Wednesday February 25, 2009
507
Locke's fateful mission off the island as Jeremy Bentham is revealed.
Read Full Recap » (warning: possible spoilers!)Great acting, too many "loose ends" hide show
I am catching up in hopes to watch Season 6 on tv so am a little late in reviewing.
As many of the other reviewers have said - this had some great acting but the logic is growing very thin for me (and I'm great at suspending disbelief).
Two bad things:
1) People keep wondering why Ben talks Locke off the ledge only to kill him. Ben kills Locke immediately after Locke reveals the name of Daniel's mother. That's all he was looking for - a way to get back to the island that is now jumping through time.
2) Daniel's mother said something that really baffled me. "Why do you think that no one was able to find you?" implying that they had been jumping through time the whole time they were on the island. That doesn't make much sense. She helped Whitmore get there and both the Dharma and the Others have been traipsing back and forth to the island for decades. So there has to be some other explanation NOT that it's been moving through time. Also, if it were moving through time when they were on the island, wouldn't their stuff appear and disappear as it's doing now? I can only conjecture that it's so hard to get to get back NOW because it's stuttering through time and the proper bearings have been lost.
3) And the whole recreate the scene as best you can. Really? Why? Any real reason for that? Ben wasn't there before nor were all the other passengers. They weren't in 1st class before. I could go on. And then the 6 go to some other point in time while all the rest who weren't the Oceanic 6 go to the present. Huh?
Like the previous episode, this episode was interesting, but had better dialogues and interactions, and had the type of strange mysteries that is usual in Lost. Overall, another superb episode about Locke and his psychological State. hide show
Plot Details/Objective -» Was a clever move making us wait to see what happened in 3 years to Sawyer and Co. This episode is highly focused in John Locke and his mission to bring back the Oceanic Six.
What I Like/Disliked -» This is another episode that surprises me. Because the episode is nothing over the top and fast enough, it is just good interaction and reflections, with some surprises inside.
Overall:
Presentation -» (9/10). If you didn´t saw the trailer, than it is a great surprise and a intriguing one.
Complication Phase -» (9/10). Locke mission was difficult, but what was more interesting was Locke dialogues with every characters.
Climax -» (8/10). The writers already told us that Locke committed suicide, but they save a surprise about how that happened, which was nice.
Cliffhanger/Ending -» (9/10). This is the type of ending that was well delivered because of the Storyline built and the Climax phase. Now things will be interesting.
Time and Scenes Management -» (10/10). There aren´t a single interaction that seems to be forced to buy some time.
Dialogues -» (10/10). Locke talks with everyone he needs. Was nice to know what happened to Ellen. Also the strange guy in the first episode appeared here and have nice talk with Locke too. Even Wildmore, Kate, Jack, Sayid, Walt and Hurley had good interactions with Locke.
Action /Adventure -» (8/10). Wasn´t a episode for this, but had some shooting, accident and a murder.
Drama/Emotions -» (9/10). Wasn´t perfect, but you have good emotions there. Locke psychological state was very interesting, even when he tried the suicide.
Suspense/Tension -» Wasn't a episode for that.
Mystery/Curiosity/Doubts/Hints -» (9/10). Walt dreams, how Locke is alive, what the two new survivors of the AJira flight objective, Why the pilot disappeared etc, the usual structure of Lost series.
Surprise/Twists -» (9(10). Locke is alive, this is enough. But Ben delivered another surprise, even the appearance of that strange guy.
Like the previous episode, this episode was interesting, but had better dialogues and interactions, and had the type of strange mysteries that is usual in Lost. Overall, another superb episode about Locke and his psychological State.
Another Incredible Episode Of Lost!! hide show
Wow what an episode. If you are looking for a lot of island time you won't get it in this episode. This episode deals strictly with John Locke and how he really died. After John fixes the islands wheel and leaves, he ends up in Tunisia with a compound fracture in his leg, only to be saved by Charles Widmore. Widmore feeds him a story about Ben being the evil one. He sends Locke under the alias of Jeremy Bentham out to find the Oceanic 6 to get them to return to the island with the return of Matthew Abaddon as his driver who later gets killed by Ben. Locke strikes out with all of the Oceanic 6, trying to get them to come back to the island. He had been told earlier by Richard that he had to die in order to get them back. Just as he is about to kill himself, Ben knocks on the door pretending to want to help and save him only to kill him. At this point it is unknown who is telling the truth Widmore or Ben.
