Thursday, February 26, 2009

"The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"

While last night's episode wasn't as meaty as the previous one, I think "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" was still pretty good. It was Locke-centric, which is always a good thing. So here is the recap (with a few of my thoughts interjected)...

The episode opens with New-Dude (Caesar) poking around what looks to be the Hydra station, finding maps, an old issue of Life magazine and a gun. {Lula interjecting here--my stuff will be in dark purple--hope this doesn't confuse. I wanna know why Caesar is getting gun happy. Like the rest of the island. And hiding the gun from Ilana.}

Marshallette (Ilana) comes in to say they found a man wearing a suit...Caesar asks if this man "disappeared like the others" but Ilana says he wasn't on the plane. They go back to the beach and it's revealed the man in the suit is none other than...




LOCKE!
{I'd like to out, for the sake of comedy, that wasn't it nice of the downed plane to provide our island some more "redshirts?" Totally disposable cast members. Love it.}

In the morning, Locke and Ilana banter back and forth... Locke asks, "Are those your boats?", referring to the canoes on the shore. Ilana replies that the boats were already here... and that there used to be three of them but the "pilot and some woman took one."

Who is the "some woman" that ran off with Lapidus? More on this later...

Ilana then tells Locke that nobody remembers him being on the plane... Locke tells her he doesn't remember being on it either, but he does remember dying!

We're then taken back to Locke and Christian being under the well... and Locke turning the Frozen Donkey Wheel.

Locke wakes up in...




TUNISIA!

{The barfing scenes are gross. Just sayin'.}
The same place Ben appeared when he turned the FDW at the end of last season. Anywho, it is nightfall before Locke is found and driven to some sort of clinic/hospital where a doctor there resets his leg (painfully, I might add!)... before Locke passes out, he sees Abaddon watching him.
Locke is then woken by someone who is at his bedside... who turns out to be...




WIDMORE!

Locke asks Widmore, "Do I know you?" Widmore tells Locke they met when he was 17 and reveals who he is to Locke. Locke says it's been 4 days since he walked into Widmore's camp and spoke to Richard... Widmore tells Locke that it has been 3 years since the O6 left the island.

Widmore then goes on to tell Locke that he was afraid Ben would "fool you into leaving the island", and that he was the leader of his people who protected the island for over three decades before being exiled by Ben. Locke says he chose to leave, and Widmore correctly deduces that Locke is there to bring the others back to the island. Widmore says he will help Locke do just that, because "there's a war coming" and if Locke isn't back on the island when that happens, then the "wrong side" is going to win...

Which side is the "wrong side"?!
{And here's where I started to trust Widmore, for the very first time. He seems so sincere, so genuine. But am I wrong to believe Widmore? Also, why did Ben exile Widmore and Co.? How did that go down? And doggone it, John Locke--why didn't you ask these pertinent questions when you had Widmore in front of you?}
Widmore also tells Locke "the island needs you - it has for a long time". When Locke tells him that Alpert said he was going to die, Widmore tells Locke he won't let that happen. He then introduces Matthew Abaddon to Locke, saying he is there to take Locke anywhere he needs to go and to protect him from anyone who would do him harm.

Locke is back in a wheelchair!

Locke and Abaddon travel all over, visiting Sayid, Walt!, Hurley, Kate, Jack... and also the grave of Helen Norwood.

{When Locke visits our Habitat-wannabe Hero Sayid, (Come on, you know you love that--a former torturer for the Republican Guard, now building houses for charity? Awesome!), my favorite Iraqi sates, "For two years I was manipulated by Ben. Who is manipulating you, John?" Briliant question, for sure. Because someone is clearly manipulating our dear Locke. Who's pulling the strings? Widmore? Ben? Both?}

When Locke is leaving Walt!, we see someone watching and it's...




BEN!


I think it's interesting the things that were said to Locke by those he visited:

Sayid: "Why do you really need to go back? Is it just because you have nowhere else to go?"

Walt: "I've been having dreams about you. You were on the island, wearing a suit, and there were people all around you. They wanted to hurt you, John."

Hurley: "You didn't make it? You're not the first person to visit me, you know?"..."Whoa, dude! What are you doing here?"... "Dude... be cool... don't look, but we're being watched... DUDE!" {I find it interesting--and very telling--that Hurley warns Locke not to trust Abbadon. Hurley, crazy as he may be, is usually spot-on with his personality assessments.}

Kate: "Have you ever been in love, John? I think about how desperate you were to stay on that island... it was all because you didn't love anybody."

