5.07 The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

Follow along! The episode guide for “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” is in Finding Lost — Season 5, pp. 99-115.

You know, I was just thinking the other day that S4 had its standout episodes – “The Constant” and “The Shape of Things to Come” (and of course the finale) were real game-changers for the show. In a great season, these episodes stood out. But in S5, the entire season was outstanding, and I couldn’t really pull out any that particularly blew my socks off, probably because every episode did. Entertainment Weekly recently named this episode one of the best hours of television in 2009, and maybe if I had to choose one, this might be it. It’s filled with inconsistencies, many of which I point out in my book (Locke dies here but his body isn’t seen by Jack for another month, yet it didn’t decompose… I’m hoping that’ll be explained and it’s not actually an inconsistency; Hurley’s mental institution is CALLED Santa Rosa, but it’s not IN Santa Rosa; Locke never says the things to Jack that Jack will later tell Ben he said; Locke never insists on being called Jeremy Bentham, etc.) But even with all of these inconsistencies, the scene of Locke standing on that table with the cord around his neck gets to me every time, especially now on the heels of our rewatch. We’ve watched in just a few short months the entirety of a man’s life, and for him to stand there after everything he’s been through and say, “I’m a failure” breaks my heart every time. I think it’s a crime that Terry O’Quinn wasn’t nominated for the Emmy for this scene alone. He is so brilliant.


Fun things I noticed:
• Ilana tells Locke that Lapidus and Sun took off in the middle of the night… but they didn’t. We’ll later see them leave in broad daylight.
• Widmore is as awesome a liar as Ben is; he tells Locke that for three decades they protected the island “peacefully” and yet we know they slaughtered the soldiers in 1954, and their truce with the DI in the 70s wasn’t exactly “peaceful.”
• I love Kate, I really, really do, but GOD she’s so self-important and annoying in the scene with John Locke. It’s the only time in the entire series where I really don’t like her at all.
• The scene of John in the cemetery. At that moment, I thought to myself that more than anything, I want that to be a lie. I want Helen to be alive, I want the real John Locke to somehow resurrect, and I want them to be reunited.
• In my book I have photos I got from this guy who lived in the apartment building adjacent to the intersection where they staged the big car crash with Locke, and he sat in his window and took pics of them doing the scene. Could you IMAGINE looking out your window and seeing that?
• OK, not just Terry O’Quinn deserves an Emmy for this episode, but Matthew Fox (again). His acting in the scene where he comes face-to-face with Locke once again is BRILLIANT. He’s clearly high, hanging on by a thread, on the verge of a nervous breakdown yet desperately trying to hold it together. What a scene.

Things that have new meaning:
• The writers have said the Oceanic 6 were off the island in January 2005, and were gone for 3 years. But when Sun and Lapidus and Ben landed on the island, they’re apparently in 2007, according to the same writers. Does that mean they actually time-travelled backwards, too (which would make sense, since we’ll later see they land in the day even though it’s nighttime in the sky) or was it just a rough estimate of 3 years, when in fact it was actually close to three years and was actually November 2007 or something when they decided to return?
• From this point on, we have to watch John Locke on the island as the Man in Black, which is such a strange thing to do.
• Take a look at the scene where Ben pleads with Locke to come down. Locke is holding his hands out to his sides, and Ben is on his knees in front of him. Locke is set up as a Christ figure, one who must die to save our sins....

5.06 316

Follow along! The episode guide for “316” is in Finding Lost — Season 5, pp. 68-79 (followed by my epic 20-page summary of Ulysses. Damn you, Ben… you couldn’t have brought along a People magazine to keep you occupied on the plane?)

I love this episode (I think I start out every summary of the S5 episodes with this line, but this season was simply STELLAR). The opening is brilliant, reminding us of the pilot. But on a rewatch, after having seen the finale of S5, it made me think: was this a hint that a do-over simply isn’t entirely possible? I mean, landing on the island a second time was a do-over of sorts, but even when they’re given a second chance, things play out the same. Jack will always be the hero, racing to rescue the others. There will always be that spark between Sawyer and Kate. These people have very entrenched personalities – screw a hydrogen bomb: I don’t think a nuclear holocaust would make things different the second time around.

