Jack just gave Juliet his high school ring and they are so totally going steady now! Now Jack’s got to break the news to Kate and tell her he isn’t taking her to the prom.
I think Cooper/Locke’s evil daddy is a product of the black smoke. I just don’t buy the “Magic Box aka We kidnapped him and brought him to the island in less than 3 days” explanation given by Ben. I think Ben and Co. probably have a way to control and manipulate it. It fooled Ecko, remember? Doesn’t explain how Sawyer was able to kill him though…
I have to admit I’m back on the love train with Lost. I’m a former Not Enough Answers complainer but I think they’ve given us just enough to keep us coming back for more. Basically. Lost is like TV crack to me.
Also, in the preview for next week did I see
military TRUCKS on the beach? Or did I just completely imagine that split-second scene?
Assuming CJJ* is spot on, I believe Juliet and others (Batmanuel for example) would also be aware of the dynamics. The scriptwriters could insert a scene where a couple of the Others actually talked to each other and revealed their suspicions. Or Juliet could’ve said something on-screen to Jack. Or…
There are numerous ways the writers could allude to the Locke-Ben struggle for power.
I picture a season finale that resembles the end of Caddyshack. Big tense moment between Locke and Ben going on when all of the sudden everything starts exploding ala the gopher. All done to the tune of the 1812 Overture.
Well, but I’d argue that most of the things described in CJJ’s* analysis have been shown.
We know that Ben’s hold on leadership is tenuous and precarious; he’s said so himself, at least once but possibly more, and we’ve seen Juliet and now Batmanuel going behind his back working toward ends of their own.
We saw the reactions of the other Others to Locke - how they looked at him almost reverentially, how they were so tremendously excited to have him around. We know that the Others used to talk about Ben in similarly reverential tones.
Putting together #1 and #2, it is not at all hard to imagine that Ben sees Locke as a potential usurper. But we’ve been shown how narrow the tightrope on which Ben walks really is. Remember Ben outlining the problem with the deal he made with Jack? - That he couldn’t just kill Jack, because that would make him look treacherous, but he couldn’t let Jack go, because that would make him look weak? We know that Ben has to deal with threats to his power very carefully - and creatively.
We further know that killing Locke could be problematic for Ben even if he wants to, given that Ben, at least, seems to think proximity to Locke is helping him (Ben) heal from his surgery.
We have been shown repeatedly that Ben has a not infalliable but fairly reliable ability to predict what other people will do. From that we could easily extrapolate that he knew Locke wouldn’t kill Cooper, or at least was reasonably comfortable with assuming Locke wouldn’t.
He nonetheless showed disappointment when talking to the other Others - “He’s not who we thought he was.” Well, if Ben already knew Locke wouldn’t kill Cooper, Ben never thought Locke was that person in the first place. His saying what he said to the Others could only be an attempt at manipulation. Then we get Batmanuel up on the hill, essentially confirming this impression.
So what more do you need? Granted, a few of the connections between these points have not been explicitly stated. We haven’t had Batmanuel and Other #34 having a whispered conversation, all Ben fears Locke because everyone thinks Locke is some kind of messianic figure, so Ben set Locke up to not kill his father so that everyone would be disappointed and reject Locke as a potential leader.
But if we had seen that, it would have been awful storytelling. The first rule of drama is show, don’t tell. Awkward, out-of-place conversations whose only purpose is to provide expositions on the connections between events that aren’t that hard to puzzle out in the first place makes viewing the story utterly passive, which in turn reduces audience investment in the story.
I think they’ve handled this dynamic perfectly, without resorting to cheap expository tricks.
I can definitely see where the writers might make Locke the new “Chief Other”. I don’t think anything would suit Locke more than being in charge of The Island (to the extent The Others are in charge of The Island). OTOH, his character does seem to be fatally flawed, and they just might be setting him up for a big fall.
Of course, we may eventually see The Others going to their secret place of worship-- a temple with a giant statue of Hurley sitting in lotus position. Who knows where the writers are going to take the storyline…
Sorry for the obscure movie reference, but so as to avoid a spoiler to the ending of a movie completely unrelated to Lost, read the spoiler at your own risk:
Locke’s father’s head, playing the role of Gwenyth Paltrow in Se7en
Also, I think we’re all taking things that the others have said a little too much at face value, as far as whether Ben is or is not losing influence. It would be totally in character for everything anyone has ever said along those lines to have been totally part of some big Ben-initiated mindfuck. Which is part of the problem of having a character like Ben… much like with the shapeshifter on Heroes, even when the writers are trying to be straightforward, we don’t ever trust anything. “The guy giving the folder to Locke was going behind Ben’s back… or WAS he?” Etc.
I have this nagging feeling that Ben was able to walk much sooner than he indicated to Locke, and he’s just using Locke’s self-assumed special-ness to manipulate him. “You can’t trust a word he says,” and all that.
But I’d hardly regard some reveal of this dynamic as a “cheap trick”. There are viewers like me who while loyal, are not deeply enough involved to figure all this out. I’m simply wandering around the surface enjoying the environment, not excavating under the surface to find the hidden treasures.
This viewer would like a little less subtleness, and a little more forthrightness. I think it would make the story even more interesting.
I truly don’t know if Locke can successfully challenge Ben; my impression so far is that Locke has only a vague notion of the impending conflict. He certainly has reason to fear such a conflict–Ben has out-manipulated him repeatedly–but Locke’s development over this season (as opposed to his bumbling in the first two seasons) has seen him making better choices and being a better leader.
The submarine incident–where Locke indirectly helped Ben deal with the apparent problem Ben faced in allowing Jack to leave the island–is the grand exception. However, Locke was already determined to destroy the sub before Ben realized he could use it to his advantage, so it’s at least arguable who was manipulating whom there.
I personally agree with storyteller0910 that less is more, and that implying and foreshadowing a dramatic conflict is a much more interesting and engaging approach. I don’t really think it takes much more than a surface watching of the show to come to the obvious dramatic conclusions; the message boards IMO are for arguing the details.
I looked back and saw that you indeed made a similar point to mine in about the fourth response of your post. I apologize if it looks like I stole your idea; I only skimmed the earlier posts, and frankly I thought my own theory was so obvious from the context of the show that my post was intended only to point out the details that supported it.
Who knows where the writers are going to take the storyline…