{And here's Lula's "Play On, Playa, Take Two" moment of that Beyotch's...um, I mean Kate. Please let me slap her. Virtually, at least. When John is telling Kate that he was angry and obsessed (over Helen), Kate replies, "Look how far you've come." Beyotch. Seriously? I hate her even more, and would love to knock those freckles off her face. End of rant.}

After Locke leaves Kate, he's taken to the grave of Helen Norwood and is told by Abaddon that she died of a brain aneurysm. Locke starts to say he and Helen could've been together, but Abaddon tells him Helen is where she is supposed to be, and that Locke's path leads back to the island. And then this happened...





DUDE!
{DUDE!}

This caused me to simultaneously gasp and say a bad word. {Yeah...me, too.} Someone shot and killed Abaddon! Locke manages to drive away, but ends up in a car accident and is taken to the very hospital Jack works at. When Locke tells Jack that it was fate that brought him to that very hospital, but Jack shoots it down, saying it was just probability.

Jack: Have you ever stopped to think that these delusions that you're special aren't real? That maybe there's nothing important about you at all... maybe you are just a lonely old man that crashed on an island? That's it."

{I believe this is the most important scene in the episode. Jack puts it out there for our man of Faith. Ben, Widmore, Jacob--all have been telling Locke how important he is, how he is integral to the future of the island and its history. But Dr. Shephard gives Locke the verbal smackdown, while forcing Locke's fears to surface. Could Jack's little summation mirror what Locke feels about himself? John Locke has said many times, "Don't tell me what I can't do!" Jack didn't tell Locke what he couldn't do. But his "lonely old man" speech just might reveal what Locke believes about himself, deep down.}


Locke then tells Jack that his "father says hello"... a very shaken Jack tells Locke, "we were never important, so you leave me alone and you leave the rest of them alone!"
Back in his hotel room, we see Locke writing his suicide note to Jack. As he attempts to hang himself, Ben bursts through the door and talks him down.




Now who could that be?!?
Ben admits to killing Abaddon, saying it was only a matter of time before Abaddon would've tried to kill Locke. Ben also says Widmore is dangerous, that he was the reason Ben moved the island. Locke tearfully says he is a failure, that he wasn't able to get any of them to come back with him. Ben tells Locke that he can't die, that he has too much work to do and he will help him... he successfully talks Locke down off the table.

Locke tells Ben that he can't go to Sun since he promised Jin he would not bring her back. And that Jin wanted him to tell Sun that he was dead, giving his wedding ring as proof.

What is up with the look on Ben's face when he hears Jin is alive?! And when Locke says he needs to find Eloise Hawking?!? {Yeah, what she said!}

And then what happened next... another explicative came out of my mouth!




BEN KILLED LOCKE!


Ben then stages Locke's suicide and takes Jin's ring... before walking out the door, he says to Locke, "I'll miss you John. I really will."

We're now back on the island... Locke finds Caesar back in the Hydra and tells him that he had spent 100 days on the island... but not sure how he got back.

Best lines of the episode:


Caesar: "How long ago did you leave?"
Locke: "The timing would just... confuse you."

{I'm adding mine:
Hurley, to Locke: "You didn't make it?"

Classic.}

Caesar explains that he saw a "big guy with curly hair" disappear... and that the pilot took the passenger list when he ran off... everyone is accounted for except "the people who got hurt." He takes Locke to where the injured are and finds...




BEN!


Of whom Locke says, "He's the man who killed me."


Cue the trombones!


Sheesh, for not being a "meaty" episode, there was a lot to recap!


I wanted to touch more on the "other woman" who ran off with the pilot... it has to be Sun, as evident by the promo for next week's epi (which looks totally awesome!). The promo shows Sun and Ben in the jungle... besides, what other woman would run off with the pilot? And she's the only other returning O6er who is unaccountable for. So why didn't Sun time-leap with Jack, Kate and Hurley???


I think Lula may edit this post to add her thoughts... so stay tuned to see what she has to say...

No editing from me--just interjecting my 2 cents. Seriously, Shannon and I were texting throughout the episode last night, then IMing...finally, I had to call her this morning and wail, "I cannot write the recap, because all I can wrap my head around is next week's episode! And I have three pages of notes!" Yes, I'm lame and I admit it. Anyway, hope this joint-effort didn't confuse y'all. I say "joint effort"--but let's call it what it really is: Shannon does the work, I intrude. Shannon, great recap...thanks for writing...and thanks for letting me get my blurbs in.

And just because I think y'all need to see it again:



I'm so excited!

22 comments:

Shannon said...

