Jeremy Bentham

Some thoughts on the last couple of episodes.

• Lock may have known that he was supposed to die, but I don't think he knew how or why, or that he would be resurrected. He honestly thought killing himself would be the end. And for that matter, I don't then Ben knew either. After Ben killed him, Ben said "I'm honestly going to miss you." I think he meant it. The writers threw this in just to make it clear that he didn't think John was coming back (even though he gave that convincing speech to Jack about Doubting Thomas).

• Ben talked Locke off the ledge solely to get the information he needed from him, which was how to get back to the island. Once he heard the name Eloise Hawking, that was it. He then finds his way to her, and using his normal Ben wiles, convinces her that he's looking out for the good of the island. When she tells him that he must gather everyone, including Locke's body, he still didn't think it would result in Locke being resurrected, he's just doing what he's told. He also seemed genuinely surprised when Desmond announced that she was Faraday's mother.


• Interesting note about how Widmore used to be a leader until Ben ousted him. To me, this goes back to an earlier theory of mine, that Ben really doesn't have any real understanding of the true secrets of the island (can't speak to Jacob, doesn't know about resurrection), and has conned his way into the leader position. He took leadership of the island from Charles, and now he wants to take that leadership from Locke. Which is why he 1) shot him in the dharma pit after he realized he could actually talk to Jacob, 2) took his place when originally moving the island, and 3) tries to take his place in gathering everyone up and getting back on that plane.


• Walt's dream about the newly crashed passengers wanting to hurt John: I think Locke is going to have to struggle for authority in the "new losties" camp. People are already suspicious of him there, and will be doubly so when he tries to assert his authority over Ben. As we all know, Ben is good at convincing anyone to do anything, something that Locke isn't very good at. Once Ben wakes up, I'm guessing he'll have everyone on his side pretty quickly. Even though Ben isn't expecting to see John walking around again, he might play it off as if he did, and tells Locke that he needed someone to kill him in order to get to the island... or something.


• Remember in the episode "Jughead" when Sawyer, Juliet, and co. found the canoes with the Ajira Airlines water bottle in them? I'm guessing the "new losties" (Caesar and Ilana) used those boats to get to the main island (they're on the jail island now) and are the ones firing on them from a distance in that scene.


• Finally, when Ben told Jack that he needed to fulfill a promise he made to an old friend, undoubtedly he meant that he was going to go find Penny to kill her. I hope he didn't succeed, but something terrible went down. Nothing but foreboding in that scene when he's all bloody at the marina. Whatever he did, it's going to somehow prompt Desmod to go back to the island, because after all Eloise told him that the Island wasn't through with him.