Lost: Season 5, Episode 7 Review: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham
The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham
Original Airdate: February 25, 2008
Writers: Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse
Director: Jack Bender
Looking at the title it’s clear this second part of the catch up trilogy will answer a major question that has been lingering for a season and a half: how did Locke wind up in the coffin. The answer overall is straightforward, or at least was guessed by fans who’ve been thinking about it. Like “316”, this episode has its centric character facing elements of his past, albeit with a much darker outcome and leaving them on the island (or at least one of them) ready for further instructions.
Locke pulling the wheel sends him from some pre-well period to about two weeks before the events of “316”. Widmore had “the exit” staked out, presumably after Ben’s arrival two years previous, with cameras. Luckily for Widmore, Locke’s injury buys him enough time to make it there for the proposition. This set up begs the question: what was going to happen if someone other than Locke came through, but it may assumed that somehow Widmore knew he was coming eventually.
It’s interesting to see Widmore’s perspective about the return mission. Although the secret was meant to keep him in the dark about those left behind (who it turned out weren’t in the present anyway), he knew they were lying, probably the whole time as well. It’s not too surprising that his resources could get to the truth about it, but what is interesting is that he believes that the Oceanic Six need to return to the island as well and gives Locke a blank check to do whatever he feels necessary to accomplish his mission.
Widmore also introduces an element that will play a huge part in the series’ endgame: there’s a war coming and there will be presumably huge consequences if Locke fails. While it adheres to the good versus evil motif that’s always been around, it’s hard not to think of The Stand again, where the survivors of the plague pick sides in a similar battle. The difference here is that the sides are much greyer. Ben’s no angel, but Widmore has done a lot worse, and through the perspective of one of the most conned characters in the series, we’re no closer to figuring out which side is the good side.
Although Locke heading to The Orchid was like he was during most of the first season, they reminded us of the conflicted, doubting Locke when they flashed to the night Locke pounded on the hatch window desperate for an explanation as to why Boone needed to die. At the heart of the episode is Locke as the perpetual dupe. Tell him he’s special and he’ll do anything asked, even if there is a troubled history. He’s been manipulated and conned by almost every important person in his life, so he finds himself a key figure in a war between two characters whose moralities are at best grey.
Through Locke’s quest, Locke touches upon the two figures of his past who didn’t try to take advantage of him: Helen and Walt. Helen died of an aneurysm a year and a half after the crash (to be truly nerdy, if only she died the day “Lockdown” originally aired), or at least that’s what Abaddon says. Some have theorized, like a caller on Jay and Jack, that Helen isn’t dead. With Widmore’s money, it’d be easy to throw a tombstone in a cemetery. Locke isn’t going to dig up the grave and check. Those who believe it was staged believe that Locke would give up the mission if he had a chance of reconciliation. While that may be true to a degree (I doubt Locke would ever give up on the island), Helen might’ve been the only person who could pull Locke back. Kate even brings up not being loved as one of his driving motivations.
In his scene with Walt, a few morsels are revealed. Abaddon implies that Walt is one of the people who needs to return. It would be pretty disappointing not to have Walt return, as the mystery surrounding him and his abilities is one of the greatest uncashed checks the series wrote in the first season, but it doesn’t happen here, and no implication is made to suggest he was on 316. Time is running out, but their revisiting Walt repeatedly hints that he still has a huge piece to play in the series.
It seems that the turning point in Locke’s descent is Abaddon’s murder by Ben (although not seeing the gunman is going to lead to speculation). A lot of people were upset over this. They expected to learn a lot more about who Abaddon was and what they got here were little hints that he had a similar role to that of Mrs. Hawking, getting people where they need to be, but not more. The obvious explanation for killing him is because Lance Reddick is on Fringe. However, without knowing anything about production and personal schedules, Reddick is only in about 5 minutes of each episode of Fringe and is hardly one who could not be in an episode or two without disrupting the flow of the show. Regardless, it’s not like he can’t return via flashbacks or something else.
His death is the culmination of the persuasion tour, which obviously failed miserably. No one is on board with this idea, from Sayid content with trying to redeem himself, Kate living in suburbia to Hurley recoiling when he sees who Locke is with. What left something to be desired was Locke’s pitch. Locke isn’t much of a saleperson, and Abaddon didn’t do much to push him to convince the others, the latter of which cheapens the high stakes of bringing them back.
The closest he gets to success is getting under Jack’s skin by relaying Christian’s message. Of course, this piece of news compounds the visits Jack’s received by “Christian”, and all of it eventually leads him to where we found him in his first flash forward. However, Jack here doesn’t seem as unglued as he’ll become in only a few days. This downward spiral was originally perceived as a gradual descent from living happily with Kate to popping pain pills like candy; here Locke’s arrival is shown as an accelerant to this problem.
