The Man of Faith

For the rest of this season, I don’t want to hear one complaint about LOST never giving us answers. Because for the last two weeks, I’ve felt as though we’ve stumbled upon the teacher’s edition of the LOST 101 textbook. Last night’s offering, “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham,” picked up where “316” left off, filling in blank after blank about Locke’s post-Island journey and his efforts to recruit the Oceanic Six back to the Island.

While it might’ve been easy to dismiss the episode as a simple answer-fest, I think there was a deeper meaning behind Locke’s journey (isn’t there always?) and I’ll get into it later.

First off, a few housekeeping items: I think Caesar and Alana are our new Jack and Kate for the Ajira flight. I think Frank Lapidus and Sun took that boat in the middle of the night. And I think that when they passed over the Island, the Oceanic Six time-travel-flashed out of the plane to the 1970’s Dharma Initiative. My lingering questions: Is John Locke in the 1970s? But if the Ajira castaways landed neatly on the Island, as it appeared they did, did they time travel? It would make the most sense if everyone did. Though when does LOST ever make the most sense?

But those are questions for another week. I’m going to attack this episode much in the same way I do an Oreo cookie: start in the middle and work my way out. We’ll start with John Locke’s efforts to recruit the Oceanic Six, then work our way out to his mythology-packed meetings with the two sides of our integral coin: Ben Linus and Charles Widmore. And finally, a look at how John Locke’s life just flashed before his eyes.


Rallying the Troops
Jeremy Bentham’s Recruitment Tour of the Oceanic Six played out pretty much as expected, with a few small twists.

Before we get to them, we better talk about Walt. Yes, that Walt. As in, “Waaaalt,” of “I’ve gotta get my son back” fame.
Locke’s “checking in” on Walt scene mostly underwhelmed me, save for Walt’s revelation that he’s had dreams of Locke, dressed in a suit, surrounded by strangers on the Island who “want to hurt” him. That’s no dream, Samuel L. Jackson. That’s a vision of the future. And it’s one more piece to place in the oft-complicated, rarely-touched-upon Walt mythology. Here’s hoping we get a few more pieces before this show wraps up. But on to the O6.

Sayid, having already been burned by one Island shaman in his post-Island life, declined Locke’s offer in order to keep doing “real good” by building habitats (presumably for humanity). Hurley takes Locke to be a ghost, until an orderly tells him that the wheelchair-confined baldie he’s talking to is, in fact, real. Predictably, Hurley flips out and escapes in his size XXXXL bathrobe.

After the Hurley freak-out, John and his caretaker, Matthew Abbadon, finally have the Come to Jesus meeting we were all waiting for. Abbadon tells John to stop pretending he doesn’t remember who he is, and when Locke inquires as to the nature of Abbadon’s employment, the stoic intermediary replies, simply, “I help people get to where they need to get to, John. That’s what I do for Mr. Widmore.” When Widmore referred to Abbadon as John’s “driver,” he didn’t just mean chauffer. Apparently, Matthew drives souls to the Island as well. I like it.

When Locke visits Kate, she takes a page out of her on-again-off-again boyfriend’s playbook, becoming the Woman of Science and dismissing John’s destiny as a search for meaning in an otherwise meaningless life. She claims he’s “obsessed and crazy” because he’s never loved someone. That’s cold, baby. But if affects Locke enough for him to implore Abbadon to find his old flame, Peg Bundy…err…Helen.

Tragically, Helen’s life has been cut short by a brain aneurism. After Locke and Abbadon visit her grave, Abbadon is taken out of the picture (by Ben Linus, as we later learn), and Locke is forced to flee. His hurried escape and inability to transfer his giant, booted foot from the accelerator to the brake pedal leads to a spectacular crash. And that crash, as fate would have it, lands Locke in Jack’s hospital.

The Jack and Locke hospital scene seemed to serve as a temporary passing of the torch for Locke. He planted just enough doubt in Jack and made him enough of a Man of Faith to secure the Oceanic Six’s return to the Island. I wonder if Jack’s newfound faith aboard Ajira Airlines 316 will threaten Locke’s claim as Island know-it-all when they reunite. Eh, it’s something to ponder.

Locke’s 0 for 6 record sends him into a suicidal spiral, culminating in one of the best scenes of the season: Ben’s meeting with a despondent Locke. It was a perfect mirror of the scene that set Locke off on his journey: his meeting with Charles Widmore.

Fightin’ Words
Ben vs. Widmore. The war. The Tussle in Tunisia. The Melee on Mystery Island. The Rumble in the, well, Jungle. Last night, we got a look at the battle plans from both generals.

The (Wid)more You Know
After awakening in Tunisia, the exit port for the Frozen Donkey DeLorean, Locke finds himself in the company of a man he hasn’t seen in 4 days (or 40+ years, but who’s counting?). Widmore’s talks with Locke were remarkably revealing, an informational feast for those (like me) who can’t get enough of the Widmore arc. Seriously, every scene with this guy is an instant classic. Let’s examine.

First off, Widmore seems a little surprised that John dates their meeting at “four days ago” when, for Charles, it was decades ago. Does Widmore not know (or fully understand?) the time travel abilities of the Island, or were those abilities not a part of the Island he (thought he) knew?

Charles colored in some more of the backstory leading to this war by claiming that Ben “fooled” him into leaving, exiling Charles “the Peaceful Protector” Widmore from the Island. “There’s a war coming, John. And if you’re not back on the Island when that happens, the wrong side is going to win.” That almost amounted to a motivational speech, with Widmore further convincing Locke that returning the Oceanic Six back to the Island is the only way to restore the order.

