Episode 5.7 "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"

Here's random first thoughts on a great episode:

BACK AT THE HYDRA STATION: We open on new character Caesar exploring what turns out to be the Hydra Station. Which means flight 316 crashed on the much smaller second island near the main island. This is confirmed when we see Locke looking out over the ocean at the island across the way, right before eating a mango with huge amounts of gusto.


CAESAR LIKES MAPS AND GUNS: Caesar looks at some interesting maps and diagrams. Thanks to screen grabs from this site, I see that one diagram has the following words on it: Space Time, Real Time, Imaginary Time, Imaginary Space, and then some algebra that will never be decoded (by me) and "Event A" "Event C", etc. So that all makes perfect sense. He then finds what looks to be a map to Middle Earth or more likely the Island itself. This map has the Tempest Station called out on it, as well as a drawing of what looks like a boat or a submarine off to the left. And one note I can read says: Possible Path through Northern Mountains. Oh, he also thumbs briefly through a LIFE Magazine circa April 19 1954, which features a story called "The Awesome Fireball." Interesting, but probably mostly meaningless. Then he finds a gun, and lies about it. So he fits right in with all the other Losties, who have been lying about finding guns since season One.


THE RUNWAY? As Ceasar and the other new characters walk back to the camp to meet Locke, we see that their plane is pretty much intact, or at least a big chunk of it. AND, my guess is that we'll learn that pilot Frank Lapidus landed it to the best of his ability on the runway that the Others had Kate and Sawyer help them build at Jacob's command a few seasons ago If so, that's some CRAZY pre-planning on the part of the writers of Lost.

LOCKE'S BACK: And wearing at first what looks like a Jedi outfit, but I think it was maybe a blanket from Anjira Airlines? He's apparently totally alive, which is surprising. I mean, I knew he was coming back, but I thought he might come back in weird ghostly fashion like Christian Shephard or something.


THE OUTRIGGERS: Are also back. That's a little confusing because the last time we saw the Outriggers, it was in a future time. SO, are Locke and this new crew in the 70s with Jack and Kate? Or in the future of the island at some point beyond where we've been before? It's possible that those who crashed are in the present time, and those who flashed and 'disappeared' off the plane were taken to the past to be matched up with their friends. Possible, but confusing.

THE PILOT & 'SOME WOMAN': Sayid's Marshall Lady (was her name Alana? I couldn't find it for sure on the web) told Locke that the pilot and 'some woman' stole a third outrigger boat. We know the pilot is Frank Lapidus. I'm guessing the other woman is Sun, and that we'll see that she convinced Frank to take her across to the main island to find Jin. But if it is Sun, why didn't she flash away with Jack, Kate, and Hurley. And where's Sayid?


WIDMORE FINDS LOCKE: Because he's been watching 'The Exit'. My guess is that he's been watching the exit ever since Ben came back from the island the first time and left a trail of bodies in his wake. Because Widmore wasn't watching the exit then, or at least we didn't see a camera.

BEN TRICKED WIDMORE: So we learn that Widmore was tricked into leaving the island by Ben, so Ben could lead the Others. Widmore claims that he once led the Others, before Ben, and that they "protected the island peacefully." Yeah, right. Was neck-snapping a part of this peaceful protection? He didn't seem like a peaceful dude back in the 'Jughead' episode.

A WAR COMING: John rightfully asks why Widmore would help him, and Widmore responds, "because there's a war coming, and if you're not back the wrong side wins." Whoa, what? So I guess we know what the next and final season of Lost is going to be about.
But a war between who? Ben and Widmore? A reformed Dharma and the Others?

WIDMORE IS LYING: He first claims "I haven't tried to kill you" which is not 100% true, since he sent Keamy to kill everyone on the island. He then tries to claim that he was trying to remove Ben so that it could be Locke's turn to rule, but that sounds preposterous to me. If that turns out to be true, I will be shocked.


DRIVING MS. LOCKSIE: So then Matthew Abaddon shows up again to drive Locke to where he needs to go. My wife pointed out that you can see at first that Locke recognizes Abaddon, but is not sure from where. Then Abaddon pulls out the wheelchair, repeating a move that he did in the past as Locke's hospital orderly. Then, Locke appears to remember how he knows him. So Abaddon being Locke's orderly is interesting. By admitting to telling Locke to go on the walkabout, Abaddon is basically saying that Widmore KNEW flight 815 was going to crash on the island before hand. So, as has often been theorized, it is very probable that many of the people on the flight were arranged to be on the flight by someone behind the scenes.

Here's what we learned from each of Locke's visits:

SAYID: is now a little holier-than-thou working with a Habitat for Humanity type deal. He tells Locke that Ben manipulated him for 2 years into thinking he was protecting the people on the island. We pretty much knew that, but I wonder how Sayid found that out? And, what Ben was using Sayid to do? Remember when he was trying to kill an "Economist"? Who was that? Will the Economist play a larger part in the 'war' we're now hearing about? And also, who killed Sayid's wife? I would guess Ben did, in order to get Sayid to work for him.


