BEN: It's one thing to believe it, John. It's another thing to see it.
It's amazing how one line of dialogue can capture the essence of a character. While the natural tendency is to believe in something only after you've seen it, Ben and Locke flipped that philosophy on its end when it came to the island. The problem is, Ben took it to the extreme and became a zealot somewhere along the way.
He wasn't always a murderous sociopath though, as we learn in flashbacks. After all, Charles Widmore ordered him to get rid of young Danielle Rousseau but the cries of her baby elicited mercy. Well, "mercy" might be a strong word considering Ben snatched her baby. But hey, at least he didn't kill Alex or Danielle as Widmore instructed. Whatta guy!
Present-day Ben's a different story. He's got quite a bit of blood on his hands, some in the name of Widmore, some in the name of Jacob and/or the Island, some in the name of pure, irrational insecurity. Now that Locke is apparently resurrected and burning a hole in Ben with that half-crazy stare, he's scared out of his wits. So scared, in fact, that going to see the Smoke Monster for judgment seems like a good way to spend the day.
Speaking of Smokey, it's fun to see the hints dropped throughout the episode of what Locke actually is. Ben summons the Monster, hears noises from the woods and... oh. It's Locke. They go to the Temple together, Ben falls through the floor and Locke runs off to find something to help him out. Conveniently enough, Smokey appears at that exact moment.
It's in the underground chamber that Smokey does indeed judge Ben and lets him live. It wouldn't be until the season finale that we'd discover why — Ben was granted mercy so he could finish executing the Man in Black's master plan. This is the basis for Ben's quote from What They Died For in Season 6: "I was told I could summon the monster. That's before I realized that it was the one summoning me."
Ben may have thought he was the master manipulator on the island, and for a while he might have been. But Ben himself was a puppet on strings more than he ever knew, up to and including his "judgment" in Dead is Dead.
This would be one of the last episodes where we'd get to see Emerson play the full-blown ruthless version of Ben. In Season 6 he was relegated to a follower and a broken man, and while Dr. Linus was another great Emerson performance this was the last big dose of the Ben we loved to hate in Seasons 2 through 5.
His performance was very strong but I personally don't think it was his best work on the series. The highlights were the judgment scenes and his confrontation with Widmore over the suggested killing of Alex.
I'd be insane not to give major credit to Terry O'Quinn in this one, especially since he's said on multiple occasions that he wasn't aware of what Locke "really was" at this point. It's quite amazing when you consider his whole demeanor is slightly different upon his return to the island, like his sense of confidence has been completely renewed.
As a side note, I'll rarely mention Yunjin Kim going forward because her character was rendered near-useless for the remainder of Season 5 and most of Season 6. Dead is Dead happens to be one of the first episodes where she becomes a broken record; it would only get worse from here. This isn't Yunjin's fault by any means so no deductions will be forthcoming for her.
With only a few exceptions LOST does a phenomenal job with makeup and casting to create younger versions of its characters. This episode is one of those exceptions.
The attempt at young-adult Ben is borderline absurd and I'm baffled by their decision to go that route. Either they decided casting wasn't feasible or there simply weren't any good matches, but either way it's almost a comical moment when a wigged Emerson springs out of the bushes.
Excellent directing and choreography at the marina scene where Ben gets pummeled by Desmond. Something they did with the film speed made that scene feel even more gritty, the punches even more intense. Love the shot of a bloodied Ben plunging into the water.
The Temple's outer wall and underground chambers were designed reasonably well and definitely generated some atmosphere. Some LOST fans complain about the judgment scene and the flashes within Smokey, but I honestly thought it was executed quite well. Emotion was the main goal of that moment, not satisfying people who would scrutinize every frame and pixel looking for errors.
It's fun revisiting the ascension of Ben through the Others' hierarchy, not to mention the roots of the perpetual power struggle between evil Charles Widmore and the slightly-less-evil Benjamin Linus. It was especially fun in the Redux rewatch to see all the different ways Ben was being manipulated while thinking HE was the one pulling the strings.
It was significant to see Widmore ordering the murder of Alex, for that makes the LOST Encyclopedia's confirmation of Widmore ordering the DHARMA purge considerably more credible. For the longest time I was personally under the impression that Ben and Richard coordinated the Purge with zealot-in-training Ben claiming the instructions came from Jacob. But alas, Widmore issuing the order does make sense and Dead is Dead provides some supporting evidence.
There were atmospheric undertones present throughout the episode, starting with Locke's inexplicable grin. Ben knew what the audience knew — something was different about Locke and it was a little bit frightening.
The atmosphere and emotional impact don't really kick in until the final few minutes though, when Ben is surrounded and judged by the Smoke Monster. The judgment was a foregone conclusion but the audience didn't know it at the time, so for all we knew this could've been Ben's last hurrah. In fact the first time around, after Smokey slithered away and Alex appeared out of nowhere, I thought we WERE in for a shocking moment of revenge. Nope, just a stern warning to keep Ben in line this time. Gotta keep working that loophole.
