Lower Decks

The following review contains spoilers for LOST through the current episode, “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” originally broadcast February 25th, 2009.

I’m obviously a huge fan of LOST, and I’ve watched every episode of the series (including every one from this season) at least twice.  I know the characters inside and out; from the flashbacks to the flash-forwards.  So when I tell you that “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” might be the best episode of the entire series, I hope you take my word for it.

It was revealed that this episode was supposed to air before last week’s “316″ – but that the writers decided that they should air “316″ first.  Since I knew this episode would most-likely be parallel to last week’s, I didn’t really know how it would really matter.

It mattered.  Getting the Oceanic Six back on the Island before this episode aired meant that we didn’t have to worry about them when Locke visited each of them.  Locke’s eventual death had more meaning knowing that it did prompt Jack to get the rest of them back.  And I don’t think the drama of Locke’s suicide note would’ve been nearly as compelling if we already knew what it said.

This episode still would’ve been great if it was aired before “316″ but now it is an instant classic.

Because this episode had a bit of everything.  From the return of characters like Walt and Abaddon to the increased suspense about Widmore to the surprises (including the actual manner of Locke’s death), it seems like the writers threw everything they could at us.  Probably why the episode ran about five minutes longer than usual.

Let’s start at the beginning.  We meet Caesar and Illana, two of the survivors of Ajira 316.  It seems that the plane did crash (on the Hydra Island), but the Oceanic Six “disappeared” off the plane.  That explains why none of them remembered crashing.  It is then revealed that Frank and a woman took off in one of the canoes, heading to the actual Island.  They took the passenger list and didn’t seem to explain what they were doing to anyone.

Something about Frank doesn’t seem right, and I can’t put my finger on it.  It would explain the empty canoe (with the Ajira bottle of water) we saw by the Survivors’ camp, and it might lead toward explaining why Sawyer and company were getting shot at a couple of episodes ago.  But I go back to last episode when Frank didn’t seem surprised or upset to find out that his plane was headed back to the Island – he knows something, I bet.

The fact that Locke is alive on the Island should be no surprise.  We know that people that died can “return to life” on the Island – it happened to Yemi (Eko’s brother) and, of course, Christian Shephard.  It was the whole reason why Locke was brought back in the first place.

It is a bit surprising how eager Locke is to tell people what’s happened to him.  I suppose he doesn’t really care at this point…he’s literally died and gone to his version of Heaven.  He’s full of passion and faith again, realizing that he did what he was supposed to, and he even conquered death in the process.  That’s gotta make a man feel good.

I thought it was really interesting that Widmorehad the desert in Tunisia wired with a camera.  I’d have to go back and watch “The Shape of Things to Come” to see if there was a similar camera when Ben landed there, but I suppose it doesn’t matter since Ben was able to move quickly and Locke was stuck there.

And one of the things I found interesting was that Widmore is seen as a bit of a sympathetic character.  It’s impossible to know whether he can be trusted (considering that Widmore’s enemy is Benjamin Linus…a character we also don’t feel good about trusting), but I found what he said about leaving the Island very interesting.

Widmore explains that he once led the Others, and Ben forced him into “exile” so that he could take control of the Others.  You’d have to think that meant “moving” the Island – especially since Widmore knew exactly where the exit point would be.

But that brings up so many different questions – Richard Alpert seemed to have no problem giving command of the Others to Ben and seemed pretty short with Widmore in the 1950s scenes.  I wonder what part Richard played in the exchange of power.

Then there’s the question of timing.  If Ben took over leadership of the Others around the time of the Purge (confirmed as taking place in 1992), that means that Widmore was on the Island until 1992.  If that’s the case, either Penny was born on the Island (which would explain her fears of it) or Widmore would’ve had a family off the Island while living on it.  I’m guessing she was born there.

Widmore’s trust of Locke also makes sense because it was Abaddon who convinced Locke to go on the fateful walkabout.  Is there a chance that Widmore is telling the truth about his faith in Locke?  Considering that Ben had little faith in Locke at first, it does seem to make a bit of sense.

And what of this war that Widmoreis talking about?  Is he talking about his war with Ben Linus or something entirely different?

I found the whole “Locke in a wheelchair” thing to be extremely well done.  It turns out that the Island’s “cure” does extend beyond the Island itself (good news for Rose, I suppose), but in a cruel twist of fate, Locke ends up back in a wheelchair because of his broken leg.

Each of Locke’s visits had a bit of charm to them.  I actually want to start with Walt, and I’m starting to wonder more and more about his place on the show.  Locke goes to see Walt second (after Sayid), but he makes no effort to bring him to the Island, claiming that the “boy’s been through enough.”

I thought that flashing forward three years was done very specifically so that Walt could return to the show…maybe on a regular basis.  But with Walt nowhere in site when the Oceanic Six return, you have to wonder what role, if any, he’ll play in the final season and a half.  Walt’s dreams about Locke seem to be foreshadowing, and I doubt we’ve seen the last of him.

I did find the stuff about Michael to be interesting.  As far as we know, Locke doesn’t know what happened to Michael, and there seems to be, from his perspective, an equal chance that Michael and Jin escaped the freighter explosion.  Maybe it’s better that Walt doesn’t know what happened to his father.

