I think, given the events of tonight’s show, I have finally found a way to encapsulate the Benjamin Linus vs. Charles Widmore struggle.

More after the jump.

Here’s my big question for the night: Did Ben plan to kill Locke all along? Or did he change his mind after learning about Jin being alive and/or Locke knowing about Eloise Hawking? I’m in the camp that thinks the latter. With Locke working with Widmore and knowing about Faraday’s mother, he became a dangerous loose end that was probably best eliminated. And his death, as it turns out, was what needed to bring everyone back together and get back to the island.

And then, there’s Ben vs. Widmore. People have been speculating tonight whether it shows that Widmore really is a good guy and Ben is the bad guy. I think they are both bad guys, just bad guys with different motives. Hence, the Dr. Doom vs the Red Skull analogy. Some view Doom as a “noble villain,” not really someone who should be lumped in with someone like the Red Skull. So, which is which? Well, Widmore sent a team of mercenaries to the island to kill Ben. Of course, Ben and the Others wiped out (presumably) all the Dharma Initiative folks, including his own father. This is a “to be continued” situation.

Tonight’s episode also illustrated just why I am one of the people who actively dislike Kate and Jack. Jack still “doesn’t get it” and Kate really is a See You Next Tuesday. I think Sayid and Hurley can be cut some slack about not trusting Locke, given all that had happened to them since returning from the island. And how much weird stuff does Jack need to have happen before he starts believing in “destiny” and things like that? Are we supposed to think that he is now a believer, after the stuff with the shoes last week? It was funny to see the beginnings of Jack’s “Joaquin Phoenix” beard.

* What a shame. We finally get the return of Mr. Abbadon and he’s gone already. Certainly more than just a driver.

* So, did Helen really have a brain aneurysm? Or was she conveniently bumped off by either Abbadon or Ben?

* I guess Hurley needs someone around all the time to validate the life status of his visitors.

* You’d think Widmore could find a better hotel for Locke. There has to be a happy medium between the Four Seasons and that place Locke was stayed when he tried to kill himself.

* Even Abbadon knows how tall Walt has gotten.

Next week – Who is the girl with the burlap sack? Kate? Charlotte? Someone else?

1 COMMENT

  1. I think when mr abbadon got killed locke decided it wasnt safe at the hotel and found somewhere else to hide

    I agree Widmore would off found a four seasons or any hotel with a lift he did have a broken leg after all

    was it coincidence that ben was walking by walts school or was ben spying on walt

    great episode cant wait for next week

  2. My first thoughts upon seeing the girl in the sack were Alex Rouseau. Same brown curly hair. but I cant remember what happened to her. Is she dead?

  3. Dave, as far as we know, Alex is dead.

    Re: Walt’s being tall– well, now his tallness makes sense, as three years have passed in their world as they did in ours.

  4. I’m currently of the opinion that this conflict isn’t simply Widmore vs. Linus. I think Eloise Hawking is a third player in this little drama and Desmond is her prime agent, whether he wants to be or not.

    And concerning Ben killing Locke, there has to be a specific reason why he killed him instead of simply letting Locke go ahead and kill himself. Would the Island not resurrect him if he committed suicide?

  5. * I think they probably killed the Abbadon character because the actor is currently co-starring on Fringe and therefore not readily available for future episodes.

    * My theory is that John Locke is still dead but because he along with the Ajira plane have been transported to the 1970s, he is now alive as long as it stays in that time period.

  6. I get the feeling that Ben killing Locke was more of just a jealousy kill. He realized that he’d been contacted by Jacob (to leave the island), and this sent Ben into a fury. Ben can’t stand the thought of someone else being the leader (hence him shooting him in the back in season three).

  7. Ben didn’t look too furious during the murder, Shoog, sorry. That was about as dispassionate as we’ve seen him all season. Then again, with that face, who can tell?

