[Murgatroyd]

It was an interesting scene, and a more endearing and perhaps straightforward take on the good guys/bad guys conundrum than we've previously seen. In my opinion, it was more idealistic than realistic - while I think that acting decently and with good intentions is far more likely to bring you rewards than acting ill, purely because you're going to win fewer enemies that way ... and certainly it makes you more deserving ... I don't think life's so inherently fair as Bernard seems to think it is. His worldview is naive in the best possible way - it's actually touching - but I think the conclusion of 'Ji Yeon' presented the more worldly view that bad things happen to good people and vice versa. It's unfair, but it happens.

But for all that gloominess, I think what Bernard said was actually a very vital principle. In the very confusing and morally dubious world of Lost, I think people (not just the Losties, but people like Ben and Widmore as well - fat chance, I know) could do a lot worse than act doggedly on the principle of taking the route of least harm: endeavouring to uphold key ideals, even if they fear they might ultimately fail because of it. Locke's way, and even Ben's way, may ultimately be the 'better' way (not the best way) for the greater number of people, in that more folk might come out the other end alive ... albeit morally bankrupt. But if people like Bernard and Rose fail to benefit from that, it won't be through a lack of decent intent: it'll be because they couldn't find it in themselves to condone methods that a decent human being shouldn't even be able to contemplate. Probably that won't secure them any rewards beyond the sense of self-worth and humanity that people like Locke and Ben (and Sawyer and Sayid and sadly countless others) have long since sacrificed en route, but it's nice to think that it would.

And the fact that Rose is the driving force behind this ideal is powerful as well: with Rose, it can't be said that it's easy enough for her to act the saint, because actually she's under enormous pressure - she made the decision not to openly approve behaviour she couldn't condone at the likely expense of her own life (and, significantly, nobody else's), which is about as self-sacrificing as you can be.

(And I can't believe how much respect I have for Rose at present - I couldn't stand her in the first three seasons!)