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Last night was for us. The cultists. The obsessives.
The crazies who have committed to this long, strange trip and gotten lost in it. Like the candy bar Hurley generously shared with Ben while Locke was chatting with the spectral squatters inside Jacob's shack (a nod to the Neo-Oracle-cookie scene in The Matrix?), ''Cabin Fever'' was an episode packed with a chunky abundance of brain-fattening cryptonuggets to nourish our fevered theory making and message-board blustering. Comic-book references. Biblical allusions. Mythological connections. Double meanings to scores of lines. I loved Hurley's ''theory'' that he, Ben, and Locke were chosen for this vision quest because they were the craziest ones on the Island. This in an episode whose '50s-set flashbacks evoked, fittingly, AMC's Mad Men and whose thematic concern with fate mirrors that of No Country for Old Men, a narrative about three men dangling on sanity's thread, though at different points. Amid the clues, red herrings, and tomfoolery, I saw in the episode a fiendishly clever love letter to those of us who've become so locked up inside Lost that they've been somewhat deliriously messed up by it. That's really why they called it ''Cabin Fever.'' Just my theory, but who knows? Maybe I'm just seeing things again.
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Throughout its four seasons, Lost continues to impress with its ability to juggle its storytelling back and forth across multiple time periods. By refusing to commit to just one specific time period, the show retains the ability to drift far away from the present in order to change our perspective of characters and events. Cabin Fever provides a perfect example here, as its opening frames transport the viewer farther back into the past than ever before. Chronologically, the birth of John Locke now represents the very beginning of the show's narrative timeline. In the case of Cabin Fever, a series of flashbacks uncover revelations about Locke that would have been unthinkable during the early days of the series.

The show also demonstrates perhaps an even more impressive ability to jump around between different genres. This characteristic of the series has been no more evident than during the previous two episodes. The Shape of Things to Come consisted of fast-paced action and adventure from start to finish, while Something Nice Back Home offered an intimately detailed psychological drama. Cabin Fever contains a few instances of action and a few scenes of introspection, but it does not fit very neatly into either of those two categories. One might be tempted to classify this episode as science fiction, but on closer examination the story actually fails to incorporate many scientific concepts at all. Ultimately, this particular episode holds more elements in common with works of fantasy and mythology than anything else. As a whole, Cabin Fever almost serves as the equivalent of a superhero origin tale for its most iconic character, John Locke.
Cabin Fever borrows quite liberally and acknowledges these various source materials in religion, literature, and popular culture. One particular scene, in which the ageless Richard Alpert visits John Locke as a child, stands out above all else. Richard's initiation test for Locke derives from a Buddhist selection ritual for the Dalia Lama. The scene's language openly suggests that Locke might represent the literal reincarnation of a previous figure. In turn, young John's choice of the knife recalls a similar choice made by young Achilles, the hero of Homer's Iliad. Richard's recruitment angle also recalls the similar words of Professor Xavier of the X-Men franchise from Marvel Comics. The episode hints that Locke possesses at least two potential superhuman powers: immunity from fatal injuries (the car collision before his birth, an eight-story fall, and Ben's gunshot wound) and psychic ability (implied by his childhood drawings of the smoke monster and his vivid visions during dreams). These three references are just the tip of the iceberg, as there are countless other comparisons that can be drawn to other hero myths across cultures, whether intentional or not.
While these associations offer an interesting lens through which to view the story, this particular story still highlights some important differences. Whether one is analyzing Christian scriptures or Buddhist texts, Star Wars or The Odyssey, Batman or Superman, every myth seeks to convey a unique value system. The tale of John Locke sketched out in Cabin Fever also offers its own set of ideas to consider. The most important question of interpretation for this hero myth is also the most basic: in what sense can we call Locke a hero?

