Lost Rewatch on VHS: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham

 

VHS Notes:  Most of the film ads in the commercials are for horror movies including The Haunting in Connecticut yet another Amityville Horror movie rip-off and a detestable remake of The Last House on the Left. We also see a preview for the Clive Owen-Julia Roberts caper duplicity. There is also an ad for a two hour ‘movie’ of Brothers & Sisters, which featured among other things Rob Lowe’s character suffering a heart attack and the series of events that would lead to Balthazar Getty’s departure from the series.

 

At some point I will probably write a column about how much difficulty I have recognizing episodes that, even among the classic series of the era, were among the greatest ever made. I am somewhat better at these days then I was when I began following television with a critical eye twenty years ago, but when I was watching Lost, I was still hit or miss.

I believe this book has shown some of my flaws and strengths in this regard – I recognized how remarkable Walkabout was right off the boat but on first viewing of Through the Looking Glass I didn’t get what was brilliant about it. I could tell there was something remarkable about The Constant but I’m not sure that I would have ranked it above The Shape of Things to Come that year. But when I fist saw this episode, I realized that I was watching something remarkable, even by the admittedly high standards of Lost. Indeed Entertainment Weekly would rank ‘The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham’ as one of the ten greatest episodes of 2009 and Alan Sepinwall considered it one of the high points of the entire series. Curiously that opinion was not necessarily held by Lost fans in Hidden Treasures; while three episodes from Season 5 were among the ten greatest in the show’s history, this one missed the list. (In fairness Season 5.)

Like so many episodes in Season 5, Jeremy Bentham is unique to what we have seen before. For one thing, it is the only series in the entire run that does not have a single scene on the island. (The only scenes after the crash take place on Hydra Island.) Like 316, the episode is mostly focused off the island, though unlike that one it is basically one huge flashback. And of course the real reason it is remarkable is because it does what the episode tells us: it shows us how ‘Jeremy Bentham’ was born, how he lived off the island and how he died. Because it is framed that way we look it as the journey of Locke off the island after he turned the wheel, how he visited the Oceanic 6, how he failed and how he died. And because the episode opens with the survivors of Ajira 316 walking and meeting a man in a suit named John Locke, we naturally assume that death was a temporary condition.

It is a tribute to Darlton (who wrote the episode) that the resurrection of John Locke, which would have been something remarkable on any other series is marked with almost no surprise by the fan base. When we saw Locke in the coffin in the Season 4 finale Ben told Jack that they were going to ‘need to bring him’, we naturally assumed that Ben was insisting on it because he expected this to happen as much as the audience did. After all, considering how important Locke was through the first four seasons, it seemed that his death, if it came, would happen in the last season. The fact that he was in a coffin and apparently embalmed seemed a minor setback.

Ben has spent the lead up to the Ajira flight making it seem essential that John be on the plane and in the last episode Eloise gave instructions to Jack that implied it. We’ve been told over and over – and we hear it multiple times throughout the episode – that Locke is important to the island, and so much of the story on the show has been about that idea.

But since this is the time that we say goodbye to Locke as we know him (not giving anything away yet), it’s actually worth trying to figure out what John Locke has meant to the other characters. Jeremy Bentham’s purpose is to bring the Oceanic 6 back to the island and we already know this is a mission doomed to failure. So let’s discuss why it was probably doomed from the start, and that has to do a lot with John Locke.

I don’t deny the assessment of how incredible John Locke is or how magnificent a job Terry O’Quinn has done portraying him throughout the series. Nor can I deny that Locke has been right about the island practically from the start. But there has always been a flaw in Locke’s character and ironically it has to do with what he is known for the most: his faith.

Nikki Stafford has already done a magnificent job in Finding Lost of reminding us of Locke long hard road before he got on the plane, the fact that he was never loved, that he never trusted himself, that he always made the wrong decision, that he trusted the wrong people. He was broken in spirit as well as body when he got on Oceanic 815. Everyone else who survived the plane was broken in spirit themselves. When the  plane crashed Locke knew that a miracle had happened here and what a blessed place the island was. But because he had spent his life not trusted people when he opened himself up, while in the aftermath of the crash everyone else was slowly forming bonds with other people, the only thing Locke ever trusted fully was the island. And because he only shared this with a relative few when he was on the island – and those people either died or never shared the secret – Locke’s often beatific attitude in the midst of a struggle for survival isolated him from almost the start.