In the end Locke ends up back on the island with no recollection of how he got there. The plane he was on had crashed on the island and one of the survivors was Ben and Locke remembered that Ben had killed him.
This was another great installment of Lost with some answers and more questions. Hopefully the upcoming episodes will answer some of those questions. The biggest questions, what are the motives of Ben and Widmore, who is telling the truth, who is truly out to help the people on the island and what are their plans for the island.
what an AWESOME ep ! hide show
what i can say !! this show is gettin BETTER and BETTER every episode !!
loved all the 45 min from the start to the end !
and " JOHN , BEN " put them togather all the time cuz they ganna rock ur world !! it's really one of the breath taking eposdes and scence !
Seriously I was gasping the entire episode. The real breathtaking scene was Ben killing Locke. Ow my god . can wait for the reunion next week . Terry you going to win your sacend EMEY award !
and BEN you are going to win too ! !
There's something to be said for the quality of an episode that engenders such unprecedented excitement. hide show
As if one week of exaggerated platitudes wasn't enough, now online forums are awash again with the sound of voices hyperactively screaming from the rooftops. "OMGLOLZ best episode EVA!!!", they tend to bellow, clicking the '10' button on the 'rate this episode' poll and sending the average score to an all-time high: at the time of writing, it sits neatly atop the pile with a remarkable 9.7. Doubtless this will change, and probably decrease, as the hours and days roll on and a more considered semblance of sanity creeps in, but there's certainly something to be said for the quality of an episode that engenders such unprecedented excitement. It's not the greatest hour of the show - in fact, it's not the best this season either - but it's unquestionably something a little special. It doesn't reveal a great deal (although there are a couple of huge explanations) and essentially, the story coasts along at a leisurely pace, not doing much that hasn't already been inferred elsewhere. However, the important factor here is engagement, which is not the exclusive property of unpredictability. It can also be sustained through strong writing, characterisation and acting, all of which 'The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham' has in spades.
This is Terry O'Quinn's chance to shine and boy, does he. From his emotional reconciliations with Kate to the pre and post aborted suicide attempt sequences with Ben, every word, every sentence, every nuance of his performance is nothing other than pitch perfect. More than any other cast member, O'Quinn is the character he is portraying, so much so that I find it hard to believe that I have ever watched him in anything else, let alone engaged with him as a recurring character on Millennium for three years. Just check out his body language when he's talking about Helen: something as simple as a persistent gaze towards the floor or a searching, irritated set of minor gesticulations sells the psychological enormity of his feelings to the viewer. The dialogue is barely even needed; so much is said in his external reaction. Then there's the marvellously executed scene with Jack, in which our central heavyweights duke out the science vs. faith dichotomy one more time, only, on his occasion, Locke actually gets a chance to sucker punch his counterpart with something concrete. The writing is astonishing here, building logically and tragically towards John's ultimate suicide attempt. With each and every encounter the man is pummelled further and further into the ground by those that he so clearly cares about and Jack's vocalisation of the sort of internal doubts and self-loathing that you just know run through Locke's head ("you're just a sad, lonely old man", "you're not special" etc.) is the final straw. However, it is certainly rewarding to see the beginning of Jack's comeuppance and descent further into darkness when Locke reveals that Christian spoke to him. Matthew Fox is brilliant here, subtly demonstrating the conflict that clearly now resides within his character.