Fun things I noticed:
• I know that in the flashback of “Dead Is Dead” I commented that Ben had Pee-wee Herman hair when he stole Alex, but I think he kind of has it already in the church. Is it just me or is his hair really creepy after the donkey-wheel turn? He needs to lighten it slightly. The island needs to give that guy a hairdo makeover.
• I’ve always liked the significance of the church being a front for the Dharma Initiative, as if it’s a subtle comment on God becoming simply a front for man’s relationships to each other and to the Earth, which is what the DI was connected to.
• I commented in the book that the army photo is 09/23/54, meaning it’s 50 years less a day before Oceanic crashed. I wonder what the significance is of September 22? I’m assuming the Army landed on the 22nd, and took that picture the next day, right before they were obliterated.
• That scene with Desmond STILL drives me nuts. Does anyone else think that while Des is talking, Eloise somehow has the ability to put the others in a trance or something? Notice no one says anything to him, and he tells them that A) Eloise is Daniel’s mother, B) she’s the one who sent Des to the island and it turned out to be nothing but a waste of time, C) the island is sending him signs, and D) they’re all nothing but game pieces being played by larger forces at work… in other words, pretty freakin’ significant stuff! And they all stare at him, slack-jawed (watch closely: there may actually be drool coming out of the corner of Jack’s mouth) and say nothing, and the moment he’s gone they all give a big, “ANYway…” and get back to business. Like… HUH?! Did you somehow miss the part of the crazy Scotsman explaining this is nothing but a cosmic joke?
• By Jack putting his father’s shoes on Locke, Locke in a way becomes his father, which is a crazy twist in the greater scheme of things, especially since we just rewatched four seasons of them despising one another.
• Notice how many times in the ep Jack tries to have a drink and is interrupted. The island apparently wants him sober this time around.
• Hurley’s reading Y: The Last Man, which is the best book I read this year (I also review that in Finding Lost Season 5, but it’s after the Bentham entry, simply because I couldn’t have it follow Ulysses or readers would wonder if I’d ever get back to the actual episode guide in the thing!)
• You know, watching this again, perhaps in light of the terrorist scare a few days ago, I wonder why Hurley didn’t raise alarm bells. Why exactly is this guy buying 78 seats? Does he know something the rest of us don’t? Could he have an inkling that the plane is going to go down and he doesn’t want too many people going with him? And how could he know that? Is he a large, curly-haired terrorist?
• Just watching the plane take flight gives me the heebie-jeebies. The Oceanic 5 are truly brave people. I would have been curled up in a fetal position.
• “How can you read?” “My mother taught me.” BEST. COMEBACK. EVER.
• Matthew Fox is SO fantastic as he reads Locke’s note. I think I said this in the book, but he really looks like Locke just punched him in the stomach.

Things that have new meaning:
• We were discussing in light of “This Place Is Death” the curiosity of the island reacting so violently to Rousseau’s team, and in this ep I was reminded of Caesar and how he’s going to die, too. Could the island have something against the French? (I don’t mean that as a joke, actually… I wonder if there’s some underlying symbolism of the French Revolution or something, especially with Locke and Rousseau hanging about.)
• Does Ben bring down the plane? He goes to the bathroom and doesn’t return? Remember that thing he pulled out of the vent in “Because You Left”? Could it have been something he used in the bathroom? Was it hidden in his sling?

5.05 This Place Is Death

Follow along! The episode guide for “This Place Is Death” is in Finding Lost — Season 5, pp. 56-65.

This episode has always felt like more than one to me. First, the Rousseau story. Then the story of the survivors trekking across the island to get to the Orchid and dealing with the time flashes along the way. And finally, Ben getting Sun and Jack over to the church. It always feels like it took a lot longer than 42 minutes, but they’ve just packed so many storylines into one episode that it feels very dense.

