'Lost': It's John Locke's turn
"He wants us to move the island."
So said John Locke after his momentous summit with Jacob (or at least Jacob's spokespeople) and with those words it appears a torch of sorts has been passed. The role of the island's chief protector -- a job Ben carried out with unsentimental efficiency for years -- seems to have been reassigned to Locke. It was Locke who was given a vision of how to find Jacob's cabin, and it was Locke who the island healed to perform his duties.
You would think, given Ben's demonstrated jealousy and ruthlessness in the past, that he would do more to dissuade Locke or manipulate him away from his ascendancy to power. But maybe he's past all that. He did shoot Locke and leave him for dead in a pit of rotted corpses. And still Locke kept going, so it looks like Ben has come to terms with the new world order. He's on the outs and Locke's the big man.
But what is Hurley's role in this balance of power? Everything happens for a reason on this island, and Jacob's cabin made itself apparent to Hurley too. Is he the third part of a complex series of island political checks and balances? And if his role on the island is so essential, it's surprising that he was able to leave the island at all. Though it looks like that was a mistake if his visions of Charlie in his post-island life are any indication.
In classic "Lost" fashion, tonight's episode, "Cabin Fever," appeared to provide us with lots of answers while in reality we're left with many more questions. I've become so attuned to this mode of storytelling, so comforted by it, that I think I fear explanations now. While some may have been throwing items at the screen, hoping Locke would beat Jack's dad until he gave a straight answer about what's really going on, I was thankful for the cutaway outside the cabin. Not just because it gave us one of the season's best character moments between Hurley and Ben (done completely without dialogue), but also because answers, explained in a rational manner by a reliable narrator, wouldn't do the last four seasons of lies and misdirection justice. Real answers are coming soon, no doubt, but I hope "Lost's" producers have thought long and hard about just how they'll reveal them to us. If the big reveal is done in one big data dump of truth, it could spoil everything. At this point, part of me hopes they don't solve everything. Leaving a bit of mystery would keep this series alive long after new episodes aren't airing anymore.
But that's something to worry about a couple of years from now. There are more pressing issues to discuss.
The episode brought back an old favorite -- the pre-island flashback -- except this time the conceit got supersized. We went way back in time to witness Locke's birth and childhood. And we learned that his destiny with the island had begun almost from the moment he was born. Richard Alpert, the ageless Other, appeared to Locke when he was just a boy and offered him a visit to the island. Locke only had to pass one test in which he had to select one item from a variety of unrelated trinkets that already belonged to him. Young Locke chose the knife, which was apparently a bad decision, because Alpert took off almost fast enough to leave an Other-sized cloud of dust in his wake.
The knife was obviously wrong, but the question is whether Lil' Locke picked the knife because he truly had a feeling about it or because he was trying to be difficult. Locke has always had a rebellious streak, continually fighting against his destiny until he was wheelchair-bound and without any other options. So maybe he chose the knife on purpose, choosing to embrace his own self-image as a warrior instead of his true nature. So which item was the correct choice? My guess is the "Book of Laws." It seemed that Locke was inclined to reach for that one before grabbing the knife instead. But that comic book certainly seemed intriguing too.
If Locke's encounter with Jack's dad is to be taken at face value, then the concept of free will is meaningless on the island. Everything that has happened there has happened for a reason, including Claire's apparent joining up with the dead. It was all to put Aaron "right where he needed to be." Which is where? In Sawyer's hands? He certainly couldn't have been intended for Jack -- Hurley told him in last week's post-island flash forward that he wasn't meant to raise the kid. So what's the island's plan? Is Aaron meant to be the island's next guardian after Locke performs his mission?
I'm not sure what to make of the island's instructions to Locke, except to speculate that moving the island probably isn't so much a matter of place, but time. And that number code that Desmond had to spend years pressing every 108 minutes may have involved moving the island through different times to keep it safe. Now that the button doesn't exist anymore, some more drastic measures may need to be undertaken in order to move the island.
Abaddon's return appearance as Locke's orderly cannot be a good thing for Locke. Even though he planted the idea of Locke's fateful walkabout in his head, it seems as if Matthew Abaddon is to Charles Widmore as Michael is to Ben Linus -- someone whose mission is to develop an inside rapport with the enemy. The next time Abaddon and Locke meet, Locke will owe Abaddon one for sending him off on his trip. That debt will surely come due at a time more convenient for Charles Widmore than for Ben Linus.
In other developments, Keamy, the crazed army dude, has strapped what looks like an iPod onto his arm and is headed to do something really nasty to the island and everyone on it. What that plan is remains to be seen, but his instructions came in a heavily secured red folder that had a Dharma logo in it. That Orchid station sign again. Looks like we're about to find out how Ben ended up in Halliwax's Orchid parka.
One complaint, and it's a minor one, is the music, which has become quite intrusive this year. Where we once had some of the best scoring on TV, we now get a tense throbbing stinger every time something happens on screen. And when that moment is of special note, I fear my poor TV speakers will pop out onto the floor. Most of the time the music works beautifully, but a couple of times in tonight's episode, I thought the horn section of the studio orchestra was going to jump out and clobber our heroes over the head to underline their point.
So, what do we leave unanswered from tonight's episode? Is Jack's dad a ghost or some kind of resurrected puppet? Is Claire dead too? What's that doodad on Keamy's arm? And what kind of power led a very young John Locke to draw pictures of the island's smoke monster?
I don't expect answers to all of these. And I'm more than happy to sit and speculate endlessly. I just hope the real answers will leave us as satisfied as all these mysteries.