You watch the first season of the show Locke is always smiling and at peace in a way none of the other characters are and you can tell that they all are extremely uncomfortable around this. If one of the issues of Lost is science versus faith, then there’s clearly a message of how isolated blind faith can be to others and its clear this was picked up by everybody, not just Jack. Locke was right about many things on the island, but he always phrased in such talk and at often such inopportune times, that the natural reaction was to think of him as crazy. Throughout the first three seasons of Lost, even when he is among the leadership ranks, people rarely want to turn to him as their first choice. After he ostensibly goes to rescue Jack, but really to blow up the sub, he breaks with the survivors and no one even missed him. Even during Season 4 when he was right about the folks on the freighter, no one truly went with him willingly and he was as isolated as before. Locke said that all he had ever done was act in everyone’s best interest, but unlike everyone else who either wants rescue or survival, Locke always puts the island first and everyone can sense that.

Alone among the Oceanics Locke never formed a real bond with any other survivor and was in fact openly antagonistic with many of them. He shares this trait with Charles Widmore and Ben Linus who like him, feel the island is essential above everything else in their lives and are willing to do anything in their power to get it. I don’t know if these men are good or evil, but both are ruthless and master manipulators. We already know that of Ben, and it’s clear that Widmore is too. Which is why just days after Widmore sent a freighter filled with men whose sole purpose was to kill everyone on the island, Widmore can appear by Locke’s bedside in the Tunisian Desert and tell him he’s on Locke’s side.

Locke emerges in the desert and is rescued by Widmore’s men. Widmore claims the cameras were there to find Locke, but it’s obvious he knows that’s where Ben came from and is trying to see who else will show up. Widmore’s trying to find the island and he knows the best way to do is it is through the Oceanic 6.  Sun clearly hasn’t confronted him yet, so he’s hoping to use Locke to get to them.

Locke is clearly recovering from everything that has happened but he’s still as much a pawn as before. All he needs is for someone to tell him he is important and he will forget who he should trust. Now admittedly he doesn’t have much chose when he comes to his allies and he knows that Widmore’s resources are the best way to complete his mission. The problem is this was always going to be a difficult sell, particularly if you remember what his relationship was like with the Oceanics before they left the island.

Sayid is rightfully scornful of him; the two of them were antagonistic when he learned that Locke had destroyed the radio antenna. It got worse when he blew up the Flame and then the sub and the last thing Locke did to Sayid was trick him and hold him prisoner.

Even if that were not the case Sayid was always more committed to getting off the island than almost anyone else, and considering what the last two years were like for him (he’s clearly trying to atone in Santo Domingo by doing humanitarian work) the last thing he wants to do is go back to the island.

It’s never been clear why Locke went to see Walt, but it is worth remembering that Locke by far had the best relationship with him than any of the survivors with the exception of Charlie. No doubt he remembers that Walt burned the first raft because he liked living on the island and perhaps he did think he would come as a substitute for Sun. Walt clearly is glad to see him but Locke does remember what this child went through and just says he wanted to say hi. (This is the last time Malcolm David Kelley appears in an episode on the show.)

As we know Hurley wanted to go back to the island even before Jack did, so the question is why didn’t he jump at the chance? It helps to remember the last time he saw Locke. Hurley always got along with everybody but he was dealing with the death of Charlie when Locke found him and he knows that Locke used him to manipulate everyone who went to the Barracks. (He told Jack that he was sorry for that when he was first committed to Santa Rosa.) Then after the barracks were attacked Locke told Hurley that he was coming with him and Ben to see Jacob and Sawyer and Locke might have shot each other had Hurley not agreed. Then after they were told to move the island and Hurley could see there was danger and wanted to leave, Locke told him it was too late. Maybe Abaddon might have tipped the scales, but it wasn’t going to take much to convince Hurley that John was evil.

