LOST: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

Lost; The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

I was relieved to see that Locke didn’t kill himself. When he was getting ready to hang himself I was worried that LOST was going to turn into Dead Poets Society. Had Locke actually done himself in, it would have ruined the show for me forever.

The reasons that people kill themselves are extremely complex and rarely understood. So trying to make a suicide of a major character credible in a book or on TV or the movies is extremely hard to pull off. When Locke was getting ready to hang himself I didn’t buy it. Sure, I think the writers did a good job of showing Locke’s lack of influence with all the survivors (except Sun). And I could see why he was depressed that no one could come back to the island with him? But depressed enough to be suicidal? Not by a long shot. It was completely unbelievable.

At least they somewhat saved the scene but having Ben kill him. Still, why couldn’t they just have Ben take him out in the first place? Why go through the whole suicidal thing in the first place? Why have Ben talk him down only to end up killing him? But I think everyone is going to cheer when Ben finally gets what’s coming to him.

But the episode wasn’t a complete waste. We learned a lot more about Charles Widmore, Matthew Abbadon, and the woman Locke loved. We also opened an interesting story line with the new plane crash and survivors. Apparently Lapidus didn’t disappear with Jack, Kate and the others (why?) and was able to put the plane down in one piece. And seeing Abbadon get killed through the back windshield of the car was a very cool shot.

The big two questions, of course, is why did Locke came back from the dead? And where in time are the new survivors? Back in the 1970s with Jack and the gang or are they somewhere else in time? I don’t see how the Dharma Initiative could have not sent some people over to check out the crash.