WALT: Locke decides not to ask Walt to go back right after Walt asks him about Micheal's whereabouts. Clearly, he doesn't want Walt to learn about Michael's explosive fate. But it is weird that Walt didn't just show up on the plane last episode like every one else did. Or, was he in the back of the plane and we just didn't see him? Also interesting is Walt's recurring dreams about Locke wearing a suit on the island while other people try to harm him. I guess that's a hint towards things to come, since he's in his funeral suit on the island in present time. Maybe it's also a reference to the coming war Widmore was talking about?

HURLEY: Provides some more comic relief, but we don't learn a lot in this scene. Though Abaddon does say that Locke needs to step up his game or 'we're all in trouble'. What could this mean? It's so weird to watch a show where the main threat is so veiled in secrecy and you don't even know what's at stake. Everyone keeps saying "or God help us all" when talking about getting the Losties back to the island. What could this possibly mean? Is the world in danger? How?

KATE: Is as rude as ever.


JACK: Is even ruder than Kate. But I'm not sure why Jack is so mean. I think his first question to Locke would really have been "Hey, did you freaking MOVE THE ISLAND? What was that?" But no, instead he's really rude to Locke and says he was just an old man who crashed on an island and is not important at all. Um, an island with Smoke Monsters and the power to heal a man in a wheelchair isn't important? Locke tells Jack he saw Christian, which I think explains why in the season 3 finale, a drugged out Jack in a pharmacy referred to his Dad as still being alive. Jack must have thought seeing his Dad on the island was a crazy hallucination, but having Locke confirm Christian's prescence on the island must have sent Jack over the edge mentally.


BEN: Then, the creepy but great long scene of Locke's death plays out. There's a lot of interesting things to discuss here.

LOCKE GIVES UP: Apparently, Locke was going to just give up and kill himself. And his letter to Jack was a kind of pathetic last "I told you so."

BEN TALKS HIM DOWN, THEN KILLS HIM: Why does Ben strangle Locke? He obviously wanted him to live at first, but then learned something that changed his mind. Ben learned two things: That Jin was alive, and that the island told Locke to contact Elouise Hawking. I think it was the Ms. Hawking part that made him change his mind. Here's my theory on why. Ben's plan with helping Locke and the Losties is based on his selfish desire to get back to the island. According to Ben, after you spin the wheel, you're banished from the island forever. I think this is true, but Ben wants to find a way to get back anyway, against the island's wishes. I think Ben has been keeping an eye on the Losties to see when they're going to go back, so he can weasel his way into their group. It's ironic, then, that Ben accuses Widmore of using Locke to do the same thing. Anyway, here's what I think happened. I think Ben thought he had something Locke needed: a way to get back to the island. I think Ben has another way to get there, a way that he used to use coming and going from the island with fake passports. I think this is why Ben says to Locke as he's helping him into the wheelchair, something leading like "Once you get your friends to agree to come back, I'm not sure how we'll get back to the island, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there." But, to Ben's suprise, that's when Locke brings up Eloise Hawking. I think Ben was planning to use his knowledge of the island as leverage, but at this point realizes that he's not needed at all and that Locke and the Oceanic 6 can get back without him. In fact, they probably won't offer to bring him back if they can do it on their own. So he kills Locke so that he will be able to get on the plane himself, as the Oceanic 6's guide. He now knows how he can get Sun to go back, and he knows that Jack is wanting to go back because he's buying tickets to Sidney. And Ben could have already thought of how to get Kate back through Aaron's lawsuit and Sayid back by turning him in for the murders he had him commit. So the one tricky one would be Hurley, but maybe he handled that by possibly setting up the murder charges? And sending those guys to try to get Sayid? I dunno. But I think it makes sense that Ben would murder Locke for his own selfish gain. Did he know that Locke would come back to life? Maybe, or maybe if you asked him, he would have said "Who cares?"

BACK TO THE ISLAND: Caesar confirms that Hurley and some of the other Oceanic Six folks disappeared before the crash. Locke learns through this that his 'friends' are the ones that brought him back to the island. Although they aren't great friends because they basically told him to go hang himself. But he also learns that Ben DIDN'T disappear from the plane with Jack and the others, which lends credibility to my theory that the island doesn't want Ben back and Ben is just weaseling his way back in the picture.


MELISSA ETHERIDGE: Was it just me or was one of the injured people rock star Melissa Etheridge? I hope not.

SPOILER/NEXT WEEK'S PREVIEW: Looks like next week we'll get introduced to some new gun toting bad guys and that there will be some hostages taken by them. Also, Sawyer and Juliet will be back, so I'm guessing that will mean we're in the 70s? Erin and I froze a lot of frames on the preview, but we couldn't figure out who the female hostage was with the bag over her head. I don't think it was Kate because her clothes were different than Kate was wearing in another clip they showed in the preview. And I don't think it was Juliet for the same reason. Sun? Maybe, but her hair looked lighter than Sun's. Claire? No, didn't look like it. My vote is going to be out there, but maybe it's Sawyer's old flame Cassidy? Or, if they're in the 70s it could be Charlotte's mom. Because the lady had reddish blond hair. Also, it sounds like Sawyer will say some mushy things to Kate. Poor Jack.