Lost 1.19: "Deux ex Machina"
Written by Cartleton Cuse and Damon Lindelof
Directed by Robert Mandel
In which Locke begins to experience his old paralysis without warning, but a prophetic dream sends him and Boone onto a trek into the jungle, where one of them is gravely injured…
Status Report
After a wait that felt like forever (even after the hiatus was shortened by a few weeks with little warning), “Lost” returns with a Locke-centric episode that begins to pay off a few character threads that have been lingering for quite some time. The writers continue to execute a brilliant balancing act between answering questions and introducing new ones. For those with an eye only for plot, this had to be a frustrating episode. But for those still in love with the deep character development on this series, this was a keeper.
Certainly this episode sets a few plot threads into motion, but unlike some series, where the plot dictates the choices of the characters, everything that happens in the next episode is directly related to Locke’s psychology in this episode. And while the writers could have taken the easy road, this episode presents an incredibly complex and psychologically damaged man in place of the confident and wise shamanic figure that Locke has become to most of the survivors.
There’s a sense, from the beginning of this episode, that this has been a long time coming. Locke placed himself in a position of semi-authority from the beginning, and it’s not hard to understand why. In “Walkabout”, Locke was presented as a broken man granted a miracle, someone who had every reason to advocate the concept of “tabula rasa”. This episode begins to explain why Locke slipped down that path, and why he needs to feel a sense of importance within a structured, meaningful universe.
Locke found himself abandoned to a foster care situation that left him feeling unwanted and possibly unloved. Even so, as the beginning of the episode demonstrates, Locke was not an outwardly negative individual. He wasn’t enormously successful, either, but he seemed to be content with his place in the world. It was the callous actions of his parents that appears to have been the trigger. It’s possible that he felt a sense of universal entitlement before his parents betrayed him, but it wasn’t something at the forefront of his mind.
What’s worse is that the audience knows, from the beginning, that Locke is going to be the unwitting victim of an elaborate trap. He’s just too naïve to realize it. By giving the audience all the clues necessary to recognize that Locke is walking into the trap, the focus shifts to the nature of the manipulation. In a way, this leaves the end of the episode with an air of inevitability. But since the audience knows that Locke will be paralyzed at some point, there’s the expectation that this situation with his parents will explain how that happened.
If Locke’s history prior to the flashback in this episode is still unclear, one thing is certain: the betrayal he experiences is the beginning of a harrowing, long-term breakdown. Locke begins to develop an intense control issue. He doesn’t want anyone to dictate what he can or cannot do. He doesn’t want to feel powerless. And above all, he feels an intense need for validation. His miraculous recovery upon arrival at the island must have felt like the ultimate answer to every indignity.
From the beginning, Locke embraced the concept of the island as a unique consciousness, a higher power. It would have been easy for the writers to reveal, quite simply, that Locke was rather insane for assuming that random events and discoveries were part of some greater purpose. However, quite apart from Locke, the audience has been privy to the odd coincidences that speak to something more than random chance. On top of the predictions about Claire’s baby and the “power” of the numbers, there’s now the prophetic dream that Locke experiences.
This doesn’t contradict the possibility that the transmissions from the island utilize a carrier wave that brings about an altered state, as theorized in the review for the previous episode. If anything, it adds to the evidence supporting such a theory. Claire also had dreams that were apparently prophetic in nature, according to her diary, and that suggests that certain people with potential psychic ability are more easily swayed by the effect caused by whatever is on the island.
Psychologically speaking, from Locke’s point of view, it wouldn’t be an unusual leap from an altered, expanded consciousness to the assumption of a higher power facilitating that altered state. And indeed, it still hasn’t been ruled out that the island is home to some God-like higher power. In terms of this episode, the implication is that Locke has only assumed that his experience on the island is the result of some higher-order manipulation, and that he could be very mistaken. As already mentioned, this makes Locke far more dangerous to the other survivors, because many of them have accepted Locke in his self-appointed shamanic role.
