There's No Blog Like "Pants"

LOSTaways-

And who says good things never come to those who wait?

It’s been nearly 8 months since we last blogged together, but it is finally here…it’s what you’ve been waiting for: JLP’s re-cap of the Season Four Finale is hereby unveiled.

I waited initially to re-hash the finale because I wanted everyone to have a chance to see it and mull it over in his or her own minds first. But summer came upon me like a Dharma spy in the night (to steal my baby) and before I knew it I was busy flying kites, "pickling the Beast" (Beast = Rudy the Dog), and running lemonade stands till the Ides of September. Then election season was upon me and I got mired down in a bog of hope and change. Before I knew it, I was standing in line at Best Buy on December 9th with LOST DVDs in my hands wondering what happened to 2008 and my dignity. So without further fanfare, here goes the 1st installment of John Locke’s Pants in the ’09.

-----

The season finale was really a 3-hour, two-part episode entitled “No Place Like Home”. I will attempt to quickly re-cap the first, one-hour section that was really more of an appetizer for the next week’s two-hour episode that brought the season to a climatic close.

Part 1: “No Place Like Home”: We finally get to see the press conference of the Oceanic Six back in the States. We learn that the survivors have indeed concocted a whopper of a tale that includes Kate saving everyone and only Sun, Hurley, Sayid, Jack, and Baby Aaron making it back. They tell the press that they crashed, swam to an island called Membata in the South Pacific, and eventually floated to a nearby island where they were picked up. Kate is made out to be the heroine of the story so she can use it in her legal case. She also needs Aaron to be her baby so that no one asks what happened to the mother. The press tries poking holes in the story, but everyone basically sticks to it.

As we saw earlier in the season, however, the story and the lies has gotten to each of the survivors’ conscience in the future (except it seems Sun, who has incidentally turned into a ruthless corporate big-shot and purchased the controlling share in her father’s company). They have to lie to protect their friends back on the island from Mr. Widmore, but living a lie is the worst way to live. See: Jack’s penchant for bears and booze and vicadin.

Back in real-time on the Island meanwhile, the helicopter returns loaded with angry mercenaries out for Ben’s blood and whoever else might be in their way. Frank the Pilot attempts to warn the people on the beach to steer clear of the camouflaged menaces he is shuttling back to the island by dropping a backpack with a tracking device in it. This would be like trying to warn me to stay away from Wrigley Field by dropping a bacon-wrapped bleachers ticket in my DQ Butterfinger Blizzard. Nice one, Lapidus.

Jack and Kate find Myles the Ghost Whisperer and Sawyer walking through the jungle with Aaron and no Claire. She’s walked off in the middle of the night and was last seen cold chillin’ in Jacob’s cabin with Christian Shepard (who, btw, looks fantastic for a dead dude). Sawyer and Jack end up going after the copter to see what’s what.

On the beach, Sayid returns in his dingy to start ferrying beach-dwellers back to the boat where he left Desmond the Great. Faraday tells him that Jack and Kate are off in the jungle looking for the copter (which they think Sayid might be in), so Sayid sets off to bring them back to the beach and to the boat. As he’s leaving however, Kate comes out of the jungle and says she’s going back with him to find her two main men.

Somewhere in the jungle, the Three Magi of Hurley, Locke, and Ben are heading towards The Orchid to “move the island” which Ben says is “dangerous and unpredictable….a measure of last resort.” Ben does some Boy Scout tomfoolery with a mirror to warn The Others (remember them?) who apparently have been waiting on a cliff somewhere for that moment when a reflection from a mirror lets them know that it is “so on.” What a patient bunch these Others. What was the contingency plan for if someone’s wristwatch sent the wrong ray in the wrong direction and prematurely caught the right person’s eye?

Eventually the threesome finds their way to the Orchid which for the time being is heavily guarded by the mercenaries (who were told ahead of time by Widmore that if things went haywire on the island, Linus would bolt for the Orchid). Ben’s plan to lure the guards away for Locke to be able to move the island is to give himself up to the soldiers. Jack and Sawyer stumble upon Frank the Pilot who’s been chained to his chariot and he fills them in on the situation with the Orchid. The two of them go after Hurley. Sayid and Kate, who are tracking Jack and Sawyer, get picked up by The Others who have been called by Ben’s mirror magic.

By now the first wave of beach-dwellers have reached the boat and Desmond is trying to figure out what is being “broadcasted” from somewhere on the boat that is not allowing the new captain (old one got shot in the chest earlier) to use his equipment needed to see the reef if the freighter is to go any closer to the island. That “something” is a bomb the size of Buick that (we learn later) has been a “dead-man’s trigger” hooked up to the heartbeat of Keamy. If and when Keamy dies, the boat will explode. Widmore ordered this so that even if Keamy fails his mission, no one will be able to get back and tell the world what has gone on and who is involved.