I forgot...

So when Marshallette says to Locke about the canoes... that there used to be 3, but the pilot and some woman took one... ok, that leaves 2.

THEN when Sawyer, Juliet, Locke and the others get in one of the canoes (back in The Little Prince)... remember they find an Ajira Airlines water bottle?

I'm thinking the ones that chased after and shot at them were the passengers on flight 316... we've seen Caesar getting the gun in this episode. I'm wondering if something doesn't happen with either Smokey or Alpert's people, that puts some fear in the 316ers!

So when Sawyer, Juliet and the rest of them took the canoe... it was at a time where flight 316 had already crashed.

FROGGITY! said...

this episode went slowly but had punchlines to die for.

favorite (aha!) parts for me:
1) widmore telling john that they met when they were 17.
2) hurley's 'so you didn't make it, huh' comment.
3) helen being dead (ie: john has no cause to stay)
4) ben friggin' stringing john up! what the heck!
5) walt and john
6) why did ben get injured/not jump?!

i don't know who to trust. i feel like neither is probably the answer. widdy and benny are just dueling banjos at this point.

is penny dead?! she better not be. ben looked pretty beat up.

it was good seeing walt again...he's still one of my faves ...mystery-wise.

Heather said...

Great recap, Shannon. I love Locke, so I really liked this episode. I loved when he visited Walt, just to check on him. And how he didn't tell him about his father; just let him go on believing that he could be alive.

Who to trust? Ben or Widmore? Neither? I'm holding out on this one. Widmore did HELP Locke, not kill him. And Ben's just creepy and sneaky.

LOVED when Hurley wasn't phased by Locke's presence when he thought he was dead, but jumped out of his seat FREAKING out when he realized he was alive. I love Hurley!

Kate just got on my nerves this time. As did drugged out non-believing meanie Jack. Way to stroke a man's ego, Doctor. Jeez.

Gabe is sitting on the couch watching last night's episode; he loves scary stuff :) Maybe he'll have some insight for us...

Evolving Mommy Catherine said...

I just keep going back and forth with Ben and Widmore. He's a good guy, he's a bad guy, he's a good guy, he's a bad guy.

If Widmore was the one who tried to get Locke to the island the first time with the assistance of Abaddon was he trying to get the other losties there too?

Melissa said...

The look on Sawyer's beautiful face is enough for me to tune in next week. Did you see him???? Awwwwww. Who do you think the girl with the sack over her head was?
This episode was really good. Not so thick with meaning, but a good epi nonetheless.
I can't wait for next week. It makes me sad every time I see there is only 10 minutes left....the hour goes by way too fast.

Shannon said...

Melissa: I have those thoughts every week, too! When the epi is almost over, I can't believe the hour is ending :(

Shannon said...

I can't remember where I read this... it was earlier today, but I've been on DarkUFO, Doc Arzt, Lostpedia... I don't know who said it...

but they revealed that the opening scene of this episode was originally going to be the opening scene of the Season 5 premiere.

Rhea said...

Ben is such an AWESOME bad guy. He really is. Then sometimes I like him. And I actually started to feel for Widmore this time...but I need to remember what a jerk he was to my Des...

Elena said...

Was I hallucinating or was Sayid's Nadia in that Tunisa hospital when Lockes' leg was set?

And WHAT was up with Ben killing Locke?! Holy Bats! I didn't see that coming.

Vickie said...

Thanks for showing the promo for next weeks episode. My DVR cut it off.

I am also thinking the woman who walked off with the pilot is Sun.

I was thinking that maybe Ben had some emotion when he was talking Locke down, then he killed Locke..Whoa!

Shannon is spinning my head!!

Shannon said...

Another thought...

If Caesar and the gang are at the Hydra station, then this means flight 316 crashed on the smaller island... NOT the main one where the camp was! Does this mean the smaller island also "moved"??? Or NOT???

Ritch in Love said...

The Island doesn't want Ben back..in my opinion...that's why he didn't disappear with the flash. And Ben has known this all along...I think he found a way back through Locke...this act Ben is putting on is really getting under my skin! And surprisingly I too started to trust Whidmore! The episode had more meat than I thought it would!

Ash said...

I'm still holding that Ben is the "good" one.

And I have to admit, when I saw the promos last week for a Locke-centered episode, I was a little bummed. But I was SO wrong. Terry O'Quinn totally rocks.

The puking? Yeah, bad. But the bone out of the leg?! Egad!! Flinch.

The nurse that helped Hurley back to his room after freaking out about Locke, she looked familiar as well.

