Over the course of the few years it's been on television, Lost has, at least temporarily, put different characters in the fore. Sure, Kate, Jack, and Sawyer have always been there, but over the past couple of seasons it's Locke who has stepped up to the plate. I guess I like Kate, Jack, and Sawyer, but I definitely find Locke – or the man in black or the black smoke or just Jacob's enemy or whomever he is – the most compelling.
Certainly at least part of that is the fact that Terry O'Quinn does a fantastic job in the role. There is an intensity to O'Quinn's face, something about his eyes, that makes his stare mesmerizing. Is he evil? Is he thinking evil thoughts? Is he good? Is he thinking good thoughts? He has always, even when he was definitely John Locke, been something of an enigma and that's helped by O'Quinn's semi-unreadable face. Jack is a good guy, always has been, it's in his face. Kate's a good girl with an edge, also in her face. Sawyer wan
ts to be a hard-ass but when the chips are down he's the guy you want in your corner, again, it's in his face. Locke has always been much more of a mystery, even way back in the first season when we he seemed happy that they crashed on the island.
Right now it definitely appears as though Locke (and that's what I'm going to call him for lack of a name other than "black smoke") is a bad guy, but frankly I'm not hugely sure that he is bad. Are you? Okay, he probably is, if I had to place a bet I'd most likely say that he is, but just because the show makes him seem that way doesn't mean it's the case. Oh, Richard Alpert may have been absolutely right when he said that Locke wants everyone on the island dead, but not knowing what the island is and having all our Oceanic buds back in the real world in the alternate timeline may mean that they all ought to be dead, no? We don't know the story of what's going on, so why insist that he has to be the bad guy?
Article comments
1 - Victor Lana
Josh, these were my thoughts exactly after watching last night. Why did Jacob visit all these people BEFORE they crashed on the island? I see no proof that Richard is good, and why did Jacob scratch those names on the cave walls???
Also, I think the alternate universe is what happens because of the blast. Indeed no one ever met because there never was a plane crash. So Locke is still in a wheelchair, KAte on the run, Hugo the millionaire, etc.
I think what is playing out on the island is what somehow connects everyone back in the alternate reality. Why would Kate get into the cab with Claire? Why would Jack give Locke his card? And so on.
I had mixed feelings about this season, but so far I think it's hooked me, and I'm watching until the end to see what happens.