In one of the episode’s other flash-forwards, after speaking at his dad’s wake, Jack learns for the first time that his dad was two-timing with an Aussie who happened to be Claire’s mum. We’ve known the two are Luke and Leia-related for a while, but Jack looks like he could use a drink and to stay away from a razor for a while after hearing the news. As if the guy with the Savior Complex needed more emotional food on his already-crammed plate. (Side note: the actress who played Claire’s mum was so wretched with her accent that she made me want to cut my ears off so I’d never have to hear her again.)

Part 1 ends with all the different groups around and on the island moving like pieces on a chessboard to the positions for the final act (Part 2). The people on the boat are trying to figure out what to do about a bomb with a radio-controlled trigger. The Others, with captured Sayid and Kate in-tow are moving to go attempt a rescue mission to get Ben back from the soldiers. Jack and Sawyer are on the move to find Hurley. Poetry in motion.


Parts 2 and 3 of “No Place Like Home”:

Ben’s plan (and the reason for all the mirror magic) is to get himself captured by Keamy and the soldiers where then the Others will attack out of nowhere (with the help of Sayid and Kate who they bump into in the jungle and promise to let them go if they will help free Ben by creating a diversion). This all actually works and Ben sets Kate and Sayid free on their way.

Jack and Sawyer, who have been looking for Hurley now at this point, find the Orchid where Locke and Hugo are hanging out. Here we witness one of the pivotal, defining moments of the entire series. The discussion between Locke and Jack, Man of Science vs. Man of Faith, is important to the actual story taking place, but also speaks volumes to the underlying themes of the show since Season One. As usual, Jack wants nothing to do with Locke and his mystical, child-like faith in things like the unseen, fate, destiny, higher powers, and purpose. Jack is a rationalist who feels that everything must be explained, can be explained, in quantifiable terms. Where Locke sees a miracle, Jack sees, at best, pure chance, random luck. Where Locke’s weakness can often be his tumultuous dependence on, and relationship with, faith, Jack is weak because he has none. Locke looks outside himself for guidance, Jack can’t look anywhere but inwards.

Among the fans of this show even there seems to be a similar tension. Some see the show as an interesting story with good character development that while it might contain elements of science fiction, they will be disappointed and turned off if there is supernatural answers for any of the island’s secrets. Others see it is as Locke might, the chance to indulge our imaginations in a drama about the deeper questions/mysteries/miracles of life vicariously through the interactions of these fascinating characters. I’m obviously more in the latter camp, but this doesn’t discredit or besmirch those who see it in the light of the former.

But this discussion between the two Alpha leaders of the Oceanic survivors is classic, vintage LOST at its best. Locke is so close to achieving what he believes is his destiny by following Jacob’s orders to “move the island” and asks Jack not to try and leave, to stay and accept that their fates led them to be on this special island. Metaphorically, during their conversation, the two of them literally stand on opposite sides of a giant pipe running through the greenhouse, as if we needed to be reminded how diametrically opposed these two are in most every way. In actuality, the two of them want the same thing: peace of mind. Locke wants to know that his life matters. Jack wants to know that he is a good person.

Locke wants Jack to stay, reminds him of all that has taken place for the two of them to be where they are at that moment. Locke says that if Jack leaves, the reality of Jack pushing aside such a clear call from destiny will eat away at the Good Doctor…until, as Locke puts it, “you decide to come back.” Show me your foreshadow.

But alas, Jack the Shepard leads his flock away from the Orchid as Ben appears, newly freed and determined to get this island moved ASAP. As he leaves, Locke tells Jack “you’re going to have to lie” in order to “protect the island.” Jack reminds Johnny Boy that it’s an island and doesn’t need protecting, to which Locke responds: “It’s not just an island. It’s a place miracles happen.”

Jack (angrily): There is no such as thing as a miracle
Locke (beaming from ear to ear): Well, we’ll just have to see which of us right.

The scene ends with Ben and Locke going down the elevator (looking mischievously like two kids about to tee-pee someone’s house) and Jack staring after them (looking like a kid who knows the other boys are about to have more fun but whose stubbornness won’t let him go and have a good time like boys ought to from time to time).

For the sake of time, I’ll quickly re-cap the rest of the action here and get to some theories for Season Five starting next week….

Off the island and in the future, Giant Walt comes to see Hurley in the Looney-bin and says that Jeremy Bentham has been to see him. Hurley keeps up the lie that Michael is stuck on the island still.

