5.12 Dead is Dead

Summary and Spoilers

It’s a credit to Michael Emerson’s acting and the Lost writers that despite all of the evil acts that Ben has performed or ordered, I’m still not sure if he is evil, or exactly how evil he is – or at least if he is more or less evil than Charles Whidmore. Since this is a Ben-centric episode, we get to see a lot more of his character – and yet, I’m still not sure.

In flashback, we find out that Richard brought Ben the boy to the Temple, where the island made the decision to heal him. The island could very well have decided to let him die – or kill him. When Whidmore hears that Richard spared the life of this Dharma boy, he is unhappy – but he cannot argue with decisions the island makes.

Later, we see Ben when he is a little older, perhaps in his early 20s. Whidmore has sent him on a mission with a young Ethan to eliminate Danielle. Whidmore considers her a threat to the island. But Whidmore hasn’t told Ben about Danielle’s baby Alex. Faced with killing a mother, Ben opts out, but he does bring back the baby. Back at camp, Whidmore tells him to kill the baby. Ben refuses and tells Whidmore to do it. Whidmore just walks away. Okay, they’re both equally evil there, quite willing to use a baby as a pawn in their struggle to prove which one of them knows more about what the island wants. In many ways, they are like high priests, trying to interpret the same scripture.

Still later, Ben is able to banish Whidmore from the island at gunpoint. He has won the power struggle and convinced everyone that he knows more about what the island wants. Where does Richard stand in all this? The ageless eyeliner-wearing one doesn’t seem to get involved in this power struggle, always remaining close to the top of the command structure.

And Ben was evil on the mainland. Remember how he showed up to return to the island with numerous serious bruises? He got them while attempting an eye-for-an-eye retribution for Whidmore killing his daughter. Ben is about to shoot Penny, when once again a child (Desmond and Penny’s son) makes him stop. Ben will do many things, but killing mothers doesn’t seem to be among them. This gives Desmond time to jump him, stop him, and seriously injure him.

Ben is plenty evil enough in the present, too. He’s obviously shocked to see that Locke is still alive, but he tells Locke that he knew it would happen – that the only reason he killed Locke was because he knew this would get everyone back to the island and bring Locke back to life. But Ben also tells Sun that he had no idea that Locke would be alive again, and that he is terrified by this. This second revelation seems closer to the truth.

Locke, for his part, is serene – indeed, almost god-like. For most people, if they got a chance to confront the person who tried to kill them, they would go for that eye-for-an-eye type retribution. Locke is actually confronting the man that did kill him, and all he wants is an apology. Ben won’t even give him that, but Locke wants something else – he’s pushing Ben to return to the main island to face judgement. Ben initially says he will be judged for turning the wheel, bringing everyone back, and returning to the island. But Locke figures out the real reason: Ben will be judged for allowing his daughter Alex to be killed.

Ben has convinced the gun-toting Caesar that Locke wasn’t on the plane and is deranged. So when Ben and Locke are about to take a boat to the island, Ben makes it sound like he is going against his will. Caesar is about to stop Locke from going, but Ben has stolen his gun – and shoots him in cold blood. It’s an over-the-top response that was not warranted – there was no indication by Caesar that he intended to kill Locke – he was probably just going to detain and question him. But Ben tells Locke that he has just saved his life – and he offers this as an apology.

Back on the main island, Ben and Locke find Sun and Frank. Frank tries to get Sun to return to the other island, but Sun sticks with Ben, hanging on the possibility of finding Jin. Frank returns to the other island amid turmoil. It seems that some of the passengers, led by Ilana, have found a cache of guns and are now running things a little differently. When Frank can’t answer the "What lies in the shadow of the statue?" question, he is knocked to the ground with the butt of a gun.

Ben, Locke, and Sun go to the temple. Sun waits while Ben and Locke crawl beneath the structure. Alone, in a roomful of hieroglyphics indicating that the smoke monster is thousands of years old, Ben is surrounded by gray fog and images of the conflict that was part of his relationship with Alex. When the smoke monster retreats, Alex appears. She doesn’t look like a ghost (perhaps she inhabits the real world or lives in another timeline). Roughly, she pins Ben against a pillar, tells him to discard his plan to kill Locke, and instead to follow every word and command Locke gives. If he doesn’t do this, she says, she will hunt him down and terrorize him. Ben agrees and seems – on the surface - to be truly humbled.

Lost Quotes

Richard: He's just a boy, and he was dying.
Charles: Then you should've let him die.
Richard: Jacob wanted it done. The island chooses who the Island chooses. You know that.

