>: 89 THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JEREMY BENTHAM
So, right off the bat densedense madness, we have the formerly-labeled Egyptian fella, who I guess is actually Mexican since his name is Cesar (unless he was born in Cairo and named after the pre-Augustine emperor, but leaving all that aside for now and ever), breaking into an office that is clearly Isabel’s, that creepy single appearance sheriff for the Others (and what ever happened to her, anyway? She still just in Alpert’s flock?) who interrogated Jack back in 3.9: STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND re: Juliet’s treason. And Cesar finds an issue of LIFE from 1954 with a cover story on hydrogen bomb testing. Flipping through, we get an instant of a pin-up from THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, a nice bit of tie-in there, as the actress playing the damsel in the creature’s clutches in that b & w shot grew up 52 years later to play an old woman named Amelia who knocked on Juliet’s door right after she burned her hand listening to “Downtown” with that rascal Ethan outside doing some fix-up work back in the third season premiere, but then we really get into it, Cesar finds and thumbs through two crucial sheets of paper, Rousseau’s old map that Sayid, Sun & Jin used to navigate Desmond’s LIBBY back in the Season Two finale, along with a map that is surely Faraday’s, I think we’ve seen it before, maybe not, I’ve never caught the lines dealing with “imaginary time” and “imaginary space”, also “Event A”, “Event B”, all kinds of crazy on one piece of paper, but then Sayid’s marshal shows up just in time to almost catch him bagging up a double-barrel something or other and tell him that they’ve found a man in a suit who, despite the PREVIOUSLY, I’m just sure has to be Christian Shephard, maybe because I just think about the guy so much.
But it’s Locke. Resurrected.
That’s what’s so great. We knew that Jack & crew were going to make it back. We knew that Locke was going to rise again. Thought it might even take all season, amidst whatever other Island nonsense unfolded. But no, in the last two openings, BAM BAM, of course this happened and moving on.
And then we get it, The Life & Times of Jeremy Bentham. I was only off by one word. Just like last week (Jack reprising the opening shots of the series), we get a quick shot-by-shot recreation of Locke waking up in Tunisia, just like Ben last season in 4.9 THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME.
But he doesn’t have a 355-stick like Ben and just sits there until nightfall, which is apparently how long it takes Widmore’s people to make it out there to collect him. I guess it’s pretty far. And Daniels/Broyles/Abaddon, great first shot of him lurking behind that curtain. Turns out all this time, he’s been Widmore’s creature. Obvious in hindsight. We knew he assembled the freighter team and that Widmore sent the freighter. I was just so distracted putting everything else together, never made that simple connection.
Loved the way that Alan Dale played both conversations with Locke. Also hadn’t even considered what a figure of reverence Locke must be for him amidst all this, just from his personal perspective, gap of fifty-odd years and all. And yeah, the Bentham name was such a joke, funny to see the origin of that.
Then all of a sudden we’re into buddy-mode, and you could do a lot worse than Daniels and Locke (if you don’t, didn’t, watch THE WIRE, then I apologize for referring to Lance Reddick that way, but he is forever Cedric Daniels, just the same way that McNulty is forever McNulty, not even going to confuse things here with that actor’s first name)(and The Bunk, Omar, Bubbles, the list goes on and on). Sayid appeared to be in a good place in South America, which definitely begs the question how he got from there to killing a man at 8:15 and breaking Hurley out of the Hanso facility, I never even thought to question that. Since, you know, it was a season finale. And it was Sayid taking somebody out. Run, Kate!
Then, Walt. I don’t know what it is, everything with that kid rings false now. It’s like he’s been replaced. Or puberty robbed him of his acting. Because he slayed it in Season One, held his own with Locke and his dad and everybody, but now whenever he drops in, I’m like, “Who’s this kid they got to play Walt? Bring back the real guy!” Even though, yeah, it is. He grew up. And I know that we had a lot of ground to cover this episode and so this scene could not play out longer than three minutes or whatever, but there is no way that that kid, at that time, after not hearing from his dad for three years and finally encountering his alternate father figure (white, not black, O the duality!), would just be like “What up, Locke?” and got to go after like a two-minute conversation on a street corner in the City.
Hurley’s reaction to Locke not being a specter was funny. A dude wandered by in the background of the frame and I got so pumped that they were just letting guys saunter around in capes, rewound it even, just so happy about it, but then when he made it to the other side of Locke, it turned out to be a bathrobe.
What was going on with Kate’s face when she was telling Locke that it was okay if everyone on the Island died? I mean, I know it was about Sawyer, but that was a complicated little tapestry there, seemed.
