One thing at a time

Another great episode just in time for May sweeps. I’ve said it before–Locke-centric episodes always give the show the forward momentum that makes it so compelling to watch. Locke’s inability to kill his father was interesting in that it brought out the hypocrisy of the way Ben goes about his work on the island. He speaks of lists and “the good guys” and of virtue while kidnapping castaways, killing those who get in his way, and manipulating his “allies” to his own ends. I initially bought into the fact that he might just be testing Locke by dangling his father in front of him, and would reward him with a place among the Others if he didn’t go through with it. Instead, he was more interested in making Locke a murderer, as a “gesture [of Locke’s] free will and commitment” to the Others and their cause.

It’s another facet of Ben’s trying to maintain his increasingly tenuous role as the leader of his cult. His right-hand man, Dr. Alpert, didn’t seem to be buying Ben’s line of B.S. when he gave Locke the dossier on Sawyer. We’ve seen evidence of dissension since the first episode of the season, and I think it’ll be coming to a head in the next episode or two. The Others certainly seem primed for a messiah-like figure to rescue them from a leader that’s led them astray. The “special” Locke may be that guy. I envision some great scenarios in season four if Locke ends up replacing Ben as their leader.

Quick Hits

• Confirming what many have long suspected, Locke’s dad turned out to be the real “Sawyer,” who destroyed James “Sawyer” Ford’s family by conning his mother out of $38,000 and skipping town before her husband shot her and killed himself. One of the real highlights of the episode had Sawyer reading the letter Ford wrote as a child years ago to the man who killed his parents. The last we saw of it, Kate read it back in season one and that’s about the last we heard of the topic. Sawyer clearly hadn’t lost any interest in the subject, as he had the letter in his back pocket when he finally met Locke’s dad.

  

  Now that Sawyer’s finally destroyed the object of his hatred–and the force that led him to become the flawed man he is–will he change? Killing the con-man certainly didn’t give him the warm and fuzzies, if puking his guts out in the jungle is any indication.

• Nice of the creative staff to keep playing with the audience with the whole “Island=Purgatory” angle. Mr. Sawyer certainly believed it was Hell up until the time he stopped breathing. Maybe Locke’s dad getting strangled by a chain is their way of saying, “IT’S NOT PURGATORY!” with a degree of finality.
• No doubt the Others and their global reach are behind the staged crash site of Flight 815 off the coast of Bali, in a trench four miles deep. This information came from Naomi, who also tells Sayid she flew her helicopter from a freighter 80 nautical miles from the island, and was part of a Penelope Widmore-financed expedition to find and rescue Desmond. If Naomi’s lying, well that probably means she’s an Other, so the same thesis applies: the Others are behind the “real world’s” not having found the island or the castaways.
• Naomi also tells us the coordinates she received from Penelope were “in the middle of the Pacific,” with no land in sight. She never even saw any evidence of land until the clouds magically parted and behind them lay the island. So what’s hiding the island from plain sight? Is it the south Pacific version of The Truman Show, a giant, camouflaged dome covering an enormous jungle soundstage?
• What are the ruins scattered all over the island? We see Locke’s dad tied to an ancient-looking column in the middle of a field, and we’ve seen other ruins at the Other camp on the beach, and the giant, four-toed foot of the colussus glimpsed by Sayid, Sun and Jin from Desmond’s sailboat in season two.

  

  Was the island the site of an ancient civilization? If the island truly is the magical, metaphysically-inclined place it’s been shown to be, it’s likely been drawing groups of people to its’ shores for centuries.

• Cindy the flight attendant seems oddly content and happy with the group of people that kidnapped her last season. Did she undergo the same brainwashing treatment we saw Karl undergoing at Hydra Station? Or did Ben tell her what the Others are really all about, and in the process win her heart and mind?

  

• Locke and Rousseau together again. Read more about them here. I wonder if we’ll see the dynamite Rousseau was stocking up on somewhere down the line. More booby-traps or is something bigger in the works as she formulates a plan to rescue her daughter, Alex? Look out, Ben.
• Someone is outside mowing a neighboring lawn right now. It’s 12:47am. Just thought I’d mention that before I go any further.
• Jack and Juliet have a secret of their own, which of course will be up in the air until next week. But he seemed particularly interested, albeit in a less than “hooray, we’re getting off the island!” kind of way, in the satellite phone Naomi has in her possession.

  

  Does he know something about her we don’t? Or is Juliet filling his head with half-truths to keep him unsuspecting until the Other raid coming in three days? Do you enjoy the frequency with which I write these posts in the form of questions?

Other Stuff from Other Sites

• Sawyer’s dossier/file was in French. [Sledgeweb]
• Lost will likely be changing timeslots next season. Thank you. It’s now 1:19am and I’d like to get more than four hours of sleep a night after finishing these recaps. [Tail Section]