Initial Thoughts: Dead Is Dead
OK, it’s wrong how much I love this show. I keep wondering how they are going to top themselves week after week but they just keep doing it. I don’t think that another show will ever be as captivating to me. I’m glad they won’t drag it on forever but dang it, I’ll miss it when it’s gone.
1. I almost forgot about how much I hated Keemy. Seeing him in the recap tonight reminded me just how evil he was.
2. I thought it was kind of funny how Charles was riding the horse with his long, flowing hair. Looked kind of Midevil.
3. Jacob didn’t want Ben to live and neither did the island. Richard forced that hand. It seems like Ben was thrust into the leader role but he wasn’t really meant for it, Locke was. So Ben didn’t really have a rivalry with Widmore, it’s more with Locke because Locke was born to be the leader. But, Widmore and Ben both wanted the leadership role thus creating the rivalry. And we’ve seen what Ben does to those who challenge or get in the way of what he wants (Juliet).
4. OK, if you are loving the new Locke raise your hand. He’s had a rebirth, literally. I was loving all the straight talk and no “BS” John Locke. This guy’s not the pushover softie anymore.
5. Hm, what is in the big silver mystery crate on the beach that Ilana and gang are trying to open? I think there are guns but they said it “needed moved” so maybe some homing devices so outsiders can find them?
6. Interesting that Ben is trying to tell Cesar that Locke wasn’t on the plane but he’s not going for it. Ben is switching roles now and he’s the survivor and Locke is the Other.
7.Remember that Jack’s tattoo says something along the lines of “He walks amongst us, but is not one of us.” I was reminded of that when Widmore tells Young Ben that just because he lives with the DI doesn’t mean he’s one of them.
8. Widmore ordered Ben to kill Danielle. But how could they have not known that she had a child? It’s interesting that Ben has such a soft spot for the children. He also lowers his gun when he’s about to kill Penny and little Charlie comes out from the boat. But the scene where Ben steals Alex was just horrible. And we still don’t know what all the smoke signals were about when Danielle stole baby Aaron and tried to trade him for Alex.
9. Ben mentions that Danielle should run when she hears the whispers. But I don’t necessarily think he controls them. Need to stew on that one a bit.
10. Locke calling Ben’s bluff about the smoke monster, just awesome. What we’ve been waiting for for awhile. Some straight talking.
11. Ben knows about Ilana and Cesar not being “just” passengers. I’m not convinced that Cesar and Ilana are necessarily working together though either. So many new elements to consider.
12. Why would Widmore think that Danielle was a threat to the island or was he just being a bully?
13. Did Ben think that instead of killing Danielle he was doing her a favor by stealing Alex? Seems pretty messed up. Almost seems like Kate’s excuse for taking Aaron, to protect him, but in reality she wanted the baby.
14. Ben doesn’t remember the rest of the O6 in DI, even though he was there. Ben looks pretty shocked to hear that Sun has been talking to Christian. We don’t know the connection yet with Ben and Christian. Will be very interesting to see how this all fits.
15. So cute when Ben was swinging Alex. Almost made me forget that he’s a kidnapper. But I do believe that she is the one person that he truly ever loved.
16. Has Ben been controlling when Smokey comes out to play? Looks that way. But before Ben was in control someone else had to be calling it’s moves.
17. Ben’s wigs were really awful. Too much in special effects and nothing left for hair pieces?
18. I like how Ben tells Sun he can’t control what comes out of the woods and then John walks out. Funny. But what was our buddy Locke doing out in the woods? And, he can’t control Locke anymore.
19. Ben has killed many, many people. The only one he thinks he must atone for is Alex.
20. We assume that Ben doesn’t kill Penny but I don’t know that for sure. The last we see Ben is in the water. I only hope that it’s true.
21. “What lies in the shadow of the statue?” A riddle, like the snowman riddle Desmond has when they first go into the hatch.
22. I loved this epi but the flashes of Alex in the smoke monster were a wee bit cheesy. Again, seems like the budget must have been a little thin this week. But the meaning was still there so I’ll forgive them. It was all just so Wizard of Oz like when Dorothy is being swirled around in the tornado on her way to Oz.
