Lost: Two Episodes 5X11 and 12

[spicedogs]

 

First of all, let me tell you that I was never a Kate fan. Her flip-flop attitude towards her love affairs was not up my alley. So, I always cringed when a Katecentric episode was due. Episode 5X11: Whatever Happened, Happened is a Katecentric episode that I found a joy to watch. It was about a Kate that I never knew—a Kate who was warm, caring, and selfless. Could that be possible? Obviously, yes.

Whatever happened to Kate? 

Whatever happened, happened is not just about Kate, but it is also about showing us that no matter what, you can’t change the past. I find it difficult to accept the way LOST is introducing time travel. Were the Oceanic 6 really influential in the DHARMA Initiative? Can their future be based on the past that they affected before their physical birth? Eloise Hawkins always talked about course correction. According to Eloise, you cannot change your destiny. No matter how hard you try, there will always be a course correction. If you were meant to die, you will die. We learned that with Charlie Pace. No matter how hard Desmond tried to save Charlie, he died. There was a course correction. Hence, I think that the Oceanic 6 were not the meant to be in the 70s. They are there to show us what the island was like back then. Ben was shot down by someone at some point and he was revived by the island. He became the Ben Linus, the adult. Ironically, Jack could have stopped the Ben Linus from becoming the Ben Linus we meet in Season 3. But by refusing to do the surgery, by refusing to fix Ben, and by refusing to let Ben live, Jack created the “monster” he will later encounter in the future. Once again, there was some course correction. Destiny cannot be altered. Whatever happened, happened. What’s to be, will be.

Can it possible that the creators are listening to the fans? The quadrangle is being dropped. Cassidy informs Kate that Sawyer broke her heart by jumping off the helicopter. It was not a selfless act; it was a selfish act. He wanted to run away from a life with Kate. Oh, please! It’s a good argument to end that relationship once and for all. Kate will move on from Sawyer. Sawyer actually confesses that he grew up and he and Juliet were actually made for each other. So this end is over. Juliet is angry at Jack for actually not doing his job to save a child’s life. So, now that romance is over. Kate returned to the island to find Claire. She had a purpose. It was not Jack, it was not Sawyer. She came back to bring a mother back to her child. I think once she lost Aaron was when Kate realized her true purpose. She was to return to the island to reunite mother and child. I finally learned to like Kate.

 Ben and His Sin

 Ben claims to have returned to be judged by Smoky. John Locke is awfully determined to make sure that Ben gets judged. If dead is dead, then John Locke and Christian Shepherd are dead. This makes sense to me. The John Locke that is now in front of Ben is not the old John—the bumbling fool, who feels the island’s command but knows not how to follow it. This John is aware of how to accomplish what he sets out to do. And as I said earlier, this John is quite determined in making sure that Ben gets judged. I believe that this John is really a reincarnation of the smoke monster. Smoky judges Ben and lets him survive. He shows up to Ben in the form of Alex and orders Ben that if he wants to continue living, he’ll have to obey John. Ben promises to obey, but I wonder how long it will last. What if it was John who showed up in the form of Smoky to judge Ben.

 From what we have seen of Ben’s past, he has not been a bad person. Ordered to kill Danielle, he finds it that he cannot do it. She’s a mother. He cannot kill a mother. He does steal the baby from her. He knew that the baby would be better off with him. Ben’s defiance and disobedience is not well received by Charles Widmore. I don’t know who died and made Charles Widmore the leader, but Richard Alpert certainly does not answer to him or to Ellie Hawkins. He said so himself.

 But then again, Charles is one day banished from the island. He disobeyed the rules by having a child with an outsider. It seems that if you are a member of the Others and have seen the inside of the Temple, you better not cohort with an outsider: A horrible way of keeping a religion alive. Ask the Zorastrians. Their religion is dying because they don’t accept outsiders.

 The big question is who is more evil, Ben or Charles? At this point, I think it is Charles. The man was full of ire when he was banished and practically wished the same fate on Ben. Did Charles get greedy and try to benefit off of the island? If that’s the case, then Ben did sacrifice anything for the island, including his daughter, who, in my opinion was not killed by Ben as both John and Charles claimed, but by Charles via Keamy. Someday, I hope that LOST will revisit Alex’s death.

 Another question is how on Earth did Ethan become an Other when he was born into the DHARMA Initiative? After all, his dad is Horace. Hopefully, we will see an answer to this question.

 Returning to Ben’s goodness, we find that Ben shows his inability to kill a mother once again when he encounters Penny Widmore. He is ready to shoot her, but once he finds out that she is a mother, he is no longer capable of going on with his plan. Ben is not evil. Ben just took on as his destiny the work of keeping the island safe. His one and only mistake was to allow Keamy to kill Alex. I am still bothered by the statement Ben uttered as Keamy shot Alex: “He changed the rules.” What rules and who changed them? Have the powers to be forgotten that in episode 4X09: The Shape of Things to Come, Ben uttered that statement?

 What Lies in the Shadow of the Statue? 

Who is Ilana and her men? What are they after? They are going to be the next enemy, I’m sure.

 Anubis and the Smoke monster

 I know nothing about Egyptology, but it seems to me that these two characters may not be friendly towards each other. Could it be Locke is now either Anubis or the Smoky and the same is true for Christian Shepherd? After all dead is dead.

Comments

[boheme06.livejournal.com]

I can't stand when writers listen to fans too much, but sometimes it makes the show less cringe-worthy. Although Supernatural is a great example of what happens when the writers listen too much.

So the Walt that visited Locke when he was trapped-- that was Smokey, do you think?

My Egyptology is shaky, but Anubis is the god of the dead, except not only does he guide people to the underworld, he is like a "patron saint" of mourning. So basically Hades. But his mythology background is more like Hercules. He was the son of the god of the underworld who was tricked into sleeping with the wife of another god. I think he's associated with resentment or grief for that reason.

[shalimar77777.livejournal.com]

One thing is certain. This nice Ben will not last. Oh, he'll be okay for a while. But if Locke is not dead, I bet Ben tries to kill him again. I don't see Ben being subservient for long. XD

[irenni.livejournal.com]

You`re right. Subservience is not in his nature at all.
And he always has a plan! :)

[irenni.livejournal.com]

Yes, I absolutely agree with you about Kate.

I`ve loved her from the season 1, but than I was fed up with her and Sawyer-Jack `love`. After `Whatever...` I felt more sympathetic towards her, and I cried with her when she had to leave Aaron..

Maybe Ethan was `special` or `choosen` too.
Or he had deep disagreement with Horace as teenagers usually have with their fathers...
I think, there is a considerable reason for him leaving Dharma, and we`ll see it soon.

I was very impressed by Ben being so sensitive and symphathetic towards children and mothers... He was, he was a tender-hearted untill the island made him other.
Everything he did, he did for the island. For the island, that ruined his life, made it miserable and didn`t leave any choice.