LOST Revisited: Season 5, Episode 7 “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham”
Now, I’m getting ahead of the episode here, but let me break this down. At the end of the episode, we see the logo from the Hydra station on the files in the bunker. The Hydra isn’t on the main Island – it’s on the tiny second island where The Others kept prisoners and raised polar bears. So, it looks like very soon, a small group will take one of the boats over to the main Island, steal their beer, and take the raft back. This would mean the people who shot at Sawyer and the rest are survivors of flight 316. So one of those people on the beach will be getting shot by Juliet very soon.
Locke’s a little perplexed as to why he’s there, but the one thing he remembers is dying. That’s a darn good segue to a flashback! Locke wakes up in Tunisia, just like Benry did. Of course, Locke still has a bone sticking out of his leg, so his options are limited. There’s a camera trained on the exact spot where he’s laying, so clearly somebody’s been paying attention. He lays there all night, until a group of men pick him up and drive him to a low-budget hospital. We get just a glimpse of Matthew Abaddon before the doctor sets the bone the old-fashioned way. If this scene didn’t make you queasy, you’re made of stronger stuff than I.
When Locke wakes up, Charles Widmore is waiting for him. Widmore remembers Locke from meeting him approximately 50 years ago, and he’s been waiting. One of my theories is now proven correct, which I am quite happy about: Widmore used to be the leader of the Others, until Benry tricked him into moving the Island and leaving.
Widmore claims he wants to help Locke get the Oceanic Six back to the Island, because there’s a war coming, and Locke needs to be on the Island when it happens. Now, the thing that blows my mind is that Benry and Widmore are ostensibly working for the same goal. So clearly, one of them is lying. And since Benry actually got everybody on a plane and brought them back, it makes Widmore look all the more suspicious.
Time passes as Locke recuperates. Widmore presents fake ID for “Jeremy Bentham”, who as we mentioned last season, was an English philosopher. Just like John Locke. Widmore tells Locke that the Island needs him because he’s special. (Another reason I don’t trust Widmore – everything he tells Locke just makes him sound crazy when he actually tracks down his friends.) He tells Locke that he won’t let him die, which is the opposite of what Richard “Batmanuel” Alpert told him. He sends Locke on his mission, with Abaddon as his driver. Well, we definitively know who Abaddon is working for now. And didn’t it break your heart when Abaddon brought out the wheelchair? You know that just kills Locke.
Their first stop is Santo Domingo, where Sayid is helping to build a school. He’s beginning the long process of atonement, I think. While Sayid’s not unhappy to see Locke, he is not interested in a return to the Island. He thinks Locke’s been manipulated. Sayid breaks my heart when he talks about Nadia, but I love that he’s dwelling on their nine months together rather than her death.
Next stop, New York. While they wait, Locke asks Abaddon to find Helen Norwood. Wow, we haven’t seen her in a long time. And since I didn’t see Katie Sagal’s name in the credits, we’re not going to see her tonight either. But we’ll get to that later, because Walt’s leaving school at this moment! Hey, Walt! He’s actually sort of happy to see Locke – those two really did bond on the Island. He mentions that he’s had dreams where Locke’s on the Island, wearing a suit, and there are people who want to hurt him. Walt has a number of gifts, so I give some credence to his dreams. Locke lies about Michael’s fate, which is the right thing to do here, and then he just lets Walt go. As important as Locke’s mission is to him, he can’t bear to put Walt through anything more. Locke’s one of the good ones. As the scene ends, we see Benry hanging around, watching them.
And now it’s off to see Hurley. He’s painting an Egyptian scene while he’s in the mental hospital. Hurley assumes that Locke is a ghost, and is not at all bothered by his appearance. It’s only when he realized that Locke is real that he panics. Ha! Hurley’s way more afraid of actual people than of ghosts. So, that’s another one that Locke failed to convince.
On their way out, Locke owns up to remember Abaddon from way back after his accident. Abaddon explains that his job was to make sure Locke was on Flight 815 and that he got to the Island. And here’s another thing that makes me suspicious of Widmore and his people: Flight 815 went down because Desmond didn’t enter the numbers. Sure, you can manipulate people to get them on a plane, but the plane crash was ultimately caused by Desmond. There’s only so much that you can control, you know? Unless the plane would have crashed anyway, and Desmond’s involvement was just a coincidence. This is something I’ll be thinking about.