Back in PSI (present island time), Charlotte Staples Lewis and Myles decide to stay on the island, even after Faraday warns them of the direness of the situation. Myles says something about Charlotte “coming back to the island” as if this was her second time here. I put forward the theory last year when the introduced her character that in light of her name-sake’s Narnia series, and the theme in those books of young people coming back to Narnia after a while that in earth/human years is never the same as in Narnia years, that Charlotte had indeed been to the island before. Perhaps even as a baby…

On the boat, the bomb goes off, Jin is (we can assume) dead in the explosion, as well as Michael. The copter, which had been carrying the Oceanic Six, plus Sawyer (who whispers something to Kate and drops out due to weight constraints) heads back to the island after the explosion only to see it disappear in front of their eyes.

Locke and Ben had gone into the bosom of the Orchid Station, put a bunch of metallic objects in a room the orientation film had said not to put metallic objects in, blown a hole through the wall, Ben gave Locke a farewell pep talk as the new leader of the Others, and turned a giant wheel that created a white light (like the hatch implosion did in season two), and the island sunk beneath the waves. Everyone else is stuck on the island, save the Oceanic Six, Desmond, and Frank the Pilot (all of whom were picked up by Yes Penny’s Boat). The "pep talk" Ben gives to Locke is actually quite touching. These two men who at times have been mortal enemies realize that they have somehow made a connection with each other. Maybe its just from spending so much weird time together. Maybe its cause they could have been friends under different circumstances. Ben has seen Locke as a threat to his leadership and power. Locke has seen Ben as someone who can help him find his destiny perhaps, but who has been less-than-helpful (and shot him in the gut). The handshake between them was a weird blend of emotions for the two of them, and all of us.

We end in the future, where Jack has returned to the funeral parlor to finally unveil who was in the coffin at the end of season three. Jeremy Bentham = John Locke. Bentham was a philosopher who influenced Locke heavily in his thinking and writing.

So Locke is dead, off the island. Ben creepily (as always) walks in on Jack and says that they ALL need to go back to the island. Claire had appeared to Kate and said not to come back and not to bring “him” back. (Aaron, we presume, is the “him” in that sentence…but here’s an interesting theory from Doc Jensen at Entertainment Weekly that says otherwise.) Dead Charlie also told Hurley to tell Jack not to raise “him.” (Again, likely Aaron.)

Quite a fantastic end to season four. Many shocking moments. Some questions answered, but more are created. We know there are only 32 episodes left so the end is in sight so enjoy them. I’ll keep up on weekly posts after each new episode this season and all of us at John Locke’s Pants would like to thank you for your patience and participation. We just do it for the kids, ya know?

Here are a few closing thoughts and theories to wet your whistle:

-The whole scene in the Orchid with Locke and Ben is pretty mind-blowing. The Orchid you might remember was shown in that You Tube-released video with the rabbits appearing out of nowhere and the Namaste-dude form the orientation films yelling to turn off the camera. Obviously there is time-traveling going on here. They have figured out how to harness the power of the island and Dharma had been using it run tests on time travel (like Faraday at Oxford). Ben turns a wheel that looks to me like the kind on an old ship (maybe the Black Rock) that would raise or lower the anchor. Ben warned it was unpredictable and dangerous to move the island, and I think when he put his coat on before going down the hole where the wheel was and said he was going “somewhere cold” that he wasn’t just talking about the room where the wheel was. I think he put the coat on in case he turned it an ended up somewhere crazy like the mountains where Penny had those scientists monitoring electromagnetic waves at the end of Season Two.

-Continuing that line of thought, Ben ends up in Tunisia looking perplexed at where he is, and even needs to get his bearings at the counter of the hotel. He’s been there before, but not for a while, he says to the clerk. He had his secret room full of passports and a hidden door leading to somewhere that can call-up the Smokey Monster thing. Maybe it also leads to wherever it is the people on the island transport themselves back to the real world from. See, I’m not convinced that they actually use that submarine. I think the ones that go back and forth use time traveling and Ben is a frequent flier on that time-plane. Maybe I’m wrong or maybe the submarine was/is real but they can also time travel (or maybe just Ben can/does).

-We will see the submarine again. Locke didn’t blow it up because the Man of Faith wanted to leave himself an “out” should things get weird(er) on the island and he wants to split. Maybe that’s even what he used to come off the island in the future as Jeremy Bentham? That, or he was booted off the island like Ben was. Jack says to Ben in the future that Locke told him that “bad things started to happen” after the Oceanic Six left. Maybe Locke the Chosen One screwed up and got voted off the island?

-Read some of Doc Jensen's thoughts from Entertainment Weekly here. Some pretty good stuff.

-Ben obviously knows what has to be done to get back to the island, which would explain his coming and going with the passports. Part of me thinks that it is all a set-up and Ben let all this happen so that he could return to his demoralized Others-troops with the Oceanic Six and Locke’s body (he so better come back to life). Kind of an “I’m teaching you Others a lesson that my authority isn’t to be questioned and you can’t run things without me” sort of thing. But then the look on Ben’s face when he is moving the island wheel is almost unmistakably one of someone who is pissed/sad/terrified that he has to be the one turning that wheel. He says, “I hope you’re happy, Jacob,” as he is turning the wheel in fact. Sounds like someone who is actually being punished and not just setting people up to me.

