Sunday, April 12, 2009

LOST, Season 5: Dead Is Dead - Review

Episodes about Benjamin Linus are always intriguing.  Let me get that out of the way.  I thought this was a very good episode.  With that said, I thought it was kind of all over the place trying to answer every little question about Ben from the past.  I think with "Lost," the questions the show brings up are much more interesting than the actual answers.  Although the fans crave for answers, I don't think the producers are obligated to connect all of the dots.  Sometimes our own imaginations are better than what we could ever see on the screen.


So, what did we get in this episode?  A LOT:

  • We see a horseback-riding Charles Widmore in 1977 speaking with a Temple-healed Ben.  I can see why he'd want to occasionally leave the Island for some "shore leave."  He's like the Fabio of the Island.
  • We see a very young Ethan and Ben shows him the perfect baby-stealing technique.  We also find out that Widmore originally wanted Alex dead, but Ben refused.
  • We see how Charles Widmore is banished from the Island.
  • We find out why Ben was badly beaten (although the fans already knew what was going on when Ben made a phone call from the docks; we just didn't know Penny's and Desmond's fates).
  • We see Ben constantly belitted by Locke and judged by the Smoke Monster.
  • We find out that Ilana has apparently taken things into her own hands (either by plan or perhaps she was "infected" by the Smoke Monster) after the untimely death of Cesar.
While some fans felt that the sum of these great parts made for a great episode, I felt like the writers tried to "clean up their own mess" by providing an episode chock full of answers.  I did like the Smoke Monster scene at the end, though.  Great to see actress Tania Raymonde again as Alex. Although I was a bit disappointed that summoning Smokey included removing the plug from his bathtub.

So, here's my ranking of episodes so far this season:

  1. Jughead
  2. LaFleur
  3. 316
  4. Dead Is Dead
  5. Whatever Happened, Happened
  6. He's Our You
  7. Namaste
  8. The Life and Death Of Jeremy Bentham
  9. Because You Left
  10. The Little Prince
  11. This Place Is Death
  12. The Lie

I'm really happy to see Brad William Henke as Bram in "Lost."  I believe he had his first dialogue on the show this past week.  He was so awesome in the movie "Choke."  Although with the way they got rid of Cesar's character so fast, I'm not sure how much longer Bram will last.

4 snide comments:

Lostie said...

Great to see you back. Sorry for your loss. Hope you are doing ok.

Hope you can catch up on Lost and start doing those great location videos again. We loved them.

Unknown said...

Yeah. I do hope to get that going again. My job does take a lot out of me and my father is finally buried at Punchbowl.

I know that LOST has already wrapped up shooting for Season 5 and that means there is probably more access to certain locations which would have been blocked because of shooting.

So, we'll see where I end up! :)

tommylei said...

"Lost" Thoughts: Can the Losties Reshape the Future? -

http://blogs.msg.com/themonitor/2009/04/30/lost-thoughts-can-the-losties-reshape-the-future/

Unknown said...

Well, "The Variable" really set up that question well and I'm sure it will all come to a head in the season 5 finale.

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