What Lies Beneath: LOST, Episode 5.12 - "Dead is Dead"

You keep on saying the past is not even past

and you keep on saying we are smoke
Ben Folds Five, "Smoke"

Tonight's episode was so rich with Lost mythology and lore, the Ben & Locke scenes were absolutely stellar and I breathed a large sigh of relief that Penny was not killed. But please excuse the brevity of this post; I have been under the weather all week and am unable to stay up as late as I'd like to complete my initial theories. This will serve as the first of two posts about "Dead is Dead."

BREAKING THE RULES

Ben broke the rules of the island by coming back. Widmore broke the rules by having a child with an outsider, off island. So when Ben confronted Widmore about breaking the rules by allowing Alex to get killed, was that just his attempt to place blame on someone other than himself?

OUTRIGGER CANOES

At what point will we learn who was on the other canoe that Juliet shot at during her time shift with Sawyer & co.?

RISK

We saw Hurley, Sawyer and Locke playing the game Risk when they were in Ben's house last season. Tonight we saw the game in what appeared to be the same state of play and location; is that an indication that Ben, Locke, Sun and Lapidus have traveled forward in time...post Oceanic Six rescue?

THE STATUE

It seemed to be a major time/era clue when Ilana asked the mysterious question, "what lies in the shadow of the statue?" That indicates a whole statue (and not just a leg stump w/four toes), which refers to a much earlier time on the island...

THE TEMPLE

Are the remaining Others living in there?

The hieroglyphic tablet that Ben was staring at resembled young Locke's drawing (see comparison at top of article).

BEN

Talk about a soft spot for mothers; sparing the lives of Rousseau and Penny because they have children. He does not want those kids to grow up without a mother (like he did) and the guilt about Alex is looming large.

Ben said he killed Locke off island only after finding out that Hawking was in Los Angeles. The master manipulator with endless resources didn't know that already?

If Ben doesn't remember 1977, why he does remember recovering from an injury inside of The Temple. Wouldn't he recall that it was a bullet wound, and that Sayid shot him?

Was Ben living double lives on the island; Dharma by day and Hostile by night? The time we witnessed tonight was before his 1992 purge, so he would have still been living in Dharmaville with dear old dad...

He always carries that messenger bag...is his secret spy item that was stored in the hotel room vent in there?

He kills Locke, but offers no real apology. He shoots Desmond and threatens Penny, but they all live. So why did Ben feel compelled to express an apology to Desmond?

Widmore was exiled for regularly leaving the island and having a child with an outsider. But Ben regularly left the island and raised the child from an outsider...

Ben lies more often than not, so did you believe him when he said that he'd never seen the island resurrect someone before? Because the look on his face when Sun mentioned that they'd spoken with Christian Shephard was priceless; he had to have known that Christian was seemingly resurrected upon crashing there in 2004.

I love that following Locke is a fate worse than death for Ben; I think he'd rather that Smokey killed him than have to follow that order.

BLACK SMOKE MONSTER

Is Ben's secret spy chamber beneath his New Otherton house really the only location to unleash Smokey? Is Ben the only one who can do so? Who used to, prior to Ben's leadership?

So Smokey is a manifestation machine of sorts. We've seen it take the human form of both the dead (Alex, Yemi) and the living (Walt).

We've only seen Smokey kill 4 people: Seth Norris (Flight 815 pilot), Nadine (one of Rousseau's shipwrecked crew), Mayhew (one of Keamy's mercenaries) and Eko. Looking at all the people who have been/lived on that island who have committed egregious crimes...why has Smokey spared all of them but took the lives of these 4? [side note: many contend that Nikki's spider was Smokey, which would make her victim #5]

In Season 3, Smokey seemed to photograph/scan Juliet rather than harm her...what was that about?

When Locke first encountered Smokey in Season 1, he was pulled underground and said he looked into the eye of the island and what he saw was beautiful. So did Smokey provide a preview into Locke's journey and purpose on the island?

When Ben summoned Smokey last season to go after Keamy's mercenaries, it seemed to immediately and violently head directly for them. So what is the explanation for the delay in its appearance tonight? Did Smokey want/need Ben to come down below The Temple?

Does Smokey ever travel off island? Could Smokey have been Ana Lucia, Claire, Eko, Libby, Michael, etc.? FYI, I am not including Ghost Charlie because I'm still baffled by Hurley's ability to feel Charlie's slap across the face.

CAESAR

Is that the last of Little Caesar, or is the island not done with him yet?

CHARLES WIDMORE

Ben managed to get himself back to the island rather quickly (albeit in difficult, dramatic fashion via Ajira flight 316), so why wasn't Widmore able to in 20 years with all of his resources?


At what point in time did Widmore realize that Ellie's kid Daniel Faraday was a physics genius who figured out the island's secrets? Is that when and why Widmore financed Faraday's research?

DESMOND

Since (according to Faraday) "the rules do not apply" to Desmond - does that mean that he cannot die? He must have had several cans of food in that bag to stop a bullet...

