"The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"

Roxi and I finally got to watch the latest episode of LOST very late last night/very early this morning and I liked it but of course I had built it up so much in my head since I was spoiled about this episode title back in January.

STOP READING NOW TO AVOID SPOILERS!!!!!

Overall this was a strange episode very reminiscent of Michael's off-Island flashback in "Meet Kevin Johnson" with almost no Island story other than bookends setting up the long flashback. It was strange for another reason as well. Originally, this episode was supposed to air prior to last week's "316." I don't know how this episode could have worked if it had aired first though. I suppose the editing would have been different with respect to the now crashed Ajira 316 plane, but it just seems like it would have been necessary to know that the Oceanic 6 minus Aaron had boarded the plane and it had subsequently crashed on it's way to Guam.

When I accidentally found out about this episode's title when I was looking something up on the Internet Movie Database, I was very excited to see that we would learn what happened to Locke while he was off the Island and how he ended up in the coffin. We knew from information learned in Seasons 3 and 4 that he was presumed to have committed suicide. I had a feeling that Locke didn't really kill himself though. I have been suspecting that he had been murdered by Ben and made to look like a suicide. How else was Ben going to get Jin's wedding ring from Locke? As I suspected, Locke kept his promise to Jin not to contact Sun. I was surprised to see that Locke was actually contemplating suicide though. The guy just never feels like he has done anything right in his whole life. And it seems that Ben was only helping Locke to find out how to get back to the Island. So who's side is Eloise Hawking on? Ben was obviously working with her and he was trying to get Locke's body back to the Island, but he also told the dead Locke that we would miss him. I know his motivations are purely for his own power, but wouldn't he think that Locke might not be completely dead knowing how important he is to the Island?

It was also not surprising to see that Helen, the love of Locke's life, had died in the three or so years that he had been on the Island. Very sad really. It was nice seeing Matthew Abaddon again, but shoking to see him killed off so quickly. I wonder if he would have had more of a part in LOST if not for Fringe. It was assuring to find out that he was indeed put in the rehab facility to get Locke to go on his walkabout. It makes me wonder how involved he was in getting other people on board Oceanic 815. In any event, it was no surprise to me that Ben killed Abaddon too. Ben is such a liar! And the fact that Charles Widmore was waiting for someone to "exit" the Island continues the conflict of who is telling the truth. Ben has been using and abusing any and everyone to get himself back to the Island while, at least for now, Charles Widmore seems to be a lot more benevolent. Then again he did send Keamy and the mercinaries to the Island. But perhaps he was telling the truth when he told Locke that he only sent them to get rid of Ben. And perhaps the mercenaries went along in case the Others that were with Ben were ready for an invasion.

I was wrong about how long it would take Locke to connect Chritian with Jack. Stupid me wasn't even thinking that Locke only had three people to choose from and there was only one it could be. I think that scene was one of the most important on the show because it confirmed to Jack that he wasn't going crazy for seeing Christian both on the Island and off. Of course, we all know how obsessed he got with his search for the Island but that is another can of worms althogether.

I also found the scene with Walt very bitter sweet especially when he asked Locke how Michael was doing. Locke did lie to him, but he had to for Walt's sake. As he told Matthew Abaddon, "the boy's been through enough." So does that mean we are done with Walt? I doubt it especially since he told Locke that he had been having bad dreams where Locke was on the Island and people wanted to hurt him. Blatant foreshadowing and it would seem that Walt figures in to the future of the Island in some way. I also enjoyed the scene when Locke visited Hurley. It was especially funny because Hurley just assumed that Locke was dead and he was seeing another ghost.

Back on the Island, it we learned that the Oceanic 5 vanished from the plane just before the crash. This would explain why at least Jack, Hurley and Kate ended up in the middle of the jungle. But what about Sayid and Sun? We know that Frank Lapidus ended up on the Hydra island and left with "a woman" and the flight manifest in one of the outrigger canoes. So was that Sun? Where is Sayid? And I loved that Ben wasw not "special" enough to vanish from the plane but rather be injured in the crash. He was certainly not supposed to return to the Island. I only hope that now that Locke appears to be very powerful and have the upper hand, that he won't let himself be manipulated but Ben anymore...but I've hoped that a lot of other times before.