    As for Ben & Widmore’s ‘game’: if what Chuck said at the beginning is true, then I imagine the no-kill clause in their relationship stems from their (former) status as Others. Juliet, as a lower-level inductee to the clan, was expelled & scarred for popping another Other– god only knows what it says in Richard’s ‘Book of Law’ about clan leaders killing one another in petty rivalries. I’d imagine it makes returning to the Island (and surviving) problematic at best.

  8. Chris, I like your theory! It would allow the writers to keep the seeming integrity of not literally bringing anyone back from the dead (corporeally speaking, that is).

    Ben definitely decides to kill Locke after Locke discloses the info that Jin is still alive, ’cause Ben’s already fiddling with the noose when Locke starts talking about Eloise.

    Agree that Kate and Jack have become tedious; the writers are just going through the motions now. Pity; they used to be cool characters.

  9. I like how the show makes reference to Walt’s growth spurt whenever he makes an appearance. Like “Yes, actors age, thanks for harping about it.”

    After Ben shot Locke & left him in the mass Dharma grave, Walt appeared to Locke & he later described it as “Walt, just bigger, older” & when he saw Walt leaving school he made mention of it. I think Walt’s dreams are a combination of foresight (“I saw you in a suit on a beach”) and a form of projection allowing him to appear on the island.

    Helen could very well still be alive. If she was the one person Locke loved and possibly keep him from returning if he could start a life with her, it would be in Widmore’s best interest to buy a gravestone & make like she was dead. It’s not like Locke does ANY of the detective work himself, the guy believes whatever people tell him.

  10. It is the way. Locke believes everyone and Jack believes no one. Nice character path between the two.

    I’m having a lot of fun. Let the ride continue!

    Beau Smith
    The Flying Fist Ranch

  11. Remember season one when Locke was awesome? Now we’ve got Locke sobbing into Ben’s shoulder while the a-hole is almost literally stabbing in him the back. Jack and Kate are right to not listen Locke solely because he always listens to Ben. Come on!

    I feel bad for Walt. I thought they’d bring him back into the fold now that the whole age is fixed but no, he’s still brushed aside to do chicken finger commercials.

  12. Another tidbit of errant speculation:

    Widmore (as Hanso) funds the Initiative, the Initiative builds the Hatch, the Button keeps the Island from shifting location every 108 minutes.

    Widmore’s status is more like that of an exiled king– it’s not that he can’t return, it’s that Ben was appointed by Richard to remove Chuck’s nasty ass. Then the Others purged the Initiative? But no-one could find the Hatch… Why else would it be so well-hidden?

    I think that all sort of fits in the timeline.

  13. The Oceanic Six group disappeared into the past to synch up with Jin and the Shambala Bus and Faraday and his warning to the girl and appearance at the early Orchid. All are stationary but now have to find a way into the present? Should be wacky fun with the group mixing it up with the Dharma Initiative, but will they eventually run into Young Ben?

    Present Ben was disregarded by the Island and John of course was resurrected, but they are in the present it appears since it is a derelict Dharma station being occupied by Caesar (gotta love that name) and his group. In the near future they go to the Island but have one of their boats stolen by time trippers.

    I think that Richard knew John was going to die, John sorta knew he was going to die, Ben knew he had to die and not so much as to just get rid of him since he insisted on bringing John’s body along for the plane trip, maybe he knew a strangulation would be less damaging than a broken neck? He knew Jin had to come regardless of John’s promise and the Hawking reference definitely elicited a reaction. But if she were such a taboo subject why would he have dragged the group to her? Given her connections to Widmore through Faraday she seems to exist somewhere in the middle of the two factions. As far as Walt it seems like the writers finally managed to reconcile his size and age with the proper passage of time so that may well have been his send-off from the show’s story.

    I like the theory by Rev’D that the hatch maybe anchored the Island in one spot. I always that it was curious that pushing the button was so important that the safety of the world depended on it, but the Others didn’t really seem to know it existed. Ben knew enough to get himself in there however and how to trip the system up which revealed the blacklight Dharma map to Locke.