Caesar: How you feeling, my friend?
Ben: Like someone hit me with an oar, but I'll live. edit »

"Sun, I had no idea it would happen. I've seen this island do miraculous things. I've seen it heal the sick, but never once has it done anything like this. Dead is dead. You don't come back from that, not even here. So the fact that John Locke is walking around this Island... scares the living hell out of me."
- Ben

Ben: You may want to go inside.
Sun: Why?
Ben: Because what's about to come out of that jungle is something I can't control.
[Locke walks out of the jungle]

Ben: May I ask you a question, John?
Locke: Shoot.
Ben: How is it that you know where you're going?
Locke: I just know.
Ben: I mean, how does that work, exactly?
Locke: How does what work?
Ben: The knowing. I mean, did it come upon you gradually, or did you wake up one morning suddenly understanding the mysteries of the universe?
Locke: You don't like this, do you?
Ben: What?
Locke: Having to ask questions that you don't know the answers to, blindly following someone in the hopes that they'll lead you to whatever it is you're looking for.
Ben: No, John, I don't like it at all.
Locke: Well, now you know what it was like to be me.

Ben: I knew it. I knew that this would happen.
Locke: Then why are you so surprised to see me?
Ben: Because it's one thing to believe it, John. It's another thing to see it.

Locke: Do what you say you were on your way to do. Be judged.
Ben: That's not something you want to see, John.
Locke: If everything you've done has been in the best interest of the island, then I'm sure the monster will understand.

Locke: Well, Ben, I was hoping you and I could talk about the elephant in the room.
Ben: I assume you're referring to the fact that I killed you.

Locke: If all I had to do is die, Ben, then why did you stop me?
Ben: You had critical information that would have died with you - and once you've given it to me - well I just didn't have time to talk you back into hanging yourself.

"You're in the habit of calling people "friend," but I don't think you mean it."
- Locke: [to Caesar]

5.11 Whatever Happened, Happened

Summary and Spoilers

When Jin awakens from his Sayid bashing, he finds the almost dead body of young Ben. He brings Ben back to camp and alerts other that Sayid is the culprit. Juliet tries to patch Ben up, but she can’t stop the bleeding, and the Dharma surgeon is inaccessible at another station. Sawyer asks Jack to help, but Jack refuses. Later, Jack explains to Kate that he already saved Ben once, at Kate’s request, because Ben was going to kill Sawyer. He says he won’t do it again.

This discussion with Kate takes place in a house where Sawyer has put Miles and his rifle in charge of keeping Jack, Kate, and Hurley under house arrest lest they talk to anyone. Hurley questions Miles about time travel. Kate gets fed up with Jack’s indifference, and she leaves, despite the earlier warning from Miles that he would shoot anyone who left in the leg.

Kate gives blood (she’s a universal donor) but that isn’t enough. Juliet suggests the Others may be able to help. Kate loads Ben in a van and drives to the border of the Dharma camp. Sawyer arrives soon after, but he isn’t there to bring her back – he wants to help her.

Sawyer disables the barrier fence, and together they bring Ben to Richard, who reacts as if he already knew that Ben was coming. Richard agrees to take Ben, but says he will never come back, he will forget all that happened, and he will lose his innocence. Kate agrees to those conditions.

Richard carries Ben into the Temple.

On the other island, big Ben wakes up in his weakened state and finds himself face to face with a very alive John Locke.

In flashback, Kate visits Cassidy and brings her money, saying it is from Sawyer (even though it isn’t). Cassidy wants none of it. She is still angry at Sawyer, and she is convinced that the reason Kate took Aaron was to help mend the heart that Sawyer broke when he did his cowardly dive out of the helicopter. Kate leaks a lot of details about what really happened on the island. Later, she leaves Aaron with Claire’s mother, and leaks even more details.

Comments

Miles says that time-traveling islanders like himself cannot change events that have already happened, because even though those events happened in the future, it is from their past. Hurley then wonders why Ben did not remember Sayid in the future. Miles doesn’t have an answer for this. However, later we learn (from Richard) that Ben will forget all that happened.

This doesn’t make sense to me and doesn’t gel with how time travel and the timeline is normally handled in fiction. Surely, if you travel back in time and do things differently, this would affect the future. I wonder why the creators have chosen the opposite path. Are they saying that nothing the time travelers do will change the future? Logical or not, it seems like a more boring strategy – I was looking forward to a different, Ben-free future where the Dharma people were not mass murdered.

Kate tells Claire’s mother that Claire is still alive. This seems like a big call – Claire is missing and presumed dead, isn’t she?

One of the Others suggests to Richard that before taking Ben, he should consult with Charles and Ellie. So in this time period, Widmore is still in a position of power with the Others.

Nits

Sayid has just spent a couple of years traveling around assassinating people. So why, when he had his chance to kill young Ben, did he shoot him from a distance and then run away? There was no one in the vicinity who was threatening him. I would have expected Sayid to fire a couple of shots into the head of young Ben; normally, that has a greater chance of guaranteeing death. Or is it possible that Sayid did not want to kill Ben?

