5x07 - The Life and Death of J. Bentham

[bunniefuu]

We see a passenger from Ajira Flight 316 searching through a dark room, looking through papers, including what Appears to be Danielle Rousseau’s map and Daniel Faraday’s notations. He finds a g*n and stashes it. A woman enters the room and questions him.

ILANA: Caesar.

CAESAR: Ilana. What’s up?

ILANA: Find anything?

CAESAR: No, nothing useful.

ILANA: Then what did you just put in your bag?

CAESAR: Oh. [Rummages through bag, pulls out a flashlight and tosses it to her]. You want it? It’s yours.

ILANA: We found someone. A man.

CAESAR: What?

ILANA: Roxanne was scanning just south of here. He was just standing in the water. He’s wearing a suit.

[Caesar and Ilana are outside walking. It’s dark, and they continue their conversation.]

CAESAR: Nobody recognizes him?

ILANA: No, whoever he is, he didn’t come with us.

CAESAR: Then how do we know he isn’t one of the ones who disappeared?

ILANA: He’s not!

CAESAR: And how do you know?

ILANA: Because, he wasn’t on the plane.

CAESAR: What did this man have to say?

ILANA: You can ask him yourself.

[Caesar and Ilana come upon a campfire and a group of people on the sand. They approach a man with a blanket drawn up on his head like a hood.]

CAESAR: Hello.

LOCKE: Hello.

CAESAR: My name is Caesar, what’s yours?

The man pulls the blanket off his head.

LOCKE: My name is John Locke.

The scene changes to Locke standing on the beach in the daylight. He has discarded his suit jacket and shoes. Ilana approaches him.

ILANA: Morning!

LOCKE: Hello.

ILANA: Breakfast? [hands him a mango] We found a tree, they’re pretty good.

LOCKE: Much obliged.

ILANA: I’m Ilana.

LOCKE: John.

[A brief pause, and then]

LOCKE: Are those your boats? [gestures to two outrigger canoes]

ILANA: No. They were already here. There used to be three, but the pilot and some woman took one. Didn’t tell anyone, just ran off in the middle of the night.

LOCKE: The pilot of the plane that brought you here.

ILANA: Yes. That’s right.

LOCKE: Do you have a passenger list?

ILANA: [kind of shakes her head] Eh. You’ll have to talk to Caesar.

LOCKE: [bites into the mango] I think this is the best mango I’ve ever eaten.

ILANA: Nobody remembers you being on the plane.

LOCKE: Well, I don’t remember being on it either.

ILANA: What do you remember?

LOCKE: I remember a lot.

ILANA: Like, why you’re dressed up so nice?

LOCKE: No, but I can guess.

ILANA: Please, guess.

LOCKE: I think this suit is what they were gonna bury me in.

ILANA: Sorry..?

LOCKE: You asked what I remembered. I remember dying.

[We revisit Locke underground, attempting to move the wheel and talking to Christian.]

CHRISTIAN: Good luck, John.

[Locke grabs the wheel while leaning against the wall and pulls it. The metallic buzzing and bright lights begin again.]

CHRISTIAN: Say hello to my son.

LOCKE: Who’s your son?

[Locke wakes up in the Tunisian desert in daylight. He is still badly injured, and is sick to his stomach. He sees a camera pointed at him, and sees wires connecting it to electrical poles. He is lying on his back.]

LOCKE: Is anybody in there? Can you help me?

[He is now in the dark, and we can hear a vehicle approaching. He yells “Hey” and waves. Several men wearing desert headdresses pick him up and put him in the back of the truck. They take him to a somewhat primitive looking hospital. As Locke groans and asks questions, doctor rushes up.]

LOCKE: Where is this? Where are we? Where am I? Who are you?

The doctor grabs some pills and water and brings them to Locke, putting the pills in his mouth, and holding the water up and commanding him “Swallow!” The doctor speaks a foreign language to the others. We see a brief glimpse of Matthew Abaddon standing back, partially behind a curtain.

LOCKE: Where are we?

DOCTOR: [placing a sturdy stick in Locke’s mouth] You bite! Bite!

LOCKE: Oh! What? What?

[Locke groans his pain out from behind the stick. They are apparently setting the broken bone in his leg without anesthetic. We hear the bone crunch.]

