Maybe dominate is too strong of a word to describe the role played by the Others-Castaway war in the 3rd season. The survivors’ beach was a peaceful place most of the season. The war was over and survivors lost. The only action was over whether the Others would execute Sawyer. I previously described how Jack got Sawyer and Kate to escape. But that was at best a prisoner break. This post is about the final battle.
Ben does have a small point when he protests the Others’ innocence. Ben never sent a full army after the castaways. Instead, he has used infiltrators to wreck the most amount of damage: Ethan, Goodwin, Henry Gale, and Michael. The Others’ have also triumphed when the castaways have stumbled blindly into the Others’ territory.[1] The final battle includes of all these elements: an army, an ambush and a double agent. It begins with Kate, Locke and Sayid all getting captured during their mission to rescue Jack from the Others’ barracks. It’s entirely unknown to me why Kate thought the three of them could take on the entire Others’ camp. Anyways, when he has them all prisoner, Ben is the decider. Locke just blew up his submarine so it only seems fair that Ben keep them all prisoners as punishment. Or he could let them go and resume some sort of truce. Instead he sends all of the castaways back to their camp, but with Juliet as his latest infiltrator. He arranges any elaborate ruse to make it seem like the Others’ have abandoned Juliet.[2] That is a decision guaranteed to blow up something.
Ben’s motives are not even pressing. He just wants information on the survivors’ other possibly pregnant women, such as Sun and Kate, so the Others’ can kidnap them like they kidnapped Claire.[3] Once he has the information he needs, Ben sends his 10 best men and women to raid the survivors’ camp. He is finally sending an army after the survivors. And he orders them to kill any survivors who try to the stop them from taking the women.[4] The Others are the bad guys. This isn’t a conflict based on a misunderstanding. This is a war fought because Ben is still trying to get the Others’ to breed.
Of course, we all know what happens next. Juliet confesses everything to Jack, including the upcoming raid.[5] They get Rousseau to deliver dynamite from the Black Rock.[6] Then after Karl warns the survivors that the Others are coming a night early,[7] Jack leads the survivors to the radio tower while Sayid, Jin and Bernard stay behind to spring the trap. They denote two of the piles of dynamite, killing seven of the Others, before they are captured.[8] But then Sawyer and Juliet return to help. The two of them argue over their plan of attack as Hurly shows up to save the day in the Dharma folks’ over VW bus. Hurley runs down one Other, Sayid snaps the neck of another Other with his legs, and finally Sawyer shoots Tom Friendly for “taking the kid off the boat”.[9]
I know Ewoks suck, but that ending is Lost’s Return of the Jedi moment. The previous season’s cliffhanger had been a grin and bear it Others’ victory akin to The Empire Strikes Back. This time, the underdogs defeat the better trained evil empire lead by the scoundrel, the babe and fuzzy sidekick. Instead of an Ewok dance, Hurley does a cannonball.[10]
[1] See “The Hunting Party”, “Live Together, Die Alone”
[2] “Left Behind”
[3] “The Brig”
[4] “Greatest Hits”
[5] “The Brig”
[6] Id.
[7] “Greatest Hits”
[8] “Through the Looking Glass”
[9] Id.
[10] “The Beginning of the End”
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