The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham
Feb. 26th, 2009 01:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chaniI love Locke-centric episodes ! John Locke has always been my favourite character...until a certain Desmond appeared and gave the show that romantic touch it lacked.
The camera just loves Terry O'Quinn's face, and those beautiful eyes of his, and the way he smiles. I guess it is what they call charisma.
It wasn't the best Locke eppy in terms of writing, some stuff was very phoned( a pseudo suspense again before showing a very alive Locke on the island; Hellen being dead; Ben manipulating Locke again) , but I enjoyed it. Terry was touching as usual when he plays Locke's vulnerable side and I don't complain about all the close-ups on his face.
Somehow I expected the life of Jeremy Bentham to be longer, I mean, I didn't imagine that he would show up in the Oceanic 6 world so late, and I didn't think he would die so quickly after arriving. I didn't expect to see Charles Widmore either. It was interesting to see Locke as an issue between Widmore and Ben. Our Losties have become pawns in the game. Ben convinced Jack and Sun but now I'm pretty sure that it's Widmore who convinced Kate and Hugo to change their mind and managed to get Sayid on the plane too.
No sure where Richard Alpert fit in there...
The opening scene was well done because I hadn't realised they were on the island until the she mentioned that they had found a man in a suit. They got me again! I thought it was a flashback about Caesar and Ilana. By the way I'm pretty sure that the actor playing Caesar is French. The character's obviously hidding something besides the weapon he found. He might be Tunisian. Charles Widmore must have sent him as a mole.
The Locke gave up hanging himself it was obvious that Ben was going to kill him, since the note had already been written and we knew Locke was going to die...Concerning Locke's journey it makes sense, he's been naive and thus deceived again, it's his father pushing him through the window over and over. However I'm still not sure that I understand the reason Ben convinced him not to commit suicide and killed him afterwards. Was it the name of Eloise Hawking that did it (after all she's connected to Charles Widmore), that made him change his mind about saving Locke? Or did he just stop Locke's suicide attempt because he needed information and once he got what he needed, Locke was useless and could die as he had to anyway? He must have had a reason. Or did he just play the role he was supposed to play, that is "the man who killed John Locke" or rather "the man who keeps killing John Locke". Ben doesn't manipulate people just to be cruel. And we already knew that he could be a ruthless killer.
Of course it echoed what Charles said at the hospital, what Christian told Locke about Ben before he left the island– a lesson Locke still hasn't learnt yet, and what Eloise said to Jack, that Ben was probably lying about John's death. "A promise is a promise" was also a nice echo of the promise that Ben mentioned in "316" before living the church; promise to an old friend; a promise to kill. I used the word "echo" because foreshadowing would work even though the events occured later, since it happened in a previous episode.
Are we going to create new vocabulary and grammar tense because of Lost?.
What did Ben say in the end? Was it "I miss you, John" or "I'll miss you, John"? It can't be the latter, can it? How could he not have known that John would resuscitate on the island?
The scenes with Sayid, Hugo, Kate and Jack weren't very interesting but I liked the scene with Walt and how the bond between John and him is still there. I don't know if John Locke is special but he is a decent man.
Besides we all know that Desmond is the one who is really special.
The camera just loves Terry O'Quinn's face, and those beautiful eyes of his, and the way he smiles. I guess it is what they call charisma.
It wasn't the best Locke eppy in terms of writing, some stuff was very phoned( a pseudo suspense again before showing a very alive Locke on the island; Hellen being dead; Ben manipulating Locke again) , but I enjoyed it. Terry was touching as usual when he plays Locke's vulnerable side and I don't complain about all the close-ups on his face.
Somehow I expected the life of Jeremy Bentham to be longer, I mean, I didn't imagine that he would show up in the Oceanic 6 world so late, and I didn't think he would die so quickly after arriving. I didn't expect to see Charles Widmore either. It was interesting to see Locke as an issue between Widmore and Ben. Our Losties have become pawns in the game. Ben convinced Jack and Sun but now I'm pretty sure that it's Widmore who convinced Kate and Hugo to change their mind and managed to get Sayid on the plane too.