In the scene with Kate, she seems particularly hurtful but she has every right to be. She was as opposed to staying on the island as Sayid was, which meant they were diametrically opposed. Kate spent a lot of time giving Locke the benefit of the doubt, but after he used her to get to the Barracks to blow up the sub it’s hard to imagine she could forgive him. When he killed Naomi at the radio tower and pointed a gun at Jack, she was more infuriated. And when she  went to the Barracks and gently asked Locke for a favor, he basically treated her with scorn and when she went around him, he forced to walk back through the jungle in the dead of night. I’m honestly surprised Kate let him get that far in his argument; I would have slammed the door in his face. (She probably hasn’t forgiven him for the fact that Claire disappeared under his leadership too.)

Locke spends much of the episode being berated by the mysterious Matthew Abaddon, whose role when it comes to the island will be one of its minor mysteries. He clearly knew about Locke’s destiny, but he baited him to take a walkabout knowing he’d be turned away. He helped assemble the freighter team which had instruction to kill everybody on the island – even though he knew Locke was alive. Then he greets Locke with a wheelchair, knowing all too well what it means to the man who was paralyzed. And he gives Locke nothing but scorn – until he finally tells him about Helen.

This is a sad scene because at that point Locke clearly is considering just giving up. This gives him nothing to work with but bringing everyone back. Abaddon is shot and Locke drives off in fear and he ends up at Jack’s hospital/

Jack has clearly lost everything by this point: he’s clearly drunk or stoned during the scene, he’s lost Kate, and he’s been seeing Christian repeatedly. But faced with his chief antagonist he goes right back to their old roles. He refuses to accept the very real fact Locke ended up at his hospital as anything other than science. He calls Locke a crazy, old man. And when Locke tells him that his father says hello, rather than try to accept what this might mean he goes back into the denial he did all the time he was on the island. Locke is desperate in a way he’s never been with Jack, but even now Jack will never admit he’s right.

The scene in the hotel is one of the great pieces in the entire series. I don’t know for sure but I don’t think Locke is thinking about having to die to bring everyone back. The despair on his face as he methodically writes his suicide note, throws Widmore’s phone in the trash, takes out the cord from the hardware story and dully prepares to hang himself shows a man who truly believes that his life has been a failure.

And then Ben breaks the door down. Like every other time they are onscreen together, Michael Emerson and Terry O’Quinn bring out their best work. Ben is clearly appalled when he says Locke up there and Locke is at the end of his rope (metaphorically and physically). When he shouts out “Answer the question!”, it’s clear Locke has finally run out of patience for games. When he says with tears in his eyes: “There is nothing remarkable about me. I’m a failure”, sadder words were never spoken.

Much has been written ever since the episode aired as to what happens. Ben uses every bit of his power to persuade Locke to get down from the table and take the rope from around his neck. And then just one minute later, he strangles him to death. He gives an explanation to Locke later this season as to why this happened but like everything else Ben says it’s almost certainly a lie.

I think the truth is ridiculously simple. Like Widmore, Ben wants to get to back to the island. But I also think that to this point he doesn’t know how. He thinks the Oceanic 6 are his best way back but he knows they’d never listen to him. We also see the moment Locke tells him that Jin is alive and that he has no intention of going to see Sun and that this could be an obstacle to his plans. I’m pretty sure Ben was going to kill Locke at some point. But the moment he learns that Locke knows of Eloise Hawking, he clearly decides to do it then. He knows that whatever trust he and Locke have will never last long – they have too much of a history. And let’s not forget that just before he left the island it became very clear that Jacob had chosen Locke over him. He knows if Locke goes back to the island, that will likely still be the case.

So Ben kills the man he has been jealous of for the past three seasons. Then he stages a suicide, cleans down the room so no one will know he was there, takes Jin’s ring, and walks out. When he tells John’s body: “I’ll miss you, John. I really will.” I actually think he’s being honest; what’s the point of lying to the dead? But he thinks his problems have been solved and that the hard part’s over.

And as we can see at the end of the episode Ben has realized his dream and made it back to the island. He has no idea what’s waiting for him when he wakes up. And in a real cliffhanger, we have to wait another four episodes before we find out – because there’s another more important reunion coming in the next episode.