Young Ben’s internal injuries would be exacerbated by a bumpy ride on a dirt road…so I’m not sure if Kate’s decision to move him was such a good idea. I suppose she had no alternative; Juliet stated he would die anyway.

Lost Quotes

Jack: I’ve already saved Benjamin Linus, and I did it for you Kate…I don’t need to do it again.
Kate: This is our fault; we brought Sayid back; we caused this.
Jack: No, when we were here before I spent all my time trying to fix things, but did you ever think that maybe the island just wants to fix things itself? That maybe I was just getting in the way?
Kate: You know, I don’t like the new you. I liked the old you who wouldn’t just sit around and wait for things to happen.
Jack: You didn’t like the old me, Kate.

Hurley: Let me get this straight, all this already happened?
Miles: Yes.
Hurley: So, this conversation we’re having right now, we already had it.
Miles: [claps] Yes!
Hurley: Then what am I gonna say next?
Miles: I don’t know.
Hurley: Ha! Then your theory is wrong!
Miles: For the thousandth time, you dingbat, the conversation already happened. But not for you and me. For you and me, it’s happening right now.
Hurley: Okay, answer me this. If all this already happened to me? Then why don’t I remember any of it?
Miles: Because once Ben turned that wheel, time isn’t a straight line for us anymore. Our experiences in the past and the future occurred before these experiences right now.
Hurley: [pause] Say that again?
Miles: [frustrated, hands Hurley his gun] Shoot me, shoot me please.
Hurley: Ah-ha! I can’t shoot you, because then if you die in 1977, then you’ll never come back to the island on the freighter 30 years from now.
Miles: I can die! Because I’ve already come to the island on the freighter! Any of us can die, because this is our present.
Hurley: But you said Ben couldn’t die because he still has to grow up and become the leader of the Others.
Miles: Because this is his past.
Hurley: But, when we first captured Ben, and Sayid, like, tortured him? Then why wouldn’t he remember getting shot by that same guy when he was a kid?
Miles: [pause] Huh. I hadn’t thought of that.
Hurley: Huh.

"Hello Ben. Welcome back to the land of the living."
- Locke to Big Ben

5.10 He’s Our You

Summary and Spoilers

If I had to choose a Lost cast member to ‘share a jail cell with’, my clear choice would be Sayid (Naveen Andrews). Almost every line he delivers in that quiet, powerful accent brings more to the script than is already there. And so I enjoyed this mostly Sayid-centric episode.

We learn more about Sayid’s past in this episode. As a child, he was willing to kill a dinner chicken at his father’s request, while his more sensitive brother was not. This earned praise from his father. Was this what led him to a life as a torturer? When he was on the island, he tortured Sawyer for information, then regretted it later. But when he left the island and his wife was killed, Ben pinned the blame on Widmore’s men, and Sayid trusted Ben – and became an assassin.

There’s no doubt that Sayid despises and distrusts Ben. Ironically, it is Ben as a boy who gravitates to Sayid in his cell, brings him sandwiches and a book to read, and, eventually, helps him escape. (This isn’t ironic for young Ben, who has no idea of the hardship he will cause for Sayid and his island-mates). Ben wants to leave Dharma and join the Hostiles, and he make Sayid promise to do that in exchange for freedom. Sayid seems to know that Ben will save him; he passes earlier on Sawyer’s offer to let him escape. Sayid is due to be executed, and at the time, his refusal to allow Sawyer to release him seems like a death wish. This is when he says that he now knows his purpose. Is it to die like Locke? Not exactly.

A flaming bus crashes into the barracks. The diversion (staged by young Ben, we would assume) allows him to sneak into the jail and free Sayid. As soon as they reach the jungle, they encounter Jin. Sayid knocks Jin out, then Ben receives his reward for allowing Sayid to escape: Sayid shoots and (we assume) kills him.

Speaking of Sawyer…James jumps back and forth between being concerned solely with maintaining his reputation in Dharma. Anything he is going to do to help Sayid will fit within those constraints. His plan is to have Sayid say he is a defector. This is a bad plan, and it’s lucky Sayid did not go along with it. It wouldn’t take long for this story to be exposed as a lie, especially if Richard were to return to the Dharma compound. Sawyer, to his credit, is ready to allow Sayid to escape when Dharma votes to execute Sayid. As mentioned before, Sayid turns down this offer (for reasons we learn later).

Jack, Kate, and Hurley have little to do in this episode. Kate has started working at the garage, despite having no knowledge of engines. Hurley is the one who tells Kate that Sawyer and Juliet are living together; Jack hid that fact.