The questions surrounding Locke take him out of the typical “good” or “evil” categories. Locke is clearly neither. He’s simply a human being with psychological baggage. If he has an agenda, it’s the product of his own assumptions about what “the island wants”. When he acts towards the goal of opening up someone’s eyes to the possibilities of a “clean slate” or what he perceives to be the “will of the island”, there’s nothing sinister intended. Nor is it necessarily a good thing, if taken too far.
This episode is a perfect example of that. Locke believes that he is meant to open the hatch, and everything that he does becomes subservient to that imperative. He lies and deceives if he believes it necessary to that goal. Similarly, he has come to believe that Boone is meant to be involved as well, no matter the cost. The results are, as one would expect, tragic. Boone is in critical condition on an island where medical supplies are scarce. Locke’s understanding of his place in the intended order of things is shaken. And of course, there’s still the little matter of Claire’s baby, which is apparently coming into the picture very soon.
One can’t help but wonder if the writers intended the Jack/Sawyer subplot as a reminder that there’s only one doctor on the island, and he’s lucky to have fresh water to work with. So far, major accidents have been few and far between. But at this point, it’s going to become a serious issue. Locke’s medical status is not even remotely clear, Boone is apparently dying, and once Claire goes into labor, someone is going to have to be there throughout the process. It’s more than Jack can easily handle, even with Sun covering where she can.
As the writers have pointed out on more than one occasion, the survivors have been largely fortunate to this point. Sooner or later, the luck is going to run out. Part of the brilliance of the writing is how situations arise organically over time. Character conflicts simmer until they explode. If the writers have been planning out a general season arc, and if they are now pushing over all the dominoes they’ve erected over the course of the season thus far, then they are also intelligently ensuring that the triggered events take place in a logical progression.
With medical issues coming to the fore, it could have some interesting implications in terms of Jack’s leadership role. One of the reasons that Locke has been granted something of a shamanic status is his appearance of superior survival skills. Similarly, Jack has given everyone the impression that he can handle situations as they arise. If the intersection of so many medical crises overwhelms Jack and his resources, the rest of the survivors could subconsciously begin questioning his leadership role.
This episode deepens the complicated “love triangle” between Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. Kate gets Jack involved because she genuinely cares about Sawyer’s welfare. As seen in “Outlaws”, the two of them have a lot in common, not the least of which is their stubborn inability to open up emotionally to others. At the same time, if Kate is currently leaning towards Sawyer, it’s still looking like Jack will eventually win her heart. As noted in previous reviews, this continues to suggest that Kate and her struggle to decide between the two men will be a metaphor for the struggle all the survivors feel between “embracing the will of the island” and remaining stuck in old patterns.
Sawyer, on the other hand, continues to hold firm to his introverted self-interest. If he wasn’t the one in pain, he still would have avoided Jack like the plague. As it was, he only accepted Jack’s help under a bit of social duress. For once, Jack appeared to be playing on a level playing field with Sawyer, and the interplay between the two of them was amusing, to say the least. The inevitable showdown between Jack and Sawyer, probably related to Kate and her character’s future, will likely come into play later in the season.
Among the remaining characters, Boone is the only one to play a major role in this episode. At first, Boone seemed to be Locke’s somewhat fanatical acolyte, but as the days have passed and Locke’s mystique has faded, Boone has become the voice to Locke’s internal doubts. Boone has every right to question Locke and his choices, but at the same time, it feeds into Locke’s assumptions that the survivors shouldn’t question what the island seems to want them to do.
Metaphorically, Boone also gives Locke the chance to be the kind of father figure that he always wanted to have in his own life. This episode goes a long way towards explaining why Locke chose to guide and foster Jack as a leader, and why he has chosen Boone as his apprentice. He wants to believe that Boone can see and understand what the island wants as well as he can. Unaware of why Boone remained in the plane, Locke is left with an immense guilt over Boone’s medical condition.