And I managed to dodge the guest star list this week, so was surprised when Walt and Widmore and Daniels showed up and Peg Bundy didn’t. She died on a Sunday, need to see what HBO episode aired that night. Daniels totally elevated his last line, “Hey. I’m just a driver.” gave it so much weight to the point that I was just like, “Wow, that’s kind of a cliché bit the boys gave him there and he just kills even it, and then bang bang. Did not see that coming. So much for the eventual FRINGE cross-over. I’m bummed. Of course, Locke panics, flees.
And we finally get the Locke/Jack face-off. Round, what is it, 8? Jack’s just barely got that beard going. Could not handle “We’ve got to go back” originating from Locke as well, just like The Lie. When you stack up all that business about Jack shifting stuff from his father to Locke and all the regret he had in between this scene and 316, pretty wild stuff. Of course this is what pushed Jack over the edge into my favorite incarnation. Cannot really imagine their next scene together WHENever it happens. Seemed like surely this was going to be the most intense scene in the episode.
But no, Locke has to call it, and borrow a page from the old-timer in THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, I forget his name. Even when Ben busted in, I didn’t figure it out right away, but as soon as it looked like he was going to have success talking Locke down, I began to wonder why he was bothering if he was just going to do the job himself. Twisted, twisted. But evil? That’s the question. I doubt it, now. For about five minutes, I was like, “Yeah, that’s it, Ben is the bad guy, Widmore is good, and that’s all,” but I think that this show isn’t going to go that way. They’re just two men with an ideological difference over how the Island should be protected and they’re both willing to do anything to see their vision come out on top. The fact that Ben seems to be so much the bad guy at this point only means that even worse shit is coming from Widmore. No question. (of course, don’t breathe the word “Hume” at the moment or all that falls apart)
And yeah, Cesar at Isabel’s desk, perusing the HYDRA folder. They’re on the Sawyer-dubbed Alcatraz, the satellite prison island away from the Island, which we haven’t seen since that big exodus at the end of 3.9. But here’s the thing. I think they’re in the present (which, as best I can figure, is early ’08, whenever the THREE YEARS LATER title suggests)(and those titles, this is the first week that I realized they’re just living breathing panels from Y THE LAST MAN; it took EL ULTIMO HOMBRE) while at least Jack, Kate & Hurley flashed back into halcyon DHARMA 70s to be welcomed by Jin after a few months of going native.
And Lapidus! Was so freaked out the first time by that opening scene in the office that I completely failed to process it when Lydia the marshal told Locke on the beach over mangoes that the pilot and ?some chick? took one of the canoes (the same canoes from like three episodes back, yah? People firing on Sawyer?). What’s that story? Are we going to get a Lapidus flashback, at long last?
So.
Next week, we could:
-rock a Kate and/or Hurley flashback while dealing with their integration along with Jack into the Jin/DHARMA situation.
-catch up with Sun or Sayid pre- and post-crash of 316.
-check in with Sawyer or Juliet or freaking Daniel Faraday and make sure that the flashes have now stopped and we’re just stuck in the 70s with our noses only bleeding if we do too much DHARMA blow.
-The Final Flight of Frank Lapidus!
-Richard Alpert flashback, out of the sky, because why not?
-Christian Shephard. Because really, that’s the ultimate flashback at this point, mm?
Onward, Island Faithful!
But it’s Locke. Resurrected.
That’s what’s so great. We knew that Jack & crew were going to make it back. We knew that Locke was going to rise again. Thought it might even take all season, amidst whatever other Island nonsense unfolded. But no, in the last two openings, BAM BAM, of course this happened and moving on.
And then we get it, The Life & Times of Jeremy Bentham. I was only off by one word. Just like last week (Jack reprising the opening shots of the series), we get a quick shot-by-shot recreation of Locke waking up in Tunisia, just like Ben last season in 4.9 THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME.
But he doesn’t have a 355-stick like Ben and just sits there until nightfall, which is apparently how long it takes Widmore’s people to make it out there to collect him. I guess it’s pretty far. And Daniels/Broyles/Abaddon, great first shot of him lurking behind that curtain. Turns out all this time, he’s been Widmore’s creature. Obvious in hindsight. We knew he assembled the freighter team and that Widmore sent the freighter. I was just so distracted putting everything else together, never made that simple connection.
Loved the way that Alan Dale played both conversations with Locke. Also hadn’t even considered what a figure of reverence Locke must be for him amidst all this, just from his personal perspective, gap of fifty-odd years and all. And yeah, the Bentham name was such a joke, funny to see the origin of that.
Then all of a sudden we’re into buddy-mode, and you could do a lot worse than Daniels and Locke (if you don’t, didn’t, watch THE WIRE, then I apologize for referring to Lance Reddick that way, but he is forever Cedric Daniels, just the same way that McNulty is forever McNulty, not even going to confuse things here with that actor’s first name)(and The Bunk, Omar, Bubbles, the list goes on and on). Sayid appeared to be in a good place in South America, which definitely begs the question how he got from there to killing a man at 8:15 and breaking Hurley out of the Hanso facility, I never even thought to question that. Since, you know, it was a season finale. And it was Sayid taking somebody out. Run, Kate!
