Lost: Ben is a Very Bad Man

Lost S5.E7 The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham:

Last night’s episode was actually quite different from what we have come to expect from Lost. Fans are usually leave wondering what in the world just happened when the screen goes black. This week there was really never that feeling. As a matter of fact this might have been one of the few Lost episodes that provided more answers than questions. Even though the episode was different, it was a refreshing and satisfying episode.

Maybe it is because I am a little biased about Locke (he is the best character on the show in my opinion), but even though this episode really lacked the shocking moments that we are accustomed to on Lost; I found it to be an important and exciting episode in it’s own way. With Lost coming down the stretch, the show really needs to start having more of these type of episodes since the show only has 25 more episodes and plenty of questions (and even more that we don’t even know about) need to be answered.

So this week’s episode followed Locke around as he tried to get the Oceanic Six to return to the island. Obviously he doesn’t have much success but I really don’t know how he could have. Everyone appeared to be pretty happy so I think it would be pretty hard to convince someone to leave their home in order to go back to a mysterious island that has killer smoke monsters.

What I found a little shocking though was that all John had to say to start convincing Jack to return was to tell him that his father said hello. While I can see Jack responding to that statement, I can’t believe he would throw his whole life away based on that one statement. Jack has his daddy issues but I don’t think they would change his life that drastically.

Locke eventually decides to kill himself after failing to convince any of them to return to the island. This was a very emotional scene in my opinion. If it wasn’t for the fact that there was too much time left in the episode, I really thought Locke was going to kill himself. Well Ben shows up and saves Locke from himself just to end up killing Locke himself when he finds out that Locke knows how to get back to the island.

This brings up one of the most interesting dynamics on the show this year. Is Ben or Charles Widmore right? Or maybe a better question is who is less evil? Both characters have shown signs of actually being good people but at the same time they have shown their ruthless sides as well. At this point I am leaning towards them both being evil. The show tried a little too hard to make Charles Widmore look like a good guy in this episode so I find it hard to believe that he is in the right.

While it is fustrating to not ever know where either really stand, I think it brings a great dimension to the show. Ben is one of the most interesting characters on the show because you never know what he is going to do next. While it appears like Ben might have officially become evil, I have a feeling there are a couple more twists yet in his story. I just can’t wait to see how he tries to explain himself to Locke when he wakes up.

The final thing that stands out about this episode is that Locke is back on the island and he is alive. Shocker, right? I really don’t think any Lost fans thought Locke would remain dead. Joining him are a bunch of new Losties (background characters). The Losties numbers were dwindling so now the island has a fresh new batch to play around with.

Now the real question is whether he is back in time with the rest of the gang or whether he is on the island in the present day. Either Locke, Ben, Frank, “the woman that went with Frank”, and the two new characters are either on the smaller island or they are in the present day. While I first thought they might be in the present day, next week’s promo makes it seem like they are all in the same time period.

Now that everyone is back on the island the question really becomes what happens next. Will the gang be able to return the island back to the present day or is everyone going to be stuck on the island in the 1970’s? I think we should find out pretty soon. At least we might finally start getting more information on the Dharma Initiative.

Your Take: What was your thoughts on the episode? Did you like that Lost finally answered more questions than it asked? Do you think Charles Widmore or Ben is more evil? Do you think all the Losties are in the 1970’s or do you think there are two unique groups separated by time?

Photo Credit: © 2009 American Broadcasting Company