Comments

Now that Sayid has killed young Ben, what will happen to the ailing Ben’s body in the present timeline? Will it cease to exist?

Will Ben’s death change the course of history? When he reached maturity, Ben orchestrated the mass murder of the Dharma people. What will happen to Dharma now? Will there still be a war with the Hostiles, and will the Hostiles win again in this timeline?

Lost Quotes

Sayid: I killed all those people for you, and now you’re just walking away?
Ben: You didn’t kill them me, Sayid. You’re the one that asked for their names. There’s no one else in Widmore’s organization that we need to go after.

Sawyer: Hit me in the face.
Sayid: What?
Sawyer: Go on, you owe me one anyway. So make it a good one. I want you to take these keys out of my pocket and let yourself out. Guard outside is Phil. He's a dimwit. So I reckon you can get his gun before he even realizes you're out. Just promise me you won't shoot him.

Ben: Sayid: And that’s why you’re here. You actually came all this way to suggest I kill this man [who is parked outside Hugo’s mental institution].
Ben: You don’t want to?
Sayid: What makes you think I want to?
Ben: Because, Sayid…to put it simply, you’re capable of things most other men aren’t. Every choice you’ve made in your life, whether it was to murder or to torture – it hasn’t really been a choice at all, has it? It’s in your nature; it’s what you are! You’re a killer, Sayid!
Sayid: I’m not what you think I am. I don’t like killing.
Ben: Well, then, I apologize. I was mistaken about you.

Juliet: It's over isn't it?
Sawyer: What's over?
Juliet: This. Us. Playing House. All of it.

Sayid: Where to now?
Ben: Nowhere. You're done.
Sayid: What do you mean, I'm done?
Ben: We're done. Andropov was the last one. You've taken care of everyone who posed a threat to your friends. It's been a pleasure working with you, Sayid.

Sawyer: How are you doing?
Sayid: A 12-year old Ben Linus brought me a chicken salad sandwich. How do you think I'm doing?

"Four years ago I ran away into the jungle and Richard found me. I said I wanted to leave, that I wanted to join you. So I've been patient. And if you're patient too, I think I can help you."
- Young Ben (to Sayid)

Sayid: Are you a professional?
Ilana: A professional what? You think I'm a prostitute. I'm not a professional anything. I just thought you looked sad. I like sad men.
Sayid: I'm sorry to hear that.

Sawyer: You got yourself a choice, Chief. Either you cooperate and join the party in Dharmaville or you're on your own.
Sayid: Then I guess I'm on my own.

Roger: What I can't figure out is how the hell you got caught. You Hostiles are supposed to be the kings of the jungle. How dumb are you that you got captured by these idiots.
Sayid: And yet you're the one who mops up after them.

Horace: I just spoke to the prisoner. We have a problem.
Sawyer: Why, what did he say?
Horace: Nothing. Which is what worries me. We need to find out why he violated the truce. Why the hell he would come into our territory. I'm just going to have to have Oldham do his thing on him.
Sawyer: That psychopath? No way.

Sayid: [looking at Oldham] Who is that man?
Sawyer: He's our you.

Oldham: Why were you in handcuffs when we found you?
Sayid: Because...because I am a bad man.

Sayid: You were right about me.
Young Ben: What?
Sayid: I am a killer.

5.9 Namaste

Summary and Spoilers

This episode picks up where La Fleur left off; Sawyer is reacquainted with his ‘friends’ Kate, Hurley, and Jack on the North Point. After shocking them by mentioning that the year is 1977, he rushes back to camp. Juliet helps him formulate a plan: a sub is arriving the following day with new Dharma recruits. Juliet will add three names to the list, and the new arrivals will take jobs at Dharma. That part goes well, although Jack is appalled at being handed a ‘workman’ suit and janitorial duties.

Back at this first meeting, Jack tells Jin that Sun was on the plane that crashed. Jin rushes off to the Flame station, where Dharma employee Radzinsky grudgingly checks with the other stations but finds no evidence that a plane has crashed (of course, we know this is because the plane crashed 30 years later). An intruder breaks through the perimeter and is assumed to be a hostile, but on closer examination, it’s a handcuffed Sayid who is forced to pretend to be a hostile to avoid possibly getting shot. Jin alerts Sawyer to Sayid’s capture; Sawyer arrives and safely takes him back to camp and locks him up (for his own safety) while trying to figure out the next step.

The other people on the plane have crashed on the sister island; they are ½ mile and 30 years away in the present. Ben sneaks away from the group and Sun follows him (and Frank follows Sun). Ben has discovered 3 outrigger boats; he plans to take one across to the main island. Sun agrees to accompany him. But when Ben turns his back, Sun oars him in the head and takes Frank with her instead. On the other island, they are greeted by Christian, who shows them a dusty group Dharma photo from 1977, and tells them that they have a big journey ahead of them.

