Does The Swan Prevent Locke's
Ability To Commune With
the Island?
Season 2 Locke was no one's, not even Terry O'Quinn's,
favorite. Over and over people asked what happened to
the guy that was going to save them all? He's sitting
underground pushing buttons?
In fact, there were several times in the Swan like the one
in the picture above and in this one
where Locke was the pathetic loser we saw in his flashbacks
and not Crocodile Locke.
Is there something about the properties of the Swan that
prevented the Island from communing with Locke and vice
versa? Was Ben telling the truth that he was coming for
Locke because the Island itself (or Jacob) couldn't call
him since Locke never left the Hatch? Was Eko's dream and
his search for the "?" an effort by the Island to reconnect
with Locke?
Friday, September 21, 2007
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14 comments:
It could be the electro-magnatism that prevents Locke from being Jacob's puppet. He certainly seemed to go back to his "old" habits and ways of thinking. He was very frustrated towards the end of Season2.
Hope they explain what happened when the key was turned.
Good question!
Juicy question Memphish! And it could very well be that the EMF was interfering with any telepathy that was supposed to be going on.
S1and2-Locke seemed to show us that Locke is very confident as long as he is on his own with no one to challenge him, or to be smarter than him. That's why he always has to go-it-alone. He can't handle Jack questioning his decisions (well, who could?!) and Locke only allowed Boone to help as long as Boone obeyed without question. And in the Swan, when puppetmaster Ben got Locke's mind going about how Jack treated him, Locke totally lost his focus and had a tantrum. Ben played him like a fiddle, heheh.
Then S3 Locke showed us that he has to get someone else to do his dirty work for him, i.e., Sawyer doing his killing for him. Blech.
I think that Locke is only Crocodile Locke in his dreams, and up until he is confronted with any oppostion. His legs may have been healed, but I don't think that his "spine" is yet, as far as courage. Any coward can cut and run from blowing things up in secret, or can stab unprotected girls in the back. I can see how TOQ would get a little frustrated playing a guy like that. :-)
Actually, I think the island WANTED Locke in the Swan to push the button. To me, Season 2 Locke was being tested, like Abraham was when God asked him to sacrifice his first-born son. The island asked Locke to do something repugnant to test his faith. Locke failed, and now he has to pay the consequences.
Think about the progression of everything that happened to Locke in Season 2.
1) He finally opens the Hatch, what he feels is his destiny, what the island wanted him to do, and finds the button.
2) He's initially excited over the prospect of pushing the button, even convincing Jack of its importance.
3) But he eventually realizes that his destiny was exactly the same as his miserable life off the island, a cubicle dwelling button pusher, and becomes frustrated and depressed.
4) This depression is exacerbated by Ben's manipulation, who gives him crisis of faith. The fact he can't remember the Blast Door Map frustrates him even more.
5) The island (or Monster) tries to get Eko to help revive Locke's faith. It tells Eko he needs to make Locke keep pushing the button because it's important and that he needs to take him to the question mark.
In other words, the Monster (or island) still knows what's been going on in Locke's head because he knows about the Map.
6) Eko takes Locke to the question mark, but the Pearl video further erodes Locke's faith. He decides to let the button go unpushed.
7) *boom*
I think the Island still could communicate with Locke, but his faith has been so shaken it realized it needed to do something to revive that - in other words, simple communication wouldn't work this time.
The question really is why did the island want Eko to take Locke to the Pearl if it wanted him to keep pressing the button? The Pearl video was the final straw that made Locke break the computer. Did it make a mistake? Did it not realize the orientation video was in the Pearl? Maybe is merely misunderstood the depth of Locke's frustration.
I don't think the problem was in communicating, it was with Locke himself. Great topic. :)
I totally agree with Jay on this one. I think the island/monster/Jacob was using Locke to ensure that the button was pushed. Season two was all about showing a different side to Locke's character, depicting how dangerous he can become when his faith is challenged. His desperation to believe just might be both his biggest strength and weakness as a character. (And if he's so dangerous without faith, he just might be even more dangerous with faith).
I think season two was great. I liked the way it poked holes in Locke by shaking up his post-apocalyptic hunter-gatherer fantasy and showing that a confused, sad and weak person still lives in there somewhere. Terry O'Quinn even admitted that, although he didn't enjoy season two so much at the time, he now understands the necessity of Locke's progression/regression.
