LOST Analysis – 5×07: “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham″

So, “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” – or, as I like to call it, “The Life and Death of the Artist Formerly Known as John Locke”. To start off, let me just get this out of my system:
BEN KILLS JOHN!

I certainly did not see that coming. Of course, thanks to the promos, I did see it coming that Locke would jump out of the coffin to say “hi” to his beloved Island.

Obviously. this brings up the obvious question on whether or not Christian Shephard (Jack’s daddy) has a heartbeart.
Actually, we’ve been given so much various accounts on that, and most people seem to have forgotten about them. Remember Yemi? Yemi was also seen up and running; however, earlier we saw his decomposed corpse on the beechcraft, which Mr. Eko promptly hugged in tears. It’s become clear that the Yemi we saw walking around was in fact a manifestation of the Smoke Monster, since he turned to Eko and he said “You speak to me as if I were your brother”.
And now, John Locke, dead on arrival, gets up and starts eating mangos happily on the shore of the Island. Unlike Christian and Yemi, however, Locke didn’t seem that much different from his usual self. He didn’t seem to know exactly what was going on all of a sudden like Christian and Yemi. He just woke up, with no memory of anything special and unusual during the time he was in that coffin.
My guess right now is that Yemi and Christian are just Jacob’s way of communicating outside, and occasionally inside, the cabin. Yemi is a manifestation of the Monster used to judge Eko to see if he was worthy of being “loved as He loved Jacob”; Christian is Jack’s dad, still dead but conscious, bound to the will of the Island. But Locke, however, is destined to be the saviour of the Island, and for that, he needs to learn for himself, and that’s why his life sucks so much.

Of course, Locke’s still as baffled as us when Charles Widmore turns to him and not only indirectly says “I’m the good guy”, but promises to help him in this crusade the Island gave him, because there’s a war coming and if he’s not on the Island, “the wrong side” wins. Whatever side that is.

And Locke, as usual, ends up being again just a pawn in a bigger struggle, only this time he’s playing for the opposite side.
Gotta admit I really love where this story is headed. The conflict between Benjamin Linus and Charles Widmore just keeps getting more and more compelling, and it’s going to be interesting to see which side is actually right. And while Ben might seem like the ultimate bad guy by the end of this episode, we can’t forget that Widmore sent the freighter mercenaries to eliminate everyone on the Island, including John Locke.
By the way, remember “Cabin Fever”? Ben told Hurley that before he became leader there was someone else, and that someone ordered the Purge. I always assumed he meant either Jacob or perhaps Richard, but apparently it might have been Widmore. Which just complicates things even more, wouldn’t you say?

This episode was all the more interesting because of the plot twists – by the way, I’ll miss Abaddon. I always assumed he had a bigger role, but perhaps not -, but one thing that I found especially curious is how both this one and “316″ mirror previous episodes so distinctly. Of course, “316″ was supposed to be a direct mirror of “Pilot”, but “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” had a lot of direct similarities to previous episodes, especially compared to Season Four.

To start off, we have the direct reference to “The Shape of Things to Come” – after turning the wheel, both Ben and John wake up in Tunisia and react the same way: first, staring in shock at the sky; second, throwing up.

Then, they’re ambushed; Ben by bandits (presumably), Locke by Widmore’s goons. From there on, however, the episodes are completely distinct from one another.
However, “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” goes on to be extremely similar to another episode of Season Four, the very underrated “Meet Kevin Johnson” (heck, even the titles are similar):

- Both John Locke and Michael Dawson are given aliases in this episode – by the opposite factions:

- Both Jeremy Bentham and Kevin Johnson are told, by the opposite factions, that the other is evil;

- And, most importantly, both John/Jeremy and Kevin/Michael are seen pondering suicide…

… only for a sudden deus ex machina to appear (in Michael’s case, the news report on the Oceanic Six; in John’s, Ben barging in and talking Locke out of it).
However, while Michael Dawson is told that the Island won’t let him die, John Locke was told that he had to die for the Island. And that’s exactly what happens to him by the end of the episode, as Ben goes on a rampage after hearing about Mrs. Hawking and murders him.

As I’m sure you noticed, the episodes essentially mirror each other while contrasting in the important details. Michael is sent on a mission by Ben to the freighter, is told Widmore is the bad guy, happens to be unable to die, and fulfills his mission by the end of the season. John is sent on a mission by the Island with support from Widmore, is told by both that Ben is the bad guy, eventually dies, and is unable to fulfill his mission until he actually dies, which leads Jack to bring the Oceanic Six together and return to the Island.
The producers on Lost don’t usually put this kind of details by accident, so could they be telling us that Ben, no matter how ruthless, is actually acting in name of the greater good, while Widmore is the Big Bad and must be stopped? Can they even be telling us that the Island itself is ultimately evil? I don’t know, but at least I’ve given you something new to ponder.

Now, I’ve mentioned both the start and end of the episode, but I haven’t talked about the middle. Obviously, those were the strongest suits of the episode, since the middle was composed of the expected events – i.e., the Oceanic Six telling Locke to get lost (pun definitely not intended, but included anyway), leading him to suicide.

It was really interesting, however, to find out that the Oceanic Six managed to weaken Locke’s strongest suit, his faith. From Sayid’s very human reflection on helping the “real world” instead of the God-forsaken Island, to Kate’s reflection on luuuv (very appropriate, given her Jack-Sawyer love triangle), and finally the Man of Science himself leading him to question his own sanity.
In a way, the setting itself helped the justification of their arguments. The fact that John Locke heard all that in the “real world”, away from the Island, and reminded of the life he led before the 815 crash and his very own fragility back then – literally through his return to a wheelchair, and metaphorically by the reference to Helen, whom he lost due to his obsession with his father -, helped make their observations all the more realistic, at least until Ben again appeals to Locke’s desire to be “special”.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot – Walt showed up, too. I really like Walt, but ever since the Season One finale he’s pretty much lost relevance, and in this episode he was more of a cameo. I’d like him to get back on the Island to find out the relevance of his psychic powers, but apparently it’s not happening so soon.

Just like I said for “316″, Lost proves that it’s at its best when it merges character drama with mythological revelations, and on “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” we got exactly that, with the Darlton Duo giving us a great script while the usual suspects give us stellar performances. That’s the second episode in a row that blends the best of Lost so perfectly, and hopefully the next episode, “LaFleur” – which apparently focuses on Sawyer’s reaction to the return of Kate, as seen in the promo (and he’s wearing a DHARMA outfit…) -, will manage to once again repeat that prowess.

Images “borrowed” from Get Lost Podcast and Sledgeweb’s LOST … STUFF. Thanks!