On the first evening, Jack visits Sawyer at his house and is shocked to find out that James and Juliet are now a couple. Up to now, Sawyer has seemed like a sensible, controlled, fair man since he joined Dharma, but with Jack in the room, he becomes a bit more confrontative. It’s obvious that these guys don’t like each other and are highly competitive. Jack wonders why Sawyer is reading a book and not coming up with a plan; in rebuttal, Sawyer questions Jack’s leadership in his last island stint. Juliet leaves them alone to catch up on old rivalries.

Sayid is alone in his cell. In the evening, an owlish young bespectacled boy who calls himself Ben brings him a sandwich.

Comments

Sayid, Kate, Jack, and Hurley have landed in 1977; the remainder of the people on the plane have landed on the sister island in the present (about 30 years later). It looks like Christian can lead people through a doorway to travel from one time frame to the other.

We meet Ben as a boy, and Ethan (Anna and Horace’s child) as a baby.

Lost is much improved now that the setting has returned to the island(s).

I’m normally not a big fan of time travel, but here it is used well to place our survivors within a different part of known history. It also now gives more value to all that we learned about the early days of Dharma.

If young Ben is on the island, and older Ben arrives there, will he get sick and die the way Charlotte did? Even if you accept the theory of time travel, I don’t think it can be used to have two of you where there is only really one of you.

Memorable Moments

• The crash landing

Quotable Quotes

Sawyer: We're in the Dharma Initiative.
Jack: They came back to the island?
Sawyer: No. We came back. And so did you. It's 1977!
Hugo: Uh... What?

Sun: Why are you leaving?
Ben: Why are you staying?

(Sun knocks Ben out with an oar.)
Frank: I thought you trusted this guy.
Sun: I lied.

Hurley: Okay, so it's 1977.
Sawyer: Yep.
Hurley: And you guys are all members of the Dharma Initiative.
Sawyer: Yep.
Hurley: Well you do realize those dudes get wiped out, right? I mean, I saw the pit where all the bodies got dumped.
Sawyer: I ain't here to play Nostradamus to these people. Besides, Faraday's got some interesting theories on what we can and can't do here.
Jack: Did you say Faraday? He's here?
Sawyer: Not any more.

Jack: We need to find the rest of the people from the plane.
Sawyer: If there was a plane, Jin'll find it. So we got about ten minutes to make Intake, or you're all going to be camping in the jungle for a long time. There aint another batch of recruits due in for six months.
Jack: What do you think?
Kate: I think we should listen to Sawyer.
Hurley: I vote for not camping.

Kate: So the woman who told you how to get back, did she mention it would be thirty years ago?
Jack: No. No, she left that part out.

Hurley: What if they start asking us questions we can't answer, like who's President in 1977?
Sawyer: It's not a damn game show, Hugo.

Juliet: Have you and Horace settled on a name for him?
Amy: Yeah, we have. We're going to name him Ethan.

Young Ben: Are you a hostile?
Sayid: Do you think I am?
Young Ben: What's your name?
Sayid: Sayid, what's yours?
Young Ben: I'm Ben.
Sayid: It's nice to meet you Ben.

Jack: So, where do we go from here?
Sawyer: I'm working on it.
Jack: Really? Because it looked to me like you were reading a book.
Sawyer: I heard once that Winston Churchill read a book every night. Even during the blitz. Said it made him think better.

Jack: I got us off the island.
Sawyer: But here you are. Right back where you started. So I'm going to go back to reading my book and I'm going to think. Because that's how I saved your ass today. And that's how I'm going to save Sayid's tomorrow.

5.8 LaFleur

Summary and Spoilers

Our timeframe begins just as Locke descends into the well in his attempt to leave the island. But this story is not about Locke; it is about what happened to the people he left behind. When Locke turned the donkey wheel, there was one more big earthquake flash, and then silence. Immediately, Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, and Jin knew that this was different. The headaches were gone. Later, when they rejoined Daniel, he confirmed what they already knew: time travel was over – they were not jumping anymore. And wherever they were now, this was where they were going to stay.

Daniel’s alone-ness meant that Charlotte was not among them. Her body disappeared during one of the flashes. This is explained much later in this episode, when a little red-haired Dharma girl waves at Daniel. Charlotte lives again on the island as she did the first time, and for whatever reason, she wasn’t able to co-exist at another stage in her life in this same place. Or something like that.

Speaking of Dharma…this is where the castaways find themselves. It is ‘That 70s Island’, 1974 to be exact. Dharma is heavily entrenched on the island, and they are in conflict with The Others.

