The 'Lost' Hour: Season 5 -- Episode 12: 'Dead Is Dead'

"Lost" bloggers Liz Kelly and Jen Chaney attempt to get to the bottom of time travel, love quadrangles and all things related to the ABC's cult favorite every Thursday at 3 p.m. ET. Liz and Jen, both obsessive "Lost" fans, have been writing their weekly dueling analysis of the show since 2006. When not debating the merits of Sawyer's hotness, Liz Kelly writes the Celebritology blog and Jen Chaney acts as movies editrix and DVD columnist for washingtonpost.com.

For episode analysis, discussion transcripts and more, visit washingtonpost.com's Lost Central.

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Jen Chaney: Good afternoon, everyone. Questions are already swirling about in the discussion queue like images of Widmore and Alex in Ben's Smokey visions. In fact, Smokey is a major bone (mist?) of contention for many of you.

Some of you say that the Smokey scene was chee-say beyond all reason. Others agree with Liz and I that it was reminscent of "The Wizard of Oz." And still others say this was an Indiana Jones moment. But we'll get to that and more momentarily.

Liz, fresh from the scene at the Celebritology chat, is now joining us live. Over to you, co-blogger.

Liz Kelly: Here I am -- Jen, you should've been in the celeb chat. A bit of late chat Zach Levi worship happening. I, of course, dished about our 20 minute "Lost" chat with him at last year's Comic-Con.

But enough about Zach Levi and his silly "Lost" theorizing, let's talk last night's show.

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DC: So Ben has a soft spot for children. Maybe his saving Alex is the cause of the pregnant women dying.

Liz Kelly: That is an interesting take -- so Alex's survival has prevented other children from being carried to term on island? Hmmm... anything's possible. But I can't help thinking it's something more cellular than that. This is an island with known anomalous electromagnetic fields and a radioactive bomb festering in the ground. Surely that would have an affect on fertility.

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Missed it: Dear Liz and Jen,

I have been watching Lost in my efforts to have cute/flirty things to say to a boy I am hitting on but I missed it last night because of my silly roommate and he and I are doing dinnter TONIGHT in our first pseudo date. (Ok, not really a date, but give a girl some credit for hoping.) Anything deep and insightful I can say so he knows how cool I am? (Yes, I know this is desperate, but he really moves my island.)

Jen Chaney: I went on more pseudo-dates than I can count back in the day, so I feel you. And I want to help you move his island.

For starters, you can watch the episode for free on ABC.com, if you have time to sneak it before tonight.

If not, I would start by asking him what he thought of Ben's confrontation with the Smoke Monster. Then drop in a reference to how clever it was that Desmond's boat made referred back to the book "Our Mutual Friend." And, as the final capper, maybe subtly say how you're really excited to see next week's episode, since the title -- "Some Like It Hoth" -- doubles as a "Star Wars" reference.

If the guy has a heavy geek streak, that last one will cement his love for you.

Liz Kelly: I would also ask him if he happened to notice the logo on the backs of the Other henchmen leading Widmore to the sub. Looked like a blocky pyramid to me, but maybe he's got a killer insight.

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Locke is Smokey: Hi gals, No BTTF references in this week's duel! Am trying to distract myself from the withdrawal pains by marshalling evidence for my theory that the bald dude walking around in Christian Shephard's shoes is not Locke but Smokey. Consider that "Locke" (a) asks only for an apology from Ben, and we know that Smokey likes apologies and gets mad when he doesn't get them (seeya, Eko!), (b) played Clark Kent to Smokey's Superman in the bowels of the Temple, (c) appeared (dramatically!) when we were expecting Smokey (after Ben told Sun he couldn't control what was about to come out of the jungle), (d) inexplicably knows that Smokey lives under the Temple, plus knows the location of the Temple.

Whaddya think?

Jen Chaney: True, no "Back to the Future" this week. But we did keep our finger on the '80s button with those Duran Duran comments. Be sure to tune in next week when we somehow work the Thompson Twins ("Lies, lies, lies, yeah!", "Pee-Wee's Big Adventure" and "Small Wonder" into the analysis. Oh, it's going to be something special.

You're not the only one to suggest Locke and Smokey are one and the same. Unless of course you submitted every question and comment that implies that. Either way, I am hesitant to accept this notion, only because Locke has confronted Smokey in the past. And if that confrontation caused a melding of their spirits, if you will, I think he would have been much more knowledgeable about the island's mysteries at an earlier point in the narrative.

But that's me. And Liz may disagree.

Liz Kelly: Though if John is truly dead he could be, as we mentioned in the analysis, an agent of the apparent holy trilogy: Jacob/smokey/the island.

But that is an interesting point about John not being around for the smoke monster event. Maybe instead of being the smoke monster, he did something to actually release it -- like Oz's notorious man behind the curtain?

And Jen, I do disagree -- we will not talk about "Small Wonder" next week because I would get such an acute look of disgust on my face that it would stay that way. Instead, we will draw parallels between the heiroglyphs and the "Gimme a Break" theme song.

Jen Chaney: Sorry, my bad.

And thanks for bringing up the "Gimme a Break" connection. We've all been thinking about that, I know.

(Don't make a Rose/Nell Carter joke here, Chaney. It's just too easy.)

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Faraday: In today's column, you said that Faraday's rule is at least 99.9% wrong. How so? Seems to me the show has been obeying his rule. In fact, the time-travelin' Losties have caused several things which we observed in the first few seasons, most notably Ethan's existence. Other than Desmond, who Faraday agrees is special like that, my money is on Faraday's theory.

Liz Kelly: Sorry. I wasn't clear.

What I meant was that Faraday confidently told Sawyer that we are moving along a line in time and we can't change the future or present by doing something different in the past.

He then disregarded his own belief by contacting Desmond in an attempt (vain though it was) to save Charlotte from the time-jumping sickness.

We've also had Ben and Widmore both tell us absolute statements, like "I can't go back to the island," only to discover that Ben apparently can return.

I guess I should have better expressed myself. Maybe by simply saying "Beware of absolutely statements."

That's all.



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Seattle, WA: Loved it that Desmond survied and gave Ben a good ol' beat down!

If you were Locke and you figured out that Ben has to follow your every order, what would you command Ben to do?

Jen Chaney: Get some new hats. Oh, and learn to cook something besides ham.

Oh, one more! Stop killing people.

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Silver Spring, MD: I think the best quote was "It's not a train, John. It doesn't run on a schedule."

Jen Chaney: Once again, a potpourri of good quote choices.

But the one that made me laugh hardest was Ben's comment after John suggested they address the elephant in the room: "Oh, you're referring to me killing you."

Liz Kelly: Let's check in on the quote contenders we included in the poll. Looks like Ben's leading. Man, I was sure Frank would reign this week.



Best quote from last night's "Lost"?

"As long as the dead guy says there's a reason, everything's gonna be just peachy." (Frank)
"I was wondering if you and I could talk about the elephant in the room." (Locke)
"I guess you're referring to the fact that I killed you." (Ben)
"I just didn't have time to talk you back into hanging yourself." (Ben)
"No sense in me dying twice, right?" (Locke)
Created on Apr 8, 2009