Then, Walt. I don’t know what it is, everything with that kid rings false now. It’s like he’s been replaced. Or puberty robbed him of his acting. Because he slayed it in Season One, held his own with Locke and his dad and everybody, but now whenever he drops in, I’m like, “Who’s this kid they got to play Walt? Bring back the real guy!” Even though, yeah, it is. He grew up. And I know that we had a lot of ground to cover this episode and so this scene could not play out longer than three minutes or whatever, but there is no way that that kid, at that time, after not hearing from his dad for three years and finally encountering his alternate father figure (white, not black, O the duality!), would just be like “What up, Locke?” and got to go after like a two-minute conversation on a street corner in the City.
Hurley’s reaction to Locke not being a specter was funny. A dude wandered by in the background of the frame and I got so pumped that they were just letting guys saunter around in capes, rewound it even, just so happy about it, but then when he made it to the other side of Locke, it turned out to be a bathrobe.
What was going on with Kate’s face when she was telling Locke that it was okay if everyone on the Island died? I mean, I know it was about Sawyer, but that was a complicated little tapestry there, seemed.
And I managed to dodge the guest star list this week, so was surprised when Walt and Widmore and Daniels showed up and Peg Bundy didn’t. She died on a Sunday, need to see what HBO episode aired that night. Daniels totally elevated his last line, “Hey. I’m just a driver.” gave it so much weight to the point that I was just like, “Wow, that’s kind of a cliché bit the boys gave him there and he just kills even it, and then bang bang. Did not see that coming. So much for the eventual FRINGE cross-over. I’m bummed. Of course, Locke panics, flees.
And we finally get the Locke/Jack face-off. Round, what is it, 8? Jack’s just barely got that beard going. Could not handle “We’ve got to go back” originating from Locke as well, just like The Lie. When you stack up all that business about Jack shifting stuff from his father to Locke and all the regret he had in between this scene and 316, pretty wild stuff. Of course this is what pushed Jack over the edge into my favorite incarnation. Cannot really imagine their next scene together WHENever it happens. Seemed like surely this was going to be the most intense scene in the episode.
But no, Locke has to call it, and borrow a page from the old-timer in THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, I forget his name. Even when Ben busted in, I didn’t figure it out right away, but as soon as it looked like he was going to have success talking Locke down, I began to wonder why he was bothering if he was just going to do the job himself. Twisted, twisted. But evil? That’s the question. I doubt it, now. For about five minutes, I was like, “Yeah, that’s it, Ben is the bad guy, Widmore is good, and that’s all,” but I think that this show isn’t going to go that way. They’re just two men with an ideological difference over how the Island should be protected and they’re both willing to do anything to see their vision come out on top. The fact that Ben seems to be so much the bad guy at this point only means that even worse shit is coming from Widmore. No question. (of course, don’t breathe the word “Hume” at the moment or all that falls apart)
And yeah, Cesar at Isabel’s desk, perusing the HYDRA folder. They’re on the Sawyer-dubbed Alcatraz, the satellite prison island away from the Island, which we haven’t seen since that big exodus at the end of 3.9. But here’s the thing. I think they’re in the present (which, as best I can figure, is early ’08, whenever the THREE YEARS LATER title suggests)(and those titles, this is the first week that I realized they’re just living breathing panels from Y THE LAST MAN; it took EL ULTIMO HOMBRE) while at least Jack, Kate & Hurley flashed back into halcyon DHARMA 70s to be welcomed by Jin after a few months of going native.
And Lapidus! Was so freaked out the first time by that opening scene in the office that I completely failed to process it when Lydia the marshal told Locke on the beach over mangoes that the pilot and ?some chick? took one of the canoes (the same canoes from like three episodes back, yah? People firing on Sawyer?). What’s that story? Are we going to get a Lapidus flashback, at long last?
So.
Next week, we could:
-rock a Kate and/or Hurley flashback while dealing with their integration along with Jack into the Jin/DHARMA situation.
-catch up with Sun or Sayid pre- and post-crash of 316.
-check in with Sawyer or Juliet or freaking Daniel Faraday and make sure that the flashes have now stopped and we’re just stuck in the 70s with our noses only bleeding if we do too much DHARMA blow.
-The Final Flight of Frank Lapidus!
-Richard Alpert flashback, out of the sky, because why not?
-Christian Shephard. Because really, that’s the ultimate flashback at this point, mm?
Onward, Island Faithful!
posted by rb at 1:49 AM
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