I'm with you on Kate. Jack, how the hell can you bed that beeyotch!? Love me. Want me. Choose ME! (Sorry, wrong show.)

I'm with Melissa - I don't think it's Kate in the sack. Though I wish it were - tied tight and thrown in the lagoon.

Too much?

Happy Friday! Em

Kelly Deneen Raymond said...

I was freaking when Ben killed Locke. That was crazy! I agree that the island doesn't want Ben back. He is the only one that was there before that ends up injured. Holy great recap! I need to re-read it again. ha!

Helping Out People Everywhere Foundation said...

I just started following this blog and it only makes me MORE obsessed with Lost! Who knew that was possible...

Anyways, when I saw the girl with the bag on her head I immediately thought of Sawyer's ex, whose name I can't remember. You know, the mother of his child?? I mean after all the twists in this show, who knows! But then it could also be because I think Sawyer needs some more screen time and not with Kate!

Thanks for the great recaps :)

Christina said...

I'm new to this blog as well and I LOVE it. I'm also questioning who the real "bad guy" is - but how can it not be Ben? He sweet talked John off the table and out of the noose, got the information he needed and then killed him. Somehow, I knew last episode that Locke didn't really commit suicide. It's crazy. Honestly, the writers of this show are unbelievably amazing!!! Can't wait for next week!

Michelle said...

Oh such fun is Lost. This definitely wasn't my favorite episode (the previous week's was), but I like getting a few more answers.

And yeah... Ben killing Locke totally wasn't expected.

People keep asking which is the good guy -- Ben or Widmore -- but I don't think either is. Both are powerful in their own way and want to get more and will stop at nothing to do so. They're both using whoever they can for their own ends. It's the O6ers who are the pawns in it all and have to try to figure out their own way and the truth.

So if Lapidus and Sun (has to be Sun; we know she'll be searching for Jin) took the canoe and left two, then how were there three when the time travelers got there? I swear there were three then... did Lapidus and Sun return one?

And yeah, the question is asked about not time traveling for Sun and Lapidus, which I totally don't get. And WHO put those canoes there in the first place? Good thought on 316ers being the ones shooting at the other canoe later.

DEFINITELY looking forward to this week's episode.

Manic Mommy said...

I think Ben's the bad guy but why wouldn't he have let Locke move the island so he could stay on it? Moving it made him leave. And I would say he doesn't know how to get back based on his killing Locke (which surprised me totally!).

I hadn't thought about Sun (who I think was the woman with Lapidus) not time traveling with the rest of the O6. Why? And why did she just decide to leave her daughter to get Jin? Sorry but no mom would do that.

It was so telling that John is helpless in real life but so powerful on the island.

It's not just that he's a man of faith; he NEEDS to believe.

Karen M. Peterson said...

Hello! I'm new here and I love it!

I am in the Ben's a Good Guy Camp. He's been telling us since Season 2 that he's "one of the good guys" and I think he really is. Sure, he does bad things to bring about what he needs to happen, but overall, I think his motives are pure.

I'm really confused about the timeline here. In S4, I was under the impression that Jack started his emotional breaking down and "we need to go back" at some point earlier on. But this makes it look like he never wanted to go back until Locke showed up 3 years after they'd returned and he only wanted to go back a few days later.

Totally. Confused.

Melissa said...

I've asked this of Lula before, but did anyone watch the show "The Practice"? Ben Linus played by the genius actor, Michael Emerson, played a psychopathic killer on the Practice. William Hinks was his character and he was absolutely terrifying. It has left an impression on me to this very day and the episodes originally aired in 2000-2001. He really is an amazing actor, good guy, bad guy??? To quote Ben, "Who Cares?"

Here is a link to imbd:

(http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0107579/)for his character on that show. One of the best law shows on television. Boston Legal is a spinoff of The Practice.

***To answer your question about Jack in S4, Karen......Jack had already seen Locke when he was at the airport talking to Kate. That took place right before they actually go back. It's confusing, but if you remember, Jack goes to the funeral home to see Locke after he meets Kate and Ben says "we all have to go back, even him" and that's when they pan to Locke's dead body. Does that make sense?

The Royal Family said...

thanks for the great blog. I love reading your thoughts and everyones comments. I cant wait for tonight!

Queenie Jeannie said...

CONFUSION!!!

In the end, I just wanna know who the good guys and bad guys are!!!

Ben killed Locke - I freaked out!!! Of course no one is ever really dead on LOST for long. Usually.

And all this time travel is messing up the chronology for me about the island and who was there when and did what. Like I said, confusion!!!!