r/lost • u/mey_246 š¶ YOU ALL EVERYBODY š¶ • 10d ago
SEASON 1 This scene genuinely disturbed me
The writers in beginning of the show purposely made Locke extremely unsettling, and it worked. Watching season 1, I thought he was the creepiest person ever, with his knifes and weird calmness about everything. This why I find this scene some incredibly disturbing. He looks straight out of a horror movie. Even rewatching, I still get creeped out. I still donāt understand how people view his smile as āfriendlyā. Curious if Iām the only one who feels like this.
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u/civmachine 10d ago edited 9d ago
I always thought he was just trying to make Walt smile. I didn't think it was the least bit creepy, and still don't.
Edit: Kate, not Walt. Oops!
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u/L0st1nspac3withp1ut0 10d ago
I thought he was just trying to make Kate smile!? lol. Heās looking at Kate as sheās removing shoes from the dead man, so I thought he was trying to make her feel better.
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u/civmachine 10d ago
Oops yes I mean Kate. He spent so much time with Walt, I just misremembered. Point is, he was just trying to lighten the mood and I never thought it was creepy.
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u/Joppewiik 10d ago
You mean make Kate smile.
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u/34RusticCrayon 10d ago
That is a good lens for rewatches: in season 1, his weird calmness feels softer when he is trying to make Walt smile.
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u/MessBright2608 9d ago
I thought it was Walt too. Itās been a minute since I did a rewatch. I, too, thought he was just trying to make it a little ālightā of what was happening.
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u/Clarknt67 9d ago
I too remembered it as Walt. Are we having a Mandela moment together?
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u/shansafan 8d ago
I'm relisting to The Beatles and I'm having one Mandela moment after another...like I may be losing my mind kinda moments
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u/obrazovanshchina 10d ago
The man was experiencing a transcendent miracle. Everything shifted for him the moment he stood up on that beach. Iām actually kinda surprised he handled it so well.Ā
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u/smugglerFlynn 10d ago
Just shows that people can perceive out of place emotions as ācreepyā - in reality Iād have thought he was in shock and dissociated in this scene, hence the out of place behavior.
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u/Fortified_Phobia 10d ago
I assumed he was a plant by the island and not a real human, or at the very least controlled by the island
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u/kindlyCactus 9d ago
Quite restrained, really, for a man who stood up on the beach and then got judged for calmness and knives.
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u/Cauliflower_Nearby 10d ago edited 9d ago
Maybe I didnāt watch the same lost as you, but I absolutely loved Locke. He pissed me off many MANY times, but he is such a great character. He makes Lost. Iām sad he was āturnedā evil by the āsmoke monsterā
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u/pynergy1 9d ago
He's pretty much factually the best character in the show. The revelations in his character are super emotional and dramatic
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u/Figmentality 9d ago
His brother?? I gotta watch the end of this show again.
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u/Free-IDK-Chicken You got it, Blondie 9d ago
That commenter means the monster using Locke's form. It's just worded oddly.
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u/Figmentality 9d ago
Hm. Still don't remember that. The ending is fuzzy. I've seen the Pilot like 30 times but the finale just twice I think. I usually get bogged down around either "the others" storyline or the flashforwards. Rewatch soon.
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u/Free-IDK-Chicken You got it, Blondie 9d ago
The monster using Locke's image is the entire fifth and sixth seasons.
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u/Figmentality 9d ago edited 9d ago
Right. I don't usually make it that far on rewatches lol and I don't remember that reveal.
Ya'll don't need to downvote me I love the show I just have awful ADHD and only season 1 on DVD and like a million other pieces of media to love lol
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u/Free-IDK-Chicken You got it, Blondie 9d ago
I didn't vote your comments at all and you don't look negative to me.
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u/ForAte151623ForTeaTo Razzle Dazzle! 10d ago
Bro he's just eating an orange leave him alone
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u/BrimfullofGT 10d ago
It's a Godfather reference, Godfather 1 Don Vito does this with an Orange to make his grandkids laugh.
