EW: The Force is with you, Mr. Locke

EW has some great Lost theory stuff that's a definite must-read before tonight's episode. Check out the link below. I like the way this guy (Jeffe Jensen) looks at the show...he's really looking thematically and seeing the show as character-driven, whereas the megasite Lostpedia primarily sees it as conspiracy-driven.

My favorite line from Jeff is "Lost is a show about people with unresolved issues colliding with an island with an unresolved history."
Ya know, Jeff, that's exactly why I love this show.

Why John Locke = Luke Skywalker: "the movie that truly illuminates last week's Locke episode is The Empire Strikes Back. I loved the moment when Locke entered the cave and torched the polar bear — it reminded me of Luke when he used his lightsaber to kill the wampa monster in the ice cave on Hoth. It also reminded me of the part when Luke descended into that mystical root cellar on Dagobah and chopped off the helmeted head of a hallucinatory Darth Vader, only to see that under the mask was his own face.

Could these vague allusions to Empire (often cited by Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof as one of his fave movies) have been intentional? Consider this: Like the vision of Vader in the cave, the polar bear represents the hero's unresolved anger, much of which is rooted in his complicated non-relationship with his awful father.

Locke now seems determined to save his kidnapped friends, just as Luke did in Empire after his Dagobah digression. We all know how that turned out, don't we? The neophyte knight walked right into a trap...

...and got his hand cut off.
Hmmm...

PREDICTION In the next Locke episode, John the Jedi will lead the rescue mission to free Jack & Co., and at long last, we'll get the backstory that reveals how Locke lost the use of his legs.

HYPOTHESIS Remember last season, when Henry Gale (now Ben) told Locke that the reason he had infiltrated the castaways' camp was to bring him back to Othersville? Was Ben merely messing with the easily manipulated Locke — or was he actually telling Locke the truth, as much as Ben actually tells the truth? Was Ben's ''Let myself get kidnapped'' plan more complex and far-reaching than just setting up Jack, Kate, and Sawyer for abduction? Could he have been setting up Locke for something, too?

THEORY Like Luke, Locke has a secret sibling — and it's Ben himself.