Lost: Season 5, Episode 12 Review: Dead Is Dead
Dead Is DeadOriginal Airdate: April 8, 2009
Writer: Brian K. Vaughan and Elizabeth Sarnoff
Director: Stephen Williams
Of all the morsels divvied out in “316”, none created more discussion than the shot of Ben bloodied and soaked calling Jack at the pier. Fans figured that it would have to do with Penny and Desmond, placing one of the most beloved couplings on the show in jeopardy. Ben’s injuries and moisture implied things went wrong, but there was always the chance he pulled off the hit in a much sloppier way than he intended and needed more time for clean up. If Ben were to shatter this relationship forever it would’ve made him irredeemable in the eyes of the viewer, no matter what he did afterward. Ultimately that’s a spring board for one of the big questions of this episode: is it possible for a person who has lied and hurt so many people to be redeemed?
Through the episode weave two major threads regarding Ben: his potential for redemption and his relationship with Widmore. The latter is explained through the flashbacks as 77 Widmore is apprehensive of Young Ben being accepted into their circle, clearly feeling the signal that his time as leader is going to end. The tensions come to a head over Ben going off mission by sparing the Rousseaus and taking Alex, then they skip ahead a few years to see Widmore’s exile. Of course that leaves a lot of details to be fleshed out, but the brief moment touches on the key themes well.
Ultimately Widmore is angry at Ben for going against what he believes were the island’s orders to kill Rousseau and her daughter. Ironically, going against The Others’ key beliefs (Ben’s comments imply that Penny is the child Widmore fathered with “an outsider”) was what lead to Widmore being voted off the island. It may be an easy way to show him in a sympathetic light, but Ben, despite his faith and loyalty to the island, doesn’t see how murdering a child fits the island’s interests. As Widmore’s lead off, he comments that if the island wants it, it’ll happen. That could add a disturbing layer to Keamy’s team, sent in part to kill Rousseau and Alex as they were intended to 16 years previous.
The Widmore/Ben power struggles are important in its relation to Ben’s fear over his place on the island with Locke around. Of all the miracles he’s witnessed, he’s never seen resurrection, so he feels his status is seriously threatened and that he’ll have a similar fate to Widmore. He’s acted against the island’s wishes like Widmore whereas Locke has been far steadier. So he tries to get Locke out of the way by working up Caesar against Locke. He certainly knows a thing about a group of plane crash survivors worrying over the unknown element and uses that to his advantage. He changes his mind, knowing Locke can help him find his forgiveness and kills Caesar with a shotgun blast to the gut at close range.
A lot of people may have been disappointed that Caesar died so soon. He is a good example of the red herring: he was emphasized among the survivors of 316 and possibly hinted at as important to the story, but was just the latest body to the pile. One thing that is annoying about this is that Caesar somehow didn’t notice a shotgun even of that size was removed from his person. Ben can be stealthy, but not that much.
Ben’s desire to be judged obviously stems from his guilt over Alex’s death. Alex was the one person he truly loved (his Juliet obsession doesn’t count) and her last memory is of him denying it. This is compounded with Widmore’s warnings that the island’s wishes will be fulfilled eventually, possibly making Ben feel that his guilt is the island punishing him for not doing what it wanted. Not wanting to kill an innocent person to fulfill vague wishes that may not exist helps make Ben more sympathetic, which sounds a little ridiculous, but is sold well through Emerson.
Ben proves he is worthy of redemption because when he assumed Widmore’s role and has his chance for revenge, he didn’t go as dark. As he spared Rousseau when he learned she was a mother, so did he hesitate to kill Penny when Charlie spoke up. He knew what life was like without a mother and knew he couldn’t inflict it on anyone else. Then as Desmond pummeled Ben, Ben took those punches without response. That Ben even wanted to be judged shows a sign of redemption. All Widmore did was seek comfort at the bottom of a MacCutcheon’s. Ben’s still no saint (see the Caesar incident), but he has the capability to do some good.
The “trial” is an emotional scene, played really well by Emerson, who could’ve gone way over the top in his grief. Mirroring season two’s scan of Eko, which presented a collage of images from Eko’s life, Ben sees scenes of his querulous relationship with Alex and its tragic ending. It’s an intensified experience, one that literally engulfs Ben.
It turns out the only thing worse than being found guilty by The Monster is to be forgiven, as it appears as Alex to warn Ben not to go forward with any idea he has of killing Locke to keep his position safe. Clearly, if The Monster tells you to do something, you do it and there is no margin of error. Knowing where the season is headed, it’s pretty clear who The Smoke Monster is working for (I’ll delve into that in a future review), which makes this moment more interesting in retrospect.
As true with most of its appearances, more of The Monster mystery is uncovered. Its origins are ancient, as its home appears to be The Temple where art shows something that could be The Monster terrorizing Anubis or something similar. The hole Ben crawled into in “The Shape of Things To Come” to summon it is actually shown as something probably older than the temple. I’m not going to go into detail analyzing the sink Ben unplugged to summon it because that may just be some weird thing that won’t be explained.
One quick note: when Ben returns to his home for the first time since the siege, there’s a brief shot of the Risk game board that he used with Hurley and Locke. Some figured this means that Hurley’s comments in “The Shape of Things to Come” are somehow key to unraveling the mystery. It’s more likely that this is a nod to them paying close attention to detail, a sharp contrast from Young Ben’s magical moving bullet wound.
