Locke question SPOILER for 203

[windy]

I've just recently started watching Lost and I've finally caught up on all the eps. Brilliant show! One thing I don't get though and I'm sorry if it's been discussed before but how does the whole Helen/Locke thing work? In the first season we learn that he's just a 'customer' and that she's not allowed to meet him and then in 203 we see that they're a couple of sorts. And 203 is before 104 in the timeline. Is that an error or did I miss something?

[aaobuttons]

There are 2 Helens. 1 was his girlfriend, 1 was the sex phone operator. We don't know if Helen was the operators real name or if Locke wanted her to be called that.

[windy]

There are 2 Helens. 1 was his girlfriend, 1 was the sex phone operator. We don't know if Helen was the operators real name or if Locke wanted her to be called that.

Not that I doubt you, but how do you know? Was there a clue in an ep?

[aaobuttons]

Not that I doubt you, but how do you know? Was there a clue in an ep?

Well their voices don't match for one. The sex phone operator doesn't have the voice of Katey Segal who played his girlfriend Helen. This has been discussed in other Lost Forums and possibly even this one somewhere and there is a general agreement that there are 2. I don't know for sure if there was ever confirmation from the writers or anything to make it canon. And I guess even if there was, they could change their mind and later make them the same person.

[windy]

Thanks aaobuttons, appreciate the help.

[Cinephilic TV Addict]

Actually, although their voices are different, I'd bet that the lost crew is going to make her the same person. It doesn't really fit any other way - the backgrounds of all the characters are so complex and thought out, with inter-relations between their lives as well as surprises, developements, etc. in individual lives, that it's very safe to assume that Helen and Locke had some sort of falling out that will be developed in future flashbacks.

Besides, there are 2 other reasons that would make sense here - 1) TV show characters are supposed to derive sympathy from the audience, and someone who calls phone sex/chat/whatever lines isn't very sympathetic, and 2) Locke's backstories have revealed a certain tendency that his life has been filled with a lot of sh*t, so it wouldn't be that surprising that he and Helen had something major happen between them.

Nothing happens by accident on TV, especially lost - they are definitely the same Helen. He even said in ep 104 that Helen "knows him better than anybody else." That's not proof, but I'm easily 99.9% sure that they will make the Helen from the phone conversation the same one as from 203, even though the voices were different and it might require some 'tweaking' of the dialogue between Locke and the Helen on the phone in 104.

[aaobuttons]

People role play with sex phone operators, so I think it's just as good a chance he told her to call herself Helen. It would definetly show how pathetic he was.

[ItsDan]

It only makes sense your way? So a sucessful therapist would become a phone sex operator, then talk to someone she knew intimately before, but then claim she's not allowed to meet customers? That makes sense?

It's far more likely that Locke was simply trying to recapture the happiness he had and lost with the real Helen.

[Cinephilic TV Addict]

It only makes sense your way? So a sucessful therapist would become a phone sex operator, then talk to someone she knew intimately before, but then claim she's not allowed to meet customers? That makes sense?

It's far more likely that Locke was simply trying to recapture the happiness he had and lost with the real Helen.

I'm not saying he didn't role play - it does make sense both ways. But you're very incorrect about the possibility that it is the real Helen. It's LOST - look at the depth in character's lives - Hugo owns Locke's box company, Jack didn't save Shannon's father, etc. My point is this - the writers, although they appear to be winging it with the others storylines, have very clearly put a lot of though into the backstories. Having Locke be on the phone with a sex operator isn't really in the LOST form - the back stories make you feel sympathy for the character they portray. Having Locke be on the phone with a sex operator makes him pathetic, not sympathetic. Remember, Jack had a falling out with his ex-wife, Sun was going to leave Jin, and even Locke's father pretended to love him just to get a kidney. It's a drama - they have done and will continue to do very powerful material. It is very plausable that Locke and Helen's relationship fails and the only way she'll talk to him is through her new job (Locke's backstories have a tendency to verge on the melodramatic). But, again, I'm not saying that's he's not role-playing. I'm thinking in television logic, and interpreting what they normally do with the backstories.

So, in essence - yes, it can make sense, even though it's implausible in real life.

[Cinephilic TV Addict]

So a sucessful therapist would become a phone sex operator

Also, something I forgot to type above - we do not know Helen's profession. She was NOT the leader of the therapy session - she was a participant in it, just like Locke. In the first flashback scene we see the real leader of the therapy session. Helen could be a phone sex operator already for all we know.

[ItsDan]

"the back stories make you feel sympathy for the character they portray. Having Locke be on the phone with a sex operator makes him pathetic, not sympathetic."

I went back and you're right, I thought she was the leader of the group but she wasn't. For me, the phone sex operator was pathetic UNTIL I learned he was in a wheelchair. Then it became more of a story about a man who couldn't find companionship because of his disability or atleast the anger he held because of it. Remember at the time we had no real idea how long he'd been in it or why he was in it.

I guess it could go either way, but I'm personally guessing it was a role play. I know someone checked the voice actor for the phone and said it was different (not evidence, just a clue), and I doubt the real Helen would have created a phone relationship with someone she knew in real life if she was the sex operator.