[It is later, and the hospital is dark. There is a man sitting at Locke’s bedside.]

WIDMORE: John. John, wake up.

[Locke opens his eyes.]

WIDMORE: You had a compound fracture. The doctors here did their best, but I had a specialist flown in to reset your leg properly. [pours John some water] It’s nice to see you again, John.

LOCKE: Do I know you?

WIDMORE: [smiles] Heh. Yes. I understand you being confused. Imagine how I feel. I met you when I was seventeen. Now all these years later, here we are. You look exactly the same.

LOCKE: Uhh. Who are you?

WIDMORE: My name is Charles Widmore. Tell me, John. How long has it been for you since we first met? Since you walked into our camp and you spoke to Richard?

LOCKE: Four days.

WIDMORE: Heh. That’s incredible.

LOCKE: The camera in the desert -- that was yours.

WIDMORE: Yeah.

LOCKE: How did you know I’d be there?

WIDMORE: Because that’s the exit. I was afraid that Benjamin might fool you into leaving the island. As he did with me. I was their leader.

LOCKE: The Others?

WIDMORE: They’re not the Others to me, they’re my people. We protected the island -- peacefully, for more than three decades. But then, I was exiled. By him. Just as you were.

LOCKE: No; Ben wasn’t even there when I left, he was already gone. I wasn’t exiled, I chose to leave.

WIDMORE: Why… would you do that, John? You’ve come to bring them back; the ones who left.

LOCKE: [shakes his head] No.

WIDMORE: I understand you lying to me, I do. But there’s something you should know. All your friends who left the island -- have been back three years.

LOCKE: Three years?

WIDMORE: They’ve gone back to their normal lives. And none of them has spoken a word of truth about where they were.

[Widmore gives Locke a newspaper clipping with the headline: OCEANIC SIX SURVIVORS RECEIVE HEROES WELCOME]

LOCKE: I have to bring them back.

WIDMORE: And I’m going to do everything in my power to help you do that.

[Widmore gets up and starts to walk away.]

LOCKE: Why?

WIDMORE: Why?

LOCKE: Why would you help me?

WIDMORE: Because there’s a w*r coming, John. And if you’re not back on the island when that happens, the wrong side is going to win.

[Locke and Widmore are outside, sitting at a table in a small pavilion. Locke is examining a passport in the name of Jeremy Bentham, a Canadian citizen, with Locke’s picture on it.]

LOCKE: Jeremy Bentham?

WIDMORE: He was a British philosopher. Your parents had a sense of humor when they named you, so why can’t I? [passes money, a phone and a file to Locke] That should be money enough for now. The phone’s international. If you need to reach me, for anything, just press 2-3. The folder contains your people’s whereabouts. Everyone who was on the island that left.

[John opens the folder and sees a picture of Sayid working on constructing a building.]

LOCKE: You’ve been watching them?

WIDMORE: I’m deeply invested in the future of the island, John. So yes, I’ve been watching them. I wouldn’t mention I’m involved in this, as I can’t imagine what they think of me, having listened to Benjamin’s lies.

LOCKE: How do I know that you’re not the one who’s lying?

WIDMORE: I haven’t tried to k*ll you. Would you say the same for him? [chuckles] You still don’t trust me.

LOCKE: You sent a team of K*llers and a boatload of C4 to the island. That doesn’t exactly scream trust.

WIDMORE: I needed Linus removed; so it could be your turn.

LOCKE: Right.

WIDMORE: The island needs you, John. It has for a long time.

LOCKE: What makes you think I’m so special?

WIDMORE: Because you are.

[An SUV pulls up.]

WIDMORE: Ah. Your chariot has arrived.

LOCKE: He said I would die.

WIDMORE: I beg your pardon?

LOCKE: Richard Alpert -- said the only way to get them to come back was if I d*ed.

WIDMORE: I don’t know why he said that, but I’m not gonna let that happen.

[Matthew Abaddon gets out of the SUV]

WIDMORE: This is Matthew Abaddon. He’ll take you anywhere you need to go; protect you from whomever intends to do you harm.

ABADDON: Mr. Locke.

[Locke shakes Abaddon’s hand. Widmore helps Locke rise.]

WIDMORE: Good luck, John. Godspeed.

