‘Lost’: What lies in the shadow of the statue?

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

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