Ben’s last centric episode, “The Shape of Things to Come” was a highlight of the series. It showed why Michael Emerson is one of the most talented actors working today as well as why Ben is one of TV’s most fascinating characters. So a drop off is expected (like the drop from “The Constant” to “Jughead”), but there are still a lot of good moments and themes explored, and Michael Emerson is amazing doing just about anything on this show.
Through the episode weave two major threads regarding Ben: his potential for redemption and his relationship with Widmore. The latter is explained through the flashbacks as 77 Widmore is apprehensive of Young Ben being accepted into their circle, clearly feeling the signal that his time as leader is going to end. The tensions come to a head over Ben going off mission by sparing the Rousseaus and taking Alex, then they skip ahead a few years to see Widmore’s exile. Of course that leaves a lot of details to be fleshed out, but the brief moment touches on the key themes well.
Ultimately Widmore is angry at Ben for going against what he believes were the island’s orders to kill Rousseau and her daughter. Ironically, going against The Others’ key beliefs (Ben’s comments imply that Penny is the child Widmore fathered with “an outsider”) was what lead to Widmore being voted off the island. It may be an easy way to show him in a sympathetic light, but Ben, despite his faith and loyalty to the island, doesn’t see how murdering a child fits the island’s interests. As Widmore’s lead off, he comments that if the island wants it, it’ll happen. That could add a disturbing layer to Keamy’s team, sent in part to kill Rousseau and Alex as they were intended to 16 years previous.
The Widmore/Ben power struggles are important in its relation to Ben’s fear over his place on the island with Locke around. Of all the miracles he’s witnessed, he’s never seen resurrection, so he feels his status is seriously threatened and that he’ll have a similar fate to Widmore. He’s acted against the island’s wishes like Widmore whereas Locke has been far steadier. So he tries to get Locke out of the way by working up Caesar against Locke. He certainly knows a thing about a group of plane crash survivors worrying over the unknown element and uses that to his advantage. He changes his mind, knowing Locke can help him find his forgiveness and kills Caesar with a shotgun blast to the gut at close range.
A lot of people may have been disappointed that Caesar died so soon. He is a good example of the red herring: he was emphasized among the survivors of 316 and possibly hinted at as important to the story, but was just the latest body to the pile. One thing that is annoying about this is that Caesar somehow didn’t notice a shotgun even of that size was removed from his person. Ben can be stealthy, but not that much.
Ben’s desire to be judged obviously stems from his guilt over Alex’s death. Alex was the one person he truly loved (his Juliet obsession doesn’t count) and her last memory is of him denying it. This is compounded with Widmore’s warnings that the island’s wishes will be fulfilled eventually, possibly making Ben feel that his guilt is the island punishing him for not doing what it wanted. Not wanting to kill an innocent person to fulfill vague wishes that may not exist helps make Ben more sympathetic, which sounds a little ridiculous, but is sold well through Emerson.
Ben proves he is worthy of redemption because when he assumed Widmore’s role and has his chance for revenge, he didn’t go as dark. As he spared Rousseau when he learned she was a mother, so did he hesitate to kill Penny when Charlie spoke up. He knew what life was like without a mother and knew he couldn’t inflict it on anyone else. Then as Desmond pummeled Ben, Ben took those punches without response. That Ben even wanted to be judged shows a sign of redemption. All Widmore did was seek comfort at the bottom of a MacCutcheon’s. Ben’s still no saint (see the Caesar incident), but he has the capability to do some good.
The “trial” is an emotional scene, played really well by Emerson, who could’ve gone way over the top in his grief. Mirroring season two’s scan of Eko, which presented a collage of images from Eko’s life, Ben sees scenes of his querulous relationship with Alex and its tragic ending. It’s an intensified experience, one that literally engulfs Ben.
It turns out the only thing worse than being found guilty by The Monster is to be forgiven, as it appears as Alex to warn Ben not to go forward with any idea he has of killing Locke to keep his position safe. Clearly, if The Monster tells you to do something, you do it and there is no margin of error. Knowing where the season is headed, it’s pretty clear who The Smoke Monster is working for (I’ll delve into that in a future review), which makes this moment more interesting in retrospect.
As true with most of its appearances, more of The Monster mystery is uncovered. Its origins are ancient, as its home appears to be The Temple where art shows something that could be The Monster terrorizing Anubis or something similar. The hole Ben crawled into in “The Shape of Things To Come” to summon it is actually shown as something probably older than the temple. I’m not going to go into detail analyzing the sink Ben unplugged to summon it because that may just be some weird thing that won’t be explained.
One quick note: when Ben returns to his home for the first time since the siege, there’s a brief shot of the Risk game board that he used with Hurley and Locke. Some figured this means that Hurley’s comments in “The Shape of Things to Come” are somehow key to unraveling the mystery. It’s more likely that this is a nod to them paying close attention to detail, a sharp contrast from Young Ben’s magical moving bullet wound.
Ben’s last centric episode, “The Shape of Things to Come” was a highlight of the series. It showed why Michael Emerson is one of the most talented actors working today as well as why Ben is one of TV’s most fascinating characters. So a drop off is expected (like the drop from “The Constant” to “Jughead”), but there are still a lot of good moments and themes explored, and Michael Emerson is amazing doing just about anything on this show.
Overall Score: 8/10
posted by Matt @ 3:17 PM
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