'Lost': What lies in the shadow of the statue?

Good ol' "Lost." Even when they announce a week in advance what the episode will be about -- in this case, lots more information on the Smoke Monster -- they manage to throw us a surprise from left field.  Tonight, we fully expected to see the scoop on the temple, the monster and what happened to Penny, but who could have expected the revelation that Ilana and a few other passengers from the Ajira Airways flight were apparently Others all along (though of the exiled and ticked-off-about-it variety).

The giveaway? Their code with one another: "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" The answer? We don't know for sure yet. Though there are a few options. "Death" is my guess, but depending on the definition of "lies" it could also be "Ben." How cutesy are the Others? Not very. I'm sticking with "Death."

Why "Death"? That has a lot to do with what Ben saw underneath the temple. (Technically the wall surrounding the temple, but let's not get bogged down in details). Finally, after so many years of people asking "What is the Smoke Monster?" we got, if not exactly a definitive answer, then at least as close to a full answer as I think we're going to get. Down there in the Smoke Monster's lair, which looks like an unused set from "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," Ben learned that: 1) The Smoke Monster sleeps beneath the stone grid and 2) Instructions say that it was a force used by the Egyptian god Anubis to judge the dead on their way to the afterlife.

Presumably that also clears up the question of whom the broken, four-toed statue depicts. It's Anubis' island, and Ben and Locke and even Widmore are merely visitors.

The evolution of our main characters continues, and this week we got to see the formation of the new dynamic between newly chastened Ben, forgiven by the island for allowing his daughter to die, and Creepy Zen Locke, who has found in death what he never had in life -- a sense of inner calm and peace. He's no longer a man blindly casting about for something or someone to believe in. He believes in himself, and that's all that matters. It also helps that somehow Locke seems to have all the answers to the island that Ben once had. In our new "Lost" world order, Sawyer is the new Jack. Locke is the new Ben and Sun is the new Desmond (she just wants to be reunited with her true love).

Visually, this is the most beautiful episode we've seen in a long time. The island looked amazing, especially the shots of Locke and Ben paddling to the main island. I don't know what the extra cost of filming in Hawaii is, but scenes like this totally justify the extra cost. Amazing.

To be honest, the scene of the swirling Smoke Monster was a little too Indiana Jones for my tastes. I kept waiting to hear Ben scream, "It's beautiful!" and have his face melt off. But I appreciated the ideas behind the Smoke Monster even though its execution was a bit lacking. For all the lying and double-dealing Ben's engaged in over the last few seasons, his heart apparently has been mostly in the right place. At least when it came to his daughter. And his warning that came in the form of Alex herself ended in a much nicer manner than Mr. Eko's final encounter with the Smoke Monster in the guise of his dead brother.

But it leaves a big question. If Alex and Eko's brother were manifestations of the Smoke Monster, what is Christian? And Claire? And Locke himself, for that matter. As Ben said, the island doesn't bring people back from the dead as part of its usual routine. Are they all aspects of Smokey? I suspect so.

Finally, for those looking closely a few more books were added to the extensive "Lost" reading list. On the shelf in Alex's old room were "Uncle Tom's Cabin," "Roots" and a book that I'm 99% certain is "Flowers for Algernon." After several bookless weeks, "Lost" seems to have gotten back to giving us what we want: weird mysteries and a few good books to add to our nightstand.

-- Patrick Kevin Day

Photo: ABC

Comments

[ThunderMonkey]

I thought the statue reference was to the four-toed foot that was seen a while back.

The Anubis reference was great (the image of the man with the head of a jackal or dog interacting with the smoke monster). In Egyptian mythology, Anubis was the original protector of the dead as they entered the afterlife.

Ben is still a wanker.

[maria]

I thought the smoke monster scene was a bit like the Abyss. I was almost uncomfortable with it, but I guess it works. These things need to be explained eventually. So many questions still though! What's the connection with the numbers that won Hurley the lottery, the flight numbers, and the numbers Desmond had to enter in the swan station? Just signs of their destiny? What about Walt and his gift? And how did they get Locke's dad to the island? Remember Ben telling Locke that the island had a "box" that could summon anything? Lots of stuff to wrap up before the end!

[Rob]

Ben later said that the box was a metaphor. I don't think there's any mystery about how his dad came to the island: they kidnapped him and brought him via submarine.

Did anyone think it was weird that the Hostiles' camp looked so primitive compared to the Dharma camp?

Season 5 is a great season! So many revelations and new mysteries. Ben has become such a huge part of the story, but I wonder if that was always the plan? I seem to recall reading that the character of Ben was only supposed to be in a few episodes, but Michael Emerson did such a good job that they decided to keep him.

[Kilroy]

Two books concerning slavery and one about a mentally challenged man who becomes a super genius after an experiment with a rat? These aren't clues, they're red herrings. But it does beg a question: wasn't The Black Rock a slave ship? If so, where are the slaves?