[Abaddon gets a wheelchair from the SUV.]

[Locke and Abaddon are traveling down a road.]

ABADDON: Anything you need, Mr. Locke, you just let me know. Anything. Anybody from your past you want me to look up for you? The whole world thinks you’re dead, Mr. Locke, there must be somebody who’d be happy to see you.

LOCKE: Please don’t talk to me.

ABADDON: You got it. But we’re almost at the airport, so you’re gonna at least have to tell me where we’re going first.

LOCKE: Santo Domingo.

[Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic]

People are working at a construction site. All are speaking Spanish.

SAYID:[in Spanish] We have to finish this ceiling. Pass me another beam. [Sayid is wearing a T-Shirt with a house/world logo and the words “BUILD OUR WORLD.”]

WORKER: [in Spanish] Hey, Sayid! Look! You have a visitor.

[Sayid turns and sees Locke in his wheelchair. They sit and talk.]

SAYID: I don’t believe this -- you actually want me to go back?

LOCKE: I know how it sounds, Sayid, but you have to trust me. This is the only we’re gonna save them.

SAYID: I’m not going back! For two years, I was manipulated into thinking I was protecting everyone on the island..

LOCKE: Who was manipulating you?

SAYID: Ben. So who is manipulating you, John?

LOCKE: This is coming from me, nobody else. I know you, Sayid, and deep down in your heart, you know we never should have left the island.

SAYID: It’s only because I left the island that I was finally able to marry the woman I loved. We spent nine months together. The best nine months of my life, John. That’s what I know in my heart.

LOCKE: Where is she now?

SAYID: She was m*rder*d.

LOCKE: Well, I… I’m sorry.

SAYID: Why do you really need to go back? Is it just because you have nowhere else to go?

LOCKE: If you change your mind, I’ll be staying under the name Jeremy Bentham in L.A. at the Westerfield Hotel.

SAYID: And if you change your mind, you’re welcome to come back here and do some real good. Bye-bye, John.

[New York, NY]

[Locke and Abaddon are parked on a city street, watching a building.]

LOCKE: You asked if there was someone you could look up for me.

ABADDON: Yes, I did.

LOCKE: Her name is Helen. Helen Norwood, and she was living in Los Angeles.

ABADDON: She an old girlfriend of yours?

[A bell rings.]

LOCKE: Help me get out of the car.

[We see students emerging from a school Walt among them.]

ABADDON: So that’s Michael Dawson’s son, huh?

LOCKE: Yeah.

ABADDON: The boy’s gotten big.

[Walt senses something, it seems, then turns and sees Locke, who waves at him.]

WALT: I’ll be right back, I’m going over there.

SCHOOLMATE: Alright.

ABADDON: I’ll give you two some privacy.

[Walt crosses the street to join John.]

WALT: Hey, John.

LOCKE: Hi, Walt!

WALT: What happened?

LOCKE: I hurt my leg. You don’t seem surprised to see me.

WALT: I’ve been having dreams about you. You were on the island, wearing a suit, and there were people all around you. They wanted to hurt you, John.

LOCKE: Good thing they’re just dreams.

WALT: Is my dad….. is he back on the island? I haven’t talked to him in three years. I figured he must have gone back.

LOCKE: Well, last I heard, your dad was on a freighter near the island.

WALT: So, why’d you come to see me?

LOCKE: I just wanted to make sure you were okay.

WALT: Yeah. I’m doin’ pretty good. Well, I gotta go. It was good seeing you, John.

LOCKE: Yeah, take care.

[They shake hands, and Walt leaves. Abaddon returns to take Locke back to the car.]

ABADDON: I take it you didn’t invite him along.

LOCKE: Boy’s been through enough.

ABADDON: That’s 0 for 2, Mr. Locke. Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought you had to bring everyone back.

LOCKE: I only need to convince one, and if I can do that, the rest will come. And maybe I was mistaken, but I thought you were my driver.

[As Locke gets in the car, we see Ben Linus standing back and watching.]

[Santa Rose, CA]

Hurley is sitting on a table outside the Institute, painting a picture of the Sphinx. Locke wheels himself to the table.]

LOCKE: Hello, Hugo.

[Hurley looks at him briefly, and continues to paint.]

