'Lost': A matter of 'Life and Death'

I'm not one for Lost spoilers. Those of you that have read this blog for any decent amount of time know this. I've developed an almost Spidey Sense when it comes to them. It's not simply a manner of avoiding the spoiler sites; sometimes I have to move with ninja-like skill, navigating between magazine covers, water cooler buzz, and Evangeline Lilly continually drunk dialing me after midnight telling me what happens to her character in the season finale. It's a hard life, but someone's gotta live it.

That being said, I do allow myself the occasional morsel of info about the show. Information that hints at, but doesn't directly reveal, future events. So I admit that when I learned late last year (on our very own Facebook group) that several episode titles had been revealed, I snuck a peek. And the episode that airs this week is the one I've been waiting for ever since gazing upon that list: "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham." That's an episode title, people. If "Eggtown" is on the far left side of the Awesome Title spectrum, then "Bentham" is on the far right.

What transpires over the course of this hour will not only fill in many of the holes Lost fans have long sought to fill, but it will also effectively set up the latter half of this fifth season. The mystery surrounding Locke's "death" stretches back all the way to the show's most important episode to date: Season 3's finale, "Through the Looking Glass." For a time, "the man in the coffin" was more important than "the man behind the curtain." The coffin cast a long shadow over the events of Season 4, and has been at the epicenter of efforts to right the wrongs incurred because those people left.

This episode should also further solidify the long, slow process by which Jack Shephard and John Locke finally work together to save the Island. Because if the show is in fact not about the survivors of Oceanic 815 leaving the Island, then it must be about the survivors of Oceanic 815 saving the Island. And no two people aboard Oceanic 815 are more important to the Island's survival than Jack and John. Yet, rather than filling in the weaknesses of the other, the man of science and the man of faith spent their time on the Island almost entirely at odds. Only while putting on his father's shoes upon his one-time foil's lifeless feet did Jack finally take steps to meet his counterpart somewhere in the middle.

Because in the end, as I've written before: it's not about whether Jack or John can save the Island; it's about whether or not the two can work together to save it. It's easy to get lost in this season of time travel and hydrogen bombs and hieroglyphic-ridden Temples, but remember: this show once opened on a shot of a single eye opening. Last week, the show intentionally harkened back to that moment, but what followed was not a man in a suit confused, but a man in a suit reborn. His purpose, once so muddied, looked clearer than ever.

And this week, we'll see just what his former counterpart went through to give the man of science a little bit of faith.

Ryan also posts every 108 minutes over at Boob Tube Dude. He invites you to join the hundreds already in Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to subscribe to the Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed.