- A.A.C. Puryear STAFF WRITER
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The members of the Oceanic 6 (plus a few more) are off the Island and back in the world they once called home, living not so happily ever after. The Island and all of the people still on it have been “moved” thanks to the turn of a frozen donkey wheel and an ominous purple flash. John Locke has been crowned the new leader of the Others, but the title is short-lived, because he’s also the dead man Jeremy Bentham in a not-so-distant future.

This is what all LOST fans have been left with after this past May’s Season 4 finale. Clearly deserving of its #8 slot on Entertainment Weekly’s new TV classic list after a time-stopping fourth season, the show has left us guessing even more than before, forcing us to wait diligently until January when it returns.

For those desiring a fix within these next few LOST-free months, I hope to provide some sustenance. What you’re about to read next is my flash-forward to Season 5: what I expect to see happen on and off the Island. Feel free to post comments on whether you agree, disagree, or have a theory of your own that you’d like to share.

First order of business: picking up where Season 4 left off. The finale left us with two timelines: off the Island in the year 2008 and off the island in the year 2005. In 2008, we last saw Jack and Ben staring into the casket of John Locke/ Jeremy Bentham. Why the name change? Here are two reasons I’ve figured out that are kinda obvious:

1) The writers wanted the Oceanic 6 to be able to talk about the guy in the casket without revealing to us who it really was until the end of the episode. Can’t blame ‘em for wanting to build suspense.

2) Locke knew that the entire world thought Oceanic 815 had crashed into the ocean, causing its many passengers, minus the six that survived, to drown. John Locke was dead to the world. Enter Jeremy Bentham to look less suspicious on the main land.

But why did Lock change his name specifically to Jeremy Bentham? Here’s a little nugget of info: both “John Locke” and “Jeremy Bentham” are the names of historical philosophers. As we all learned in high school history, John Locke was known for his idea that humans have inalienable rights such as life, liberty, and property and that government existed to protect these rights and all that other stuff Thomas Jefferson borrowed from him to write the Declaration of Independence (God Bless America!). However, it’s not quite common knowledge that Jeremy Bentham was a philosopher who rejected all of Locke’s ideas. Anyone else think that LOST’s John Locke has started to become a different man, someone who might have started rejecting the ideas he once stood for?

In Season 5, we’re going to find out. Come January, I would not be surprised to see both the 2008 off-Island and the 2005 on-Island timelines fully played out. In the following posts, I will present in detail what I think will happen in each of these plot threads. Here’s a tiny preview of my thoughts:

Off-Island: The group that will return to the Island will be comprised with a few more people than just the Oceanic 6, Ben, and the dead Locke, and Ben will have to settle some things with Widmore before he leaves the mainland. In my next post, you’ll see who’s going back and what Ben will have to do.

On-Island: The Island is a place infected with an us-vs.-them mentality. Two factions will be created, and in my third and final post in the series, you will see who leads which group and who sides with them. Plus, I think I discovered the LOST writers’ method for how they plan to reveal to us most of the Island’s mysteries.

Stay tuned!

Want to tell A.A.C. what you think, give a theory, or suggest a topic? Leave a comment or email him at aacpuryear.staff@popsense.com