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Lost: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

Cesar: "You know him?"
Locke: "Yeah. He's the man who killed me."

The major theme of this show is science versus faith. Faith appears to be winning. I mean, really. Killing yourself on the word of a strange, ageless guy is a pretty big step to take on faith. And Locke would have gone through with it if Ben hadn't stopped by and murdered him.

And was that a symbolically loaded scene, or what? Big on the worship and sacrifice. Ben knelt before Locke, who was standing on the table with the noose around his neck just below a (what else?) cross on the ceiling. (We even saw goats crossing the road at the beginning of the episode.) Until Locke mentioned Eloise Hawking, Ben was trying desperately to keep Locke alive. Why the reversal? I wonder if Ben just realized that Eloise was in league with Widmore instead of with Ben himself?

Widmore was acting like Ben did with Locke: i.e., you're important, the Island needs you, I'm here to help. Not that I believe anything Widmore says, but Widmore told Locke that there was a war coming, and that Locke had to be on the Island when it started or the wrong side would win. How would Widmore know? Unless it happened in the past. But you can't change the past, can you?

Which brings me to the Island. Or more accurately, "Alcatraz."

Have the time shifts stopped? We didn't see one during the Alcatraz scenes. And when are they? Cesar saw a copy of Life magazine dated April 13, 1954 in the office, but there was a Hydra symbol there, too. Are they in the 1970s with the rest of the cast?

One of the things I liked about this season was that the writers didn't give us new characters and new factions. Ah, well. Now we have Cesar and Ilana, the two first class passengers on 316, and a group of Ajira survivors on Alcatraz with a couple of long boats. (Which makes it nearly certain that they're the ones that fired on Sawyer and Juliet.) Cesar and Ilana feel like plants. Or maybe just Cesar; he hid a gun from Ilana. I bet Cesar works for Widmore.

(Ilana told Locke that the pilot and some woman took one of the long boats. Frank and Sun, I assume? But where is Sayid?)

Locke's visits were rather sad; he just got one "no" after another. My favorite was with Hurley, who thought Locke was one of the Walking Dead. Sayid was doing community work in Santo Domingo, as penance for his sins, I assume. Jack's short beard signaled that he had already seen his father and was doing drugs and alcohol, but he hadn't completely lost it yet. Apparently, Locke passing on Christian's greeting from Island pushed Jack over the edge.

Nice little visit with Walt. I think that Locke intended to talk Walt into going back with him, but changed his mind. Walt's dream about Locke wearing a suit surrounded by people happened at the beginning of the episode. Except Walt said they wanted to hurt Locke. We haven't seen that yet. If Cesar works for Widmore, why would he want to hurt Locke?

Kate asked Locke if he'd ever been in love. Maybe Kate went back to the Island for Sawyer. I'm looking forward to the upcoming Sawyer/Kate reunion. I know some people say they're tired of the love triangle, but I'm not.

Character bits:

All that painful stuff with Locke's compound fracture made me cringe repeatedly. And he was forced back into that wheelchair that he hates so much. He really does have bad leg karma.



Locke's fake Canadian passport, issued 12 December 2007, gave his birthdate as 15 February 1948. In "Jughead," Locke told Richard he was born in Tustin, California, May 30, 1956. In "Further Instructions," Locke's gun registration gave his birthdate as November 15, 1946. It's unlike the Lost writers to be so inconsistent. Is it deliberate?

Widmore spent three decades on the Island after arriving at age 17, and was the leader of the Others. He says. Ben fooled Widmore into leaving the Island. No wonder they hate each other.

Helen died of a brain aneurysm, which is, coincidentally, a popular cause of death on the Island these days. If she is indeed dead. I bet she's not. I think that Widmore just didn't want anything to keep Locke away from the Island.

All Matthew Abaddon did here was drive, look threatening, and die. They had probably intended to give Lance Reddick a more comprehensive role, but he got another job on Fringe.

Bits and pieces:

— After Locke turned the Wheel Thingy, he landed in the same spot in Tunisia that Ben did. Three years later, though, not ten months. Why is Tunisia the exit?

— And yet another car crash, a spectacular three-car pile-up. When Locke died, he had a ton of bruises plus that cast on his leg. None of this showed in the coffin. Okay, fine, maybe Rico the skilled restorative artist made a visit to Hoffs/Drawlar, but Locke was uncut and unbruised and walking around on Alcatraz. Another magic resurrection for Locke.


— Widmore gave Locke his Jeremy Bentham name as something of a joke.

— Widmore told Locke he could always reach him if he pressed 23. Helen died on April 8, 4-8, if she actually did die.

— Hurley's latest art work was of the Sphinx at Giza.

— Was Walt's school called "Freedcroft"? Weird name. Anagram?

— The Others were working on a runway (for the aliens, Juliet said) back in season three. But are they in the 1970s? Was there always a runway? Did Frank use it to almost land the plane? 316 was certainly in a lot better shape than 815.

— I was touched by Locke's joy at eating mangos again. But if I were going back to the Island, I'd take as much coffee and chocolate with me as I could carry. Mangos. Bleah.

I feel like I just wrote a thesis. Argh,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

12 comments:

  1. This is just a guess, but since Ceaser saw Hurley disappear, and that the Oceanic beach camp exists in the time the Left-Behinders are getting shot at, I'm pretty sure that the Ajira 316ers are still in 2008.

