Shenanigans on Lost
By Dan Birlew | Posted April 6, 2009 in Television | 7 Comments »A few weeks ago I put forth what I thought was a great theory about how Lost would end because of clear simularities between the show and the novels/ABC mini-series of Stephen King as well as some influence from sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick. In spite of my predictions, I’ve enjoyed the last few episodes with my usual enthusiasm… until last week’s.
Two weeks ago, Lost ended a relatively hum-drum episode (“He’s Our You”) with a shocking twist: young Ben Linus (a.k.a. Harry Potter Ben) released Sayid from captivity in the DHARMA Initiative’s security building. The boy who would eventually become the root of all evil in Lost then led Sayid out into the woods, where they encountered Jin. Sayid attacked and knocked out Jin, took his pistol, and shot Ben Linus right in the heart. What are the odds of hitting a small child directly in the heart? Slim for most of us, but as the flashbacks throughout the episode suggested, Sayid is a born killer.
The following is an image courtesy of GetLostPodcastMedia.com–slightly brightened from the original–showing Young Ben Linus clearly shot in the heart, on the left side of his chest. Click the image to enlarge:
Young Ben Linus with a wet bullet hole on the left side of his chest.
Stunning television, to depict the shooting of a child in prime-time. And as you might expect, the Lost community was in shock. First, a mighty debate arose over whether or not Ben was really dead. Screenshots like the one above began circulating, uploading to various boards for discussion. Believers like myself proved that Ben was shot in the heart, the perfect one-shot kill only an experienced assassin like Sayid could fire. Ben didn’t gasp, he didn’t twitch, he didn’t convulse or choke to death on his own blood like a person normally would if shot in any other vital organ. Little Ben didn’t even take his next breath, he simply collapsed. A perfect assassination.
Killing Ben Linus before he could grow up and do any of the evil deeds he’s done in the series provoked some serious questions, which I spent a lot of time and words theorizing about in our forums. One theory was that Ben’s death caused history to branch off, so that those who went back in time to join DHARMA in 1977 were now cut off from the reality in which they previously lived. Because even if they jumped forward in time to 2007, none of the events that occured in the series would have happened if Ben Linus wasn’t around. My other theory was that the man who’s been calling himself Ben Linus all along really wasn’t, and only took on the name of a boy killed long ago in order to further his evil plans.
Anticipation for the next episode of Lost was at an all-time high. So imagine my confusion when–in the first few moments of “Whatever Happened, Happened”–Jin rolled over Harry Potter Ben to show us that not only was he still alive, but his bullet wound had moved to the right side of his chest. Here’s another image courtesy of GetLostPodcastMedia.com:
Young Ben Linus in "Whatever Happened, Happened." The bullet wound has changed sides.
So all the debate, all the controversy, and the firm evidence that Harry Potter Ben was killed right before our eyes… was nothing but a lie.
Lost faked us out. We can no longer trust the series to show us what is really going on, because the producers obviously feel that it’s okay to break the rules at any given time. This means there’s no more point in debating the meaning of easter eggs and clues, trying to figure out what exactly the Smoke Monster is, or why Richard has been the same age since the 1950′s. Who cares? The producers/writers will simply change or ret-con any facts they want, discard any mysteries they don’t need anymore. Where is Claire? On LifeTime, so we’ll just let her appearances trail off altogether.
This post is relatively late because I’ve been trying to get over this betrayal all week long. I’ve tried to shake it, let it go, and keep enjoying Lost the way I have for the last 4.5 seasons. But I can’t shake this feeling that I’m at a really great carnival, playing the midway games. I’ve just thrown a dart and broke a balloon, and I should win a prize. But now the booth manager is telling me that I didn’t hit the balloon at all, the wind broke it. And there’s only one thing to do when you’ve been faked out like that–
“Shenanigans! Shenanigans!”
“Where is Claire? On LifeTime, so we’ll just let her appearances trail off altogether.” You are SO hilarious!!! Does this mean you aren’t going to the LOST convention?
