Archives For Ben

Lost without LOST

Chris —  May 27, 2010

It’s four days later, and I’m still mulling over the LOST finale.  Sure, it was a mostly cheeseball montage of memories from the past five years with some Baha’i cosmology.  And, yes, it failed to answer a lot of questions.  But it does provide meaning that grounds the series into a story of heroism and redemption.

From polar bears to hatches to full island flashbacks, LOST was known for it’s constant mind-benders.  But it was the dedication to telling the stories of the characters that made the unique.  Looking back, we see that each character was broken and alone.  The Island gave them the power to become a hero or a monster.  In the end, many of them died a much more heroic death than they could have lived had they not crashed.

I spent most of the final season upset.  The idea of an alternate universe invalidated the redemptive choices made on the island.  But even there our heroes were far from perfect.  Kate was still a criminal, Claire still a single mom, Jack still incapable of relationships, and Locke still stuck in a wheel chair.  The Shyamalan-ic final twist showed that every sacrifice had a purpose.  Evil was defeated, and the Island survived. Even if they had never crashed, they would have still lived disastrous lives.

In the end, LOST is a series about people who are redeemed by having a purpose and adventure in their lives.  If we want to have meaningful lives, and become the person we know deep down inside that we can be, we must seek an evil to conquer and an Island to save.

For those of you who are itching for more, I suggest the brilliant inspiration for LOST, a classic 60s drama called The Prisoner, which you can view online for free.

Be seeing you.

Life after LOST

Chris —  May 21, 2010

After Lost, I think I will probably watch less TV.  At least for awhile.

I’ll feel a little lonely, wondering how my friends are doing.  Did Sawyer ever meet his daughter?  Does alt-Jack and his supertalented son continue to exist?  Is Freckles still single?

Whenever I meet a polar bear I’ll wonder if he likes the tropics.  If I see a string of numbers, I’ll do my best to forget it so it doesn’t drive me crazy. When I see black smoke I’ll listen closely for a strange mechanical noise.  I will stay away from the shadows of statues.  I will hold up black lights to doors in search of secret maps.

Will I ever had watching parties full of screaming and theorizing ever again?  Will I ever experience instant kinship with a stranger who is also wondering what’s behind the hatch, why food pallets fall from the sky or how Jacob’s house keeps moving?

No, I have a feeling that I’ll keep an island sized hole in my heart next to the Battlestar shaped chasm.  I’m hopeful that no one will try to fill it soon.  With the valiant yet unsatisfying  exception  of Flash Forward, Hollywood has avoided trying to clone the beguiling mix of storytelling, character development, science fiction and mystery that set Lost apart.  I hope that no one tries to do it again anytime soon.

The saga may be floating off into syndication, but don’t worry, I’ll keep pushing the button to keep from destroying the world.

Ben’s Redemption

Chris —  April 23, 2009

The last season of Lost has become increasingly focused on Benjamin Linus, the merecat-looking pathological liar leader of The Others.  The ensemble cast is still their, but we keep tuning back in to see what unbelievably sadistic thing will do manipulate others for his benefit.

Now we know the real reason Ben returned to The Island: not to regain control, but to go through a mythical judgement process for his complicity in the murder of his daughter Alex.   Expecting to die, Ben instead encounters Alex (is anyone ever really dead?) who tells him to follow every word John Locke says.  Ben continues to be the reason we watch Lost.  Can this man, who has slaughtered others to obtain power, really learn to follow another?

We keep watching Ben, because we understand him, and we have the same questions.  We might not be mass murderers, but most of us have spent our lives manipulating others to meet our emotional needs.  Jesus offers us the opportunity to put our crimes behind us, but only if we’ll follow him.  We don’t have to die for what we’ve done to others, but we can never get our way again.

We keep watching Ben, because we want to see if it is true.  Can a person change? Can we really follow another?