We cut to Locke’s meeting with Kate, already in progress. Unsurprisingly, Kate manages to be cruel, and make it all about her. That’s a low blow, to say that Locke wants to go back to the Island because he’s never loved anybody is not cool. Considering the way that Kate flips back and forth, I’d say she’s got no right to cast aspersions on anybody’s heart.
After that failure, Abaddon finally owns up and takes Locke to see Helen – in the cemetery. She died of a brain aneurysm on 4/8/06 (4 and 8 – Hurley numbers!). That’s really depressing, but it firms up Locke’s mission for him. Leaving the cemetery, Abaddon gets gunned down in a pretty shocking scene. I did not see that one coming, and watching him crumple like a rag doll was pretty upsetting. Locke drives off in a panic, and manages to get in not one, but two pretty serious car accidents.
He wakes up in the hospital. In Jack’s hospital! Locke launches right into his sales pitch, which you have to admire. Now Jack’s already started to lose it by this point, so he’s pretty angry. And of course, when Locke repeats what Widmore told him, it sounds like delusions of grandeur. So Locke plays the big card – “Your father says ‘hello’.” Well, of course he had to be Jack’s dad, since he clearly wasn’t Sayid’s or Hurley’s. And that’s where, if I’m right, Christian said that in the first place. Of course, I believe that was actually Jacob, but the form of Christian would help to convince Jack to return. It doesn’t work immediately, but it does end up working. But for now, Jack tells Locke that he just isn’t that important.
And this leads Locke to his hotel room, where he rights his note to Jack. This next bit is absolutely grueling, as Locke very slowly sets up for his suicide. This is hard to watch – Locke doesn’t go into this thinking he’s going to be resurrected. As far as he knows, this is one-and-only, for-real death. And just before he takes that step, Benry kicks in the door. To nobody’s surprise, Benry’s the one who shot Abaddon. Benry says Widmore was manipulating Locke – again, Benry and Widmore seem to want Locke to accomplish the same goal, so somebody’s lying to us here. Benry tells Locke that Jack bought plane tickets to Sydney. As we learned at the end of Season Three, Jack started taking long flights, hoping he’d find the Island again, and it looks like Locke is the one who set that in motion. Benry is almost tender as he helps Locke down – “You can’t die – you’ve got too much work to do.” And here’s what gets me: Benry suggests trying to recruit Sun, and Locke flat out refuses. He promised Jin that he wouldn’t bring her back. Once again, Locke is showing compassion rather than sticking doggedly to his mission.
Then things take a turn. Locke mentions that Eloise Hawking is the woman who can help them. Now, it seems that Benry must be familiar with Eloise. Yes, this takes place before we ever saw them together, but Benry, Richard “Batmanuel” Alpert, and Zeke have all taken trips off of the Island and returned. It seems like they’d need Eloise and her giant pendulum to find the Island again. Still, the mention of her name seems to change things, because Benry then strangles Locke. And this scene is unflinching – it takes a long time for Locke to die.
What the heck, right? Now, it could be that Benry accepts that Locke has to die in order for the plan to work. And if we’re going to go religious with this, suicide is an unforgivable sin. Maybe this is Benry’s way of saving his soul. Or else, the fact that Locke knows about Eloise is a threat to Benry. Or maybe he has all the information he needs, and Locke is of no use to him. This might just be Benry’s way of getting back to the Island and leading the Others once again. And since he’s the one who made sure to get Locke’s body to the Island, it seems like he knows Locke would be restored. But his last words as he leaves, “I’ll miss you, John. I really will”, certainly seem like a final farewell. I don’t know what to make of his motivations here, and it’s very perplexing.
And I just have to say, the scene of Benry faking Locke’s suicide is darkly hilarious. He seems positively cheerful, and it sure seems like he’s done this before. For Benry, this is business as usual. I’m surprised he’s not singing the Happy Working Song.
This brings us back to the Island. Cesar has a lot of questions for Locke, and I’m kind of nervous about this guy. He has a gun and he’s pushy. That’s not a good combination. All of Locke’s answers sound crazy, so that doesn’t help. Locke asks for a passenger list, but Cesar explains that Frank took it when he left. Cesar further says that some people disappeared off the plane, and that they have a few injured people as well. One of those injured people? Benry! Or as Locke puts it, “That’s the man who killed me.”
Awesome.
Well, I’ve got some big questions about Benry and Widmore right now, so hit me with some theories. All in all, I loved this episode, and I want to give it some kind of prize. Plus, Locke is definitely alive, which means I can finally rest easy.
