Happy Birthday Ben
Alright, after weeks of silence on this board, NO ONE has an excuse not to post about last night's episode. I can't be alone in thinking it was another all-time great. Just this week the Lost producers announced the show's end date, after three more seasons at 16 episodes each, where LOST will, they claim, become an answer-based show... and that this transition would begin this week.
THE ANSWERS
Finally, I felt some satisfaction at getting some answers I've been looking for for a while. And it seems like just as the hatch-implosion "ended" the Hatch Chapter, last night in a way "ended" the Dharma Initiative Chapter. We now know they were just a group of progressive hippies doing experimental research, nothing more, nothing less (granted, we still don't know where the hell the island is). The most important thing about the Dharma Initiative isn't what they're doing and how, it's that for their entire stay they've been fending off the hostiles, the island's true homeowners. We know that Ben wasn't born on the island, he was just dragged along by his widowed father (is it now safe to say that EVERY character on LOST has daddy issues?), and while there he both experienced the island's true realm of mystery and also encountered these hostiles, mainly Richard (a character I'd hoped would be further developed), a hostile who DOESN'T AGE. The rest is simple: Ben made a pact, and twenty years or so later he and the hostiles gassed the Dharma staff and have been living in their facilities ever since. As far as I'm concerned, the Dharma Initiative need not be ever mentioned again; like the hatch chapter, this one is closed. It's time to look at an even bigger picture.
In other answer-based news, we've bit hit over the head once again with the truth that Juliet is good, and we now know that Kate probably isn't pregnant and that the original Losties now have the time and leverage to make sure Sun, Aaron, and everyone else is safe from any harm.
THE QUESTIONS
Nothing has made me so giddy all season as seeing that Richard, and probably all of the hostiles, does not age, or has some kind of eternal life. With this mystery comes another: Jacob, not a figment of Ben's imagination but a bonafide ghost, shackled in confinement, reaching out to Locke and terrorizing his intruders. And then, at last, LOST's return to form, in which the awesome spiritual majesty of the island itself is re-awakened. The bodiless whispers are back, haunting a young Ben as he explores the island on his own. The dead have haunted the island for a long while, as young Ben encounters the image of his dead mother across a symbolic threshold (much like another spectacled, messy-haired young "wizard" I'm thinking of) -- this was one of the best LOST scenes I've seen in a long time. And nothing reconfirms the mysterious power of the island itself more than Jacob him/itself.
I loved the dark, cinematic tone of this episode. Scenes from this episode will haunt me. In the meantime, I'm shaking in my seat at the thought of Locke being lost to the island once and for all. If he was going to die, he would have died in the last moments of the episode, right? Right??? It wouldn't be one of the all-time great Lost episodes if it didn't leave us hanging. And after 40 minutes of sympathizing with little Ben, realizing that he was just another victim of circumstance and is really not that bad at all, he goes and does something as twisted as shooting Locke and leaving him for dead.
Reply with your thoughts on Ben, Jacob, Richard, Naomi, Juliet, the island, and the thought of waiting until February for the next chapter of answers.
posted by Sam's Myth at 9:28 AM
7 Comments:
Good recap Sam. I think a lot of what you say is right.
The one thing, however, is while the Dharma Initiative might be dead, their ideals still remain.
The Others are obviously doing some kind of scientific research right? And if you remember from last summer, when we learned the meaning of the numbers, I assume they are trying to change the principals of life that, on their current pace, will lead to the end of the world. Hence why they are trying to deal with life itself - the art of birth.
This concept of "Life" leads us to why they are obsessed with babies, why Jacob is invisible, why Richard doesn't age. Probably all because they have been experimented on.
I don't know. But it was a good episode, as have the last few weeks been.
"The Man Behind The Curtain."
Something tells me that the title to this one is quite telling...
Ben probably can communicate with Jacob, but perhaps due to Ben holding him prisoner (with the ash surrounding the house?) he doesn't really say much. I honestly think Ben was putting on a show for Locke until Jacob got pissed at him. I'll say right now: only Locke can hear Jacob.
Locke ain't goin' out like that!
No way is he dead. the Island's mythical healing powers will work their magic on John Locke once again.
Dharma chapter closed?
Me thinks not.
If the Dharma chapter was really closed... then, what the hell was Desmond and his buddy doing there pushing the buttons AFTER the purge?? (I know Des wasn't exactly Dharma, but what about his buddy -- the priest from CARNIVALE?)
Speaking of which... one question that was raised in a very heated discussion with my uncle about LOST this weekend... Are Ben/The Others even aware of Desmond???????
...something tells me that Desmond is MORE integral to what's going on then we might be lead to believe at this juncture.
Are we sure that Richard is the same person in each clip? Or, is it just the same lineage? This MAY or MAY NOT be a red herring.
Also... lots of recognizable actors in ultra-bit parts this week in the flash-backs... Uncle Rico... Princess Toadstool... and Ben's mom... something tells me we'll be seeing more of these people in the future, err, past.
And, I haven't even touched on what's going on with the original 815ers... damn!
Wow. With an end in sight, I have a feeling this show will continue to kick all kinds of ass!!!
Whoa!
OK... just got this from discussing/reading...
Locke was shot on the left side of his abdomen, where his kidney would be... that is, if he still had one there!!
LOCKE LIVES.
I'm pretty sure Ben was responding to Jacob when he was standing at the chair, as if he could hear him too.
Re: Richard - it's the same actor, it's the same character... The hostiles either don't age or are non-human. Since we don't see Tom in the past, he must have been recruited like Juliet was... They seem to keep pointing out that Tom is pretty much a normal dude.
I know that Locke can't die yet. But it still had me on the edge of my seat.
Desmond's partner coulda been up to anything, right? He did put on that whole show about the quarantine suit, etc. After having met Mikhail, we know Desmond's partner wasn't the last guy to pretend to be a part of Dharma. I think he has another flashback comin to him at some point.
Also: there will be a volcano. See the classroom discussion and the the ashes near Jacob's house.
And after just reading the well-written EW.com response, apparently there is a flash of a weak looking bald man in Jacob's chair when he does his freakout. Did anyone catch this, or has anyone found a picture online?
eah I agree with Germain in a sense... they clearly weren't JUST hippies they were doing some serious shit.
What about the button and the crazy magnetic explosion?
And where was Russo in this story? Clearly she was with Ben and the others or the dharma initiative at some point - but then they got "infected?" When did he knock her up anyway?
I agree that Locke is probably not dead. We've seen him be miraculously healed before. He was shot in the stomach anyway, that's the type of wound that can take a while to kill.
Then, what is the significance of the name Jacob? Obviously it's a biblical name. There's Jacob's ladder to heaven.
Then there's Jacob swindling Esau, and Esau was known to say: "is that why he is called Jacob because he has deceived me these two times?"
And last but not least: Jacob being renamed Israel by an angel which means "one who has struggled with God."
I'm still waiting on Michael and Walt to pop up somewhere. There's no way they're just gone from the show. NO way.
Amazing Episode. Busy at work right now, so I don't have time to comment - but here is the image.
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