As the survivors are heading back to the beach, they come across a conflict where they see a Dharma member dead, and two men putting a burlap sack over the head of a protesting Dharma woman, Amy. Sawyer and Juliet win a gun battle and bury the two dead Others. The woman takes them back to the Dharma compound, but she does it according to protocol, which means she tricks them at the sonic fence and they are brought in unconscious.

The Dharma leader, Horace, questions Sawyer, who is using a fake name (Jim LaFleur) and a fake story (their salvage boat crashed on the reef). Horace believes the story but still insists they leave the island on the next sub bound for Tahiti, despite Sawyer’s request that they be granted time to find the missing members of their crew. Their discussion is interrupted by the arrival of Richard Alpert, who has easily penetrated the Dharma defenses. There is a tentative truce between Dharma and the Others; Richard has come to find out why the truce was broken and where his missing men are. Against Horace’s wishes, Sawyer speaks to Richard alone and drops a few time-travel hints like ‘Jughead’, ‘bald guy leader’, and ‘John Locke’. He admits to killing the men. Richard agrees to keep the peace but he takes the injured body of Paul, Amy’s husband, as payment

Horace agrees to let Sawyer stay for two more weeks to search for his crew. That night, Juliet says she has been trying to get off the island for years and she will leave the next day, but Sawyer convinces her to stay just two more weeks.

Flash forward three years. The castaways have been accepted at Dharma and are working members of the community. Sawyer is head of security, with Jin and Miles working under him. I’m note sure where Daniel is. Juliet is an auto mechanic; she is not only still on the island, but she and Sawyer are living together and very much in love. It has been a good day: Juliet overcame her fear of failure with helping women on the island deliver babies; she successfully helped Amy give birth to a boy. But the big story comes the following morning, when Jin rings Sawyer with a big surprise: he has found Jack, Hurley, and Kate.

In the final scene, Sawyer stands in a remote section of the North Valley and gazes on his long-lost friends, including a woman named Kate. He seems to remember her very much, which is different to the story he just told Horace about how she had faded from his consciousness.

Comments

This episode fills in the gaps in what happened to those that Locke left behind, while we wait for the Next Big Thing to advance the plot – namely, for Jin to tell someone about finding Jack, Hurley, and Kate.

Although Ben is not in this episode, I found myself once again surmising on whether he is good or evil. It is a credit to the way his character is written and the way it is acted (by the talented Michael Emerson) that we still don’t know for sure. But a bit more light has been shed. We see that when Richard led the Others, they had a hard line, but they kept to a truce. Ben came in and killed all the Dharma people. And I don’t think making a judgment on Ben says anything about Widmore. Widmore could be more or less evil than Ben – we really know little about him.

Maybe if Locke can take over leadership of the Others, he can maintain the peace with Dharma and avert the Dharma massacre. Surely there is room on the island for both groups. But how does Widmore fit into this, and why didn’t Widmore try to get back onto the island as well?

Memorable Moments

The meeting of Sawyer and his old companions

The chemistry between Juliet and Sawyer

Nits

After the big flash, Sawyer lies on the ground and sees that the rocks surrounding the well are back. Without looking, he jumps over the side and grabs onto the rope – then looks down and sees that there is still solid ground inside the well. I find it hard to believe that he wouldn’t at least look down first before jumping over the side of the well.

Also after the big flash, Juliet says it is all over – the time jumps have stopped. This is a big leap of logic to make in a short amount of time, yet she seems very sure of herself.

Quotable Quotes

Richard: You're not a member of Dharma Initiative, then what are you?
Sawyer: Did you bury the bomb?
Richard: Excuse me?
Sawyer: The hydrogen bomb, with Jughead written on the side, did you bury it? Yeah, I know about it. I also know twenty years ago some bald fella limped into your camp and fed you some mumbo jumbo about being your leader. Then, puff, he went and disappeared right in front of you. Is this ringing a bell? That man's name’s John Locke, and I'm waiting for him to come back. So, you still think I'm a member of the damn Dharma Initiative?
Richard: No. Guess I don't.

Sawyer: All right, listen up. When we get there, there's gonna be a lot of questions. So just keep your mouth shut. Let me do the talking.
Miles: You really think you can convince them that we were in a boat wreck?
Sawyer: I'm a professional. I used to lie for a living.

Sawyer: You do realize it's 1974. Whatever it is you think you're going back to, it don't exist yet.
Juliet: It's not a reason not to go..
Sawyer: What about me? You really going to leave me here with a mad scientist and Mr. I Speak to Dead People? And Jin, he's a hell of a nice guy, but not exactly the greatest conversationalist.
Juliet: You'll be fine.
Sawyer: Maybe. But who's gonna get my back?

