Published at 10:00 AM on February 26, 2009

Lost Review:
"The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" (Episode 5.07)

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Lost slowed down again last night with "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham," focusing only on John Locke's life, and finally, his death.

While the story was interesting, and obviously needed to be told, the episode was a little slow. It rewound to the characters' former lives—Sayid, Kate and Jack with their respective struggles and Hurley with his flannel bathrobe and padded walls. After watching them plop from the sky and back onto the island, it was almost yawn-inducing to see Jack and Kate struggling with their faith in Locke's message again. Kate brought up an interesting point in saying, "I think about how desperate you were to stay on that island, and then I realized, it was all because you didn't love anybody." However, bringing Helen back into the mix felt like old news, and I was unconvinced that her memory would have driven John to suicide, especially when he has the island's best interest to look after. Of course, he felt like a failure at bringing people back as well.

But "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" did introduce Mr. Widmore in a completely new light. Up until this episode, we knew Ben and Widmore hated each other, and we knew Ben probably was not the "good guy," but we did not know that Mr. Widmore might be barely trustworthy. Each constantly paints the other in the vilest of terms, so it's difficult to know who is the least of two evils, or if there is one. What seems more likely is that they're each deeply wound up in this power-grab and manipulate the characters into thinking the other is worse than himself, so that they'll fear that other side. The repercussions of this control play are exploded with Mr. Widmore's loaded statement that there will be a war. And if Jack and crew aren't back on the island, he says, "The wrong side will win." Of course, the wrong side for Widmore might just be the right side for everyone else.

Ben becomes a shade darker with his gruesome murder of Locke in this episode. However, it's tough to say why he killed him at this point; did he murder him so everyone would go back to the island, or was Locke's death even necessary for that? Did he just want Locke out of the way so that he could become leader once again? Is that why he got on the plane, even though he said many times that he could never go back?

As the lines are drawn, it's tough not to see Ben and Widmore facing off in Spider-Man suits, one red and blue, the other black. But which is which? Or are they both evil dopplegangers, parasitically feeding off of each other's need to control the island, time, and possibly the world?

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