Three flashback scenes in this episode reveal that John has been called to the island over his whole life. Richard Alpert, the long-time leader of the Others, makes two unsuccessful attempts to recruit Locke first at the age of five and then at the age of sixteen. In both cases, John's interests fail to coincide with Alpert's goals. As a child, Locke bypasses the other possessions and assumes the knife as his own. As a teenager, Locke rejects an invitation to join Mittelos Bioscience for analogous reasons. Whatever Alpert's plans might have been for him, Locke wanted something different out of life. He desired power, importance, adventure, even violence. Cabin Fever even demonstrates exactly why Locke developed his famous aversion to science, and his reasons turn out to be fairly shallow: "things like science camp are the reason why I get stuffed into lockers". Young Locke wanted to become the alpha male, and shunned the things he associated with weakness. Are the aims of the older Locke any different?

Locke's "don't tell me what I can't do" mantra originally served as a source of inspiration, evidence of the man's determination to overcome his disability and achieve his dreams. Scenes from The Man from Tallahassee implied that Locke's physical therapist encouraged him to shift his attention away from the negatives outside of his control and onto his positive potential. The flashbacks of Cabin Fever have now rewritten the origins of that phrase in a much less uplifting manner. The teenaged John Locke lashes out due to his feelings of powerlessness, jealousy, and perceived inferiority. The science teacher offers a very reasonable claim: "You can't be a superhero." Notice that the teacher's claims describe only what Locke can 'be' rather than what he can 'do'. Normally, Locke's response would seem ridiculous here, except for the incidental reality that Locke actually was destined to become a superhero. The scene postures Locke more as a pathetic figure than a sympathetic figure, and might even suggest shades of villainy rather than heroism.

The knife not only serves as a recurring image associated with John Locke, but it also serves as a symbol for what he has become. Locke has chosen to become a mere instrument, guided by the hand of other forces more powerful than himself. Most dramatically, Locke used his knife to murder Naomi at the end of Season Three. He killed her not as a result of his own judgment, but because he trusted someone else's orders. If we commend Locke's judgment, then that comment really only reflects on the wisdom of his masters, and not his own capacities for reason. If the audience truly believes that Locke is doing the right thing, then we also must rely completely on our faith in the island. The vast majority of the audience seems to believe that the forces guiding John Locke do so with the best intentions. There are no guarantees (and indeed no evidence at all) that the island's ultimate aims are benevolent. If we look into Locke's past, then we can see that he often trusts others for the wrong reasons. In the end, the island could turn out to be merely a more sophisticated version of the conman Anthony Cooper, who preyed on Locke's emotions in order to use him, and then cast his son aside. John seems to be no wiser than he was back then, but he only appears to have latched onto a kinder manipulator.
...while Locke relays direct instructions from Christian, "He wants us to move the island". By all indications, Locke seems to be taking the right course of action, while Shephard seems to be leading his flock into a disaster. To me, the underlying morality of this turn of events seems highly questionable. Locke only knows what to do because he listened dutifully to what someone told him. Jack's reasoning seems very foolish here, but he is at least thinking for himself. Jack assumes responsibility, both positive and negative, for his own choices. Locke dodges the decision-making responsibility, and passes on the burden to the island. Does this story reward Locke for blindly trusting an authority figure, and simultaneously comdemn Jack for trying to be an independent thinker? Which man should we admire more than the other?
...While John Locke meets some ideas of a hero, the story of Cabin Fever offers a somewhat twisted vision of his heroism. This episode portrays Locke as a man who lusts for power, who blindly follows the direction of a higher authority, who follows in the footsteps of Benjamin Linus, and who values the well-being of his island more than the lives of his friends. I can understand why a person would regard him as heroic, but I can also understand how a person could characterize him as a villain.

The presence of Benjamin Linus continues to cast an ominous shadow over Locke's journey. The brief visit to the mass Dharma grave offers a reminder that job requirements for the island's protector might require cold-blooded murder. At the climax of the episode, Christian invites Locke to ask the 'one question that does matter' to him. Importantly, John does not ask how to save his friends, but only asks "How do I save the island?". Much like his mentor Linus, Locke now values the island itself more than the lives of the people on it. Knowing Locke's current priorities, would he have acted any differently from Ben in such a situation? If Locke already murdered Naomi without so much as a second thought, then he might not hestitate to kill on a larger scale if given the order. Ben's comment that Locke is 'certainly not' the same as him can be interpreted literally or ironically. At this point, though, Locke appears to be both willing and capable of becoming the island's next Benjamin Linus.