Sawyer: Let me talk to him.
Horace: Excuse me?
Sawyer: Your buddy out there with the eyeliner. Let me talk to him.
Horace: We had a truce with these people. You don't understand.
Sawyer: I understand I'm the one who killed his men. And I'm the one who's going to go out there and tell him why I did it.
Horace: I can't let you do that.
Sawyer: It's a good thing I ain't asking your permission.

"I had a thing for a girl once. And I had a shot at her, but I didn't take it. For a little while, I'd lay in bed every night, wondering if it was a mistake. Wondering if... I'd ever stop thinking about her. And now I can barely remember what she looks like. I mean, her face... it's.. She's just gone, and she ain't never coming back. So... Is three years long enough to get over someone? Absolutely."
- Sawyer

5.7 The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

Summary and Spoilers

The passengers on flight 316 are now stranded on the island, and their leader, Caesar, is wondering who is the well-dressed bald guy who nobody remembers seeing on the plane. It’s John Locke, fresh out of his coffin and locking very much alive. He has little memory of how he got there.

Flashback:

John Locke spins the Donkey Wheel and pops out at the entrance slash exit point in the desert of Tunisia. All he has is the hope that someone is on the other side of the video camera that is trained on his position, because he cannot move – he lies prone in the desert. A number of hours later, he is dumped in the back of a pickup truck by Arabs, and transported to a simple hospital, where he is painfully patched together. When he comes to, Charles Widmore is at his bedside. He was at the other end of the camera, watching for John to be booted off the island, and he takes credit for bringing in a specialist to re-patch his leg. Widmore’s story is that he was banished from the island by Ben – he doesn’t say why. He also says that John is special and is meant to bring everyone back and be the new leader of the Others. John is skeptical, but accepts Widmore’s offer of help. Widmore provides transportation and a driver/companion in Matthew Abaddon, and John begins his quest to convince everyone to return.

He starts with Sayid, who is building houses for the poor in Santo Domingo, but Sayid thinks John is being manipulated, and has no interest in returning to the island.

Next, he visits Walt, who is all grown up. John isn’t there to convince Walt to go back, just to say hello. Ben is seen lurking nearby, watching and unseen.

Kate has no interest in returning to the island, and Hurley takes one look at Abaddon and runs away.

John also asks Abaddon to find the love of his life, Helen; they visit here grave, as she died of a brain aneurysm.

Their next step is interrupted when Abaddon is shot numerous times. John drives away in a panic and crashes the car. He wakes up in a hospital with Jack at his bedside. This is Jack’s bearded phase, and he isn’t open to ideas about going back to the island, either, until Locke mentions meeting Jack’s father, Christian. Jack seems affected by this by still uninterested.

Depressed, John retreats to a grimy hotel room, writes a short note to Jack (which we saw in the episode 316), and prepares to hang himself. A knock at the door stops him temporarily. It is Ben, there to convince him that he should not off himself. Ben says John has much more work to do. When John says that he hasn’t been able to convince anyone, Ben cheers him up by telling him that Jack bought a ticket to Sydney. Ben also tells John that he is special and that he is meant to lead the Others. Ben talks John down. During their subsequent talk, John tells Ben that he will not speak to Sun because Jin told him not to bring her back. Strangely, when John mentions that he needs to speak to Eloise Hawking because she can get them back to the island, Ben strangles him, then makes it look like a suicide.

Back in the present, John speaks to Caesar and admits to have spent 100 days on the island. John asks for a passenger list, but Caesar says the pilot took it when he left with a female passenger and one of the outriggers. Together, they tour the people who were hurt in the crash. One of them is Ben, and John identifies him as "…the man who killed me."

Comments

Who is the bad guy: you make the call!

Is it Widmore, who sent in a team to assassinate Ben, and who seemed to want to reveal the location of the island? Or is it Ben, who murdered John; who will use the information about Jin to lure Sun back to the island against Jin’s wishes; who deceived Sayid?

We know that Ben Linus and Charles Widmore have been feuding for a long time; they have admitted as much. But why? Why did Ben kick Charles off the island? Is it a simple power struggle, or is there good and bad, right and wrong?

Why does Ben go through all the trouble of talking John out of committing suicide, only to strangle him when John mentions Eloise Hawking? This makes no sense, and the events that follow do not shed any light on it. As we know, Ben then proceeds to assemble the castaways and take them all back anyway, which is what John was going to do. It seems that Linus, Locke, and Widmore all have the same objective – so why are they fighting and killing each other?

Memorable Moments

• The look of disgust John makes when Abaddon readies a wheelchair for him

Quotable Quotes

Locke: Why would you help me?
Widmore: Because 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.

Ilana: Nobody remembers you being on the plane
Locke: Well, I don't remember being on it either.
Ilana: What do you remember?
Locke: I remember a lot.
Ilana: Like why you're dressed up so nice?
Locke: No, but I can guess.
Ilana: Please. Guess.
Locke: I think this suit is what they were gonna bury me in.
Ilana: Sorry?
Locke: You asked what I remembered. I remember dying.

