Season
5, Episode 7 and 8- “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” and “LaFleur”
Summary:
After
turning the frozen wheel, Locke wakes up in the desert with security cameras
pointed at him. He is taken to a hospital and his wounded leg is tended to.
Charles Widmore arrives and tells Locke that he, Widmore, was the leader of the
Others before he was exiled, and offers to assist in bringing the Oceanic Six
back. Matthew Abaddon acts as his driver/assistant. He fails to convince Sayid,
Hurley, and Kate to return, and visits with Walt who has had dreams about him.
Locke is taken to Helen’s grave and Abaddon is murdered, prompting Locke to
escape in the car and crash. He wakes up in the hospital with Jack next to him
and they argue over fate and heading back to the island. Locke writes a suicide
note for Jack and starts to hang himself, but Ben interrupts and tells him Jack
has been swayed. He gets Locke down but after Locke mentions Eloise Hawking,
Ben strangles him to death. Later on Hydra Island, the survivors of Ajira 316
question a seemingly reanimated John Locke. Caesar shows him the infirmary,
where he finds an unconscious Ben.
After
Locke turns the wheel, Sawyer’s group jumps one final time to 1974 and their
illnesses subside. They find Faraday who tells them Charlotte died and that the
time jumps have stopped. They encounter some Others who have attacked DHARMA
couple Amy and Paul. Amy says the Others have to be buried and Paul’s body has
to be brought back. Amy leads them to the sonic fence but tricks them into
going through it and they go unconscious. Horace Goodspeed questions them and a
lockdown occurs when Richard walks into camp. He asks Horace and Sawyer to
reveal where the two Others were buried but also asks for Paul’s body. Sawyer’s
group is allowed to stay in order to find Locke. Three years later, Sawyer is
roused in the middle of the night to take care of a drunk Horace and bring him
to his wife Amy. She goes into labor and Juliet helps her give birth. Sawyer
and Juliet have developed a romance. Jin calls him to say that Jack, Kate, and
Hurley have returned.
Review:
The original plan was for the
Caesar/Ilana/Locke scene to open up the season instead of Faraday. Would this
have worked? Well, for one, it spoils the “resurrection” way earlier than is
necessary. It would neuter Locke’s long death march through the first part of
the season and serve only to confuse, as we are supposed to be amazed he has
come back to life, even though literally the last scene we saw was of him in
the coffin. Doing it after the time-jump saga gives us some breathing room.
Furthermore, seeing the result of the Ajira flight before it’s even introduced is
bizarre and, again, spoils the story unnecessarily. So yes, it’s good that they
made the switch and opened the season by introducing a concept more immediately
relevant (time travel), and saved the return of Locke for its proper place in
the timeline.
Charles Widmore’s arc is one of
strangest in the show, and his true motives are never really fleshed out. By
season 6 it’s clear that he is on the side fighting against MIB, thus he is
Team Jacob, and thus he is Team Candidates. It is now his mission to get the
Losties back to the island so a candidate can be selected, the monster can be
defeated, and the island can be saved. However, he is also unwittingly aiding
MIB because he is pushing Locke back to the island as well. The Ben vs. Widmore
battle, then, is separate, and is subsumed by the battle against MIB. This episode
is probably where Widmore’s ultimate journey became solidified. Abaddon being a
mere henchman for Widmore instead of some island abnormality is a little
disappointing and demystifying, but he was never a huge presence on the show.
As Locke makes the rounds to the
off-island characters, he is stuck in the wheelchair (putting him at a spatial
disadvantage and in a more submissive position) and has no luck in convincing
anyone to come. His influence and leadership from the early island days are now
gone, and he no longer has power over any of these people, which is a pretty
sad way to end his (living) story. As for the death itself, we knew it was
coming for several episodes now so the shock of it no longer has full impact
but they still manage to make it surprising with Ben’s sudden turn. The death
also does not hurt as much because of the first scene on the beach. It’s only
later, after we learn that NotLocke is not Locke, that the full scope of John
Locke’s life comes into focus for us and that even we, the audience, did not
care that we were seeing him in the flesh for the last time. We thought he was
somehow special and would come back to us, and did not cherish his final
moments. It’s not unlike Jack’s arc. And so, Locke died as he lived: unappreciated
and barely given a second thought. Damn.