HURLEY: So you didn’t make it, huh?

LOCKE: Pardon me?

HURLEY: You didn’t make it. It’s cool, no biggie. You’re not the first person to visit me, you know. What’s up with the wheelchair?

LOCKE: Uh, I broke my leg fallin’ down a hole.

HURLEY: Oh, is that how you d*ed?

LOCKE: Hugo, I’m not dead.

HURLEY: [with a wry look] Sure, you’re not.

LOCKE: No, I.. I promise you, I’m very much alive.

[Hurley turns to an attendant not far away.]

HURLEY: Hey, Susie, am I talking to a dude in wheelchair right now?

SUSIE: Yup.

[Hurley is now shocked and stands up in surprise.]

HURLEY: Whoa, dude! What are you doin’ here?

LOCKE: I need you to come back to the island with me.

HURLEY: Wait, what?

LOCKE: And not just you, but everybody who left.

HURLEY: You mean Jack and Kate….

LOCKE: Everybody.

HURLEY: I’m sorry, dude, I don’t think that’s gonna happen. Jack’s a doctor now, and Sun’s like got her baby, and Kate’s got Aaron…. [pauses] Dude, be cool. Don’t look, but we’re being watched.

[looks anyway, sees Abaddon]

HURLEY: Dude!

LOCKE: Oh, don’t worry, he’s with me.

HURLEY: What?

LOCKE: He’s just driving me around, he’s okay.

HURLEY: That dude is far from okay. When I first got locked up in here, he showed up claiming that he worked for Oceanic Air. He’s evil! You should not be trusting that guy.

LOCKE: Please, just listen to me!

HURLEY: No, no, no, I’m not listening to you!

LOCKE: Hugo, please listen!

[Hurley puts fingers in his ears and yells out la la la la la. The attendant approaches.]

HURLEY: [to attendants] I wanna go back in. I wanna go back in.

LOCKE: Hugo.

HURLEY: No, I’m not going anywhere with you! No way! Bye! [two attendants lead Hurley away] Get out of here!

[Locke and Abaddon are back in the car.]

ABADDON: That’s three visits now. Maybe you wanna step up your game, Mr. Locke. Or we’re all in serious trouble.

LOCKE: What exactly is it that you do for Mr. Widmore, Matthew?

[Abaddon turns off the engine.]

ABADDON: You’re ready to talk about it now, huh? John. You’re not really gonna pretend that you don’t remember that I was an orderly in the hospital right after your accident? That I was the one who told you to go on the walkabout? The same walkabout that put you on the plane that crashed on that island.

LOCKE: No. I remember.

ABADDON: I help people get to where they need to get to, John. That’s what I do for Mr. Widmore.

[Los Angeles, CA]

[Locke is at Kate’s house.]

KATE: The answer is no.

LOCKE: Kate, I don’t think you understand…

KATE: No, you made yourself perfectly clear. Everyone on the island is gonna die if I don’t go back. And the answer is no.

LOCKE: Why? Don’t you care about them?

KATE: Have you ever been in love, John?

LOCKE: What?

KATE: I think about you sometimes. 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.

LOCKE: That’s not true. I loved someone. Once. Her name was Helen.

KATE: What happened?

LOCKE: Mmm, it just didn’t work out.

KATE: Why not, John?

LOCKE: I was angry. I was… ob-obsessed.

KATE: And look how far you’ve come.

[Locke looks down and doesn’t answer. We see him outside, wheeling toward the car.]

ABADDON: Let me help you, Mr. Locke.

LOCKE: Did you find her?

ABADDON: Find who?

LOCKE: Helen Norwood, the woman I asked you about.

ABADDON: No, I didn’t, sorry. Three years is a long time. It’s possible she got married, changed her name, maybe she moved out of state.

LOCKE: You found everyone else. All of them. Sayid was in the middle of nowhere, but you can’t find Helen because she moved? Your job is to get people to where they need to get to, well I need to get to her.

[Santa Monica, CA]

[Locke and Abaddon are in a cemetery, looking at a headstone that reads: In memory of Helen Norwood. June 30, 1957 - April 08, 2006.

LOCKE: What happened to her?

ABADDON: She d*ed of a brain aneurysm. I’m very sorry, Mr. Locke.