[Blake]

"What lies in the shadow of the statue?"

Jughead possibly?

[Jon Pal]

In wikipedia it says that "Flowers of Algernon" was written by Daniel Keyes who wrote for comic books in the 40's-60's. He also went under pseudonyms including: Kris Daniels, A.D. Locke and Dominik Georg.
Perhaps the book being there is a reference to Locke; or perhaps the book itself has something to do with Locke, Ben, or Alex's characters.

[Dave T]

I really want to see Ben die a slow and painful death... maybe have his face melt off too. He is pure evil.

[Connor]

i think that everyone that isn't buried on the island comes back alive ... thats why richard alpert always asks for the bodies of his people that die

[Al]

The best part of Lost is that you really can't be sure who the good guys are. Just when you're convinced that Ben is the Devil, he starts to turn around and you think he might be fighting for the good guys.

I think both Ben and Widmore can go either way.

This show is by far the best thing written on television today. It's just too bad that new viewers are kinda "Lost" when they try to join in on the story at this late point. It really takes a massive Lost marathon to bring new viewers up to the point where they can comprehend the story.

We have Year 3 to thank for dropping off the viewership into a purgatory of ratings. It's a good thing that all the other shows on primetime aren't getting the ratings that they once were, just a few short years ago. Remember when the last episode of MASH had over 1/2 the TVs in America tuned into it? Those days are gone.

Here's hoping ABC keeps it's word and produces the last season of Lost later this year and into next. It's truely classic.

[Steve]

The "Flowers of Algernon" reference makes me think of the experiments that Daniel Faraday was doing with Rats. In the book, the Rat, Algernon, took that same medication that made the mentally handicap. It work on the Rat so they started Human testing then things went wrong and the Rat died. To me, the return of Faraday in the next episode could signal a similar development. The Rats died in Faraday's experiments...

[mr anger]

What lies at the foot of the statue is Cloverfield

[Alan]

Look... LOCK is JESUS lol
like a GOD..
the Smoke is protecting him.. the Gods wishes lol
That's all about!.. lol

[Nena]

Illana and friends ARE NOT "OTHERS"! They are not affiliated with Widmore, Ben, Richard, or Eloise. They are a different group that also wants to control the island...either remenants of the original Dharma Inititive that were not on the island when Benny Boy gassed them, OR they are a new THIRD PARTY that we haven't seen before. Seems like everyone and his dead brother want a piece of the island...so why not throw someone new into the mix? I love this show!

[William Mueller]

"In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone, / Stands a gigantic Leg / The only shadow that the Desert knows"

[Daniel]

The statue wasn't Anubis... the statue was Sobek, the crocodile headed god.
Anubis depiction was under the temple where Ben faced his 'judgement'... The smoke monster is the will of Anubis, manifesting itself through those who have died, because that's where Anubis' power exists.
Sobek was a creator god, associated with Ra... (Jacob was weaving a depiction of Ra... The Eye of Ra in the sun, with the hands/rays of Ra outstretched to the people below...)
Jacob... which I am starting to believe is a human representation of Sobek... Believes in humanity... Anubis... represented as the man who joined Jacob on the beach as they watched the Black Rock approach... Believes all humanity breeds is death and corruption.
Locke... at least a large portion of the Locke we knew... while guided along... (Anubis' loophole...)
Is dead... his body is dead... Locke is Anubis now... Or more, Anubis is Locke... What's dead is dead...
That's my take on things.
More so than a battle of wills between Widmore and Ben... more than a battle between the 'Others' and the Dharma Initiative... It's a 'battle' of sorts between gods... between apposing ideologies of both.

[Mac]

@Daniel
Those are my sentiments exactly. So many things (references to books, philosophers, etc) point toward warring powers and the free will of man. The wiki on Sobek is interesting. "Sobek's ambiguous nature led some Egyptians to believe that he was a repairer of evil that had been done, rather than a force for good in itself,... effectively having a more distant role, nudging things along, rather than taking an active part." The other man being Anubis seems consistent with the way he uses the dead to pursue his will, not to mention the glyphs in the temple.

[art]

Very interesting theories, this series almost became like a legend story, very interesting. I kind of think that the whole dharma initiative was created not by widmore but by jakob himself, because widmore is trying to get back to the island and if he funded the dharma research why didn't he take the sub already and go to the island? I think this dharma thing, if you look at the two layers of the blast door map that locke saw (he only saw 1 layer), it is way to complicated and, too many stations around the island, and the mysterious question mark in the middle... I think dharma is setup either by jakob or by that other guy who wanted to kill jakob. dharma is some sort of hi-tech experiment / world domination research for the gods (the egyptian guy, or jakob) i am so confused now, can't wait for season 6 to tell us all the answer!!