The other characters remain in the background or make minor appearances. Charlie and Claire have nothing to do with this episode. Sayid only gets involved when it comes to making Sawyer his glasses. Shannon doesn’t have a thing to do, and Hurley gets one line, however priceless it might have been. Michael and Jin continue to make progress on a new raft; what Walt thinks of that is left unspoken. Sun continues to work on agriculture, which could become important in the future.
The end of the episode is begging for speculation. Was that light from within the hatch a sign of habitation? Or was it some kind of automatic response? It would be a major revelation for Locke to discover that the island is inhabited and that the survivors (of all groups) have been under observation. This adds another layer to all the theories: what if the experiment that started everything, perhaps going back to decades, is still ongoing? What if the survivors are unwitting subjects of the experiment (or more broadly, everyone affected by the “numbers” and associated psychic phenomenon)? Now that someone might be looking for the survivors of Oceanic 815, will that only cause another incident, adding fresh survivors to the island?
While there are certainly transitional elements to this episode, it is also a payoff for so much of what has happened with Locke since the beginning of the season. The writers are approaching the series from a character-centric position, and as such, the story doesn’t break into an easily digestible plot structure. Character evolution is fluid, constantly moving from one state to another, sometimes moving backward without warning. When events are predicated on complex character interactions and choices, there’s no such thing as pure stability. The resolution of one mystery becomes the fertile breeding ground for new situations and consequences, thus creating new mysteries and questions. As this episode aptly demonstrates, when one comes to accept that concept, the brilliance of the series shines through.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was an interesting in-depth look into Locke’s psychology. The writers avoid the simplicity of a single interpretation of events by questioning Locke’s conclusions while continuing to provide reasons for them. While largely transitional in scope, Locke’s perspective is central to the world of the survivors, making this episode a critical step towards serious future consequences.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
Season Average (as of 1.19): 7.9
Directed by Robert Mandel
In which Locke begins to experience his old paralysis without warning, but a prophetic dream sends him and Boone onto a trek into the jungle, where one of them is gravely injured…
Status Report
After a wait that felt like forever (even after the hiatus was shortened by a few weeks with little warning), “Lost” returns with a Locke-centric episode that begins to pay off a few character threads that have been lingering for quite some time. The writers continue to execute a brilliant balancing act between answering questions and introducing new ones. For those with an eye only for plot, this had to be a frustrating episode. But for those still in love with the deep character development on this series, this was a keeper.
Certainly this episode sets a few plot threads into motion, but unlike some series, where the plot dictates the choices of the characters, everything that happens in the next episode is directly related to Locke’s psychology in this episode. And while the writers could have taken the easy road, this episode presents an incredibly complex and psychologically damaged man in place of the confident and wise shamanic figure that Locke has become to most of the survivors.
There’s a sense, from the beginning of this episode, that this has been a long time coming. Locke placed himself in a position of semi-authority from the beginning, and it’s not hard to understand why. In “Walkabout”, Locke was presented as a broken man granted a miracle, someone who had every reason to advocate the concept of “tabula rasa”. This episode begins to explain why Locke slipped down that path, and why he needs to feel a sense of importance within a structured, meaningful universe.
Locke found himself abandoned to a foster care situation that left him feeling unwanted and possibly unloved. Even so, as the beginning of the episode demonstrates, Locke was not an outwardly negative individual. He wasn’t enormously successful, either, but he seemed to be content with his place in the world. It was the callous actions of his parents that appears to have been the trigger. It’s possible that he felt a sense of universal entitlement before his parents betrayed him, but it wasn’t something at the forefront of his mind.
What’s worse is that the audience knows, from the beginning, that Locke is going to be the unwitting victim of an elaborate trap. He’s just too naïve to realize it. By giving the audience all the clues necessary to recognize that Locke is walking into the trap, the focus shifts to the nature of the manipulation. In a way, this leaves the end of the episode with an air of inevitability. But since the audience knows that Locke will be paralyzed at some point, there’s the expectation that this situation with his parents will explain how that happened.