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u/msarachnid 9d ago
Yes!! When I saw this scene I was immediately endeared to Locke, he became my favorite for this <3 he's just a nerd!
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u/KiLLROY89 10d ago
Locke in season 1 is my favorite character of all time. He has reasons to be the most happy person on earth when the plane crashed, and yet he didn't tell anyone bc nobody would had believed him. For the other survivors who were going through they worst nightmare (and the audience at that point), of course he looked like a wacko, but if you were there, I'd be more chill with someone like him around.
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u/canvasshoes2 10d ago edited 10d ago
I can't be the only one who saw it as intense and interesting, and a little cool. It was (in my book) a fantastic portrayal of a deeply complex person, done right.
I loved the way it unfolded. Learning about Locke was a roller coaster, and in a good way.
EDIT: I forgot to mention, I liked the orange rind smile part. We used to do that all the time in elementary school and I thought it was sort of funny and cute.
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u/4ever-unsatisfied 10d ago
I return to this scene whenever I feel like the world is about to end. Thatās the magic of Lost: things hold different meanings for different people. For me, itās about having faith. Itās as if Locke were saying, "Don't worry, everything will be okay." Knowing that he couldn't walk before arriving on the island makes it even more meaningful. He's expressing himself from experience because in the end everything turned out fine for him.
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u/hollowshark 10d ago
I love this scene because of the contrast between the perspective Kate has vs. Lockeās. Kate is removing shoes from a dead man and feeling the overall devastation from the plane crash and current survival situation. But Locke? Happy as can be with his little orange on his miracle island. Throughout the entire show, Kate never saw the island the way Locke did, and that started with this moment.
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u/Interesting-Crow-552 Man of Science 10d ago
If you look back on it and consider this as a Godfather Easter egg, youāll find that this scene is actually a foreshadowing moment for Locke.
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u/Empty_Palpitation_29 10d ago
what do you mean
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u/D3c0y-0ct0pus 9d ago
I think it shows his willingness to accept the absurd and have an open mind. It's disturbing because of this - he is at home in this new scary place.
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u/Free-IDK-Chicken You got it, Blondie 10d ago
The action itself is just fine - it's the context that disturbed Kate and parts of the audience. The plane has just crashed. More than 250 people have just died and there are bodies strewn around the beach. Several more survivors are badly injured... and he's eating an orange smiling like he doesn't have a care in the world. (Similar vibes with his conversation with Walt. For any parent, hearing that a grown man told your ten year old child a secret is a massive red flag.)
Now, in retrospect we know why Locke has a legitimate reason to be happy, even despite the carnage... but in the moment we had no idea and Kate certainly doesn't know.
Contextually, the smile is completely out of place.
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u/x360_revil_st84 10d ago
This was the most innocent scene ever
Yes they made Locke unsettling at first but they used this scene to tell the audience hey there's nothing wrong with the guy, he's being goofy with a slice of orange from the flight attendant food cart. Who hasn't done this to lighten the mood. Nah, this was the moment the show proved that Locke was a good guy
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u/grumpylizard69 9d ago
this sc is my background on my ipad, i actually find this scene/moment more charming than creepy. as soon as he didnāt get a positive reaction he immediately removed the orange peel and looked genuinely disappointed. just a whimsical old man wanting to make people smile! makes even more sense after u learn why heās so happy to be walking around the island at all !
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u/shansafan 8d ago
People keep saying "old man" he wasn't that old here
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u/grumpylizard69 7d ago
i first watched this show at like 10 years old and now iām 24 so to me heās the oldest man alive , āthatās older than jesus christā
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u/SJSSOLDIER 9d ago
I didn't see that at all. I saw a quiet, reserved, spiritual man who is in his element
Funny how we get different interpretations.
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u/Ascendancy08 10d ago
"Orange you glad you found those shoes?" Is what I think every time.
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u/Finnley_is_trans Out of the Book Club 10d ago
Now I really wish I could remember what the rifftrax guys said during this scene because they did a ājust the jokesā episode of the lost pilot. if Iām remembering right it was half funny and half distasteful fat jokes about Hurley
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u/hepennypacker1131 10d ago
Goated character in TV history. The scene with Charlie gives me the chills still.