No sure where Richard Alpert fit in there...
The opening scene was well done because I hadn't realised they were on the island until the she mentioned that they had found a man in a suit. They got me again! I thought it was a flashback about Caesar and Ilana. By the way I'm pretty sure that the actor playing Caesar is French. The character's obviously hidding something besides the weapon he found. He might be Tunisian. Charles Widmore must have sent him as a mole.
The Locke gave up hanging himself it was obvious that Ben was going to kill him, since the note had already been written and we knew Locke was going to die...Concerning Locke's journey it makes sense, he's been naive and thus deceived again, it's his father pushing him through the window over and over. However I'm still not sure that I understand the reason Ben convinced him not to commit suicide and killed him afterwards. Was it the name of Eloise Hawking that did it (after all she's connected to Charles Widmore), that made him change his mind about saving Locke? Or did he just stop Locke's suicide attempt because he needed information and once he got what he needed, Locke was useless and could die as he had to anyway? He must have had a reason. Or did he just play the role he was supposed to play, that is "the man who killed John Locke" or rather "the man who keeps killing John Locke". Ben doesn't manipulate people just to be cruel. And we already knew that he could be a ruthless killer.
Of course it echoed what Charles said at the hospital, what Christian told Locke about Ben before he left the island– a lesson Locke still hasn't learnt yet, and what Eloise said to Jack, that Ben was probably lying about John's death. "A promise is a promise" was also a nice echo of the promise that Ben mentioned in "316" before living the church; promise to an old friend; a promise to kill. I used the word "echo" because foreshadowing would work even though the events occured later, since it happened in a previous episode.
Are we going to create new vocabulary and grammar tense because of Lost?.
What did Ben say in the end? Was it "I miss you, John" or "I'll miss you, John"? It can't be the latter, can it? How could he not have known that John would resuscitate on the island?
The scenes with Sayid, Hugo, Kate and Jack weren't very interesting but I liked the scene with Walt and how the bond between John and him is still there. I don't know if John Locke is special but he is a decent man.
Besides we all know that Desmond is the one who is really special.
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no subject
Date: 2009-02-26 01:20 pm (UTC)I didn't feel the Walt scene as much as you did but yes, it does seem to me that the name Eloise was again a trigger. I am getting more and more curious as to why this name triggers Ben so much.
And yes, Desmond is special. Forever and always.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-26 01:27 pm (UTC)So what did Ben say exactly? Sometimes it sucks not to be a native English speaker!
no subject
Date: 2009-02-26 01:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-26 05:49 pm (UTC)That was my impression too.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-26 06:53 pm (UTC)I think he did look surprised to hear her name but I have the impression that he was already planning Locke's death before that.
no subject
Date: 2009-02-26 06:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-26 10:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-27 10:29 am (UTC)I think that Ben's 'rescue' of John wasn't one at all and that he knew that John would have to die to return to the island.
I'm just not sure whether Ben rescued and killed John in order to get to what John told him or whether he did it because it had to happen this way. Maybe a suicide, a self-sacrifice wasn't enough, for John to be a sacrifice he had to be killed by someone else.
Oh and Terry O'Quinn is indeed terrific, in German we'd probably say he is a "Charakterkopf", i.e. his head, his face are unique.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-04 07:30 pm (UTC)Sacrifice as in Holocaust then. Yeah could be the reason. I'm still unsure about Ben said before leaving though.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-04 07:42 pm (UTC)The boyfriend has just told me that Locke and Ben are now on 'Alcatraz', the smaller island with the outpost of the Others, or so some Lost podcast informed him, but Ben is badly injured. I seem to remember seeing him on an army cot, bloodied up and unconscious. The theory seems to be that all the people who don't really belong on the island are hurt. (And I don't really care whether they're on the island proper or on the outpost - my point is that Ben is unconscious and we don't know whether he'll wake up.)
Maybe Ben knew that he wouldn't get to see Locke, because Ben wasn't really supposed to go back...