LOCKE: She loved me. If I had just …[sighs] We could have been together.

ABADDON: Maybe you could have. That wouldn’t change anything, she’d still be gone.

LOCKE: Would she?

ABADDON: Helen is where she’s supposed to be. As sad as it is, her path led here. And your path, no matter what you did or what you do; your path leads back to the island.

LOCKE: You say that like it’s all… inevitable.

ABADDON: Mr. Widmore told me that Richard Alpert said you were going to die. So you tell me, John -- is that inevitable? Or is it a choice?

LOCKE: What, you think I want to die? How is that… how could you possibly think that’s a choice?

ABADDON: Hey. I’m just your driver.

[Locke is in the car while Abaddon puts the wheelchair in the trunk. There is a g*nsh*t, and blood is spattered on the rear window. Abaddon slumps against the car. More g*nshots, and the window shatters and Abaddon is hit again.]

LOCKE: Matthew!

[Locke maneuvers painfully into the driver’s seat and drives away, leaving the body where it falls. He goes through a red light and sets off a chain of accidents, in which his car is hit repeatedly.]

[Locke is in a hospital bed in a gown. He looks to his side and sees Jack sitting at his bedside.]

JACK: What are you doing here?

LOCKE: Jack, how did you find me?

JACK: You were in a car accident and you were brought into my hospital. What are you doing here?

LOCKE: We have to go back.

JACK: [laughs] Of course. Of course we do.

LOCKE: Jack, the people I left behind need our help. We’re supposed to go back.

JACK: Because it’s our destiny. How many times are you gonna say that to me, John?

LOCKE: How can you not see it? Of all the hospitals they could have brought me to, I end up here. You don’t think that’s fate?

JACK: Your car accident was on the west side of Los Angeles. You being brought into my hospital isn’t fate, John, it’s probability.

LOCKE: You don’t understand. It wasn’t an accident. Somebody is trying to k*ll me.

JACK: Why? Why would someone try to k*ll you?

LOCKE: Because they don’t want me to succeed. They wanna stop me. They don’t want me to get back because I’m important.

JACK: Have you ever stopped to think.. that these.. delusions that you’re special -- aren’t real? That maybe there’s nothing important about you at all? Maybe you are just a lonely old man that crashed on an island? That’s it. Goodbye, John.

LOCKE: Your father says hello.

JACK: What?

LOCKE: A man, the man who told me to move the island, the man who told me how to bring you all back? He said to tell his son hello. It couldn’ta been Sayid’s father, and it wasn’t Hurley’s. That leaves you. He said his name was Christian.

JACK: My… my father is dead.

LOCKE: Well, he didn’t look dead to me.

JACK: He d*ed in Australia -- three years ago. I put him the coffin! He’s dead.

LOCKE: Jack, please you have to come back! You’re the only one who can convince the rest of them. You have to help me. You’re supposed to help me!

JACK: John, it’s over! It’s done. We left, and we were never important, so you… you leave me alone. And you leave the rest of them alone.

[Jack leaves.]

[Exterior of the Westerfield Hotel, then we see Locke in his room, writing his note to Jack. He puts it in an envelope and then in his pocket. He throws away the cell phone. He prepares to hang himself, and has the noose around his neck when there is a knock at the door.]

BEN: John? John?

[Ben Linus breaks through the door.]

BEN: John, what are you doing? [Locke inches toward the edge of his platform.] Wait, wait, John, stop!

LOCKE: How did you find me?

BEN: I have a man watching Sayid. I’m watching all of them; keeping them safe. When you turned up, he called me.

LOCKE: Who, uh, who…. What are you doing here?

BEN: John, just calm down.

LOCKE: What do you want from me?

BEN: Please let me help…

LOCKE: ANSWER THE QUESTION!

BEN: I’m trying to protect you.

LOCKE: Protect me? You sh*t him. You k*lled Abaddon.

BEN: Yes. Yes, I did. But it was only a matter of time before he tried to k*ll you. I was just trying to get to you, but you drove off and crashed.

LOCKE: Why? Why would he…

BEN: He was working for Charles Widmore. He’s extremely dangerous.

LOCKE: No! Widmore came to me. He saved me.