  14. Didn’t Desmonds predecessor at the Hatch (the American military man who also crossed paths with Sayid in Iraq) warn him about the Others, IIRC?

    Also really digging this season so far, definitely one of the series’ better. The modern Dharma Initiative remains suspiciously unseen & unheard of in the off-island scenes so far, considering they were still manning the hatch & sending airdrops after the Losties’ crash. Also, apparently Faraday will at one point coach Dr. Marvin Candle into pleading for the Initiative to be restarted… but why are none of the principal power-players touting their O.G. D.I. colors so far? Might there be an entirely new group waiting in the wings?

  15. I think Jack’s reaction to Locke in the hospital was based on the fact that he was drunk / drugged up. Jack is a control freak and Locke’s appearance messed with that big time.

    The SVTU analogy is priceless Heidi. Well done.

  16. • I think the reason that Ben kills John (or at least the reason Ben will give him) is that the island couldn’t resurrect him if he killed himself. Maybe the island doesn’t like suicides.

    • I think that Helen isn’t dead, that Widmore faked the headstone so that Locke would have no excuse not to return to the island.

    • One weird idea floating around the net is on a close up of Lockes’ cast leg he has only four toes! I’m going to have to go back and look at the tape.

  17. I think it’s great that Locke’s line about Jack’s dad shook him up to get to the point he was at when this storyline first started. Now his rambling about his father makes sense.

  18. I wonder if the Ben/Locke/Cord scene written with any thought to Terry O’Quinn having continually beaten Michael Emerson for the Supporting Actor Emmy. Just a little “well they keep giving it to Terry, so how about we let you keep killing his character” to Mike.

    And seriously though, Ben has fucked Locke around more than a few times now, and tried/succeeded in killing him twice now (shot in the Dharma corpse pit). I really do hope Locke inflicts some serious on Ben at this point.

  19. I’m not sure I buy the whole “suicides can’t come back thing”, because that is essentially what we’ve been led to believe Christian did in drinking himself to death, and he still is running around as Jacob’s emissary. Though I suppose you could split hairs that Chris’ suicide was an act of determination (because you need to be pretty damn determined to literally drink you way into oblivion) and Locke’s suicide would have been an act of desperation. The first is a willingness to action, the other is a lack of will to live.

    And maybe Jack just decided because it was his dad he could make an exception (because Jack is Jacob).

  20. It was interesting to see Walt again–it’s strange why he’s apparently not included in the “everyone” that has to come back to the island. Glad he wasn’t forgotten entirely…

    “It was funny to see the beginnings of Jack’s “Joaquin Phoenix” beard.”

    Yes, it was, but it was also the kind of thing that triggered my nitpick nature…

    How long would it take Jack to grow the full Joaquin beard? ‘Cuz he had the full Grizzly Adams look when he came to Locke/Bentham’s funeral which couldn’t have happened all that long after the apparent suicide. (I’m facially follically challenged myself, so don’t have a good sense of rate of beard growth ;-) )

    I guess it’s possible that more time passed between the Locke/Jack meeting and Locke’s suicide-attempt-and-murder than it at first felt in the episode. That’d allow for enough time for Jack to grow the beard, leave Kate, start his frequent-flying, become an addict. And time for Locke to recuperate enough to be discharged from the hospital, find a motel, and get depressed enough to kill himself. So, never mind. Forget I mentioned it…

  21. Any theories regarding where Linus went regarding his promise to a friend? Afterwards, he was bloodied and calling from what appeared to be a dock. Did he kill Penny? I don’t think anything explicit was stated, just wondering if I missed something.

  22. The popular theory is that he “went after” Penny (and perhaps Charlie).

    Whether he succeeded is still a matter of speculation, as killing Penny would likely galvanize both Widmore and Desmond against Ben, perhaps even leading to them teaming-up (continuing the super villain motif).