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  2. If Charles Widmore was on the island until he was 47, could Penny have been born on the island? Is Penny's mother someone from the island? Not sure how old Penny and Charles are exactly ...

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  3. ABBADON worked for Whidmore. ABBADON means....destroyer, death. He was a follower of satan. Go figure.

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  4. hey billie,

    the name is a joke because both John Locke and Jeremy Bentham are famous philosophical thinkers in european history. Widmore was playing off of Locke's name.

    thanks for all your reviews. :)

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  5. Hi Billie!

    I'm Chofi, from Spain.

    When the doctors fixed Locke's leg, it reminded me a lot when Jack and Sun were trying to fix Boone's leg back in season one.

    Cheers!

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  6. Hi,

    The Hydra group is in the future not the past. Sawyer et al found the canoes (and water bottle form the plane) at the Losties ransacked and abandoned camp site. I do like the idea of the runway they worked on in the past being used now (did they know it would be needed this way?)

    Also Locke's fake passport was just that, fake name, fake birth date.

    Regards

    Peter Gillespie

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  7. Hi Billie,

    I'm not sure how I felt about this episode. Lockes faith seemed to get rewarded big time when he was returned to the island which was nice, but it feels a bit like the writers pulled a Heroes on us (dead person not staying dead). I know this is a recurring theme on Lost but his time it just felt wrong to me. Like Lockes death was a ratings grabber rather than part of the story. I hope that's not the case.

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  8. Hi Billie and everyone,

    Thank you very much for your review, a delight to read as always! In the final scene between John and Ben, I thought Ben changed his attitude as soon as John mentionned Jin was alive, I don't know his voice just sounded different after that... I don't know though why he killed John right after he said Eloise's names...

    A couple of comments not related to that particular episode: In the episode "eggtown" from season 4 that I re-watched lately, it is mentionned that Kate was to stay in the Californian state for 10 years following her trial....so how did she manage to get on the Ajira plane back to the Island?

    One final thought...my husband had a theory that it was Jin who taught korean to Charlotte... During one of their travel back/forth in time, they may have ended up when Charlotte was young and still on the island...

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  9. Some thoughts ---
    @jo -- I really don't think Locke's death and resurrection is a ratings grabber. When you look back, you can see signs of them leading up to this. Remember Christian? This might also explain why Richard never ages, even though he's been on the island forever --- if you've been resurrected (assuming Richard has), do you age?

    Also, did anyone catch Locke saying it's been four days for him since he first saw Charles Widmore? Four days of them all roaming around the island without eating or drinking?

    As to the Charles vs Ben, I think they're BOTH lying. Neither is looking out for the best interests of the island, just their own. False prophets, if you will. That certainly explains Ben's motivations in doing everything (including killing Locke), and would also explain Charles trying to take over the island by force, yet still try to help out Locke, etc. get back.

    I'm also not tired at all of the love triangle. In my opinion, love triangles only work when you don't know who to root for, and I can safely say that I don't.

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  10. I think Ben killed Locke out of a mix of jealousy (for Locke'd substitute him being the Island's leader) and practicity ( I needed you now that you've told me what I want, I don't need you anymore, plus you'll disturb me). It's amazing how manipulative Ben is, he never ceases to shock me. And of course, the new "castaways" will want to kill Locke, after all, wasn't it that happened to Ethan when they found out he wasn't on the plane. And who, unaware of the Island's dead walking, would believe he was in the coffin? A great, great episode, and I really came to pity Locke, he felt this hopelessness feeling, of losing his faith, like Jesus on the cross, to come to life again. Fantastic image.

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  11. well i was all ready to jump on team ben and think what a nice guy he is for talking john down from the desk, for helping him, showing compassion and then boom. ben kills the guy. WTF?!?! i'm back to thinking ben is evil. one step forward and two steps back. poor john really has been through the psychologically roller coaster. jack was a jerk to him. drug addict jack.

    who is this cesear fellow? how did he get access to the dharma office so quickly. it took the original cast aways a whole season to get into one of those. he seems very authoritative though. is he on widmore's payroll? is widmore a good guy?

    OH!!! john only had 4 toes!!! i'm fixated on this 4 toes thing because of the foot statue on the island. john's pinkie might have been covered by the cast, but there were several shots of his foot and all i ever saw were 4 toes. that's important.

    kate is a selfish person when it comes to physical intimacy. whenever SHE needs comfort, she sleeps with sawyer, then jack, then sawyer. poor guys get their hearts thrown about by her.

    helen -- way back when she left locke after his marriage proposal, i had the feeling she really wanted to stay but was being paid by someone (cooper, ben, widmore, who knows) to leave. she was playing a part to leave locke but she really fell for what he told her and she wanted to stay. that's my opinion.

    was charlotte ben's childhood friend? she looks a lot younger than ben to me though.

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  12. ["Kate asked Locke if he'd ever been in love. Maybe Kate went back to the Island for Sawyer. I'm looking forward to the upcoming Sawyer/Kate reunion. I know some people say they're tired of the love triangle, but I'm not."]

    If Kate was really in love with Sawyer, she would have moved heaven and earth to return to the island. I suspect she was still reeling from her breakup with Jack.

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