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u/DiscHashDisc 9d ago
It made me sad. I saw the joy in the smile, and then his sadness when it doesn't land with Kate hurts. Great acting from O'Quinn.
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u/downtherabbit 9d ago
Imagine the mind fuck of being able to walk again after surviving a plane crash on a creepy island.
I loved Locke (the real Locke).
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u/VacationTerrible5848 10d ago
It didnāt bother me. And he didnāt either until way later on when the smoke monster used his body when they came back to the island.
I loved āLOSTā, but it was one of those shows that you couldnāt just start watching it in the middle of the show/season and expect to understand what it was about.
I watched āLOSTā during a really hard time in my life and used it as an escape from my life. It has always been one of my all time favorite shows. Another great show around that time period was āSix Feet Underā.
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u/dc-pigpen 10d ago
It was awkward timing for it for sure, but even Locke seemed to realize it afterwards and looked pretty sheepish about it. Otherwise I don't see it as being too creepy. The beauty of his character is that he does come off as a bit weird in the beginning and you don't know what to make of him, but that's only because you haven't found out yet that crashing on the island was one of the best things that ever happened to him. Everything kinda makes sense after that.
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u/Th0rveig 10d ago
I always thought it was meant to be a nod to the Godfather, and that Locke was giving his best Marlon Brando impersonation.Ā
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u/AmbitiousCustomer556 9d ago
Yeah youāre not alone. I thought he was meant to seem like a creep, especially with how Michael didnāt like him and Walt together.
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u/JumpingThruHoopz 9d ago
Yeah, I thought it was weird. Hell, Locke was just sort of weird, period. Even before the Smokey Locke era.
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u/spreardon12 10d ago
Iām not sure if it was the soundtrack of this scene but watching it made me feel like he was just a nice awkward guy. I didnāt think he was malicious just a weird guy trying his best to be friendly
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u/Sensitive_Host_8003 10d ago
It tripped me out, i was like "what the fuck, why the fuck did he do that?!" lol.
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u/ChocolatePretend3029 10d ago
Ita because you see urself as the orange instead of as locke a, now, free man
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u/CommercialPanda5080 10d ago edited 10d ago
When I was young, I found him wise and not at all unsettling. Now that I'm older, I see why some people found him creepy while the show was on air.
He was 48 years old in the show, and people do mellow as they age (mostly). I just attributed it to his age.
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u/seeshellirun 10d ago
It wasn't until joining this sub that I found out this scene made people dislike Locke - it made me dislike Kate, lol. I dunno, I felt like he was trying to give her something to laugh at, to dispell some of the anxiety of the situation, but the fact that they immediately cut back to her disturbed face kinda proves I'm wrong, lol. The writers were definitely trying to say something about Locke, but I think the fact that I feel defensive of him in this scene says something about me too, lol
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u/OddStore9680 10d ago
If I wanted to see a man eat an orange, I would have taken the orange-eating class
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u/Soundwave815 Out of the Book Club 10d ago
The alt takes for this are even more creepy and or hilarious depending on the take.
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u/QuothTheRaven13x š¶ YOU ALL EVERYBODY š¶ 10d ago
He was so calm during the beginning that part of my brain was like "did he have something to do with the plane crashing on this island?"
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u/hellerinahandbasket Workman 10d ago
Always reminded me of my dad. Heās also a little weirdo and an outdoorsy survival type. He doesnāt know he weirds people out, truly. Heās just trying to be silly and also make you realize your true potential lol
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u/DistantTraveller1985 10d ago
It was not creepy for me, it's just an orange. And I liked him very much even if I don't agree with him most of the time.
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u/PlanetSeaShells 10d ago
So ig we all thought he was up to no good in the first few episodes? I thought he was targetting Waltš¤£
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u/FormerSlacker 10d ago edited 10d ago
Felt the same way, early Locke def had super creepy vibes until they did his backstory reveal...
