Thoughts On LOST: "This Place Is Death"

First of all, let me begin by saying that Season 5 of LOST has been chock full of revelations, information and surprises.  However, in light of recent episodes, "This Place Is Death" felt more like a setup for next week's episode.  That's not to say that there wasn't a lot of great moments. Here's some of my thoughts:

The opening scene was peculiar. Sun's mother calls Sun asking her where she is.  Sun then talks with her daughter Ji Yeon about finding a new friend for her named Aaron.  It all seems so innocent. But, could this be a setup for Ji Yeon to eventually look up Aaron in Los Angeles in the future?  After Sayid and Kate leaves, Jack, Sun and Ben head to see Mrs. Hawking who will help them to get back to the Island.  The best moment with this group happened when Ben violently slams on the brakes and tells Jack and Sun that if they knew what he had to go through to keep their friends alive, they would not stop thanking him.  So, Ben has been keeping the Left Behinders alive? Strange, considering the death of Charlotte.  More on that later.

Back on the Island, we see the Smoke Monster for the 11th time in an episode.  The Monster kills Nadine.  Then it goes after Montand.  Smokey literally uses one of its dusty tentacles to sever Montand's arm.  Seriously, that's the biggest mystery this episode answers.  After seeing Rousseau's team in 1988, we still don't know exactly what kind of "sickness" they had.  All we know is that Robert tried to kill Danielle.  Robert also said that Smokey was a security system for the temple.  We're not even sure if this is the same "temple" that Ben talked about as a sanctuary for the Others back in Season 4.

Jin is reunited with the Left Behinders and they get serious headaches from the flashes which are ramping up the nosebleeds.  And, alas, we lose the fine Charlotte.  I have to admit, I really bought into the Charladay love story.  Her death brought a tear to my eye.  Both actors were really good in that scene.

Another really good moment is when the rope that is being used to lower Locke into the Orchid time travels with Sawyer (because he is touching it) and ends up in the ground.  I love how Sawyer was so despondent that he was willing to dig his way through the ground to get to Locke. So, I guess the Left Behinders believe that Locke is dead?

So, Locke ends up pushing the Frozen Donkey Wheel which is off its axis.  It's great to see Christian Shephard again.  I love it when he trashes Ben's plan.  By the way,  I don't know how Christian gets around but I don't think he is a ghost.  Ghosts don't pick up baby Aaron.  And he didn't help Locke because he COULDN'T - he needed Locke to get to the donkey wheel on his own strength.

At the end of the episode, I was really surprised to see that Ben and Mrs. Hawking were not overly panicked that Hurley, Sayid, Kate and Aaron did not come with them.  I thought they needed ALL of the Oceanic 6?  Mrs. Hawking is one of the biggest mysteries of LOST right now and at least we know for certain that she is Daniel Faraday's mother.  Unfortunately, her character gets bookended again this season.  It does look like she gets more talk time in the next episode.

Next week's episode is "316" and without giving away too much I'd suggest you go back and rewatch the Season 4 episode "Cabin Fever."  I think it will be a great primer for this upcoming episode.

My ranking of Season 5 episodes:

1. Jughead

2. Because You Left

3. The Little Prince

4. This Place Is Death

5. The Lie