BEN: No, John, he used you. He waited ‘til you showed up so that you could help him get to the island. Charles Widmore is the reason I moved the island. So that he could never find it again. To keep him away, so that you could lead. [approaches Locke] You can’t do this. If anything happens to you… John, you have no idea how important you are. Let me help you.

LOCKE: There… is no helping me. I’m… I’m a failure.

BEN: No, John, you’re not.

LOCKE: I am! I couldn’t get any of them -- I couldn’t get a single one of them to come back with me. I can’t lead anyone.

BEN: Jack booked a ticket.

LOCKE: What?

A plane ticket from Los Angeles to Sydney. Tonight. Return trip first thing in the morning.

BEN: Whatever you said to him, John, it worked. And if you got Jack, you can get the rest of them.

[Ben falls to his knees.]

BEN: John -- you can’t die. You’ve got too much work to do. We’ve gotta get you back to that island so that you can do it. [picks up Locke’s crutch] Please, John. C’mon. Come down.

[Ben helps Locke down, Locke breaks into tears.]

BEN: I know we can do this, John. You haven’t even been to Sun yet. Let’s start with her.

LOCKE: No, I… I promised Jin that I wouldn’t bring her back.

BEN: Jin… is alive?

LOCKE: Yeah. Yeah, but he didn’t want her to know, he wanted me to tell her that his… that his body washed up on the beach. And, uh, he gave me his wedding ring to prove it.

BEN: Alright. A promise is a promise.

[Locke removed the noose from around his neck and Ben pulls it down from the ceiling.]

LOCKE: Thank you.

BEN: You’re welcome. Come on. [Ben takes his coat off and helps Locke walk.] Let’s go. I know we can do this. Once we can get them all in the same place… I don’t know where we’ll go from there, but we’ll figure something out.

LOCKE: I know where we go. There’s a woman, here in Los Angeles..

BEN: A woman?

LOCKE: I don’t know exactly where, but she shouldn’t be that hard to find. Her name is, is ah, Eloise Hawking.

BEN: Eloise Hawking? You sure?

LOCKE: Yeah. Yeah, why, do you know her?

BEN: Yes, John, I know her.

[Ben has been coiling the extension cord Locke used as a noose, and now swiftly puts it around Locke’s neck and pulls. They struggle, Locke falls out of his wheelchair, and Ben finally overpowers and kills Locke. Ben falls on the floor, panting. He returns Locke to the position of hanging himself and cleans the room. He picks up Jin’s wedding ring and puts it in his pocket and goes out the door.]

BEN: [turns around and looks at the hanging Locke] I’ll miss you, John. I really will.

[On the island, at night, Locke enters the dark room where Caesar is examining a Dharma notebook. Locke enters.]

LOCKE: That symbol belongs to an organization called the Dharma Initiative. They were conducting some experiments here a while back.

CAESAR: How do you know that?

LOCKE: I spent more than a hundred days on this island, I know a lot.

CAESAR: A hundred days? So when we crashed, you were already here?

LOCKE: No. No, I uh, I left.

CAESAR: How long ago did you leave?

LOCKE: Uh, the timing would just confuse you.

CAESAR: Well, how did you get back?

LOCKE: To be honest, that part’s a bit of a mystery to me.

CAESAR: Okay, John Locke, I have a mystery too. Maybe you can help me with it.

LOCKE: I’m happy to try.

CAESAR: On the plane, I was sitting across the aisle from that really big guy with curly hair. When the plane started shaking, really shaking, there was a big noise and a bright light. And this really big guy with curly hair was gone, man. I mean, literally gone. And it wasn’t only him. Some of us saw it happen to other people, too. So, Mr. John Locke, do you have an idea about what happened?

LOCKE: I think… I might know how I came to be here. But that would involve me finding my friends. Do you have a, a, a passenger list?

CAESAR: No. The pilot took it when he went off.

LOCKE: And everyone’s accounted for? All the people? O-O-Other than the ones who disappeared?

CAESAR: Yeah, yeah, except for the people who got hurt.

LOCKE: The people who got hurt?

[The two enter a room that’s become a makeshift infirmary. Locke looks around at the people in beds and on the floor.]

CAESAR: You know him?

LOCKE: Yeah. [Ben is lying on a bed, face red from injuries.] He’s the man who k*lled me.