Auugh.

[mariness]

In the alternate universe of the season premiere, Locke is chatting to Boone, in a calm, matter-of-fact fashion, about his walkabout in Australia. Except for the hunting part it all sounded quite cool. Minutes later, we saw Locke getting helped into the courtesy transport chair, with a resigned expression. My immediate reaction was, "Awesome, show. Absolutely awesome. Locke got to do the walkabout in the wheelchair in this universe. Why did you have to ruin that by also forcing me to endure Boone and why is Kate still on this show?" In other words, it wasn't something I was particularly dwelling on, especially when the conversation at the end of the show convinced me that Locke will walking again in this alternative timeline anyway. I interpreted Locke's expression as resignation that it sucks to need assistance to get off the plane and also mild depression that his vacation is over and he needs to head back to work.

(Incidentally, I love Terry O'Quinn and I thought he did a great job switching between Evil UnLocke scourge of strange unaging people everywhere and the calm, almost zen like alternative universe Locke. This isn't a rant about the actor.)

As I noted in my snarky recap, the episode left me with Vast Confusion and since I knew I'd missed details, I went to a few sites to figure things out or see if others had any theories.

And they did. The vast majority of commenters said over and over that Locke had lied to Boone about the walkabout. Since in this alternative universe he's in a wheelchair, these commenters said, of course he didn't go on the walkabout. That would have been impossible. So why is Locke lying/evil in this alternative universe, or (another frequently voiced conclusion) isn't it said that he feels he has to like to Boone about his Australian trip?

Here's a thought, voiced by only a minority of commenters: What if he isn't lying/evil in this alternative universe?

Let's flash back to the first season for a moment and that "Walkabout" episode. We saw Locke arriving in Australia and assuming that of course he could go on the walkabout: he had the correct documentation, he'd been training, and aside from the spinal injury (and the missing kidney – I can't remember if we knew about that kidney yet by this episode; this is a very confusing show) he was otherwise in excellent health. He knew about wheelchair users who had participated in various extreme sports. He had, he argued, the right to make his own choice about the risks of going on a walkabout. (From the show's depiction a walkabout seems risky for able-bodied people as well, but this is from the same show with a high kill rating and I don't know enough about real walkabouts to know what risks are involved.) When that right was denied, he was furious.

I agreed with Locke completely in the first season. I agree with him now. And I find it entirely possible that in this alternate universe, Locke checked in advance to find walkabout operators that accommodate wheelchair users or arrived with additional medical documentation or simply didn't run into the same issues at all.

Let's look at that final scene between Locke and Jack. In the original timeline, wheelchair using Locke was a very angry guy (with reason! His dad stole his kidney and thrown him from a building and as evil UnLocke cruelly summarized Locke's life had pretty much sucked. All very sad.) He regularly blew up at people; we were shown scenes of him at anger management classes that weren't doing him any good. This was a guy so upset and angry that he was willing to stay on an island with strange polar bears and smoke monsters, an island almost absolutely everybody else wanted to get off of.

In alternate universe timeline, Locke is a calm, patient guy – he's not angry that a box of expensive knives has been stolen by two dueling entities with whacked-out island issues (I'm assuming that the missing knives are not just an Oceanic mishap). He's not angry that Frogurt has fallen asleep on his shoulder. He takes a moment to say a couple of very comforting, wise words to Jack. He isn't yelling at anybody. He doesn't radiate disappointment: he radiates acceptance.

This isn't a guy who's just been told that he couldn't go on a walkabout. I suspect that this might well be a guy who found out that he couldn't do several things on the walkabout, and a guy that was not thrilled to be returning to his regular existence after the walkabout, but this isn't a guy filled with anger. And it's quite possible that his calmness and acceptance of life's issues, like boxes of knives disappearing into alternative universes, came from the walkabout.

Now, I could be wrong about this as I have been about many things on Lost. And I'll note that the show writers have never struck me as concerned or aware of disability issues in the slightest. (Or racial or gender issues but that's another post.) I agree with the critique of a wheelchair user acquaintance that he would have liked to have seen Sideways and Living Locke in more a more "athletic-looking" wheelchair at the airport (both of us were comparing Locke's wheelchair with the wheelchair used by Jake Sully in Avatar, an image and a wheelchair we liked much more. I fanwanked this that maybe he didn't want to get his best wheelchair wrecked in the mud and dust of an Australian walkabout, but I suspect the real explanation is that the set designers/wardrobe people weren't thinking too much about this angle.) I certainly am not expecting the Lost writers/producers to show any concern about presenting disability issues in a positive or neutral way. I'm braced for annoyance.

But it angers me, deeply, when people take a look at the wheelchair and assume it means "he can't" rather than, "he can." Or when people are describing alternate Locke as pathetic and sad. Important point: alternate Locke is not lying dead on a beach getting impersonated by an angry vengeful smoke monster (well, ok, that timeline is three years ahead of alternate Locke, but still – alternate Locke has not endured a plane crash and isn't threatened by angry polar bears and smoke monsters with issues. Win for alternate Locke). It seemed to me that Locke was one of the ones whose lives were distinctly improved in the alternate timeline (like Hurley). And I think it definitely says something that so many people immediately leapt to the opposite conclusion.