23. Alex comes to Ben like Yemi came to Eko. Only Eko turned against him and was killed whereas Ben does not.
24. Has the smoke monster given Ben back the innocence it took away from him as a child? I can’t wait to see!
April 9th, 2009 at 1:38 am
Cesar sure didn’t last too long.
GG – I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who caught the simularity between that question Ilana asked Frank – “What lies in the shadow of the Statue.” and the “What did one snowman say to the other.” that Desmond asked Locke when they first met. It seems like a new team has arrived on the island but that the members don’t know who each other are and that’s their code for each other. The silver container must be their supplies and weapons. I have been suspecting that the DI would be making another play for the island, they’ve been putting out clues that the DI would be back since the end of last season, like that recruitment poster they had online for a while looking for scientists and ex-military people. I think Ilana and some of the others are the DI’s bid to reclaim the island.
Ben does have a soft spot for children. I’m glad little Charlie showed up to save Penny. I was also glad to see that Desmond was okay as well.
It was funny how Ben told Sun how he couldn’t control what was coming out of the jungle, then there comes Locke. He was told the same thing by Alex when he went to get judged by smokey. I think that does answer things that the dead we see walking around do have something to do with smokey seeing Alex appear after smokey left. I kind of suspected that with Yemi when smokey showed up right after to kill Ecko.
I am not totally sure about the connection between the Others, smokey and the whispers. The whispers always seem to happen just before the Others show up, like they did when Cindy was snatched and Keamy’s team were killed. Smokey seems to be a loose cannon still. When Ben called smokey to attack Keamy’s team in Otherville, he made everyone wait until smokey was doing his thing, so I assume Ben and the Others aren’t totally in control of smokey.
But anoher thing. Ben told Sun you can’t bring back the dead. That’s why he is so afraid of Locke. Ben lying? Or maybe Ben doesn’t know everything. I think the things the leaders know about the island has to do with the dreams the island shows them.
Did you notice the look of reverance Ben gives Locke when he’s looking up at him after his encounter with smokey and Alex?
April 9th, 2009 at 7:35 am
@3…….. Jacob didn’t want Ben to live and neither did the island. Richard forced that hand………………………
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Im not sure about that.
I thought Richard said: “Jacob wanted to die. The island choses who the Island Choses you know that”
I think it meant. The Island wanted Ben to live the same way it wanted Jacob to be been present in the Island even though he wanted to die. Maybe Jacob was just a man once.
Try repeating that scene and tell me if make any sense or was it really “Jacob wanted him dead…” But then why would Richard defy him. Sounds unlike him.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:30 am
A comment on #3. Don’t forget what Richard said to Locke when they met in 1954 and Locke told him he was their leader. Richard said they selected and trained their leader from childhood. So knowing Widmore was going to get old and be replaced, they began training young Ben. It seems they pick people who have some kind of special ability or communication with the island. Remember Richard’s reaction when young Ben told him he saw his mother and she was dead and especially that she died off the island when they first met? That marked Ben as being someone special. They kicked Widmore off the island for leading a double life on the island and in the real world. I guess Penny wasn’t born on the island from what they said. The fact that Widmore had a child with someone who wasn’t an Other is what seemed to upset them most. Could that also have pissed off Jacob and the island and to punish the Others, they could no longer have children on the island?
April 9th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Younger Ben (with wig) looked like Hitler.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:30 am
A theory I had upon watching the episode: I think “new Locke” is actually either the smoke monster or a spokesman for Jacob (like Christian). The scene where he emerges from the jungle (symbolism?), Ben’s “dead is dead” quote, the fact that Locke knows where smokey is despite never seeing or knowing about the temple (at least that I can remeber), the fact that Locke isn’t there when Ben confronts smokey and doesn’t reemerge until after “Alex” disapears, “Alex’s” insistence that Ben follow Locke, the aforementioned personality change; it all points to Locke being something different now. This may be why Locke “had to die” before returning to the island.
