I would be remiss to talk about my favorite moments of Lost and not discuss Ben and Locke’s trip to Jacob’s cabin in “The Man Behind the Curtain.” For so long, we had wondered about Jacob, details trickling in slowly (very slowly) over time. Heck, we didn’t even know his name for a few seasons. Then finally the moment came late into season three, when Locke had had enough and insisted on seeing this mysterious “Jacob.” The results, having been built up for three years, were spectacular, making for one of the best moments in one of the best episodes of Lost.
The entire scene in Jacob’s cabin was a huge moment of Lost weirdness. I can remember pouring over every shot and every prop in the cabin, wondering if any of them held significance to the larger Lost story. There was no shortage of interesting things in and around the cabin: an old painting of a dog, jars of unknown liquid, a curious rocking chair, a circle of ash surrounding the small wooden building.
Of course the best moment came when, for a split second, someone appeared in Jacob’s chair. At the time it was assumed that it was Jacob, but that is up in the air after the season finale of season five. Most likely it was Jacob’s nemesis, who was trapped in the cabin with the circle of ash, but that’s really only a theory at this point. I remember when I first watched the episode. I was so enthralled that I did notice the figure in the chair, but it was so quick it didn’t settle in my brain, and by the end of the episode I had completely forgotten about it until I rewound to watch the scene again.
Aside from the contextual elements, it was a really expertly crafted scene, too. The mood surrounding it was downright creepy, the interior of the cabin just light enough to make everything look slightly scary. Everything is scary in the dark. The scene built up perfectly, with Ben talking to the empty chair. Was he just pulling one over on John? Did he really see someone? Why couldn’t Locke? Then it happened: Locke heard a voice say “Help me,” turned on his flashlight, and all hell broke loose.
There’s no doubt this was one of the finest moments of Lost.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Oct 12, 2009 @ 09:00 EST5EDT