Not this year.
Worse than that (or as bad) If Sayid truly believed his purpose was to off Harry Potter Ben. Don’t you think he would have made sure that was so? Dude is a lifelong killer.
He made the same mistake that all horror movie victims make. He didn’t make sure the guy was dead. One shot to the head would have remedied that. I just think it’s weak all around.
If Sayid really wanted Harry Potter Ben dead…he’d be dead. (although no one really is dead on this island, right?)
Thanks for posting. Try reviewing all of Sayid’s kills. Never once has he had to “make sure” that anyone he’s killed is dead. When he shoots, he knows. The bullet wound moved, the screen caps tell no lies. Not sure what else I can do to convince you.
I don’t buy this person’s whole theory, but it does make some excellent points http://tinyurl.com/c6hevh add to this that Sayid was probably still high. The eyes have it.
First up, Shenanigans has been my line for a very long time. I’ve called it on everything from Activision’s dumping of Brutal Legend to the screwball antics of the Internal Revenue Service. That said, I forgive you for co-opting my co-opted line.
Moving on…
I am the last person who’d condone professional sloppiness, but I think what has everyone so wound up is a forest-for-the-trees issue. The point isn’t whether Sayid meant to kill Lil’ B, but that Lil’ B had to get seriously injured to move the plot along. Sayid could have easily snapped Lil’ B’s twig-like neck and saved the noise made by the gunshot. That’s what a serious assassin would have done. Such hands-on killing of a kid probably wouldn’t have flown with ABC’s standards and practices, though, and a gunshot is so much more comfortably dramatic. Bottom line is that the Wounding of Lil’ Ben is a plot device, and they didn’t care to be so meticulous because the details don’t matter.
Of course, it’s incredibly cheap and irresponsible to have been so sloppy. The show’s trained us to be hyper aware of minute details, even going so far as to reward the intrepid souls who freeze frame and analyze single shots in hope of, and often finding, some reward (think of the blast door map). With that in mind, the continuity folk (I’m talking to you, costuming, make-up, and script supervisors) should have been on top of this issue. They let us down, badly. It’s just not cool.
But everyone makes mistakes, right? Let’s not toss Lil’ B out with the bathwater just yet.
Thanks Jain, I appreciate your understanding.
But regarding your point, that’s just it… this is a show where the nuances have been calculated to a very high degree for 4 prior seasons. It’s difficult to accept that Ben’s wound moved out of “sloppiness,” now in the show’s fifth year. So then we have to assume that we were intentionally faked out. The article linked by Griguthul below may be correct; the Island, or old smokey/Jacob, or whatever, may have wanted Sayid to think that he had shot Harry Potter in the heart and killed him, so that he wouldn’t go for the coup de grâce. And that kind of thing is fine, as long this kind of fake-out or mislead has some kind of precedent in the series. I can’t remember any other time where a character was “faked out” to this degree, can you?
I also have a problem with one episode showing us something that didn’t happen, and we have to wait a full week to see that it didn’t happen the way we thought. Even if all this is explainable as “the Island did it,” it’s not fair to the audience to pull this kind of trickery without explanation (and there should have been some explanation during “Whatever Happened, Happened,” to set our minds at ease). Trust me, if you tried to get away with this kind of crap in a novel, your editor would jump right down your throat and pull your heart out. Any reasonable writer offers an explanation of such an anomaly immediately after the fact. Judging by the preview for “Dead is Dead” tonight, we might finally get one, from Ben’s perspective. But making the audience wait 2 or more episodes for an explanation to such a blatant mislead is aggravating in the least, insulting at worst.
I’ll keep watching the show, have no doubts. But will I spend extra time dissecting plot nuances, easter eggs, character motivations like I used to? Not a chance. Because like it or not, LOST has now set a precedent where what you’re seeing on the show may not have happened the way they showed it to you, and they might take it back next episode. It’s a violation of audience trust, of that you can be sure. I would certainly never try to get away with such shenanigans in any of my writing.