Apr 08 2009
Almost-live blogging — 5×12 Dead is Dead
Hello, and welcome to the Special Passover Edition of “Almost-Live” blogging, full of puns and analogies stretched past the breaking point.
9:04 Alpert, with a fresh application of mascara, mentions Jacob. But where IS Jacob? Everyone always talks about him, but no one ever actually sees him…. um, just like Elijah?
The Island saved Little Ben, which explains how he survived a gunshot wound to the chest. It’s a miracle … like the parting of the Red Sea!
Charles is back!
Ben explains why he killed John. He says he came back to be judged by the “Monster.”
9:17 Ben, with teenage Ethan, grabs Danielle’s baby. Wow. There’s one long-standing question answered — how Alex ended up with Ben. But it still leaves the question of why.
Ben, to Locke: “Well I just didn’t have time to talk you back into hanging yourself.”
Locke: “I was just hoping for an apology.”
Ben shoots Cesar! Wow, that is COLD. Ben, to Locke: “There’s your apology.”
Ben is evil … like the Pharoah!
9:27 Flashback. Ben with Alex. Now we know why he took Alex. The answers are coming fast tonight. I count, ahem, Four Questions that have been answered so far in this episode.
Neither Charles nor Ben will kill baby Alex, so there are limits to their evil. Ben, with the baby, is actually quite the softie. So sweet …. like charoses!
Back to the present. Someone is in Alex’s room! Horror-film music. It’s Sun!
Um, there was a lot of sun in the desert that the Israelites wandered through for 40 years.
Undead John waves sweetly. More charoses!
9:38 Ben goes down secret passageway, sticks hand in yucky dirty water. You better, uh, wash your hands, Ben!
Flashback. Charles banished from the Island. Ben says, accusingly, that Charles had a daughter with an outsider. Penny!
Ben: “Dead is dead.” He’s tells Sun that John being undead scares him. Is he telling the truth?
John says he knows where Smokie is.
He will lead Ben to Smokie … like Moses led his people out of bondage!
9:49 Ben on the pier. So it WAS Penny he wanted to kill! That’s another question answered. That makes — uh oh — five questions.
In the present: Locke: “I just know.” Ben: “How does that work, exactly?” Hah.
They see the Temple wall. Uh, next year in Jerusalem!
Back at the pier. Ben is as bitter as a bitter herb. He shot Desmond!!! There’s Penny! Oh, Ben has a soft spot for children, which makes him (ahem) pass over Penny. Yay, Desmond’s not dead! That explains how Ben got beat up. Question number 6 now answered. Ewwww — blood in the water.
10:02 Ilana: “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” She knocks Lapidus down. This is seriously weird.
Ben and Locke wander through a structure underneath the temple. Ben falls through the floor. There’s an altar with Egyptian hieroglyphics. (Egypt! Hello, Passover tie-ins!) There’s a picture of a snake-like creature (Smokie?) facing what I think may be the animal-like head of the Statue.
And theeeeeere’s Smokie! Full of faces from the past, as it had been with Eko. Oh! Alex!! Undead!! Hah — she’s still mad at him. So much for Ben’s getting forgiveness for his sins. But that would be the wrong holiday, anyway.
———-
There was a lot of information in this episode, many questions answered. But I found it a bit inert. I didn’t find it really exciting until the scene on the pier, which was an adrenalin pumper. And I was intrigued by the bizarre scene with Ilana and Lapidus. And I loved the scene after that, where Ben and Locke were wandering around in the strange underground temple, a scene which felt like something straight out of a dream.
Photo of (ahem) Big Ben is by David Iliff, GNU FDL, via Wikipedia
I just finished watching the online Lost and they must have left off the last few minutes — the last part I saw was Ben getting ready to go into the temple. That stinks!
I was giddy at the beginning of the episode where they confirmed that I was right — the place they took Ben to was the Temple!
I would have never guessed that young boy with Ben was Ethan.
That whole scene on the pier with Ben and Desmond and Penny — wow!
There were a lot of questions answered in this episode.
I liked how you attempted to associate the episode with Easter/Passover. Good job.
Thanks, laneerg!
That’s TERRIBLE that they cut off the ending on the online viewer!!!
Three cheers for being right about Little Ben being taken to Smokie’s temple!
Cheers also to everyone who said that it was Penny that Ben had been trying to kill at the pier!