Caesar: (about Ben) You know him?
Locke: Yeah. He's the man who killed me.

5.6 316

Summary and Spoilers

Eloise Hawking brings the survivors into a secret subterranean room where a huge pendulum swings back and forth over a floor map of the earth. For some reason, I kept expected to see Homer Simpson suddenly appear on that pendulum, swinging and shouting, "Woo hoo!". This doesn’t happen; instead, Eloise explains that the room is a Dharma station called The Lamp Post. At least, that’s what it sounds like she says. Dharma created it to pinpoint the location of the island, which moves through time and is connected to other electromagnetic time portals.

Desmond delivers his message from Daniel, then storms from the room. Eloise says the island is not done with him, but he says he is done with the island.

Eloise has modified her stringent conditions that all survivors must return to the island. Now she says that if they all do not attempt the return, the results could be unpredictable. She says that if they get on flight 316 leaving for Guam in a few hours, they will get back to the island.

Finally, Eloise takes Jack aside and tells him he must give something belonging to his father to Locke. She gives him an envelope containing Locke’s suicide note. Jack doesn’t open the envelope.

After meeting with Eloise, Jack returns to his apartment and finds Kate in his bed. She has agreed to go back to the island, but refuses to answer any questions about Aaron, and makes Jack promise never to ask. This seems like a bad way to start a relationship – with an important question that must never be asked or answered – but maybe they are not starting a relationship – maybe it is just an elaborate one-night stand.

Jack gets a call from a nursing home where his grandfather has made his fourth attempt to escape. It’s only a brief visit, but a fateful one – his grandfather had packed a pair of Jack’s father’s shoes in his bag. Jack identifies them and takes them back with him.

Ben, badly beaten up after a visit to someone he said was an old friend, rings Jack to ask him to pick up Locke’s coffin and bring it to the airport. Jack takes this opportunity to puts his dad’s shoes on Locke, and to slip the unread suicide note into the coffin. Like a bad penny, it turns up again when airport personnel find it during a routine scan of the coffin. Finally, Jack reads it on the plane – its one line reads, "I wish you had believed me."

It seems unlikely that Sayid or Hurley will make the flight, but they both magically show up at the airport. A mystery surrounds how either of them found out about the flight.

Fittingly, the pilot of the plane is Frank Lapidus – who better to take them into the time portal. Sure enough, turbulence increases, there is a white out, and Jack wakes up much like he did on his first trip to the island – face up in a grove of bamboo trees, with a camera trained on his eye. He rushes to calls for help and rescues the drowning Hurley and his guitar case from a pool beneath a waterfall. Along the shore, Kate opens her eyes – she’s okay. Before they have a chance to look for the others, the Dharma van drives up, and Jin emerges, rifle drawn. Jack says his name, and there is a glimmer of recognition on Jin’s face – but the rifle isn’t lowered.

Comments

If you love  Jack, you’ll love this episode – he’s in every scene!

After a slow start to season five, the last two episodes of Lost have returned strongly, reaching entertainment levels that approach those of the first two seasons. Aside from too much exposition from Mrs. Eloise, everything else about the episode clicks.

Jin arrives in a Dharma van that looks to be brand new. Does this mean that we have arrived in an earlier time period, and has Jin been stuck here long enough to get a job with Dharma?

What has caused Kate to do such a stunning reversal regarding Aaron? One moment, she was fiercely protective of him, and she had no intention of going back to the island. The next moment, she has ditched him, and she is going back to the island.

This is one of the rare episodes that was shown out of original order. Originally, the next episode (The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham) was supposed to be shown before this one.

Memorable Moments

·          Jack’s almost-happy expression at finding out he is back on the island amid the bamboo

Nits

The scene where Jack find Hurley and Kate at the waterfall is shown twice, and the second time, what Kate says is different. Was this a simple continuity error, or are the creators inferring that the scene actually did happen twice, and Jack is caught in a time loop?

Quotable Quotes

Jack: Did you know about this place?
Ben: No, No, I didn't.
Jack: Is he telling the truth?
Eloise: Probably not.

Ben: Thomas the Apostle. When Jesus wanted to return to Judea, knowing that he would probably be murdered there, Thomas said to the others, "Let us also go, that we might die with him." But Thomas was not remembered for this bravery. His claim to fame came later... when he refused to acknowledge the resurrection. He just couldn't wrap his mind around it. The story goes... that he needed to touch Jesus' wounds to be convinced.
Jack: So was he?
Ben: Of course he was. We're all convinced sooner or later, Jack.

Jack And the other people on this plane - what's gonna happen to them?
Ben: Who cares?