-Sun is teaming up with Widmore to hunt Ben down who she blames, along with Jack, for her husband’s death on the boat. She will be a “bad girl” for a while I bet and on Widmore’s side but will eventually come around when she finds out Jin is actually alive on the island. Seeing how Ben and Jack convince Sun and the rest of the Oceanic Six (and we presume Desmond and Frank) to go back will be riveting I’m sure, especially in lieu of Sun’s feisty attitude.

-In the Orchid scene with Locke and Ben, the orientation film talks about the Casmir Effect of the island. Read more about that here. Ben tells Locke that the Dharma people had been doing “silly little experiments” in that station. It seems that so much of what Dharma was doing was considered by the Others to be silly and even evil, hence the Purge. Keamy comes down the elevator and taunts Ben who proceeds to stab him, knowing full well that he has just killed everyone on the boat. Ben, in response to this fact, says “So?” Pretty cold-hearted and evil if you ask me. Ben has said on previous occasions that the Others are the “good guys”, but when he gets mad at people he kills them without discretion. The whole mystery of whether it will be Widmore or Ben who ends up being the “good guy” (or if either of them are) is going to capture a lot of story-line I’d wager in these last two seasons. The scene from this season where Ben and Widmore talk in Widmore’s apartment conveys that these two are obviously enemies but weren’t at one time. Maybe Widmore used to be the leader on the island and Ben took his place? Maybe Widmore and Ben were the “Man of Science v. Man of Faith” duo before Locke and Jack?

-I still think that some of the Others, the ones who do not age (like Richard Alpert), have been on the island for a long time and perhaps were crewmembers on the Black Rock when it crashed and now they are cursed to the island and age slowly or not at all. I know its out there, but the cargo pockets in my John Locke’s Pants are filled with mind-altering drugs that I used to cure Charlie and see Boone in my sweat lodge, so it might be the meds talking.

-Charlotte will turn out to have been born on the island, and is the love child of Ben and his first love, Annie, who we saw playing with a young Ben on the island when he first moved there.

-An extra feature on Season Four DVDs is that they show all the 2-minute mobisodes that were released last summer. I believe they are called “Missing Pieces” and feature more than a dozen sections of the show that we have not yet previously seen. They are worth checking out, but one in particular I found fascinating. It shows that infamous Room 23 that Karl was being brainwashed in back in Season Three. Juliet and Ben are standing outside of it and she tells Ben that Walt is “doing it again” and is a dangerous kid. Ben doesn’t buy it and she takes him outside where we see the window for Room 23 boarded up and about 20 dead birds lying beneath it. Ben looks shocked at the sight himself. If you remember, in Season One we see Walt in Australia with his mom and her fiancée and he looks at a picture of a bird that he wants to see and suddenly that bird appears and smashes itself against the window Walt is sitting by. We know Walt is special, but not sure to what extent and what exactly that even means. But whatever it is, even Ben is weirded out by it and the Others were willing to let him go after wanting him badly enough to take him off the raft from his father.

-When Sawyer whispered to Kate on the helicopter, he told her to go find his daughter Clementine and look after her. That is whom Kate is talking to when Jack walks in and becomes suspicious. She doesn’t want to tell Jack because she promised Sawyer and because it’s a TV show and it always adds drama to not just tell someone the problem and solve it right there.

-The dead people who appear off the island (i.e. Charlie, Mr. Eko, Jack’s dad) all have their bodies still on the island. I think the Smokey Monster is what is appearing and messing with them, telling them to come back. Maybe the barrier that separates Island-world from Real-world is gone or weakening due to the “move” and now Jacob or the Smokey Monster or whatever the Island’s power is can travel to the real world where before it couldn’t. But then again, Michael wasn’t able to kill himself until his task was done, even back in the real world before the island moved so maybe that power to influence the real world was there all along for Jacob/Smokey/the Island.

-If you guys/gals have any theories on the island moving, please post them in the comments section. For a while I thought maybe it went to the opposite side of the planet, that the anchor-looking wheel Ben turns un-moored the island and it got sucked through to the other side of the planet. Not so sure about that any more. I’m sticking to the anchor theory, but maybe the island doesn’t move in place, but in time. Maybe they’ve gone back to the future and Doc and Marty are hatching some scheme at the Under the Sea dance. Who knows? But regardless, I’d love to hear your thinking on the matter.


And with that, we close out the long-anticipated re-cap for the finale for Season Four. Sorry it took so long. Thanks for reading. If you’re going to eat ranch out of a giant Dharma tub, always remember to bring plenty of leaves. .


Love,
Jeremy Bentham’s Trousers