S5E12 - Dead Is Dead

Easter is this weekend and goes right along with this episode seeing as there's enough talk of resurrection to fill an entire Sunday sermon. However, I touched on that for my Lent-themed recap so I'm going a different direction for this one...

Easter Eggs! Step aside, Jesus, here comes commercialism!

So, what did the main characters in this episode get in their Easter baskets this year?

Little Ben
*New lease on life*
From: Richard
He gets a brief how-do-you-do from leader Widmore after he wakes up. Not much in way of a welcoming committee considering Widmore would have let him die, but he seems to have changed his mind when Richard reminds him of what Jacob/the Island wants.

Medium Ben
*Brand new baby*
From: Danielle
Interesting twist on how Alex was taken. Turns out he was sent to kill Danielle instead. And he had sympathy for her! Definitely a new, moral, side of Ben we've never seen. I also found it interesting that he warned her to run away from the whispers. Again, he knows a lot about what's happening on the island, but we don't get to see. Let us in, Ben. Let us in. By the way, they did a pretty good job of making him look younger, don’t you think? You'd almost think his voice was cracking. Oh, and was that Ethan with him? Interesting considering Ben's involvement with the others was kind of an accident to begin with.

Big Ben
*Small shotgun*
From: Caesar
Whoa, didn't see that coming. And here I was thinking Caesar was going to be a new, albeit minor, character. Not so much.

*Special hug*
From: Alex
Well, the monster didn't kill him, but it did deliver an ominous message in the end as Alex. "I know you're planning on killing Locke (again). And if you do, I will hunt you down and destroy you." Alrighty... clear enough. On top of that, she demands that he swears allegiance to Locke. Shazam!

Locke
*New pair of balls*
From: The Island
Not to be crude, but I think we can all agree that Locke spent a lot of Season One being a badass and Season Two through Four whining about answers and following Ben like a lost puppy. Have you ever seen the movie "How Stella Got Her Groove Back"? Me either... but I imagine if Stella was a white man in her late 50s on a crazy island, the movie would go a little something like last night's episode.

Sun
*Hope*
From: Christian
Though unfortunately, said "hope" is packaged in the form of a dead man. I wonder what she and Frank initially thought when Christian told them to sit tight and wait for John? Apparently they didn't have too much of a problem with it seeing as they were settling in for the long haul. One unspoken awkward moment for me was when John said to her how him being alive again was strange for him too, then added, "But don't worry, because I assure you I'm the same man you've always known." I'm sure she was thinking, "That's actually the part that worries me."

*A little truth*
From: Ben
The one true thing I think Ben said in the entire episode was in his brief conversation with Sun. "I've seen the island do a lot of miraculous things, but nothing like this. The fact that John Locke is alive and walking around scares the living hell out of me."

Frank
*A statue*
From: Ilana
So he can find out what exactly lies in its shadow. SERIOUSLY. What the hell was that about? He leaves for one day, maybe two, and suddenly the Ajira survivors are organized, armed, have secret pass phrases, are going places, and taking hostages...? What?

Widmore
*A one way ticket off the Island*
From: Ben
A lot of subtle reveals in their conversation. Once again, there is mention of "breaking the rules." One of which is frequently leaving the island, and another is having a child with an off-islander. To the first I will say this. We know from either Season 3 or 4 that Ben was going off the island quite regularly judging from his secret stash of fake passports and foreign currency. If that's a no-no, then Ben supposedly broke that rule plenty of times once he was in charge. Second, the fact that Charles had a child with someone other than an other seems to blow my theory that he shacked up with Ellie. I wonder if the same thing happened to her. She got knocked up by some off-islander and had Daniel, only to be banished, herself.

The more we learn of the others, the more they just seem like a kooky cult. They have say in who you can and can't be involved with (last night with Widmore), they collect dead bodies (Amy's first husband), they hang out in a super secret temple (with some other super secret temple buried beneath it), they participate in public trials and brand people (remember what they did to Juliet?), they answer to a chosen leader (who answers to Richard (who answers to Jacob (who answers to the Island))). Shall I go on?

Kooky.

Anyway, good episode. Looks like we might get an unexpected Miles episode next? That could be interesting.