On "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"...

So, just some quick thoughts on what I consider the second-greatest LOST episode of ALL-TIME. Yes; that's right folks. Better than the epic season 3 WHATTHE$&*# flash-forward finale, better than season FOUR's finale complete with big coffin reveal. Better than 99.99% of all LOST episodes ever assembled. Seriously, this thing was GOOD tonight.

You start out with a cloaked Locke uttering yet another incredible line to his long list of incredible lines: "I remember dying." You have the indescribably delectable confrontation between Locke and Widmore. You get a great comedic moment when Widmore "renames" Locke with the name of the British philosopher who OPPOSED the philosophies of the British philosopher John Locke. You have the amazing Matthew Abaddon ferrying Locke around the entire episode, only to meet a shocking end. You have the entire Oceanic Six rejecting Locke's pleas (minus Sun? but didn't Sun say she met with him or am I just imagining this?). And you have Ben going all PSYCHO on us at the end. Epic. No, EPICK. Incredibly epick.

I'll have more detailed thoughts in a day or two. But just thought I'd drop in with my initial ones!

AHHHHHHHHMAZING.

In Anticipation of Tomorrow Night...

In anticipation of tomorrow night's episode, "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham," and the promise of the return of the mysterious Matthew Abaddon (aka "Future Walt"?!), I figured we'd refresh our memories on the more slender, darker version of the equally chilling (though infinitely more engrossing) Ms. Hawking.

His first appearance on the show came in a scene with Hurley (post-island) in the mental institution in season four's premiere episode:


In case you couldn't make out his final words to Hurley at the end of the clip, they were, "Are they still alive?" No, I don't think he was referring to the Rolling Stones here.

Sorry, but I couldn't find any video for his other appearances (well, unless you count this random Dutch version I found). Anyway, in Ep#402, "Confirmed Dead," we learn that Abaddon was largely if not wholly responsible for assembling the freighter folk ("freighties") togther for Widmore's ship to the island (Daniel, Charlotte, Miles, Frank, and Naomi).

And finally, we saw in Ep#411 ("Cabin Fever," via flashback) that it was Abaddon who first told Locke to pursue a "walkabout" while Locke was recuperating post-being-shoved-out-an-eight-story-building-by-his-scoundrel-father. Abaddon told Locke that if he did pursue said walkabout that he would "owe him one" if they ever met again. Assuming that Abaddon and Locke do indeed meet in this upcoming episode, then will Abaddon hold true to this promise? Or will it all be moot, considering Locke never actually did go on the walkabout?

The popular theory "out there" right now is that Abaddon is really Walt, though of the all-growed-up variety. This theory doesn't particularly fly with me, but I can see why people support it. Once you throw in the concept of time travel into a show, pretty much anything can happen, right?

And also, I'm not totally convinced that Walt no longer has any more relevance for the story. We saw Michael make an incredible (though short-lived) return last season, so shouldn't Walt "return" in some way as well? Will he seriously remain locked up in his grandmother's house in NYC till the end of time? I tend to think not. But that's the question though: will he "come back" as "himself," or is Matthew Abaddon really him? You make the call, and let's see what happens.

Just a couple of fun facts, courtesy of Lostpedia. The name "Abaddon" is actually the same name of the "Angel of the Abyss" in Revelation 9:11. Check it out:

"And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon."

(I'm naming my first son Abaddon!)

Also worthy of note (or...maybe not really?), the full name "Matthew Abaddon" is an anagram for the phrase, "What Bad Boatmen." Pointless information? Perhaps. But whether you go with "Bad Boatman" or Top Dog of the Bottomless Pit, there's not a whole lot of positive connotations associated with the guy.

Which makes me all the more eager to figure out who the frak this guy is.

John Locke = Jesus Christ?

No, I promise this won't be as heretical as you fear (or hope?). I love LOST for many reasons: amazing depth and breadth of characters who we learn about both on- and off-island, a beautiful location with such complex and cascading mysteries past and present (mammoth four-toed foot statue?!), and so much more. But perhaps one of the facets of LOST which I've most latched onto is the spiritual element. Mr. Eko is a Nigerian drug dealer-turned-priest, Rose clutches her crucifix necklace and prays often to her Heavenly Father, "The Others" make mention of some kind of mysterious "list" which separates the "good" from the "not-good," and characters with names like "Jack Shephard" and "Christian Shephard" conjure up images of David and even Christ Himself.

Since the early season one episode, "Walkabout" (Ep#104) with its epic closing scene, John Locke has been my favorite character on LOST. Far and away. He was rarely seen in the first three episodes, gets the fourth one dedicated to him with an incredible flashback, and from then on (in my humble opinion) the show has completely revolved around his presence.

I never really saw a metaphoric relationship between John Locke and Jesus Christ until the finale of season four and on into the beginning of this current season five. But looking back to the beginning of the series, the similarities are quite astounding...

• "No offense, mate, but if there's one person on this island I would put my absolute trust in to save us all, it would be John Locke." These are the words spoken by Charlie to Jack very early on in the show's history (Ep#113: "Hearts and Minds"). At the time they didn't appear to carry much significant weight, but now five seasons in, these words stunningly foreshadow (or since we're in the Bible Zone today, should I say "prophesy"?) the things to come several seasons down the road. Just as Christ is prophesied to do the exact same thing. Before He's even born, Jesus is described as the One who will "save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). And in His famous words to Nicodemus in the dead of night, Jesus explained that "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him" (John 3:17).
  