Fun things I noticed:
• Yunjin is SO good in that first scene on the cellphone. When Ji Yeon tells her she misses her, her voice catches and she’s barely holding it together. I bet every parent in the audience knew exactly how that felt. She’s so brilliant.
• At the end of that phone call, when she says, “Annyong,” does anyone else think of Arrested Development or is that just me?
• Montand says, “Next thing you know he’ll be talking about a submarine.” Oh how I wish Jin had said, “Don’t be silly. We blew up the submarine.” Hahaha!
• I know a lot of people thought the girl who plays Rousseau was a bad choice of actress for it, but I think she’s near-perfect. I totally believe she could grow up to look like Mira Furlan – gaunt because of lack of food, face drawn and lined because of the sun, eyes wilder because of losing her mind. I think this actress is great.
• Okay, okay, my bad: back in “Solitary” I was playing “Nitpick that nitpick” and said that she’s wearing a chocolate sweater, but in “This Place Is Death” it’s grey. And now we see that she had TWO sweaters, and the chocolate one is the one she had one when she killed Robert. That made it even more effective for me, though, remembering that she’d be wearing that same sweater when she met Sayid.
• You know, Charlotte says the Orchid is a way off the island, so it’s often made me wonder why they didn’t all push their way down that well and all try to turn the wheel. ;)
• Does Christian not help John because he’s ephemeral and can’t actually touch him (which would be strange, since he touched Aaron… but that could also be an indication that Aaron is different) or is it a spiritual reason, that he can’t help John because he has to do this himself?
• Ben pushed the wheel; John pulls it. I have no idea if that has any meaning. I’m just saying it.

Things that have new meaning:
• I think that is TOTALLY Hurley’s voice reciting the numbers when Montand is listening to the recording. Listen especially to the way he says “forty-two.”
• I said at the time that Juliet’s “thank you” to Locke is such a huge moment for him, since NO ONE ever thanks him (mostly because they think he’s bonkers) but now that we’ve rewatched the series, I think that even more.
• Charlotte’s final words are the first words she will ever say to Daniel. :::sniffle:::

5.04 The Little Prince

Follow along! The episode guide for “The Little Prince” is in Finding Lost — Season 5, pp. 37-48. (Followed by a chapter on the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.)

Do you remember the excitement of the end of this episode the first time? Jin! Rousseau! GAAAHHH!! Ah, good times, good times.

Fun things I noticed:
• Kate tells Jack it’ll take longer than 2 nights to get used to sleeping in a regular bed, but she’d been sleeping in a regular bed in Dharmaville when she was living with Claire.
• Kate says to Jack, “I have always been with you.” At the time I remember joking about it (“Except when I was sleeping with Sawyer in a bear tent”) but it’s an interesting comment. Does she mean that every time she’s been with Sawyer she was actually with Jack in some way, either trying to make him jealous or thinking of him or trying to save him? (By the way, I’m asking these as neutral questions, not attempting to ship one way or the other.)
• So who do you think took the pictures of Ben and Jack and trying to shoot Sayid? Was it Widmore’s people? Does that mean Ben didn’t finish them off the way he said he had? Was it just Ben screwing with Sun to get her to the marina, too?
• I believe that the island is controlling the bloops, and that they showed the beam of light to Locke to show him his lowest moment, perhaps to spur him on to keep going, reminding him of how far he’s come.
• Oh, how I love Sawyer. “Who came in these? Other Others?” “I TAKE IT BAAAACK!!”
• Again I feel like the writers slightly sacrificed the story in the name of plot. Norton probably would have briefed Ben on the Kate issue (but he didn’t because that would have given away the surprise ending) and Mrs. Littleton would have had her settlement shipped to her in Australia, she wouldn’t have had to fly to LA to sign a few documents. That’s ridiculous. But in the name of storytelling, I’ll take it!

Things that have new meaning:
• Kate looks into Jack’s eyes and then tells him what’s up, just like in the finale when she looks into his eyes and then agrees to go along with the whole bomb-dropping thing. There’s something about the look in Jack’s eyes that she 100% trusts.

Rewatch Schedule

Just a quick note that I'll be posting both of this week's episode recaps -- "The Little Prince" and "This Place Is Death" -- tonight, because I'm assuming people have better things to do on Christmas Eve than sit on this site (though WHAT would be more important than chatting about Lost, I have no idea...) ;)

Next week's episodes are "316" and "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham," and again I'll post on both of them on the Wednesday, because I doubt a lot of people will be here on New Year's Eve.

For anyone who asked for S5 for Christmas, that'll mean that by Christmas you'll only be 5 episodes behind, and could probably catch up quickly.

In January we're back up to 4 episodes for the week of January 3-9, then 3 episodes the following week, and 3 episodes the last week. We'll be officially finished our rewatch on January 21, giving us one week of sitting around being sloth-like and waiting for Season 6 to begin on February 2.

See y'all tonight!