Then there’s the actual recruitment of the Oceanic Six.  Locke starts with Sayid, who’s building houses in the Dominican Republic.  There isn’t a whole lot there, but you have to wonder what the heck Sayid was doing down there.  I suppose he was trying to do some good, maybe off the radar, to get away from what he was doing for Ben.  And you can see why “Bentham” dying would spook him into returning.

Hurley’s scene was done pretty well.  He immediately assumes that Locke is dead and visiting him, but he’s surprised to see that John is alive.  He seems to be along with the plan (not as much against it as simply concerned that it wouldn’t work) until he sees Abaddon.  And like he’s done a couple times before, the sight of an untrustworthy person makes Hurley freak out…and Locke has failed again.

Kate’s scene was one that didn’t make a lot of sense.  She seems to believe that Locke wanted to stay on the Island because he’d never loved anyone…and I just don’t see where she’s coming from.  Besides leading John to bring Helen back up (perhaps for the audience who’d forgotten about her…considering her importance in the next scene), I didn’t think it added up.  If anything, Locke’s love (for the Island) was the reason for his obsessive behavior.

Which brings us to the revelation that Helen died while Locke was gone.  I was a bit sad to see that Helen was gone, although I’m not sure what kind of role she could’veplayed (on or off the Island).  I suppose her death might not have been as natural as Abaddon says, but I bet that’s the last we hear of her.

And then one of the big surprises of the night when Abaddon gets shot.  He was shot enough times to assume that he’s dead, but there’s always been a bit of a supernatural sense to his character (not unlike Richard).  Abaddonobviously works with Widmore, making him almost immediately untrustworthy, but I wonder about his true motivations.  I hope, dead or not, that we get to learn more about his character in the future.

Abaddon’s shooting leads to a car accident, and Locke ends up in Jack’s hospital.  I found it interesting that Jack was already growing his beard, succumbing to his demons, when Locke showed up.  I would’ve thought that it would’ve been John’s death that would’ve tipped him over the edge, but it seems like Jack was already on his way before that happened.

It seems like it’s the mention of Christian that finally convinces Jack that he needs to go back to the Island.  I think Jack wants to believe that his father is alive, hoping that Christian can explain everything to him so that it will all make sense.  So it might be finding his father, above all else, that’s driving Jack to return to the Island.

Because that’s just it…I don’t think Locke made a very convincing argument, and I can’t think of another reason why Jack would be convinced.  And I think John’s death, moreso than being an indication that Locke was right, showed Jack that the road to his father might’ve been closed.

I think that explains why Jack is still skeptical about everything and yet still goes through the motions with his father’s shoes.  I think he realizes (finally) that Christian plays a big role in this, and I’m betting that’s why he’s come back.

Then…there’s the suicide scene.  And, honestly, I don’t really get Locke’s motivations.  I thought that Locke would kill himself because that’s what Richard said he’d have to do, but it seemed like John was legitimately giving up.  He thought he was a failure, and he wanted to die because he’d failed the Island.  Perhaps he was buying into Jack’s argument that he was never special.

I just thought that was odd.

And then Ben comes to save the day.  He tells Locke that he killed Abaddon because he’s been protecting everyone since he left the Island.  Then, he convinces Locke not to kill himself, telling John that he’ll help to recruit the rest of the group to return.

Then two things happen…Locke reveals that Jinis still alive and that he’s supposed to go speak with Eloise Hawking to get back.

Something about both of these facts surprises Ben.  I’m not sure what Jin being alive means to Ben (he was surprised to hear it, however), but the name Eloise Hawking certainly sent Ben to kill John.  I have to wonder what that all means and how Ben knows about Eloise, but it definitely convinced Ben that John had to die.  And, it seems, her name sent the entire “reuniting the Oceanic Six” plan into motion.

In other words, we’re definitely going to need an episode filling in the blanks in Ben’s past if we’re going to understand what really happened in that room.

One thing I found very interesting about the Locke/Ben conversation was that Locke didn’t reveal that Ben wasn’t supposed to move the Island.  Because I thought for certain that this information would’ve led to Ben’s actions…because I assumed that Ben would’ve felt responsible for the danger on the Island.  And, above all, Ben cares for the Island and would want to make things right.

But it never comes up.

And I have to say that Ben killing Locke was certainly unexpected.  I can’t say that it was a surprise (because I knew it’d happen as soon as Locke took off the cord), but I didn’t think, until tonight, that Ben would’ve been responsible for John’s death.  Considering John’s warming to Widmore, you have to wonder how the Ben/Locke relationship will be now.

Finally, there’s the fact that Ben didn’t “disappear” with the rest of the Oceanic Six (in fact, he was injured in the crash).  We don’t know how injured he is, but I think it shows that the Island doesn’t really want Ben back.  I think his return will be something important the rest of the season.

So there you have it…an extremely well-done and powerful episode that will, at least for me, rank up there in the all-time best episodes of the series.  An episode that answered a lot of questions, filled in a lot of blanks, but also kept things extremely interesting for the future.

In my opinion, this season has already been exceptionally strong, and here’s the good news.

There’s still eleven left to go.