Jack returns the favor by crushing Locke’s hopes. Early in the episode, Locke said all he needed to do was convince one person to return and the rest would follow. Of course, he meant getting Jack on board: if he could convince his biggest skeptic than everything would work out. Jack is on his way to rock bottom, but he’s still spiraling down at this point, and ultimately crushed his spirit.
Locke’s attempted suicide is a tough scene to watch. Although Locke had been constantly duped, part of him never gave up hope (which helped make him such a great victim) until this moment where he’s ready to throw it all away. For him to get to that point, he’d have to be completely destroyed emotionally, and O’Quinn is fearless in going that far in showing it.
Ben arrives right on time and no sooner talking him off the ledge and getting some information, strangles him and makes it look like the suicide that was going to happen had he not been there. There’s been a lot of speculation over why Ben killed Locke. It seems that learning about Mrs. Hawking was the tipping point. By killing Locke, he takes away Widmore’s pawn and, as we’ve seen, uses it to persuade Jack and Sun to come back. Ben knows Widmore is in an “arms race” of sorts to get them back, so in war, he made his power play. Hawking may be a more neutral player, and may have been as helpful had the Six arrived with Widmore in tow.
Throughout the series the producers have said that “dead is dead”. No one on the show who dies is coming back to life because it would cheapen the high stakes. Of course the dead still show up via the Smoke Monster and through visions and dreams. However, Locke isn’t that, leaving the writers to explain their motives besides not wanting to lose a fascinating character. It’s pretty hard going back to write about this in retrospect while adhering to my policy not to post significant spoilers for upcoming episodes for future readers who will watch the series in repeats and DVD so discussion of this may be sparse until the finale.
Seeing Locke’s resurrection (if you will), it’s hard not to think of another of this decade’s defining sci-fi works Battlestar Galactica (SPOILER ALERT for those who haven’t seen the complete series) and its treatment of Starbuck’s death and return. Unfortunately the closest answer fans could get was that her return was God’s retcon, leaving many fans unhappy with such a cheap cop out (among the cop outs of that finale). Without going into what the case of Locke’s return is, thankfully they do something that appears far more interesting.
It’s also been mentioned by the producers that this episode and “316” were swapped, the second time this has been done (while they now say it was season one’s “Solitary” and “Raised by Another”, it was clearly season three’s “Glass Ballerina” and “Further Instructions”, but that’s another issue). I think the flow of the episodes would work better the way they were originally produced. “This Place is Death” flows into “Jeremy Bentham” (the island storyline) and the cliffhanger from “316” goes to “LaFleur”. However, similar arguments can be made for the opposite.
While many of the blanks were already filled by fans, this episode begins to push the big conflict that should take us to the end of the series. O’Quinn is great as usual and the acting raises the episode, but this Locke episode lacks something that would put it over the top among his best outings. It’s still good, but it could’ve been great.
Locke pulling the wheel sends him from some pre-well period to about two weeks before the events of “316”. Widmore had “the exit” staked out, presumably after Ben’s arrival two years previous, with cameras. Luckily for Widmore, Locke’s injury buys him enough time to make it there for the proposition. This set up begs the question: what was going to happen if someone other than Locke came through, but it may assumed that somehow Widmore knew he was coming eventually.
It’s interesting to see Widmore’s perspective about the return mission. Although the secret was meant to keep him in the dark about those left behind (who it turned out weren’t in the present anyway), he knew they were lying, probably the whole time as well. It’s not too surprising that his resources could get to the truth about it, but what is interesting is that he believes that the Oceanic Six need to return to the island as well and gives Locke a blank check to do whatever he feels necessary to accomplish his mission.
Widmore also introduces an element that will play a huge part in the series’ endgame: there’s a war coming and there will be presumably huge consequences if Locke fails. While it adheres to the good versus evil motif that’s always been around, it’s hard not to think of The Stand again, where the survivors of the plague pick sides in a similar battle. The difference here is that the sides are much greyer. Ben’s no angel, but Widmore has done a lot worse, and through the perspective of one of the most conned characters in the series, we’re no closer to figuring out which side is the good side.
Although Locke heading to The Orchid was like he was during most of the first season, they reminded us of the conflicted, doubting Locke when they flashed to the night Locke pounded on the hatch window desperate for an explanation as to why Boone needed to die. At the heart of the episode is Locke as the perpetual dupe. Tell him he’s special and he’ll do anything asked, even if there is a troubled history. He’s been manipulated and conned by almost every important person in his life, so he finds himself a key figure in a war between two characters whose moralities are at best grey.
Through Locke’s quest, Locke touches upon the two figures of his past who didn’t try to take advantage of him: Helen and Walt. Helen died of an aneurysm a year and a half after the crash (to be truly nerdy, if only she died the day “Lockdown” originally aired), or at least that’s what Abaddon says. Some have theorized, like a caller on Jay and Jack, that Helen isn’t dead. With Widmore’s money, it’d be easy to throw a tombstone in a cemetery. Locke isn’t going to dig up the grave and check. Those who believe it was staged believe that Locke would give up the mission if he had a chance of reconciliation. While that may be true to a degree (I doubt Locke would ever give up on the island), Helen might’ve been the only person who could pull Locke back. Kate even brings up not being loved as one of his driving motivations.