And then, of course, there's Ben. Hats off to all involved in this one: it is a strong contender for best scene of the season. In fact, I'll throw my towel into the ring and say yeah, this is the greatest thing I've seen Lost spew at us so far this year. Perhaps the most effective and well written piece of character interplay since Mr. Linus squared off against Mr. Widmore in 'The Shape of Things to Come' last year. Inevitably, when you throw O'Quinn and Emerson together in an emotionally charged situation, sparks are going to fly but just look at how brightly they burn. O'Quinn sells Locke's self-doubt and frustration amazingly well and the juxtaposition of this, the man at the end of his rope (literally) with the man desperately trying to piece everything back together for his own endgame, works wonders. There are so many levels to the scene: first, you have a concerned individual trying to prevent another's death. The viewer sympathises with Locke and clearly wants him to survive, so is rooting for Ben's words to ring true. Second, the paradigmatic dramatic irony established at the culmination of the previous season, and qualified last week, keeps us questioning the outcome: we are certain that Ben won't convince Locke because we know he commits suicide... or do we? Could there be some other way in which he dies? Pretty soon, once he begins to step down from the table, we're questioning whether the bloke was ever dead at all and wasn't just put in a deep coma and bundled into a coffin for show. The awareness of Locke's inevitable passing casts additional aspersions onto the scene and has you searching for answers, mistrusting the course of the narrative that is apparently unfolding before you. And finally, you have Ben's motivation, the viewer's understanding of his duplicitous nature which feeds into the dramatic irony and ensures that you're questioning his intentions as he's speaking, contesting the validity of his words. In effect, the scene co-ordinates something of a brainstorm in the viewer's mind, ensuring that the variously ambiguous features of the narrative are bounced off one another and therefore generate a great deal of thought and, crucially, engagement.
There's certainly pause for thought elsewhere too. The revelation that Widmore is the vessel through which Locke catches up with his old friends is hugely intriguing and both reinforces and strengthens the prominence of the Ben/Charles binary, the question of whose side is 'right', if either, in this mini-characterial war. On this theme, Ben's shocking execution of Locke ensures that the possibility that the previously established 'evilness', if you will, of Alan Dale's character is a misinterpretation is given considerable validity. There seems to be a large amount of debate online regarding Linus' reasons for doing away with the Island's supposed leader and while I will reserve judgement for now and see what Lindelof and Cuse deal out later, my suspicions err on the side of concern about the depth of Widmore's knowledge of Elouise Hawking. As Ben's recruit, he would wish to protect her from Charles as she provides the only way back to the Island. Still, this is merely conjecture and it's rare that I'm ever right about these things... what I will congratulate myself on, however, is knowing exactly what was going on in the opening scene from the get go thanks to recognising Cezar's face from the airport scene in '316'. Nevertheless, this narrative structure is a wonderful way of weaving the story together and, thankfully, prevents the episode from simply being one giant flashback. There's much to ponder in all of this too: the unresolved nature of the boats, Lapidus and 'the woman', the fact that it appears that the flight came down on the other Island (supported by the fact that Locke can see an Island from his vantage point)... you know, the one with the Hydra station on it. I'm of the belief that this new bunch of Losties are in the Island's present, wherever that may be in the world (somewhere near Guam!), while the Oceanic Six are in its past, in a time when the DHARMA Initiative is active, as the boats that appeared in 'The Little Prince' are here and these have already been established as part of the Sawyer/Juliet etc. Losties' experiences in the future. Thus, the scene from 'TLP' will occur soon, in which we see whomever was in the boat that appeared to be shooting at our heroes. Probably.
'The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham' is clearly an important stepping stone in the arc of Lost's fifth season. It solidifies the return of all the key players to the Island (or, at least, somewhere near it) and removes the question mark that was hanging over just what Locke did when he 'became' that other English philosopher. It throws a number of fantastic scenes at us that perfectly illustrate the depth and breadth of the acting and writing quality on the show and offers up more than a few shockers too, from Widmore's involvement with Locke to John's apparent resurrection (I'm going to enjoy seeing this one explained) to, best of all, Ben murdering the guy. And in amongst all of that, there's a flurry of questions regarding the survivors of the Guam plane's crash and their presence in the timeline to ponder as well. Oh, and the return (and summary execution) of creepy Agent Broyles from Fringe and, shock of shocks, Walt. It isn't the best episode ever, no matter what the forums might have you believe: there are a couple of small moments that drag slightly, but it's fantastic all the same. Just like last week. Damn, I need some new material.
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