Nice pummeling of Ben, reminiscent of Jack's Ben beating in Season 4. Something tells me we'll see him revisit Hawking for answers..

ELOISE HAWKING

Before Alpert first took Little Linus into the Temple, one of the Hostiles mentioned that Ellie and Widmore wouldn't be pleased. At what point did Ellie leave the island, and why?

After she left the island, would she be considered an outsider? If so, could she be Penny's mom?

Regardless of whether or not she's Penny's mom...when and where was her son Daniel Faraday born?

ETHAN

At what point does Ethan join Alpert and the Hostiles? We last saw him as a baby with parents Horace and Amy in 1977 Dharmaville. If I had to guess - Amy has something to do with it, as her behavior has been suspicious since first husband Paul was shot.

Ben seemed to be mentoring Ethan as a teenager. Their dynamic must change at some point, because Ben dispatches him to infiltrate the fuselage section of 815 in 2004, knowing that Ethan will probably die in the process.

FRANK LAPIDUS

Last season, it always bothered me that he sported a bandaid on his forehead after allegedly suffering injuries from his first flight to the island, because he landed the chopper perfectly. So when Ilana clocked him on the head tonight, I immediately started to ponder whether or not Lapidus has either time shifted or perhaps even died in the Ajira crash...and then I realized that the bandaid was on the right but he was hit on the left temple tonight. Doh!

ILANA

Assuming that gun cache on the plane was hers...did Widmore hire her? If so, why hesitate to kill Ben?

When she asked Lapidus, "what lies in the shadow of the statue?" was that a riddle/code like "what did one snowman say to the other snowman?" (as asked by Kelvin Inman to Desmond, Locke to Desmond in past episodes)?

I am assuming that the answer to Ilana's question is The Temple...

JACOB

So now we have confirmation that Jacob existed in an earlier era. So where did he reside until Horace built his cabin?

LOCKE

They seemed to focus on Locke with Christian's shoes tonight; is one of the keys to his leadership on the island literally walking in the shoes of the resurrected?

When Locke was in the jungle while Sun and Ben were on the porch in Dharmaville, what was he doing?

For the record, I love the new and improved Locke.

PENNY

If not Ellie Hawking, then who is her mother?

Was she born on the island?

RICHARD ALPERT

If Alpert doesn't answer to Widmore, then what is his role and relationship to him? Is Alpert simply Jacob's mouthpiece and island representative in perpetuity?

When Alpert brings the wounded Little Linus into The Temple, does something inside heal him or is Smokey involved? Is Alpert the only person with access to do so?

SUN

I still hearken back to her unknown dealings with Widmore off island...who's side is she on, and will she take any action against Ben back on the island?

DID YOU NOTICE...

Desmond and Penny's boat is named after the Charles Dickens book that Desmond designated to be the last thing he'd read before he died.

The portrait paintings on the wall in Alex's Dharma bedroom: I'm not sure if they're supposed to be Karl and Alex, but they also resemble Jin & Sun, Jack and Kate, etc.

PARALLELS

Bedside Boys:

• Younger Widmore sitting by younger Ben in Hostile camp tent
• Older Widmore by Locke's side in Tunisian hospital
• Locke awaiting older Ben in makeshift Hydra infirmary
  

"I have some ideas."

• Ben to Jack (Season 4 finale), when he learns he has to bring everyone back to the island
• Locke to Sun (tonight), when she asks if he can find Jin

THE UNDERGROUND

For five seasons, I have asserted my belief that there is an underground community beneath the island

• The Others seemingly disappear without a trace and without leaving footprints; they simply go underground
  
• Cindy and Tail Section kids are there with the remaining Others, where they all live and are schooled, etc.
• Very large items (i.e. Dharma vans) are transported to various parts of the island via an underground transportation system

Smokey lives underground; he is unleashed from Ben's secret chamber and seems to guard the Temple when he is not out scaring, scanning and killing people. Smokey must also guard the entire underground community...

WINK-WINK, NUDGE TO THE FANS

Referring to Smokey...when Ben said to Locke "it's not a train," I laughed out loud. Many of us have theorized over the years that Smokey sounded like and even resembled a locomotive at times. And given Rose's assertion in the Pilot episode that Smokey sounded familiar, many of us also jumped to the conclusion that because she was from New York...Smokey emanated from an underground subway system.

NYQUIL-INDUCED, OFF-KILTER THEORY OF THE NIGHT

Locke knows more about the island than we've previously seen (i.e. The Temple); perhaps all of that knowledge was gleaned during his various time shifts. So when he briefly disappeared into the jungle while Ben chatted with Sun on the porch, he actually communicated with or controlled Smokey. Locke knew to take Ben to The Temple and go underground to face his judgement. And it also isn't mere coincidence that a) Locke disappeared when Smokey confronted Ben and b) Smokey instructed Ben [via Ghost Alex] to listen to and follow Locke from now on. But I'm not quite ready to believe that Locke BECOMES Smokey...
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Thank you very much for reading, and stay tuned for further thoughts after a second viewing and more sleep!