I like how this season is developing. It’s getting interesting.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Also, GG, it seems from your comments that you’re not convinced Ceaser is dead. You may be right about that. Maybe Ben and Ceaser staged his death in order to give Ceaser the cover he needs to do more reconnaissance work.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:01 am
@4 – Locke says to Sun, “I’m the same person” or something like that…
… and all of a sudden a “THONK” goes off in my head, and I realize… he’s not. He’s sooooo not the same guy. Then I remember last week Ben dying (or atleast close to death), and Richard giving him life by bringing him to the Temple. The temple the smoke monster lives under.
So I’m thinking, the same smoke monster that changed Danielle’s people, and gave Ben a new life, must have found dead Locke in his coffin, takin him under the Temple, and breathed new life into him. Which is why he can’t remember getting out of the coffin. Why he seems different. A new John Locke…. which would mean, he’s also lost his innocence like Ben did.
It would explain why (on a subconcious level), he knew of the Temple (more importantly, under the Temple).
What do you think?
April 9th, 2009 at 11:18 am
@21 – I think it’s not a riddle, but a straight question. We see the back of the statue from the vantage point of “The Well”, soon to be “The Orchid”, originally “The Donkey Wheel”. So I think it’s a straight question, and Illana is searching for the site of the Donkey Wheel.
@16 – I don’t think he controls the smoke monster in any way. It seems like the Baracks were built on one of the many Cerebrus Vents on the Island. Plugged up so it can’t come through. I think he can only summon the monster. Unplugging the vent and calling to it. And I don’t believe he was behind all the times we saw the monster, he was just able to call it when he needed it.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Richard said last week” he does not answer to Widmore or anyone else” Who is he? Is he the Big Boss. Does he call all of the shots? Where or when is Richard?
April 9th, 2009 at 11:50 am
JIMMY JIM: I too am dying to find out who or what Richard is. “He’s always been here.” Acording to Juliet. Is he a ghost? Is he an immortal man? Is he an angel a daemon? Is he a time traveller? Is he a god? Or is he something else? If you notice, he doesn’t seem to give orders or make people do as he says. He always leaves it up to others to make up their minds. When he met Ben as a kid, he asked are you sure you want to join us? Same thing when Sawyer and Kate brought Ben to him, are you sure you want me to heal him? He seems to be the one who picks the leader of the Others and then grooms them. He also takes action when a new leader is needed. We saw how he side stepped Ben to get that info on Sawyer to Locke and he did the same to Widmore by saving Ben.
April 9th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Probably the most intriguing question that can be asked…
How can this show end?
I mean honestly, how are they gonna end this in one season plus a few episodes? If they find a way to do it successfully, without leaving many of us fans disappointed, it will be a pretty incredible feat.
April 9th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Foffman: I totally agree with you. Plus with the writer’s strike, it was bad enough that they had to cram things so tightly last season. I worry that I will be disappointed and the ending will be goofy. I loved the X-Files too and the last episode was really disappointing leaving everyone with so many questions – especially that the aliens were going to invade in 2012. But Lost has created so many unaswered questions, how can they possible answer them all in just one more season?
April 10th, 2009 at 5:31 pm
[...] Click here for my initial thoughts. [...]
April 10th, 2009 at 6:03 pm
They have said that they wont be answerd just like that u will have to puzzle it up along the way.
Thoughts on Gitsie Girls thoughts;
Your thoughts are good recaps but they are not very smart.
They are kinda stupid.
April 15th, 2009 at 11:45 am
[...] Click here for my initial thoughts. [...]
April 16th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
By the way, I agree with Hurley, I thought the Ewoks sucked too.
April 20th, 2009 at 6:13 am
Was a little perturbed that Caeser was brought in and then cast out so quickly. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t really like his character and thought it was just one more layer we could do without (was dreading the Caeser flashback) but felt a little manipulated in that his whole character may have just been a setup so that we’d be surprised when they killed him off. Think Arzt, but not as lovable.