Man of science, man of faith.

There are only three more episodes (hours) left before the two hour finale. A big event in the lives of LOST fans everywhere.

Last time out, I wound up talking about Sawyer but I wanted to touch on my favorite character today and how over the course of the season my favorite character has become something less of a favorite.

Yes, I’m talking about the inimitable John Locke.

Whenever people become fans of something, it’s often because they identify with one of the characters and with the large cast of LOST it meant the show could appeal to a wide range of people with so many different characters in the cast. Locke quickly became my favorite.

I already had a bit of a soft spot for the actor who portrays Locke (Terry O’Quinn) because he was one Chris Carter‘s favorite actors and as a result appeared in many of Carter’s series throughout the nineties. He was great in the first X-Files theatrical movie even though he has a small, small part. Later on he would be an integral part of Millennium, proving able to hold his own when countering the gravitas of Lance Henrikson.

As a matter of fact, if you want to know where Terry is pulling his performance this season as LOST’s very own Man in Black you need go no further than to view some episodes of Carter’s Harsh Realm where O’Quinn played the main villain - the dictator Santiago.

Back to John Locke though, I was really upset at the end of the fourth season when the body in the casket was revealed Locke. Locke was the one character who believed in the magic of the island from the very beginning so it just didn’t seem right he would be the one to wind up dead.

What I liked about Locke was he consistently fought against the expectation and limitations placed upon him by the people and world around him. While Locke was a loner, there was no denying he was an important part of the society built up by the castaways. As a matter of a fact, the survivors heavily depended on Locke’s abilities throughout the first season.

That he butted heads with Jack much of the time didn’t bother me because I never thought of Jack as a good leader.

Before his arrival on the island though, Locke’s life was fraught with tragedy and the quest to find a place he belonged – again, I could readily understand his motivations and I also liked the air of mystery he carried with him. To me, Locke was one of the more interesting characters on the show and of course who could resist wanting to know more given he boarded Oceanic 816 on a wheelchair but was amazingly able to walk once again.

Then, he died.

He died at the hands of Ben (another favorite) who had tried repeatedly to kill Locke and finally succeeded. Locke died after having been sent on a fool’s errand by the very entity who would shroud itself in his form.

Think about it for a second!

If you’ve been paying any attention, the last revelation was that the Man in Black had taken on a variety of forms and appeared to the castaways as many different people throughout their sojourn on the island. One of those forms was as Christian Shepard and who was it that told Locke he had to go find his friends and bring them back? I actually started watching the old episodes in a different light now with that knowledge and it puts an entirely different spin on the series – one that astoundingly works really well.

So, Locke went on his foolish quest and returned only to be the mechanism by which great evil is let loose upon the world.

The show has always had these underpinnings though and one of the constant themes throughout the series is the pull between the two poles of logic and reason versus faith with Jack representing the former and Locke representing the latter. Time and time again Jack and Locke would come into conflict with one and other because at their cores, they based their lives around different tenets. I think faith has a place in each of us and I liked Locke too but now that he’s the villain of the piece I just can’t find it in myself to root for him anymore.

What’s surprising though is at the very end it will be Jack versus Locke as it always has been and in the end even more surprising is the fact I’ll be rooting for Jack (who I never really liked) to win.

I’ll be trying to throw up some other things about LOST before the series eventual finale in a few weeks and I wanted to note once again the beautiful image that graces this blog post.

I asked (and got) permission to use it and I want to make a tip of the hat to Matt Wieringo. There still are a bunch of really wonderful images up on Mike Wieringo’s blog and if you’re any kind of a Mike Wieringo fan I heartily suggest you take some time to go over and look through the blog to see a lot of great unpublished work. Also note there is a wonderful scholarship program that has been established in Mike Wieringo’s name at his alma-mater.