The Cure for Cabin Fever

mmmm...DHARMA Ranch!Tonight’s episode of Lost, Cabin Fever takes its name from a (mostly) psychological condition.  The cure for which, according to this Web site is “a good wholesome change of environment.”

If you think about it, that has a lot to do with the very end of (and possibly most puzzling statement from) “Cabin Fever.”

Once again, with a Locke-centric episode, Lost delivered in terms of backstory, action, current-day story and expanding the island mythology just enough to have me totally confused about…

…how in the world they’re going to “move” the island.  Through time? Through space? Whichever way, the island’s ills (Keamy and company) will be cured by a “a good wholesome change of environment.”

As I ponder the big question, might as well review what we did learn tonight:

Locke has been special for a very long time. It was nice to see Richard Alpert again (and was I the only one getting a Rod Serling vibe from Alpert tonight? I halfway expected an episode of the Twilight Zone to start in his first scene).  He might not have been ready for the island at such an early age, but certain people were paying attention to him.  Maybe, because he wasn’t ready (or didn’t make the right choices during his “test”), the island/the Others had to go with their backup plan…

…Ben Linus.  Ben was different tonight.  We learned he wasn’t the one who made the call on the purge.  We’ve also seen a different side to him. He was quieter than usual. The effects of his daughter’s death were settling in. “I used to have dreams.”  “I had a spinal tumor and my daughter’s blood on my hands.” Seems like he feels that he’s no longer special, or chosen and that it’s time for him to hand over the reigns.  Good thing that we’ve seen the future, where he’s his take-charge, talkative, and yes, manipulative self.  So we know something changes between now and then, but what?

Keamy and the rest of Widmore’s mercenaries seem like they want to get between Ben and whatever his destiny is.  I have a feeling they don’t, but the whole idea of “torching the island” is not one that sits comfortably with me.  We’ve seen that the boat people aren’t totally a science mission like they were shown to be earlier this season.  But we haven’t found out why they were on the boat to begin with. 

We do know that Abbadon put the squad together.  And tonight we see that Abbadon gently planted the idea of a walkabout in Locke’s mind.  I’m sure we’ll get to see the next time that he and Locke run into each other.

Some other thoughts:

-Ben looked so peaceful in his sleep.

-I felt bad for Hurley as Locke was taunting him about the DHARMA brand Ranch dressing.  It was great to get some more DHARMA shoutouts tonight.

-Speaking of DHARMA, does anyone else think the logo on the “plan B” supplied to Keamy by Widmore is proof that Widmore is behind the DHARMA initiative?

-Locke took a long time lighting that lamp. I just wanted him to get inside Jacob’s cabin.  Okay, the cabin was originally built by Horace. But Horace is dead, and as far as we know, Horace isn’t. And Jacob’s cabin sounds better.

-Weird to see Christian in the cabin. Even weirder to see Claire there with him.  But what the hell does Claire have to do with anything?

-Ben and Hurley sharing a candybar didn’t need any additional dialogue.

What do you think?

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