TV Review: Lost – This Place is Death

Posted by Adam Sweeney (adam@filmschoolrejects.com) on February 12, 2009

lost-littleprince

Lost, ABC, Airs Wednesdays 9/8c

Episode: “This Place is Death” (Season 5, Episode 5)

Synopsis: Locke (Terry O’Quinn) takes on the burden to stop the island’s increasingly violent shifts through time. Meanwhile, Ben (Michael Emerson) hits a roadblock in his attempt to reunite the Oceanic 6.

Review: The suspense is killing us … and Charlotte (Rebecca Mader) now that time is running out for the islanders. This Place is Death gave us a better understanding of what obstacles the characters face, and it doesn’t look pretty. Why we had to spend what felt like half of the episode on Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) and Rousseau’s (Melissa Farman) ill-fated crew, we’re not sure. But it gave us a chance to see the Smoke Monster, one of the greatest creations of the Lost mythology. It offered us a little clue, the lovable little bugger, as it raced into a building covered with hieroglyphics. What do the ancient writings mean?

We were truly hoping this episode was going to be titled Sun of a Bitch, as the heartbroken heroine aimed to put a kink in Benjamin’s plans to get the Oceanic 6 back on the island. It was a pleasant surprise to see the rest of the gang bail on Jack (Matthew Fox) and Ben once they realized they were manipulated. Many shows would have forfeited the natural reactions and emotions of the other characters, but it stands to reason that Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sayidh (Naveen Andrews) would have been pissed off at the situation, not just Sun(Yunjin Kim). We do wish we had been given a chance to see more of what was going on off the island, but what can you do? Both storylines are riveting.

So if the normal time shifts were described as a skip on a record by Daniel, would the increasing jumps be like DJ Armin van Buuren spinning records on a turntable. Remix! Just asking.

There were a few surprises in this episode, namely Charlotte offering a death bed revelation that she had met Daniel (Jeremy Davies) earlier in her life. This is completely plausible as Danny boy has been jumping back and forth on that islands for what must be decades now. But what connection does this put between the two of them? Is Daniel obsessed with trying to figure out a way to keep Charlotte alive in a similar fashion to Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain?

A well written character has dimension to them, and Lost fleshes out people with the best of them … sometimes too much. When Benjamin slams the brakes on the van and flips out over everyone’s death threats, it really added something to him for us. It broke the mold of the typically composed Linus for us, and we appreciate that. Hey may be a conniving and double-crossing bastard, but he’s still human. Now if he had gone off on Jack for three minutes a la Christian Bale, that would have been must see TV. (We kid. In actuality, we love Bale’s work.)

We wonder whether or not the younger Rousseau will be featured in the rest of the season. We can certainly understand why she thought everyone had the sickness. You would too if you saw your shipmates go through hell, only to pop back up and be ready to run a marathon after a time jump. Why haven’t other characters been going ape shit when they run into various people in these jumps?

Locke was captivating as always, and his conversation with Christian (John Terry) left us a little puzzled. But doesn’t this entire show. Can Christian not physically help people? Is he a figment of Locke’s imagination? Now that Locke has stopped the time shifts, one has to wonder if Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) and Miles (Ken Leung) will be stuck in that time forever. Better yet, what time period are they in?

One way or the other, the Oceanic 6 are going to get back on the island. A few theories we are throwing around; 1) Locke allows Benjamin to kill him and take Jin’s wedding band to trick Sun. Of course, it would be easier if Locke just lies to Sun. But you can’t break promises when you’re dead. 2) The plane crash of Oceanic Flight 815 opened up a whole in the Space-Time continuum, disrupting the normalcy of both “worlds.” In order to right the disruption, which currently seems to be only affecting the islanders, the members of the crash must all stay on the island. Eventually, the portal must be closed or the nosebleeds and illnesses will spread to present day reality. Those who died on the island return to present day as ghosts, but can only be seen by true believers or the innocent, maybe? (Hurley) The concept would explain why such importance has been placed on getting the Oceanic 6 back on the island for good.

This Place is Death was a bit choppy, largely because it needed to display the increasing time shifts, but it still brought mystery, manipulation and many scenes of characters looking around with an expression that said, “what the hell is going on?” In other words, it passes the litmus test for Lost episodes. We can’t stop saying it. Damn, we love Lost.

Up Next Week: The way back to the island is revealed to members of the Oceanic 6, but there’s trouble ahead when not all of them wish to return.

Read More: Lost Recaps

Did you check out the “This Place is Death” episode? What are your thoughts and theories on where Lost is heading?


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  • This weeks episode was amazing. I think that the whole Dan was around when Charlotte was a kid was a little predictable and it explains the flashback of when Dan was working with the Dharma crew back in teh 70's (I think it was the 70's) I am stoked for next week so we can see some more of the people off the island. I dont think Ben will Kill Locke, better yet, I'm not totally convinced that he is actually dead.
  • At this point I'm almost convinced that we (the audience) are all dead.
  • Haha, that would be the ultimate twist if J.J. Abrams can pull that off! And I think Locke is dead in real life, but that he will definitely be revived on the island. Yay Jesus analogies!
  • Mack41
    It was decent, but not amazing. I think it may be the weakest of the episodes we've seen this season. The ocnstant time changes got a little annoying, but it was nice to see Sawyer reacing to all of them. The first half of the episode was pretty boring and felt like some filler untill the important stuff that happened later on. Still, great episode and better than pretty much anything on TV, but just not as good as past Lost episodes. Can't wait for next week though
  • Leonkennedy
    "2) The plane crash of Oceanic Flight 815 opened up a whole in the Space-Time continuum, disrupting the normalcy of both “worlds.” In order to right the disruption, which currently seems to be only affecting the islanders, the members of the crash must all stay on the island. Eventually, the portal must be closed or the nosebleeds and illnesses will spread to present day reality. Those who died on the island return to present day as ghosts, but can only be seen by true believers or the innocent, maybe? (Hurley) The concept would explain why such importance has been placed on getting the Oceanic 6 back on the island for good."

    this is a similiar theory i was thinking and it sounds so plausible but i stopped agreeing at when you said they were ghosts and can only be seen by true believers?!!? thats kinda far fetched.
    Though ill give you the benefit of the doubt if you are dead on.

    i feel like from the beginning they have said it could heaven or hell, mentions of that. I still think its the bermuda triangle times 100.

    i dont think the ghost theory works though cause they interact with everyone like normal people.


    anyways this is going so damn well i cant wait to see how they get back and i dont believe john is really dead. i think when they take him back to the island his dead body the island will bring him back to life possibly. who knows
  • At this point, is any theory far-fetched? Haha. Maybe I should adjust the theory to "ghosts can be seen by the Oceanic 6," but it seems like only Hurley is the one with the visions currently.
  • DBH
    I disagree that Rousseau shot her shipmates because they appeared normal after a time jump because I dont believe that Rousseau is time jumping. Jin is time jumping. So whatever happened with the shipmates happened in the time period between jumps. I think they came up and were "different" and Rousseau believed they were sick and shot them. She may not have been that far off considering how her husband (?) was about to shoot her himself.
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