If Locke’s history prior to the flashback in this episode is still unclear, one thing is certain: the betrayal he experiences is the beginning of a harrowing, long-term breakdown. Locke begins to develop an intense control issue. He doesn’t want anyone to dictate what he can or cannot do. He doesn’t want to feel powerless. And above all, he feels an intense need for validation. His miraculous recovery upon arrival at the island must have felt like the ultimate answer to every indignity.
From the beginning, Locke embraced the concept of the island as a unique consciousness, a higher power. It would have been easy for the writers to reveal, quite simply, that Locke was rather insane for assuming that random events and discoveries were part of some greater purpose. However, quite apart from Locke, the audience has been privy to the odd coincidences that speak to something more than random chance. On top of the predictions about Claire’s baby and the “power” of the numbers, there’s now the prophetic dream that Locke experiences.
This doesn’t contradict the possibility that the transmissions from the island utilize a carrier wave that brings about an altered state, as theorized in the review for the previous episode. If anything, it adds to the evidence supporting such a theory. Claire also had dreams that were apparently prophetic in nature, according to her diary, and that suggests that certain people with potential psychic ability are more easily swayed by the effect caused by whatever is on the island.
Psychologically speaking, from Locke’s point of view, it wouldn’t be an unusual leap from an altered, expanded consciousness to the assumption of a higher power facilitating that altered state. And indeed, it still hasn’t been ruled out that the island is home to some God-like higher power. In terms of this episode, the implication is that Locke has only assumed that his experience on the island is the result of some higher-order manipulation, and that he could be very mistaken. As already mentioned, this makes Locke far more dangerous to the other survivors, because many of them have accepted Locke in his self-appointed shamanic role.
The questions surrounding Locke take him out of the typical “good” or “evil” categories. Locke is clearly neither. He’s simply a human being with psychological baggage. If he has an agenda, it’s the product of his own assumptions about what “the island wants”. When he acts towards the goal of opening up someone’s eyes to the possibilities of a “clean slate” or what he perceives to be the “will of the island”, there’s nothing sinister intended. Nor is it necessarily a good thing, if taken too far.
This episode is a perfect example of that. Locke believes that he is meant to open the hatch, and everything that he does becomes subservient to that imperative. He lies and deceives if he believes it necessary to that goal. Similarly, he has come to believe that Boone is meant to be involved as well, no matter the cost. The results are, as one would expect, tragic. Boone is in critical condition on an island where medical supplies are scarce. Locke’s understanding of his place in the intended order of things is shaken. And of course, there’s still the little matter of Claire’s baby, which is apparently coming into the picture very soon.
One can’t help but wonder if the writers intended the Jack/Sawyer subplot as a reminder that there’s only one doctor on the island, and he’s lucky to have fresh water to work with. So far, major accidents have been few and far between. But at this point, it’s going to become a serious issue. Locke’s medical status is not even remotely clear, Boone is apparently dying, and once Claire goes into labor, someone is going to have to be there throughout the process. It’s more than Jack can easily handle, even with Sun covering where she can.
As the writers have pointed out on more than one occasion, the survivors have been largely fortunate to this point. Sooner or later, the luck is going to run out. Part of the brilliance of the writing is how situations arise organically over time. Character conflicts simmer until they explode. If the writers have been planning out a general season arc, and if they are now pushing over all the dominoes they’ve erected over the course of the season thus far, then they are also intelligently ensuring that the triggered events take place in a logical progression.
With medical issues coming to the fore, it could have some interesting implications in terms of Jack’s leadership role. One of the reasons that Locke has been granted something of a shamanic status is his appearance of superior survival skills. Similarly, Jack has given everyone the impression that he can handle situations as they arise. If the intersection of so many medical crises overwhelms Jack and his resources, the rest of the survivors could subconsciously begin questioning his leadership role.
This episode deepens the complicated “love triangle” between Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. Kate gets Jack involved because she genuinely cares about Sawyer’s welfare. As seen in “Outlaws”, the two of them have a lot in common, not the least of which is their stubborn inability to open up emotionally to others. At the same time, if Kate is currently leaning towards Sawyer, it’s still looking like Jack will eventually win her heart. As noted in previous reviews, this continues to suggest that Kate and her struggle to decide between the two men will be a metaphor for the struggle all the survivors feel between “embracing the will of the island” and remaining stuck in old patterns.