“LaFleur” is regarded extremely well by
the “Lost” community. I don’t quite share the same enthusiasm – it’s very good,
but not god-tier like some have suggested. While it is clearly Sawyer-centric,
it doesn’t really have a “flash” story, rather it just toggles between two
timeframes of the main story. In a way, that makes it seem meatier than most
others which have to accommodate a self-contained off-island story. After being
more of a supporting character in season 4 (with no centric episode), Sawyer
returns to a leadership position and uses his old con man abilities to secure a
narrative with Horace and placate Richard. Josh Holloway is very good
throughout. The three-year time jump was a good direction because it allows
LaFleur’s group to gain tenure with DHARMA which will be necessary in the back
half of the season; plus Jin can now speak near-fluent English, making him a
more integrated member of the group instead of a vestigial part that needs
constant translating.
This episode may be best remembered for
giving us the Sawyer-Juliet love connection. Against all odds, it’s a pairing
that makes sense and that I can get on board with. So of course they need to
ruin it by bringing Kate back into the picture. I could have used some more
“Suliet” scenes to really round out their relationship and set up for “The
Incident.” Before the Juliet revelation, however, they seemed to be indicating
that Amy (played by “24” alum Reiko Aylesworth, likable but wasted in a small
3-episode role) was having Sawyer’s baby. I could be wrong about that – as I
type this, it’s been a couple years since I even saw the episode – but that was
the impression I got. And shifting back to the first scene, the revelation of
Sawyer as “LaFleur” was made to be a twist, but we had just seen Jin reunite
with the Ajira crew in a DHARMA suit so we already know the characters have
been integrated in the 70s. Either take out the Jin scene from “316” or else
dispense with the LaFleur tease at the beginning of this one.
Connecting the Dots:
Caesar is shown looking through Hydra
Island’s offices. He was originally supposed to be a bigger character, and much
of his role was allegedly taken over by Zoe. Was he set to be Widmore plant? If
so, this could be a hint of it.
Why was Locke sent to 2007 by the wheel
while Ben was sent to 2005, despite only moving it a few days apart, at most?
Other than being random, maybe it has to do with the time dilation with the
outside world. A couple days difference translates to a couple years outside? I
don’t know, but it’s not one of the more crucial questions.
Ilana says “the pilot and some woman” took
one of the canoes, which is a reference to Frank and Sun. We see them leave in
“Namaste.”
Walt said he dreams about Locke, in a suit
and surrounded people who wanted to kill him. This might be referring to some
scene after the Ajira crash, but the only time he’s in a suit is when he’s dead
in the coffin. Who wants to hurt a dead man? Walt might have been seeing MIB as
Locke, but he’s not in a suit. If either is correct, then Walt saw into the
future. Of course, the dream could have been just that – a dream.
The backside of the statue is finally
seen in “LaFleur.” It will soon be revealed to be the Egyptian goddess Taweret.
There is no stated reason for why the
Others needed to be buried. However, considering the MIB takes the form of dead
people, it is likely that they must be buried in order to prevent MIB from
knowing he can take their identity. It’s also unclear why Richard requires
Paul’s body, unless he needs to be sure that it stays buried (again to prevent
MIB impersonation) or it is proof of retribution so the Others feel justice has
been done.
Richard tells Horace: “That fence may
keep other things out, but not us.” We do not see any special way for the
Others to bypass it, other than going over it (see: “Par Avion”). If they found
a way to get the security codes, we do not see it either.
Ranking:
1.
Jughead (10/10)
2.
This Place is
Death (9.5/10)
3.
Because You Left
(9/10)
4.
The Life and
Death of Jeremy Bentham (9/10) (Locke’s swan song is sad and poetic, and moves
along nicely while setting up interesting plotlines.)
5.
LaFleur (8.5/10)
(The time jump and new focus on DHARMA are welcome, and Sawyer and Juliet’s
budding romance is one of the smoothest we’ve seen.)
6.
The Lie (8/10)
7.
The Little Prince
(7.5/10)
8.
316 (6.5/10)
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