5.03 Jughead

Follow along! The episode guide for “Jughead” is in Finding Lost — Season 5, pp. 27-37. (Be sure to check out the sidebar on the REAL Jughead bomb.)

This episode with the crazy name is one of the most important ones in the series. SO much happens in this one: I think in the later guides in my book, I refer back to this episode more than any other in this season. It’s got Charlie’s birth; Locke meeting Alpert in 1954; Daniel meeting his own mother; our first sighting of Charles Widmore ON THE ISLAND; the rampant speculation among fans of where the bomb ended up. Wow, this was one jam-packed episode.

I’m finding with Season 5 that I don’t have much to say that I didn’t already say in my book, since I actually had all of the seasons under my belt and could talk about them pretty freely there. But I’ll try to come up with enough to say here, and then you guys can take the conversation further.

Oh, and before I go any further, one of my readers emailed me to tell me that in the ep guide for “Because You Left,” I refer to the famous scene with Jimmy Stewart in North by Northwest. Which, as he said, was of course with Cary Grant, not Stewart. I just saw that movie again a couple of years ago. I can’t believe I made that error, but in case anyone else saw it, I want to reassure you it will be changed if there’s ever another printing. I think when it comes to Lost, I just permanently have Vertigo on the brain.

Fun things I noticed:
• When those landmines blew up, it reminded me of the way Smokey uprooted trees.
• So, I’ve seen this episode many times now, which means by now I can probably get used to Ellie’s accent. NOPE. No. Just can’t do it. I still hate it. HATE IT. The way she delivers every single line through clenched teeth is so irritating beyond words.
• I still find it strange that Juliet talks to them in Latin when Widmore and the other guy are speaking English. It makes it seem like she doesn’t trust the other people with her.
• “Are they from the future, too?” “You told her?” HAHA!!
• This is one of the first times we see Widmore clean-shaven. From Shape of Things to Come to finale where Sun approached him on the street to even the premiere of S5 where he talked to her in the airport, he always has silver stubble all over his face. But here his face looks as smooth as little Charlie’s bum.
• “Put the gun down, Widmore” STILL sends chills down my spine! Probably because I remember the “GAAASP!!! WHAAAA?!” feeling I had the first time I heard it.

Things that have new meaning:
• Now that we’ve seen both 40-year-old Eloise and 70-year-old Eloise, young Ellie is even MORE ANNOYING.
• Check out the flirting between Sawyer and Juliet!

5.02 The Lie

Follow along! The episode guide for “The Lie” is in Finding Lost — Season 5, pp. 16-27.

What a fantastic episode. That epic scene between Hurley and his mother AND the flying Hot Pocket? Genius.

Fun things I noticed:
• I found this book on conspiracy theories in the summer, and in it there was an entry about the Jekyll Island conspiracy, where the richest men in America met on Jekyll Island in an attempt to convince the federal reserve to switch to paper money, crippling the economy but insuring their own wealth in the process (or something… I don’t remember it exactly). Apparently they were planning a lie they were going to spread through the rest of the world. The reason this meant something to me when I read it was because Lapidus brings everyone Jekyll Island Beers at the beginning of this episode, as they, too, are constructing a massive lie to tell the world. Damn, I wish I’d found this book before FLS5 went to print!!
• Maybe it’s because I watched the season finale of Dexter the night before, but did anyone else notice that Jill in the butcher shop was the CI that told Debra about Dexter’s mom?
• Oh Frogurt. Your death might have been even funnier than Arzt’s.
• “Why is there a dead Pakistani on my couch?” Still one of the funniest lines EVER.
• Honestly, that scene between Hurley and his Ma… Jorge Garcia deserves an Emmy for that one. I ♥ that scene SO much.
• Watching this ep on the heels of season 4 shows us that Jack is going through major withdrawal in these scenes. Notice how subtly Matthew Fox handles these scenes, being ever-so-jittery, sweaty, and off-balance. It’s the beginning of his best season performance of the series. I’m so angry that he wasn’t nominated for a Golden Globe. ARGH.
• Hot Pocket!!!! HAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!

Things that have new meaning:
• WHAT did Ben take out of that vent? We never actually see him remove that thing from the box again. Was it the gun that he used on the dock with Penny? Was it the S5 DVD limited edition box set?
• MAN Widmore was a complete spaz when he was younger. It’s so strange to see him like this after seeing the calm and collected 40-year-old or the terrorizing 70-year-old.