LOST: 5x07 "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"

Initial Reaction & Comments

Overall
I realy enjoyed this Episode. We FINALLY get to see a Locke Centric episode (gee I haven't said that for a long time)! This episode beautifully mimics John Lockes Life in a nutshell. Locke seems to fail at every thing : he fails at Love with Helen, fails at his hippie pot growing commune, and fails at getting the losties to come back. He is desparate and still does not know what to do. His is unsure and constantly looking for direction from himself and other people.

NEW and IMPROVED Locke...
I like how the episode is titled as "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" and not "The Life and Death of John Locke", for Locke is 'reborn' into a NEW and IMPROVED Locke, ready to 'take command as a Leader. Only... he still seems to be a bit bumbling in trying to make sense of everything - like Columbo (Character an old TV series). Never the less John Locke is COMING OF AGE and ready to take control, and hopefully make smart(er) decisions. He must learn to NOT be so trusting and needy.

Who's the Hero NOW? -Ben or Charles
Theory: I believe that Ben is the protagonist in the story. The reasons for Ben's actions (ie: the apparent brutal murder of John Locke) were, once again, cloudy as Ben says " I'll miss you John... I really will", after leaving the room . All of Ben's lies are sprinkled with a bit of truth to continue to drag us along his manipulation game. I really want to believe Ben when he says "We're the GOOD guys Micheal"!

Ineresting Points
1) I REALLY was anticipating JACOB to be the one on the beach with Ceasar not Locke (can't explain that one -- just a feeling)

2) Kates reation to John appears 'tongue-in-cheeek' after Locke explains loosing Helen due to his "bsession" Kate says " look how far youve com [John]". as Kate believes he is obsessed with the island and himself.

3) Did Ben bring the BLUE RUBBER Glove with him to see John Locke with full intent to kill him or did he v]hasve the gloves 'jut in case. The War I hope the mention of the impending WAR (by Charles Widmore) is a reference both an Island war and a real-world happening. (the cover of the LIFE Magazine was a direct reference to "Jughead") it would be an interesting direction for the show to take in explaining the humanity, time, death, continuity, hate, violence, human weakness and motivations etc., in the world.

Top 5 Fav scenes/lines in the show:
1- Widmore to John Locke "there's a war coming and if you're not on the island the wrong side is going to win" .
2- Walt says to Locke dreams of " you're on the island [John] in a suit and people are tryng to hurt you"
3- Jack says to Locke " fate?!... its probability!... [John] you're just a Lonley old man"
4- Locke lets his heart get in the way of recruiting Walt and Sayid. After his weak efforts John says to Sayid " well.. if you change your mid call me [at the hotel]"
5- When looking at the 'people who got hurt' Ceasar said to Locke "Do you know him?". Locke answers: "Ya...he's the one who killed me"

Meaning of the Show
If the island is like the paradise symbol, eden if you will, the magical place that can heal all and exist free of time itself, it mimics the VALUE of the REAL WORLD. I like how the LOST story is told in such a way that its viewers draw the similarities of the show to the real world and make a connection with values to tim, life and death.

Unanswered Questions:
1) what are Ben's real motivations regarding the island

2) what are Widmore's real motivations regarding the island

3) How does Walt tie in? -- (and Desmond & Aaron & Christian and Jacob and on and on)

4) will we get to read the 1st mate's Blackrock journal?

LOST 5x06: pendulum Window locations

Above: Screen cap LOST 5x06.

LOST: Season 5 Episode 05

Source: Image is from Dark UFO's Website: http://losteastereggs.blogspot.com

"This place is death"


Themes:
It seems that the show has lost its theme based orientation or flashback centric storytelling. In so doing, LOST has not really been concentrating on themes as a narrative device but rather dealing with only the story. THIS may be intentional by the writers as it may be too confusing in dealing with all the time shifting. I do however look forward to the island finally being 'grounded' so we can stop the dizzying time shifting for a while.

If I had to select a theme for this episode it would be that of "Struggle".
Sun - struggling with the death of her husband Jin and her avenging his death.
Ben - His struggle with being now trusted, which represents a classic 'boy who cried wolf' syndrome.
Charlotte - Her struggle with her past and pending death.
Kate - Her struggle with keepink 'her son' Aaron.


ON second thought:
A few things that I'd like to bring attention to:
1.) Although Daniel Faraday says that "You cannot change the past no matter how hard you try you will fail every time..." I believe he knows this to be untrue as he is able to 'plant' a memory into Desmond's head that appears as a NEW memory fore Desmond in the future.

2.) Time travel problems:
I am having a big problem with time travel and objects that travel through time. Whenever the losties are holding , touching, or sitting in an object it too travels through time. Sawyer for instace holds on to the rope at the well and after a timeshift back in time to before the well was constructed, the rope is still in his hands. This was a great scene where the rope may have been used for dramatic effect but it does not make sense. If the losties happen to be huging a person belonging to a different time, do they travel through time as well. This begs the question, will we see this happen.

3.) It is till unclear as to who is supposed to come back to the island. Christian said to John Locke that "EVERYONE who left " has to come back. Does this include Desmond, (and Ben and Jeon for that matter)?


Theory:
The Smoke monster is THE ENERGY/SPIRITS OF ALL THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE EVER DIED ON THE ISLAND

LOST season 5 Episode 4 - The Little Prince

Comments:
Lost has begun to tie up some loose ends and seem to present some answers directly tied to time travel.
I feel that this episode focussed on a theme of Choice:
-kates choice between Sawyer and Jack.
-Suns choice to go after Ben ( unknowingly put a wrench in the Ben's plat to get the losties back to the island. )

Off to the orchid...
I suppose we will find out what happens at the orhid next episode presumably Locke turns the Donky Wheel beneath the ground and moves the Island back to where it is supposted to be.
My guess is that Lock does turn the wheel at an earlier Island time and this will be the time that "the Island was moved once before". The only new puzzling question is what will happen to Jin?


"Only fools are enslaved by space and time."