"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!