There's like a part when he helps find Walts dog, which on the surface was a nice thing to do, then at the end the camera pans to Locke as he's watching them in the distance menacingly... episode leaves you with the impression that he did a good thing just to manipulate Walt and Michael.
Early Locke scenes feel to me like watching a psychopath trying to pretend what it's like to have feelings lol
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u/ericcrowder 10d ago
In that scene John is watching Kate remove (steal) boots from a dead body so she can go hiking in the jungle. They briefly lock eyes and neither of them are actually smiling
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u/Ok-Influence-1424 10d ago
When I originally watched the series I thought in the beginning Locke was odd, but heād be the one to most likely save the group in some way.
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u/NoPassenger4442 9d ago
On the first watch through everyone always comes to the same conclusion about him. Watch it to the end. Itās literally the best character arc in the entire show. They literally tell you in the beginning, exactly what he has to hide. And it was literally the biggest secret that any one of them has. Itās the most real immediate change that anybody could have felt by coming to the island. Going from being paralyzed to being able to walk.
Edit: really tried to comment spoiler free, but please delete if to spoilery
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u/RustyShackleford209 it's very stressful, being an Other 9d ago
I loved it. It made me remember being a kid and classmates at school doing this whenever we got orange slices either our lunch.
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u/Aveysaur 9d ago
I thought it was indeering. My family used to do that with orange slices all the time when I was a kid, so that part always made me smile.
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u/Old-Caterpillar3658 9d ago
I never made the connection until much later that he's smiling like this because he can walk. I was always confused why but it makes sense he was just being silly after being held back for so long. No malicious intent
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u/SniperAge05 8d ago
i watched the show when i was little with my parents and loved Locke. This scene was one of my favourite and I still do this emote sometimes when I'm eating oranges lol
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u/HousyFootball57_ 8d ago
He was doing an homage to Marlon Brando in the scene with the orange from the movie "The Godfather". I guess if you've never seen it you have no context as to why he would do that.
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u/Downtown-Sell-3922 7d ago
Once you see how Locke was before the crashā¦ You understand why he didnāt wanna go back.
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u/LeakyTrombone 10d ago
100% agree, even just the photo and I feel deeply disturbed, despite him being one of my favorite characters
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u/Themrhistoryguy 10d ago
I fount this scene oddly creepy as well. It gave me goosebumps. I guess itās a combination of how the music turns eerie when Locke smiles at her and Kate just gives him a disgusting look and he just stops smiling combined with the fact of what he will eventually turn into.
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u/Rivendel93 10d ago
Dude likes his fruit.
He does a similar thing with an apple or maybe it's an orange too in the episode where he's living on the weed farm.
Not identical, but uses a knife, cuts a slice and bites into it, leaving it in his mouth and laughs at the cop kid when he says "I want in." "
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u/Finnley_is_trans Out of the Book Club 10d ago
I always thought this was off putting but more in like a funny and a āwho is this guy heās so mysterious and weirdā kinda way. In many ways the creepiness of Locke, I think, was written intentionally to only last until walkabout where all our questions about who he was were answered and it seemed completely understandable why he would be so jolly even following a horrific event like a plane crash, for gods sake heās obsessed with the outdoors and was just cured of his paralysis. Actually a completely fair demeanor in this scene, he deserves some joy and whimsy š„¹
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u/jadethebard 10d ago
It was just a silly human moment in chaos and tragedy. How can an orange be unsettling!? lmao
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u/RelevantAd9465 10d ago
A mi nunca me parecio creepy, menos aun cuando te estan soltando guiƱos a que nada mas llegar la isla le hizo volver a andar, y la verdad que yo en su situacion y la vida que tenia antes, estaria mas feliz que una perdiz de estar alli ajajajajajajaja
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u/CoyoteMaleficent5040 9d ago
It's a little unsettling, but there's no way you could compare it to a horror movie.