Sawyer, on the other hand, continues to hold firm to his introverted self-interest. If he wasn’t the one in pain, he still would have avoided Jack like the plague. As it was, he only accepted Jack’s help under a bit of social duress. For once, Jack appeared to be playing on a level playing field with Sawyer, and the interplay between the two of them was amusing, to say the least. The inevitable showdown between Jack and Sawyer, probably related to Kate and her character’s future, will likely come into play later in the season.
Among the remaining characters, Boone is the only one to play a major role in this episode. At first, Boone seemed to be Locke’s somewhat fanatical acolyte, but as the days have passed and Locke’s mystique has faded, Boone has become the voice to Locke’s internal doubts. Boone has every right to question Locke and his choices, but at the same time, it feeds into Locke’s assumptions that the survivors shouldn’t question what the island seems to want them to do.
Metaphorically, Boone also gives Locke the chance to be the kind of father figure that he always wanted to have in his own life. This episode goes a long way towards explaining why Locke chose to guide and foster Jack as a leader, and why he has chosen Boone as his apprentice. He wants to believe that Boone can see and understand what the island wants as well as he can. Unaware of why Boone remained in the plane, Locke is left with an immense guilt over Boone’s medical condition.
The other characters remain in the background or make minor appearances. Charlie and Claire have nothing to do with this episode. Sayid only gets involved when it comes to making Sawyer his glasses. Shannon doesn’t have a thing to do, and Hurley gets one line, however priceless it might have been. Michael and Jin continue to make progress on a new raft; what Walt thinks of that is left unspoken. Sun continues to work on agriculture, which could become important in the future.
The end of the episode is begging for speculation. Was that light from within the hatch a sign of habitation? Or was it some kind of automatic response? It would be a major revelation for Locke to discover that the island is inhabited and that the survivors (of all groups) have been under observation. This adds another layer to all the theories: what if the experiment that started everything, perhaps going back to decades, is still ongoing? What if the survivors are unwitting subjects of the experiment (or more broadly, everyone affected by the “numbers” and associated psychic phenomenon)? Now that someone might be looking for the survivors of Oceanic 815, will that only cause another incident, adding fresh survivors to the island?
While there are certainly transitional elements to this episode, it is also a payoff for so much of what has happened with Locke since the beginning of the season. The writers are approaching the series from a character-centric position, and as such, the story doesn’t break into an easily digestible plot structure. Character evolution is fluid, constantly moving from one state to another, sometimes moving backward without warning. When events are predicated on complex character interactions and choices, there’s no such thing as pure stability. The resolution of one mystery becomes the fertile breeding ground for new situations and consequences, thus creating new mysteries and questions. As this episode aptly demonstrates, when one comes to accept that concept, the brilliance of the series shines through.
Final Analysis
Overall, this episode was an interesting in-depth look into Locke’s psychology. The writers avoid the simplicity of a single interpretation of events by questioning Locke’s conclusions while continuing to provide reasons for them. While largely transitional in scope, Locke’s perspective is central to the world of the survivors, making this episode a critical step towards serious future consequences.
Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 2/4
Final Rating: 8/10
Season Average (as of 1.19): 7.9
posted by John Keegan | 16:46
6 Comments:
Hello Entil
Are there any problems with using a human pheromones?
Entil what is up with this pheromones oil stuff? Has anyone tried it?
Hello -> Entil <- I just wanted to let you know that Lost 1.19: was an interesting read and well presented. Just my two cents.
Regards,
Health and Mental Well Being
Hello -> Entil <- I just wanted to let you know that Lost 1.19: was an interesting read and well presented. Just my two cents.
Regards,
Quality of Life Improvement
Entil what is up with this pheromones to attract woman stuff? Has anyone tried it?
Hey Entil I was researching pheromones. This seems like a crazy idea. Can it really work?
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