Widmore claims his motivations are based on his deep investment in the future of the Island. Sounds a lot like something Ben Linus would say, no? Locke thought so, too, questioning Penny’s pa about his intentions before capitulating and accepting Charles as the good guy. Hell, at that point in Locke’s life, anyone who opposes Ben Linus can’t be half bad, right? We’ll see.

If there’s one way to John Locke’s heart, it’s by telling him that he’s special. Widmore trekked that heavily-traveled route last night, telling John that the Island needed him, and that, “it has for a long time.” This sense of historically-grounded, inevitable destiny genuinely – and quickly – motivates Locke, no matter how many times it leads him astray. Beholden to fate, Locke enters the car with his “driver.”

Quick note: why didn’t Widmore think John needed to die? Apparently he didn’t get the memo from Richard. Or is something more devious as play?


Surely You Won’t Trust Ben Again, Right John? John? Right?
Wrong. And Ben used every trick in the book to get that cord away from John’s neck… for a minute, anyway.

Deep in a suicidal spiral, Locke is interrupted again by Ben, who exploits John’s malleable mental state by painting Widmore as the true evil. And, like Widmore, he reminds John how special he is ( “You can’t do this. If anything happens to you…John, you have no idea how important you are. Let me help you.” )

Ever knowledgeable about other people’s business, Ben restores Locke’s faith by telling him that Jack has booked a trans-Pacific ticket, thus indicating an early glimmer of light in the imploded tunnel of hopelessness that had become Locke’s mission.

And finally, Ben took a cue from Taller Ghost Walt by convincing John that he still had work to do. Well played, Mr. Linus.

With Locke’s loyalty once again redirected back toward him, Ben extracts the crucial piece of information from Locke: that the next stop is to Eloise Hawking. With that crucial intel in hand, Ben goes from mythological sherpa to cold-blooded killer, strangling the life out of John with the very extension cord John intended to kill himself with.

To me, this represented Ben taking fate into his own hands, quite literally. Fate would’ve killed John Locke with that extension cord around his neck. But Ben couldn’t stand another entity having control. So he manipulated the situation to put himself back in the driver’s seat. And don’t be fooled by the shallow contrition in Ben’s voice when he said, “I’ll miss you, John. I really will.” What he’ll really miss is having a very coercible, very meaningful pawn to play with.

Whose Side Are They On?
So did Ben kill Locke to eliminate his competition for Island leader? Or did Ben need to correct John’s course somehow? Because Ben said he’d miss Locke, I don’t think he knows that Locke will reincarnate on the Island.

And why didn’t Widmore think Locke needed to die? Why does Widmore think getting the Oceanic Six back to the Island is important?

You'll have to give your answers in the comments, as my mind has already moved on to what I think was the point of "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham."

Have I Seen This Episode Before?
Wait, a plane crash on the Island? A mysterious man in a suit? Did I Frozen Donkey Wheel myself back to Season One?

No, but last night was all about a subtle nod to the notion of using future knowledge to change past events. Course-correction, fate and free will all rolled into the arc of LOST’s most pivotal character: John “Jeremy Bentham" Locke.

Here we go. Did you notice all the parallels between John’s post-Island story and his pre-Island story? Abbadon as his driver and wheelchair pusher. People constantly telling him he’s special. Dead ends on every road of meaning. A physical tragedy befalling him when he doubts himself. A doomed attempt at real love with Helen. Convincing non-believers that there was something bigger in life. And the heartbreakingly futile search for a father figure, with puppet-master papas pulling the rug out from under him while using him for their own personal gain.

Yes, Locke’s post-Island adventure mirrored the spiritual, romantic, emotional and fateful ups and downs of his pre-Island life.

At the end of both of these journeys, Locke found himself on the Island after an interrupted plane ride. But whereas both of his landings on the Island have found him in similar (vastly improved) physical states, the mental state he’s in varies markedly among the two journeys.

When Oceanic 815 Locke arrived at the Island, he was a broken man. He had been denied from the walkabout that he thought was his destiny. He was returning to a world that seemed to conspire against him at every turn, and his life was devoid of any real meaning. But Ajira 316 Locke crashed to the Island with a wealth of valuable knowledge, a sense of purpose and a mission, a destiny. A reason for everything, and an understanding for most of it.

Which makes me wonder, “What will Ajira 316 Locke do with this knowledge?”

While that question carries massive philosophical implications, it's also a concrete tie to the harrowing physical question of the new LOST. Faraday claims that one cannot go back in time with future knowledge to change the course of events. But now we have Locke, perched at the precipice of a destiny he knows more about than even he understands. Now, instead of being a passive observer who doesn't (or can't) interfere with his own life, John Locke can use his knowledge to avoid the pitfalls of his first Island journey. He can do things right this time. He can sidestep the soul crushing defeats of old. He can use his Island communion to fulfill his (and the Island’s) destiny. Wouldn’t you?

And this is precisely what I liked about last night’s episode (besides the abundance of on-screen time for Locke, which is always cool). It was LOST’s attempt at tying together the universes of science and faith, using the concept of changing the past as a sort of common ground.

Maybe Daniel Faraday's right: a time-traveler can’t go back and physically tinker with the past to change his future. But John Locke – who is virtually reliving the major events and themes of his life but with a completely redefined knowledge base – most certainly can.

Think of it as a victory for the Man of Faith.

Namaste.
Charlie