TV Review: LOST - SEASON FIVE - 'Dead is Dead'

A third blockbuster, kick-ass episode in a row as season five heats up

Grade: A
Stars: Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Naveen Andrews, Jorge Garcia, Daniel Dae Kim, Terry O'Quinn, Josh Holloway, Michael Emerson, Henry Ian Cusick
Release Date: April 8, 2009

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By EMERSON PARKER, Contributing Writer
Published 4/9/2009





It is interesting that the shoe is on the other foot when it comes to Locke (Terry O’Quinn) and Ben (Michael Emerson). That Locke, now resurrected on the island and scaring the hell out of Ben, is in control. Knows where to go, what the island wants and doesn’t and that Ben is on the outside.

For the third episode in a row, LOST has hit one out of the park. Maybe that’s because for the third episode in a row we have had a genuine flashback that has dealt with Sayid (Naveen Andrews), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and now Ben – this time focusing on his life on the island and what he did on the docks that fatal day that left him bloodied and broken.

The flashbacks focused on Ben’s relationship with his daughter – and the supposed reason he has returned to the island he tells Locke (of course, this is not the truth as the smoke monster calls him out on it later) – from the point where he kidnapped Alex from Rousseau as a baby, to saving the baby from Widmore and touching moments of him rocking her in a swing. We also get to see Ben send Widmore off the island to exile – although we still are not sure as to why he is being exiled although it probably has to do with Ben manipulating the situation.

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But the crux of the episode had to do with Ben’s loss of power on the island. His inability to call the smoke monster. Not knowing where to go to find the smoke monster and the smoke monster’s beat down of Ben and threat to destroy him if he plans on carrying out another plan to kill Locke – something he’s tried at least three times. You’d think Locke would learn by now.

After showing him his past with Alex, the smoke monster summons a vision of Alex only to tell Ben this bit of information about following Locke and if he doesn’t, he’s toast. But what great plans do the island or Locke have in store? I guess we will see what happens in upcoming episodes after another trip back to the 1970s.

The only other real bit of plotline we got was in the form of the new castaways forming some sort of union around some large metal encased box that appeared for the first time on the island. Something that seems to be motivating a certain number of the new castaways to do something and knock out Lapidus (Jeff Fahey) in the process.

Is this another group sent to the island in order to secure Ben Linus? You’d think since he was in their lap they’d already get him, so what else is going on? Do they have the fever? Or are they crazy? Oh and we also saw the quick death of Hector. Meh, I don’t care, he’s just another Paulo