Blowing the hatch: A different take on Lost

by Jen Creer

As many of you know, we have our own take on “Jumping the Shark,” with a twist: We all know when shows start to suck, but when do good shows become truly great? When that occurs, we call it “Blowing the Hatch.”

Interestingly enough, our name for this phenomena comes from a moment when a lot of Clackers believe that Lost achieved greatness: When the plane crash survivors blew open the Hatch and all sorts of interesting things began to happen. However, I have a different opinion of when the show really began to surpass being just a wonderful, interesting show and became one of the most creative, imaginative pieces of media I have seen.I used to think Lost was fundamentally Jack’s story, even though Kate, Locke, and Sawyer are such strong supporting/lead characters. However, I have come to believe that Lost is actually about Ben and his relationship with the Island. So, for me, the “Blowing the Hatch” moment really came in Season Two’s episode, “The Whole Truth.” The pinnacle moment for me turned out also to be the moment the producers decided that Michael Emerson’s Benjamin Linus needed to become a major character on the show.

Surely we all remember the moment when Ben is eating breakfast after Locke finally lets him out of “jail” in the hatch. Linus is pretending to be balloonist Henry Gale, and as Jack leads a group to verify his story, Ben casually tells Locke what he would have done if he were indeed guilty of NOT being who he says he is. And he is just ambiguous enough to cast some real doubt as to whether he is Henry Gale or someone much more dangerous. He just sits calmly laying out a possible scenario, and then just as calmly, he abruptly breaks the spell he has just cast by asking whether or not they have any milk for his cereal.

What is particularly brilliant about that line’s delivery is that with one simple line, Ben has gone from being the prisoner Henry Gale who has no right to ask for anything to someone with the upper hand who wants milk with the food he, as a prisoner, has no right to be eating. Instead of being grateful to be out of his cell and having any food at all, he is now asking for things. And the biggest joke is that Ben knows that they do have milk, because he is not a marooned balloonist: He is the leader on the island. That moment encapsulates the cold calmness that will define everything Ben does, every lie he tells.

That moment changed everything. From then on, the show was no longer about a group of castaways on an Island. After that, the mysteries of the Island itself became much more important than the fate of anyone on the show. The Island became a character after that, and Ben its closest defender and greatest adversary.

But isn’t it much more fun to say, “Blowing the Hatch,” than “Got Milk”?