In his scene with Walt, a few morsels are revealed. Abaddon implies that Walt is one of the people who needs to return. It would be pretty disappointing not to have Walt return, as the mystery surrounding him and his abilities is one of the greatest uncashed checks the series wrote in the first season, but it doesn’t happen here, and no implication is made to suggest he was on 316. Time is running out, but their revisiting Walt repeatedly hints that he still has a huge piece to play in the series.
It seems that the turning point in Locke’s descent is Abaddon’s murder by Ben (although not seeing the gunman is going to lead to speculation). A lot of people were upset over this. They expected to learn a lot more about who Abaddon was and what they got here were little hints that he had a similar role to that of Mrs. Hawking, getting people where they need to be, but not more. The obvious explanation for killing him is because Lance Reddick is on Fringe. However, without knowing anything about production and personal schedules, Reddick is only in about 5 minutes of each episode of Fringe and is hardly one who could not be in an episode or two without disrupting the flow of the show. Regardless, it’s not like he can’t return via flashbacks or something else.
His death is the culmination of the persuasion tour, which obviously failed miserably. No one is on board with this idea, from Sayid content with trying to redeem himself, Kate living in suburbia to Hurley recoiling when he sees who Locke is with. What left something to be desired was Locke’s pitch. Locke isn’t much of a saleperson, and Abaddon didn’t do much to push him to convince the others, the latter of which cheapens the high stakes of bringing them back.
The closest he gets to success is getting under Jack’s skin by relaying Christian’s message. Of course, this piece of news compounds the visits Jack’s received by “Christian”, and all of it eventually leads him to where we found him in his first flash forward. However, Jack here doesn’t seem as unglued as he’ll become in only a few days. This downward spiral was originally perceived as a gradual descent from living happily with Kate to popping pain pills like candy; here Locke’s arrival is shown as an accelerant to this problem.
Jack returns the favor by crushing Locke’s hopes. Early in the episode, Locke said all he needed to do was convince one person to return and the rest would follow. Of course, he meant getting Jack on board: if he could convince his biggest skeptic than everything would work out. Jack is on his way to rock bottom, but he’s still spiraling down at this point, and ultimately crushed his spirit.
Locke’s attempted suicide is a tough scene to watch. Although Locke had been constantly duped, part of him never gave up hope (which helped make him such a great victim) until this moment where he’s ready to throw it all away. For him to get to that point, he’d have to be completely destroyed emotionally, and O’Quinn is fearless in going that far in showing it.
Ben arrives right on time and no sooner talking him off the ledge and getting some information, strangles him and makes it look like the suicide that was going to happen had he not been there. There’s been a lot of speculation over why Ben killed Locke. It seems that learning about Mrs. Hawking was the tipping point. By killing Locke, he takes away Widmore’s pawn and, as we’ve seen, uses it to persuade Jack and Sun to come back. Ben knows Widmore is in an “arms race” of sorts to get them back, so in war, he made his power play. Hawking may be a more neutral player, and may have been as helpful had the Six arrived with Widmore in tow.
Throughout the series the producers have said that “dead is dead”. No one on the show who dies is coming back to life because it would cheapen the high stakes. Of course the dead still show up via the Smoke Monster and through visions and dreams. However, Locke isn’t that, leaving the writers to explain their motives besides not wanting to lose a fascinating character. It’s pretty hard going back to write about this in retrospect while adhering to my policy not to post significant spoilers for upcoming episodes for future readers who will watch the series in repeats and DVD so discussion of this may be sparse until the finale.
Seeing Locke’s resurrection (if you will), it’s hard not to think of another of this decade’s defining sci-fi works Battlestar Galactica (SPOILER ALERT for those who haven’t seen the complete series) and its treatment of Starbuck’s death and return. Unfortunately the closest answer fans could get was that her return was God’s retcon, leaving many fans unhappy with such a cheap cop out (among the cop outs of that finale). Without going into what the case of Locke’s return is, thankfully they do something that appears far more interesting.
It’s also been mentioned by the producers that this episode and “316” were swapped, the second time this has been done (while they now say it was season one’s “Solitary” and “Raised by Another”, it was clearly season three’s “Glass Ballerina” and “Further Instructions”, but that’s another issue). I think the flow of the episodes would work better the way they were originally produced. “This Place is Death” flows into “Jeremy Bentham” (the island storyline) and the cliffhanger from “316” goes to “LaFleur”. However, similar arguments can be made for the opposite.
While many of the blanks were already filled by fans, this episode begins to push the big conflict that should take us to the end of the series. O’Quinn is great as usual and the acting raises the episode, but this Locke episode lacks something that would put it over the top among his best outings. It’s still good, but it could’ve been great.
Overall Score: 8/10
posted by Matt @ 1:43 AM
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