Lost Review:
"Dead is Dead" (Episode 5.12)

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Locke and Ben are the Ares and Hephaestus of the Lost Olympus, and like true frenemies, the larger-than-life pair likes to stick close together, feeling each other out, watching each other, in "Dead is Dead." They're always on alert, and they have to be; when Locke let his guard down last, Ben clawed his way to control with a rope, a vacant hotel room and an airborne coffin.

But now, much to Ben's chagrin, Locke is back, and the power-balance has shifted. Ben has historically been the stony-faced, manipulative Brutus—the one with all the secrets—to Locke's betrayed Caesar. But in episode 5.12, as Ben slowly raises his head from his pillow, face aghast at seeing Locke alive, he's noticeably shaken. The men's dialogue, (Ben: "My God! You're Alive." Locke: "Yes, yes I am." Ben: "I knew it, I knew this would happen." Locke: "Then why are you so surprised?") shows Locke has gained the upper hand; Ben is, for once, floored. And as the episode continues, Locke's self-assured, suspecting squint compared to Ben's wide-eyed terror becomes more noticeable. Finally, when Ben tells Sun, "Dead is Dead, there's no coming back from it, even here," and reveals, "I'm terrified," we know the ex-confidence man has been undermined, an awesome role reversal between the two actors.

The opaque "what's he thinking?" lens is now firmly on John. How much does he know? Why the swagger; does he suspect something about the island Ben has been trying to keep hidden? Does he speculate that Ben wants to kill him again? Meanwhile, Ben's glassy-eyed, terror-stricken clarity (and vulnerability in his history with Alex) give him a new, more human, edge.

And, as Ben goes to be judged by "the thing you call the monster," he's like C.S. Lewis' character Arual in 'Till We Have Faces: transparent and terrified (but still holding on to one last secret). The "judgement" theme is accented perfectly by the Egyptian temple and hieroglyphics, which call to mind the Book of the Dead. And seeing the smoke creature up close (literally, from the inside) is a new glimpse into the island's unique universe. When Alex confronts her father with an "I know you're planning on killing Locke," he's again shocked into silence.

Will he continue to have his secrets stripped away, or will he attack Locke once again, that is, if Locke doesn't attack him first? It's a battle of the gods; someone has to go down in blaze of lightning.