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I have few words for how despicably Locke behaved towards Sawyer. I had a bit of discussion with badwolf735 about this after watching this and I wasn't able to articulate why i thought it was bad; he reminded me that Sawyer had spent his entire life searching for the "real Sawyer" to hunt him down and kill him, which is undoubtedly true. And Sawyer *did* kill somone else in Sydney, thinking he was the "real Sawyer". All that is true, but I've thought about it a bit since then and I can articulate it properly now.
My problem is that Locke conned and manipulated Sawyer into the murder. He didn't give him a choice. He conned him into coming along by telling a lie; he locked him Let's examine Locke's actions.
1. He cons Sawyer into coming along by telling him a lie (ie, that it's Ben he has locked up).
2. He throws Sawyer for a loop by talking about the murder in Sydney.
3. He engages Sawyer's emotions by reminding him about the death of his parents.
4. He locks Sawyer up with someone who A) he knew was the person who'd ruined Sawyer's life, and B) he knew was an unrepentant arsehole about the many lives he'd ruined. He does this deliberately so that Sawyer will kill the man.
5. He sits there calmly listening while Sayer is taunted and goaded beyond the point of no return, and then while he strangles the life out of the man.
6. He watches an evidently distressed Sawyer throwing up and calmly dismisses him with "You can go back now".
Now, this is admittedly what Sawyer had been wanting all his life - but considering that he recently killed someone for real, and didn't like it very much, do we know he would actually go through with it, given time to prepare and take it in? He might have, he might not have. But Locke didn't give him the chance to make that decision freely. Locke wasn't honest with him. He didn't say "Listen, they all have files on us. I know you've been looking for the man who caused your parents' deaths. I know you killed someone in Sydney looking for him. I know who he is, and he's locked up in the ship. I haven't told him about you, so you can question him as much as you like. Then it'll be up to you what you do". He didn't do that because he wanted the man dead so that he can have his belief in his own specialness confirmed.
That isn't to say that Sawyer is an innocent lamb, or that Locke is not himself being manipulated, or that Daddy Locke wasn't an evil bastard who probably deserved some kind of comeuppance. Nobody in this situation is not culpable. But Locke is, in my opinion, despicable in the way he operated here. Locke is a dangerous man, as only the pathetic can be. The people who are really dangerous to others on an individual level aren't the ones who feel powerful and comfortable with themselves; they're the ones who feel powerless. Locke has felt powerless all his life, yet he's always been convinced that he's special. He's willing to manipulate, cheat and con someone else into doing an evil deed and then pretending that he himself did it in order to gain status. Cold. Very, very cold. I would go so far as to say evil.
Something Locke evidently hasn't worked out - apart from the fact that he's being manipulated - is that the murder of his father is *not* a free act, an act of free will. Ben explains it by saying that people must commit an act of free will in order to prove that they're one of the Others. Locke is so smart in some ways, and yet doesn't seem bright enough to recognise that it would be *more* an act of free will if he was told to kill his father and deliberately said to them "No, I choose not to do this, because although he's an evil bastard, this would be wrong". He's a smart man, but his one blind spot is that belief that he is special.
I have no idea what Jack and Juliet are keeping to themselves, but the whole smug glances just makes me want to slap them both. Desmond and Sayid are both hotties. That is all.
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Now that's more like it. I liked this one very much. Just the right amount of action, drama, Martha's obviously rather smart family (except her brother who seems a wee bit gormless), some humour... loved the Doctor trying to tell Martha's mum what they'd been doing. And turning it up to eleven :)
Also, eeeee, Tennant! He just gets cuter and more adorable! And eeeeeEEEE, the trailer!!!eleventy!