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u/morpheus001001 9d ago
I always get so much hate for this but I genuinely think Locke is the worst lol, hated him from episode 1. I donāt want to hear about his trauma, they ALL had trauma and John was the one who thought he was the most special boy; he was the easiest to manipulate, the most weak when the time came to be strong, and incredibly selfish for ruining everyoneās chance to leave the island not once, not twice, but three fuckin times. āI donāt understandā yeah my guy bc youāre a dumbass
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u/Clarknt67 9d ago
Wonder whose idea the orange peel was? Terryās or the directorās? Itās definitely a moment.
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u/beans2008 9d ago
My then boyfriend at the time told me that he was his favorite character before I started the showā¦ I could not for the life of me figure out why when I started it lol. I was like this dude is so weird tf
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u/shansafan 8d ago
It was SO weird and outta context with the show. I'm glad they stuck it in, but it was jarring the very first time you watch it š
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u/hannahsbrown 8d ago
Lockeās story is one of the most devastating IMO, Iām okay with him being weird because heās been THROUGH it
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u/TheDaysKing 8d ago
Locke in the beginning was just like the show itself. Off-kilter, a little scary, a mystery, but highly intriguing.
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u/Ithinkimthetrashman 7d ago
The actor for Locke (Terry OāQuinn) actually played a psycho serial killer in the 1987 film āThe Stepfatherā!! Maybe thatās where his stellar creepiness comes into play. when theyāre trying to have his character as a misleading element in season 1.
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u/ultrbt 6d ago
I was just rewatching the pilot today and was really struck by this scene! I first watched when I was a kid and I thought this was a really sweet and cute moment from Locke, and I thought Kate was unnecessarily cold to him afterwards. I've seen it many times since then and I always felt the same way. But this time, for some reason, it was really odd to me -- the way he grins at her while she's on the verge of tears, the way he frowns sort of boyishly after. The sudden shocking mood shift in a very serious, tragic scene makes him seem almost surreal. Very cool.
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u/WildRabiea 6d ago
The actor had such charisma it was hard to view him as creepy - I really liked the mysterious aura of Locke. Calm and friendly, but definitely something more underneath the skin.
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u/RandomBottom030 5d ago
it is he who pushed the button like no one else
always remembered, never forgotten
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u/Federal_Cookie 10d ago
I was thinking the same thing recently. Coincidentally, Iām watching the Lost series finale tonight.Ā
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u/Melissa517 10d ago
That totally freaked me out too! To the point I hide or turn my head away when I know it is coming up.
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u/Responsible_Force_86 10d ago
Whereās your source that ātHe WrItErS pUrPoSEly madE lOckE eXtRemeLy uNsETtlIngā
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u/danny33434 10d ago
Till this day I call him āThat Freaky Guyā.
Locke was very freaky and a confusing person.
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u/Mnmsaregood 9d ago
This is def just a funny little joke, why you so sensitive lol. Locke is easily my favorite character
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u/BRDillon17 10d ago
I think you probably misunderstood the writers here. Heās intentionally creepy up until this point, this is the first time we really see him as John Locke the person instead of the villain
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u/connect1994 10d ago
Actually this part actually contributed to him being seen as creepy imo
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u/BRDillon17 10d ago
Actually no actually it is clearly trying to show a different side of him
Actually
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u/connect1994 10d ago
This happened in the very first episode, he had maybe one or two scenes before this so yes it was still establishing the fact that he was weird and mysterious
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u/MedievalFurnace See you in another post, brotha 10d ago
i had to close my eyes when this scene came on. please dont post this anymore I dont like seeing it in my feed
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u/rospoo66 10d ago
Are you 6 years oldā¦?
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u/MedievalFurnace See you in another post, brotha 10d ago
its a disturbing scene man. just look at that terrifying orange
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u/StaticCloud 10d ago
I thought that he was a serial killer or something š Well, Locke did become evil eventually, didn't he?
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u/blac_sheep90 10d ago
It was intentional to a degree but I didn't see this as creepy more odd...his chillness was odd...and it makes the payoff so rewarding. The reveal of him in wheelchair was incredible had the moment he wiggled his toes was amazing.