• The word "save" has many meanings for many different people. There's the temporary kind of saving: the physical, the tangible, the temporary. As in how I'll feel come May 9th after I graduate from college (76 days!). And then there's a more lasting kind of saving. The beyond-physical. The intangible. The eternal. Naturally, the word "save" on a show about a group of planewrecked survivors conjures up the image of rescue boats, helicopters, and a return to normal civilized life. But not for Locke, however. For Locke, crashing onto the island is what seemingly-paradoxically did save him. For not only did it restore his physical ailments, but it also restored his emotional ones. Psychological. Spiritual, even. Suddenly, his sucktastic life as office worker at a box company (can you honestly think of anything more mundane? perhaps working at a foam-peanut company?) had been fully infused with actual purpose. Destiny. Over the course of the next several seasons, John Locke serves as the link between the mysteries of the island and the survivors. Just as Christ serves as the link between God and man.
  
• So while the Oceanic survivors' notion of "saving" falls upon the tangible/physical/temporary variety, Locke's notion naturally falls upon the opposite. For Locke, the island isn't a place of isolation, hopelessness, or death. Not in the least. "It's not an island," quips Locke to the continually unbelieving Jack. "It's a place where miracles happen" (Ep#413/4: "There's No Place Like Home, Pt. 2"). And over the course of the series, Locke's made it his own personal mission to make sure the survivors not find temporary rescue off the island. Instead he destroys every opportunity for such rescue and in turn hopes for the survivors to discover a deeper kind of rescue. He quietly approves of Walt's destruction of Michael's first raft and even explodes The Others' submarine just as Jack and some portion of Otherville prepared to board it for "home." These various notions of "rescue" and "saving" interestingly parallel with Scripture and with there only being "one way" to be truly, permanently, eternally "saved" in Christ. "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14:6). With both Locke's actions and Christ's words, this concept of being "saved" is pinpointed to pursuing one and only one path, despite the many paths out there.


• Like Christ, Locke is sent on a mission that he knows beforehand will result in his death. As he agonizes over this reality with Christian in Mystical Donkey Wheel Land (Ep#505: "This Place is Death"), Jack's supposed-to-be-dead-Daddy offers Locke with one of the most powerful lines in the series' history: "I suppose that's...that's why they call it sacrifice." Matthew 20:28 succinctly describes Christ's own mission: "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many." It's pretty mind-boggling, actually. That Jesus lived his life knowing that He was going to die for all humanity. And that He was going to die the cruelest death in history, at that. And yet despite knowing all this, He fulfilled His mission. And after staggering to his feet, Locke turns the wheel that sends him off the island and, ultimately, to the fulfillment of his own mission. His death.
  
• Which finally, brings us to Locke's death. As of the writing of this post, we've yet to see how exactly Locke has died and the specific details leading up to said death. Though we've currently never seen him alive off-island, we've been able to piece together the reactions of those he met with during the course of his post-island life. A basic summation? They hated him. They found him both crazy and vile. Who was once the hero who would "save them all" suddenly becomes the spurned and rejected one. Similarly after Christ received the embracing acceptance of much of the people, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and speaking the Truth...he was rejected. Greeted with shouts of "Hosanna!" one week; shouts of "Crucify Him!" the next. "He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5). Just as Christ was slain for our sins, so Locke's life was taken so that his own people could be eventually healed. Like Christ, Locke is the "proxy," the "substitute," as eloquently stated by my beloved Ms. Hawking (a heart-stirring topic for another day).

• And just as Christ astoundingly rose from the grave and brought hope to all humanity, so Locke will rise again upon his return to the island (courtesy his own Christ-like "tomb": the belly of an airplane's cargo hold) and restore hope to the remaining crash survivors. It's only fitting that with a dead Locke in tow, that this plane's flight number, 316, correspond to the penultimate verse in all of Scripture: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).

People either love Locke or hate him. There's not a lot of middle ground. Obviously I fall into the former of these two categories. One of my favorite scenes from the entire series thus far involves Locke, Walt, and the game of backgammon. There's no roaring smoke monsters, no Others attacks, no Sawyer nicknames, and no Dharma hatches. But I just find Locke's quiet storytelling about the birth of an ancient board game incredibly relevant to the larger-scale goings-on of the show. A battle between purpose and aimlessness. A battle between good and evil. A battle between light and dark. The formers of these comparisons all being things that the island can provide. Things that God the Father can too provide, as told by Christ.

Quite simply...Locke rockes.

The "TZ" stands for my initials...get it?

Hey everyone! Or should I actually say: "Hey, one"? I'm not really sure how much readership I'll get out of this, but suddenly I've gotten an itching to blog about all things LOST, my most favorite non-SURVIVOR show. I guess the life of this blog will depend on a lot of various factors (readership, my own personal schedule with classes and work, etc.), but ideally I'd like to be able to write something here once a week. I might focus solely on the previous episode, or jump around to "others" (oh boy, I foresee a lot of lame jokes like that to come...). Basically, I'll just write about whatever comes to mind!

And here's a spoiler for what's first on the docket...

John Locke. Jesus Christ. Oh yes. Bring on the heresy.