The whispers are significant and should be avoided at all costs.
Ben did not know about Eloise Hawking until John mentioned it just before he died.
Whidmore was banished from the island for leaving and returning too many times.
Ben did not kill Penny.

Coming Up:
I'm so glad that we get to find out more about Miles next week. His powers haven't been a part of the show for a long time. We need to get back to that I think. Plus, I just like the 70s Dharma storyline a lot right now.
Check out The LOST Books Challenge for more theories.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooooooh! I LOVE your theory about the smoke monster. That is too, too good!

I think there's more to the Desmond/Penny/Charlie situation though. I don't think Ben would have wanted Sun to appologize for just attempting to kill Penny. I don't know if she's dead, but I think there was more that happened we didn't see.

~*Michelle*~ said...

*high five* on the smoke monster theory.....

I loved seeing Ben squirm....and even though he showed a softer humane side with children.....I was happy he got the snot kicked out of him by Desmond.

My recap is up too....

can't wait for next week....I need my Hurly, Sawyer and Miles fix.

Diane said...

The smoke monster must be able to inhabit two people at once, then, as we've seen both Christian and Claire in the same scene, after Claire was known to be dead.

I think the statue on the island was Anubis - we only saw the backside of the entire statue. I'm beginning to think the island was sacred to him - a haven for the dead.

Unknown said...

The horse thing was a big mystery to me. I remember Charlie or Hurley or someone saw a horse in the 1st or 2nd season, but that's been the only other time I've seen a horse. The Lapidus quote was my favorite of the night as well.

Great recap!

Lauren said...

Good theory!

Cainan & Ryker said...

#1: We don't know that Ben didn't kill Penny, or Charlie, later.

#2: We don't know that Claire is dead. I think she probably isn't.
Kate said she "disappeared".

#3: My theory only works if John disappeared while the smoke monster was inhabiting Alex (hence not inhabiting two people at once)....which looks very plausible.

Sarah Eliza @ devastateboredom said...

Ohhh intriguing... I did a whole long post about the smoke monster and the tie-in with the hieroglyphics, and how I thought the non-dead people were just manifestations of the smoke monster... but the whole time I was assuming that Locke is indeed Actually Alive. It never once occurred to me that maybe he's just being manipulated as well... I mean, that's what seemed to have happened with Christian, who was his parallel on the return to the island.

In-ter-esting... you're totally two steps ahead of me on this one! :)

Jenny Girl said...

Locke as the new Jacob! Great idea. I so did not think of that, and it makes complete sense. Christian was Jacob before Ben got there.

I enjoyed seeing Ben scared to death.

Jenny Girl said...

Locke as the new Jacob! Great idea. I so did not think of that, and it makes complete sense. Christian was Jacob before Ben got there.

I enjoyed seeing Ben scared to death.

kisatrtle said...

oh I like your smoke monster theory. I too am excited to learn more about miles. Do you really think John Locke is dead?

Seth said...

There's a good back-and-forth analysis here if you haven't seen it: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/celebritology/2009/04/lost_dueling_analysis_dead_is.html

I'm one of those folks who think that the issue here is that the 'leader' of the Others - whomever that might be at any given time - is ultimately overcome by the 'power' they have and does things in accordance with their own beliefs and NOT what is best for the Island.

See: Alpert taking Ben to save him and Widmore bending the "rules" to leave the island.

Though I'm with you that the "rules" the island has might not be so immutable, just like Farraday's time-travel "rules" might eventually be revealed as bunk.

Nice recap and I like your theory on Smokey.

Kacie said...

yay! Great minds do think alike. I wonder, though, if "Jacob" is inhabiting Locke, or if "Jacob" was just another body the smoke monster once used to control the "hostiles". I feel like we're seeing more of Smokey but not much more of Jacob.