(Photo courtesy ABC)
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This island is so completely deep into the Twilight Zone....
Posted by: Oceanic 7 | May 09, 2008 at 09:45 AM
Was that really Jack's dad? I thought it just looked like him, but wasn't him...maybe I was blinded by all the drama....
Posted by: nic | May 09, 2008 at 10:29 AM
Such an intriguing episode! Sooo...who is Locke's father???? Is anyone else curious about that? And...Claire looks a lot less needy and worried now that she is...well...whereever she is. Maybe she and Charlie finally hooked up! And will Jack ever find out that he and Claire have the same father? And yeah...who is supposed to raise Aaron? And Abbadon and Alpert???? Any historical or literary references to those name?
And I thought they were only a few minutes off (the freighter and the island)...that whole thing about the morse code message about the Dr being (already) dead and washed up on shore...seems like at least 1 day difference vs minutes but...i am way lost on the time.
Luv this stuff!
Posted by: getlost | May 09, 2008 at 11:54 AM
Ben might still be in control, and just leading Locke to believe that Locke is the new island-protector/liason-to-Jacob.
Also, I personally didn't notice the score being annoying. What did annoy me was the wretchedly loud volume of the commercials relative to the actual show. Expected behavior by the network, but still annoying.
What is not expected from the network and thus even more annoying is that the abomination known as Grey's Anatomy being aired into the 10pm time slot. The on-screen cable guide actually reported Grey's Anatomy as ending at 10:02pm!! What a pathetic attempt by ABC to advertise on the LOST audience. Sigh, the price of free programming.
Posted by: mike mcg | May 09, 2008 at 01:29 PM
We already know who Locke's father is: that con-artist who took his kidney. And it's possible that Claire is with Christian only because Claire is dead, which would explain why she can't care for Aaron in the future.
Anyone interpret that snippet of Morse code?
Posted by: mike mcg | May 09, 2008 at 01:32 PM
And why Portland, of all places, for Mittelos (which is, of course, an anagram for "Lost Time")? They seem to be big on the anagrams (Ethan Rom = Other Man, etc), but neither Alpert nor Abbadon suggest anything to me.
Posted by: Robert | May 09, 2008 at 01:46 PM
Mike Mcg, We now know from last nights episode that Locke was adopted. So i think getlost is actually making a profound point that we now are left to wonder who Lockes real dad is and if there is any connection with the island or the other survivors.
Posted by: John | May 09, 2008 at 07:05 PM
I must disagree about the score. Giacchino's talent only grows more apparent with each subsequent airing. Granted the revelations and teasers are meat enough, but the added orchestral stings only enhance the emotion.
In a way, the music is the audience's reaction, its us saying "Holy s***" in response to what we saw on screen. And I particularly loved the return of the "traveling theme," (when Sayid left the freighter on the raft).
When the intensity of the show rockets up, so must the accompaniments, the music, and it melds together brilliantly.
Posted by: Danny | May 09, 2008 at 08:29 PM
According to Wiikipedia: (search for Abbadon)
"Abbadon is: Hebrew, meaning "destruction"). In Biblical references it comes to mean "place of destruction", or the realm of the dead, and is associated with Sheol. By extension, it can mean an underworld abode of lost souls, or hell. In some legends, it is identified as a realm where the damned lie in fire and snow, one of the places in Hell that Moses visited."
and
"In the Biblical book Revelation 9:11 (!), it is personified as Abaddon, "Angel of the Abyss".
and
"Abaddon is also used as one of the names that refer to the Devil. This entity is commonly referred to by a variety of names, including Abbadon, Angra Mainyu, Satan, Asmodai, Beelzebub, Lucifer, Belial, and Iblis."
Posted by: Lola | May 10, 2008 at 08:32 AM
The Abbadon dude is the scariest person on the show. He freaks me out.
According to Wiikipedia: (I searched for "Abbadon"):
"Abbadon is: Hebrew, meaning "destruction"). In Biblical references it comes to mean "place of destruction", or the realm of the dead, and is associated with Sheol. By extension, it can mean an underworld abode of lost souls, or hell. In some legends, it is identified as a realm where the damned lie in fire and snow, one of the places in Hell that Moses visited."
and
"In the Biblical book Revelation 9:11 (!), it is personified as Abaddon, "Angel of the Abyss".
and
"Abaddon is also used as one of the names that refer to the Devil. This entity is commonly referred to by a variety of names, including Abbadon, Angra Mainyu, Satan, Asmodai, Beelzebub, Lucifer, Belial, and Iblis."
Posted by: Lola | May 10, 2008 at 08:34 AM
I think that Ben and Locke are brothers... they both had mothers named Emily and they were both premature. There are loads of other similarities too but not enough space to write them. Where does Hurley fit in to this though?? Is he an illegitimate son of one of them? Hmmm...
Posted by: Anthony | May 10, 2008 at 08:53 AM
Matthew Abbadon
anagram ("what bad boatmen").
Posted by: Alfie | May 10, 2008 at 05:50 PM
I think each of the items belonged to someone. Locke didn't pick the wrong one, he picked the one that belonged to him. Good theory on Ben and Locke being brothers!
Posted by: natalie | May 11, 2008 at 06:09 PM
Acoustic question--what is the sound that often signals the fading away of a scene--it sounds like bubbling water filling up a container of some sort. ..A flash forward moment to the end or submersion of the island perhaps?
Posted by: Oliver jones | May 22, 2008 at 11:18 AM