S5E7 - The Life And Death Of Jeremy Bentham

Ash Wednesday was yesterday, which marks the beginning of the 40 days of Lent, culminating on Easter Sunday. Rather than spending half of my recap offering a watered-down version of what that means, I’ll link you over to a more authoritative version for those of you not in the know: Lent (Wikipedia). Sufficed to say, it is in some ways about sacrifice and when coupled with the underlying Easter theme of new life and resurrection… well, you’ve got more religious symbolism than you can shake a stick at and I wouldn’t be doing my job if I overlooked such an obvious parallel between last night’s episode.

RESURRECTION
Locke’s alive! Confused, but alive. He’s special too, oh man is he special. Probably freakin’ tired of people telling him just how special he is.

ASHES
There was definitely a few ashes from the charred bits of the Ajira flight wreckage, though I must say, Frank the Pilot did a much better job of landing it all in one piece than the pilot of Oceanic 815. After last week’s episode, I wasn’t even sure that anyone except the O6 would be on the island, though I had a feeling that the man who we now know as Ceasar and Sayid’s marshal who we now know as Ilana would be around just because they had more than a good share of face time. Turns out the ENTIRE plane crash landed on the island! The twist…? The O6 apparently disappeared. Well, Jack, Kate, and Hurley, at least. The big question is, did Sayid or Sun disappear too? I think Ilana told John that the pilot and “some woman” took one of the boats. You would think Frank would most likely run off with Sun since they know more about what’s going on, but if that’s true, then the obvious question is why did they not “disappear” along with Jack, Kate, and Hurley? I won’t get too hung up on that just because it’s such an obvious question, I feel confident it will be answered (even though it may be a weak weirdo fantasy time-travel type of answer).

I liked the opening scene where Ceasar is rummaging through the presumed Dharma station they landed near. Does he know about the island and that is why he knew to arm himself with that shotgun he found? Or is he just trying to figure out wtf’s going on like any normal person would? And by “normal person,” I’m not including anyone from the original Oceanic flight 815, because Lord knows they next-to-never ask one single straight forward or obvious question. Or when they do, seem satisfied with vague crap answers.

ALMSGIVING
Widmore was doing more than his fair share of almsgiving in this episode. He seems ready to give every penny he can to the needy John Locke (aka Jeremy Bentham) in order to help him get back to the island and “protect it.” Big reveals… Widmore used to be the leader of the others! Ben ousted him! And apparently, there’s a war coming (also known as Season Six). Widmore hooks Locke up with the mouthy Abaddon as a driver who we’ve seen before. Apparently his job is to “get people where they need to go.” How’s that for a vague job description? Interesting, though, that he had a hand in John going on the walkabout, so I wonder if he had a hand in orchestrating anyone else being on that flight? Presumably one can calculate when/where a window to the island will open so all you have to do is make sure whoever you want stranded is on a specific flight. Remember the psychic in season one that told Claire she HAD to be on that flight? At first we thought it was because he wanted to make sure only she would raise Aaron since he was convinced she had to be the one. Well, in season 3 we found out via Mr. Eko’s flashback that the man was a fake so it’s not impossible that Abaddon approached him and paid or pressured him into convincing Claire to get on that flight. Anyway, the big question here: Do we believe/trust Widmore?

PENANCE
First up, Locke visits Sayid who is doing some humanitarian work in Santo Damingo. We still haven’t seen exactly why Sayid broke off with Ben and we may yet in future flashbacks, but it could just be that Sayid grew tired of simply killing people without good evidence as to why. Anyway, Sayid gives Locke a big fat “not interested” on his island invite. Can you blame him? Actually, can you blame any of them? Locke – 0/1.

Next up, he visits tall Walt who seems strangely casual for not having seen his father in three years. Was he going to invite Walt along then changed his mind or did he truly just want to check in on him? Is Walt supposed to go back too? Or Aaron or Desmond for that matter? Either way, the score is now: Locke – 0/2.

FASTING
Please don’t think me prejudiced when I say Hurley could benefit from a week or two of fasting. Seriously, that red robe—his permanent attire-of-choice while in the mental institution—not his most flattering outfit. It was pretty funny how he was okay with Locke being a hallucination then freaked out when he found out he was real. Hell no, he won’t go. Locke – 0/3.

PRAYER
As in, he didn’t have a prayer when it came to convincing Kate to tag along. She grills him about having never loved anyone which is why it was so easy for him to stay on the island. He says he did love someone, but was too angry and obsessed (with his father) for it to work out to which Kate replies in sad sarcasm, “Look how far you’ve come.” ZING! I’m surprised Locke didn’t drop dead right then after being cut by such an acute observation. Locke – 0/4.

Locke has Abaddon track down his old flame who passed away a few short years ago. At first, I thought maybe it was an elaborate hoax to convince him not to pursue her and potentially have a reason to not go back, but when Abaddon was shot, I began to think Widmore has been telling the truth the whole time. More on that later. Anyway, after wrecking in a mad dash to get away, Locke wakes up in a hospital with Jack by his side. Mention of Jack’s father gives him pause, though it melts into righteous anger. Locke – 0/5. (Though a little bit of conviction must have eeked through as we know Jack eventually changed his mind) Locke – 0.5/4.5.

SACRIFICE
Thinking he has completely failed, a dejected Locke is ready for the ultimate sacrifice, though it seemed more fueled by failure and depression rather than the idea that what he was doing might actually lead everyone back to the island. I think he was just done with it all. And who can blame him? In comes Ben at the last minute, spouting off yet again how special he is and how HE’S the one that’s been protecting everyone, and by this point you just don’t know who to trust. However, once Locke mistakenly gives up the name of Eloise Hawking, all go-team support flies out the window as Ben strangles him to death. Whoa. Didn’t see that coming. I’m assuming Ben also didn’t anticipate needing to bring his body along at that point nor did he dream it possible that Locke would be resurrected. Talk about an awkward reunion they’re about to have.

I think it’s safe to say at this point that the preverbal line in the sand has been drawn. Widmore / Ben. Well, that line’s been clearly drawn for a while now I guess, but it’s becoming more and more evident which side is the “good” side. I’m not ruling out there being some reasonable explanation why Ben has done what he’s done, but I’ve given up hope that he, himself, is acting out of unselfish motivations. It’s all about Ben getting what he wants and stopping at nothing to achieve it.

EASTER EGGS
I’m looking forward to discovering the hidden nuggets from the past of our new castaways. It seems for now, though, only Caesar and Ilana are the main ones (just like the main cast have always been a “stand-in” for the twenty or so other survivors that are roughing it out there somewhere.) Rose and Bernard must be confused as all get out without Daniel Faraday around to explain things.