I definitely think the island chose Eko to fill in for Locke, but as to why it would direct them to the Pearl station . . . that's something I've been wondering about for quite a long time. I suspect this was a test of faith for both Locke and Eko, to see who would pass. The Pearl video annihilated Locke's faith, but it strengthened Eko's desire to push the button. He says, "We don't push the button because we are told to do so in a film. We push it because we feel that we are meant to." Clearly, Eko wins the faith contest in this round. (But the tables will turn following the hatch implosion). This probably demonstrated to the island/Jacob that Eko was now the right person for pushing the button, at least for the time being.
And then Locke ****ed everything up.
I agree with everything, I don't know what to think! :o)
...although it does seem as if the island/Jacob needed Eko in the Swan to push the button after Locke refused to.
I suspect this was a test of faith for both Locke and Eko, to see who would pass. The Pearl video annihilated Locke's faith, but it strengthened Eko's desire to push the button. He says, "We don't push the button because we are told to do so in a film. We push it because we feel that we are meant to." Clearly, Eko wins the faith contest in this round. (But the tables will turn following the hatch implosion). This probably demonstrated to the island/Jacob that Eko was now the right person for pushing the button, at least for the time being.
That's a great point! Awesome.
While I think PAA and Jay are probably right, I like to take the opposite tack and say that Locke was NOT supposed to get into the Swan and push the button perhaps because it interferes with the Island's/Jacob's "true" purpose as evidenced by Dharma continuing to man it with Kelvin and Radzinsky.
I think the Nigerian drug plane dream was leading Locke to find the Pearl so that he would give up on the Swan in S1. Since Locke got in, S2 was course correcting to get Locke out of the Swan and get Desmond to turn the key. That's why Ben was coming for Locke and why they had to resort to Eko's "?" dream to finally get Locke to the Pearl so he would give up on the Swan.
Just a pet theory that I'm sure is wrong because as my in person LOST friend can tell you, my theories are ALWAYS wrong.
To counter my argument that the Swan interferes with Island communication, in the next episode, Everybody Hates Hugo, Hurley's Cluckity Cluck Cluck dream occurs while he's manning the button.
Memphish,
I have to back you up on this one - however, my theories are almost always wrong!!
I believe Jacob did not want Locke in the Swan as well. He needed the failsafe turned to facilitate his next series of events.
Memphish,
I totally see where you're coming from. I actually thought the same exact thing for quite a while, and your argument definitely holds water. It's just that, stepping back and looking at everything we've seen as a whole, I personally think it makes more sense that Jacob was trying to make sure the button was pushed.
The dream which first sent Locke to the Nigerian plane contains a reference to Boone's death (the brief flash of Boone's bloodied body . . . wow, say that five times fast!). This, plus the fact that Locke magically loses the use of his legs as they approach the plane, indicates to me that Jacob was making sure it was Boone who climbed up there, not Locke. And in "Exodus Pt. 2", Locke even says Boone's death instigated a chain of events which led them to opening the hatch. So, I think all of this was Jacob pulling strings to make sure that Locke opened that hatch and pushed the button.
Why? Because not pushing the button would: A.) potentially cause the disaster DHARMA was trying to prevent, if the failsafe weren't activated; or B.) make the island visible to the outside world, in the event the key is turned. Either thing is very, very bad. Jacob needs someone to follow his directions, a prophet of sorts. First it was Locke, then briefly Eko when Locke lost his faith.
Anyway, that's just my idea. As usual, I could be totally wrong!
All this sounds great, which ever theory is followed, I'm a fence-sitter so far on this. But both theories beg the $64,000 question...so why then did Ben push the button (we heard the chickachicka as the counter turned back and of course the Swan didn't blow up) and afterwards pretend that he didn't? He did tell Locke that he didn't push it, didn't he? ((if I am remembering this wrong, set me straight please, thanks)) This is one of my "Top 10 Questions Driving Me Nuts".
I agree that this topic is confusing!!!
It's one of my top 10 nuts-making mysteries of Lost, too, Capcom. Did Ben know about the button, and exactly what did he know? We he duped by the Pearl video, or did he know the truth and wanted to Swan to implode? And why did Waaaalt say not to go into the hatch, not to push the button, the button is bad?
Argh! They'd better address this mystery...
Maybe it means that Ben, in his own way, is rebelling against Jacob????? He had to push the button, because Jacob would know if he did or didn't, so he'd better push it cause Jacob wants him to. But Ben doesn't want the button pushed for whatever reasons, so he tried to get Locke not to push it the next time 108 came around.
Or...the exact opposite of what I just said. Heheh.
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