"The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" Review

A confession: I've been silent on "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" for six days because I wasn't sure I understood it.

I liked it, that's for sure. I liked Caesar and Ilana and the Walt appearance, and I loved the climactic Locke/Ben scene. It fit the mold of what I consider to be Lost at its best: using each episode to tell one arc about one character.

But a lot of stuff seemed to fly over my head. According to Jeff Jensen's recap, the Ajira plane crashed on the smaller island, home of the Hydra Station where Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were imprisoned. I didn't pick that up when I watched it -- I had no idea what office Caesar was searching through, although I did noticed that he found Danielle's old maps of the island, if I'm not mistaken. (That means that the Ajira survivors landed in the present day, right? But why were the maps there?)

I also didn't understand why Ben killed Locke. The turning point, I'm now certain of after re-watching it, was when Locke mentioned Eloise Hawking. But Ben then proceeded to go to Hawking anyway, and help her get the Oceanic Six back to the island, and he even seemed to know Locke would be resurrected once there.

And how much are we to trust of Widmore? And is Abaddon -- whose name, I'll remind you, means lots of bad things good or bad? And did Caesar and Ilana know each other before the crash, or not? And is Helen really dead, or is it yet another lie? And if Ben and Widmore are enemies, why are their motives exactly the same?

I just felt a little, well, lost. But to the Ben/Widmore confusions, I think I've developed some understanding -- read my next post for possible insights. (Sorry, I don't want to make this recap another 1,500 word opus like the last one.)

The episode was one big Locke flashback, although the post-Ajira-crash island scenes framed the beginning and end, which I wasn't expecting. I would've liked a little more information on where things stood with the Ajira survivors, but it seems Caesar and Ilana (who both seem much less sinister than I originally envisioned, but maybe give it time) have taken charge of the group, and Lapidus and a mystery woman ran off into the jungle after the crash. Any guesses on whom? Based solely on who we know was on the plane, the only option would be Sun -- but if so, why didn't she "flash" along with Kate, Jack, and Hurley? (If I'm right, it would dramatically delay her reunion with the 1970s-stuck Jin.)

After Locke's reveal to Ilana that he just pulled a Jesus (which, with the fruit, was purposefully reminiscent of his very first conversation with Walt: "Do you want to know a secret?"), the episode flashed back to Locke's time off the island. Some notes on each
of his visits:

Sayid: Following the death of Nadia and a few years working as an assassin for Ben, he left it all behind to live a life of charity, doing good while working off his demons. It almost makes me wish he didn't end up going back to the island, as that would be a perfect way to end Sayid's character arc. Maybe at the end of the sixth season he can go back.

Walt: the big question is whether or not this will be the last time we see Walt, as Locke's decision not to invite him along may signal the end of his story. But remember that chronologically, Walt pops back up again -- after Locke's NYC visit, Walt is compelled to get his grandmother to take him across the country to visit Hurley, which we saw in last season's finale. (And, unfortunately, there's a whopper of a script mistake in there: when talking to Hurley, Walt referred to Locke as "Jeremy Bentham," even though Locke never told him he was going by that name.)

The writers certainly haven't forgotten that Walt is "special," though -- his conversation with Locke kicks off with him describing dreams he's been having: "You were on the island wearing a suit, and there were people all around you. They wanted to hurt you, John." Will we ever find out the extent of what happened in his Others captivity? And will he ever find out his father is dead?

Kate and Jack: Both of them rebuked Locke hard. I mean, let's face it: their words were what drove Locke over the suicide edge. But my interpretation is that Jack acted out of pain and confusion, while Kate was just a vindictive bitch. Is that interpretation sexism? I really don't think so. Kate was full of cold assumptions ("You want to go back because you've never known love"), while Jack was not saying things he assumed to be true but simply things he desperately wanted to be true ("We're not special.") Kate has always been slightly more unlikable than the writers have seemed to be going for, but in the past few episodes they seem to be making a concerted effort to get all of her old supporters to turn against her. Or maybe I'm just still overreacting to that part where she kidnapped Aaron, hid him from his rightful guardians, and pathologically attempted to raise him as her own son.

After the Ben/Locke scene, the show returned to the island, and Caesar brought Locke to see a wounded, sleeping Ben. That's when it hit me: Ben has now (more or less) killed Locke twice, and Locke has survived both times. Locke's big question this episode -- "Am I special, or what?" -- would seem to be answered by that fact alone.

TAGS: Helen, Locke, Matthew Abaddon, Recap, Season 5, The Life And Death Of Jeremy Bentham, Walt
POST TOOLS: