FOLLOW THE LEADER

I’M SEEIN’ RED (SHIRTS?), DON’T THINK YOU’LL HAVE TO SEE MY FACE AGAIN

We pick up right where we left off last episode watching the last moments of Dan Faraday from the vantage point of Jack and Kate. Ha ha Matt Fox was in Vantage Point, but I digress. Kate was sure to point out that Dan was crazy and Jack says he is not so sure. Jack has almost made his transition to Man of Faith complete as he asks Kate, “What if this is why we are here?”. Jack is interrupted by a gunshot and a rifle butt to the face. Eloise looks at Dan’s journal and sees her message to Dan. She instructs to have Jack and Kate put in her tent. Widmore asks why the DI have declared war on them, an interesting way question, BTW. Eloise tells him that they are not from the DI.

DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME FOR SYMPATHY CUZ IT NEVER HAPPENED TO ME

Richard is putting together a ship (that looks a little like the Black Rock) in a bottle and suddenly gets word that “He’s here!”. Apparently they have been waiting for Locke to return but did Alpert think he was ever going to be back? Didn’t seem like it to me. John comes into the new Others camp with a boar thrown over his shoulder. John tells Richard they have an errand they have to do. Alpert notices something is different about John who answers that it is because he now has a purpose. Richard didn’t seem too thrilled to see Ben has returned. It almost seems that Richard sees Ben as a reminder of some past error and would rather have Ben away from him and off of the island. Ben tells Sun that Locke is the new leader of the Others and that Richard is a sort of advisor and he has been doing it for a very, very long time. Sun shows Richard the photo of her husband and their friends and asks if he knows what happened to them. Richard informs her that he remembers them because he watched them all die. Sun asks Locke if this is true and he tells her that he doesn’t think that they would be back there for no reason. Locke asks Richard for the compass back that Locke gave him during one of the time jumps and tells Ben that he is going with them as well. John leaves Sun with the reassuring thought that if there is a way to reunite them all that he will find it.

YOU FEELIN’ BLUE NOW, I THINK YOU BIT OFF MORE THAN YOU COULD CHEW

Jack tells Kate that if Faraday was right then he can fix everything and flight 815 will never have crashed on the island. Ah, some of the old Jack is still there but at least it seems to be leading him in the right way now. Kate asks him about “us” and Jack said that all of the misery that has happened to them will never have happened. Kate reminds him that not all of it was miserable. Jack gives Kate a little moment of pity as if to say “Aw, you still had hopes for us didn’t you?” but tells her that enough of it was misery. Kate’s fight or flee instinct rears it’s ugly head as she realizes when Jack says their plane will land in L.A. back in 2004 it would lead her right back into handcuffs with the Marshall heading to jail. She’s a fickle bitch and that is the flaw in her character that makes me and a lot of other people not like her as much as TPTB would like us to and I know I will take flack about this comment but it's not the first time and probably won't be the last either. Eloise asks Jack why Dan wanted to know where the bomb was. Watch as Jack slowly blows Eloise’s mind when he tells her that the inscription in Dan’s notebook she has not written yet. Jack explains more of the plan to Eloise and she asks Kate if Jack knows what he is talking about. Kate comments that Jack thinks he does. We find out along with Kate and Jack that the bomb is buried underneath the DI village.

NOW IT’S TIME TO MAKE A CHOICE AND ALL I WANNA HEAR IS YOUR VOICE

Sawyer is questioned and beaten by Stu which Horace tries to stop. Stu tells Horace that he doesn’t have the stomach to do what has to happen next. Stu tells Sawyer that if he doesn’t get information on Kate’s whereabouts, that he will kill them. We already know that Sawyer can take an ass whipping and this didn’t seem nearly as bad as the one Pickett gave him several seasons ago even if it has been three years since it was good to see the resident bad ass had not lost his edge. Juliette tries to stop Stu when she tells him that they are not there to hurt anyone and that she has known him for three years. Sawyer stops Juliette from saying anymore and tells her that more people will end up getting hurt. Sawyer doesn't want to give up Kate and Jack but he also knows it could get Jin, Hurley, and Miles in trouble as well. Phil takes his place on the “Asshole Of The Year” award when he starts to smack around Juliette. Sawyer tells him he will kill him for that. In comes a guy with the sub manifest and our concerns are quickly shifted towards the safety of Hurley. We see that Hugo is busy getting food (enough with the fat guy and food scenes already, how many do we need?!) Chang shows up and asks Miles if they really are from the future. Hurley says that is ridiculous. Funny how Hurley was questioned by Chang just like he said he was worried he would be back in the Namaste episode. When he gets to the president question (the exact question Hurley asked Sawyer about) Hurley caves and admits they are from the future. Chang asks if Miles really is his son and Miles tells him that he is. Chang goes on to ask Miles if Dan was right and Miles tells him that Dan has been right about everything else he has said. Miles says that he thinks Chang should evacuate the island like Dab suggested.

FOOLISH LIES, WELL CAN’T YOU SEE I TRIED TO COMPROMISE

Eloise tells Widmore that she is taking Jack and Kate to the bomb. Notice Widmore putting his hand on Eloise’s belly; so can we assume she is already pregnant with Dan? Richard tells Jack that the man Eloise is talking to is Charles Widmore and adds that sometimes love can be complicated. Meanwhile, Richard is going on a trek with Locke and Ben thirty years later. Locke tells Richard that he is about to see where John went when he disappeared shortly after Ben turned the wheel three years ago. Afterwards, John adds, they are going to see Jacob. Ben tells Locke that that is not how it works. Richard admits that John is the leader. Did it seem that the acknowledgement didn’t seem to mean as much to Richard as it did to John? Almost like Richard said it just to placate John? Richard tells John he will take them to see Jacob. Locke says they have to get to the plane, now. Not sure if Richard ever knew about the drug plane (he should know about it wouldn’t you think?) but Ben certainly knows of it’s existence. It was right over the Pearl station after all, let’s not forget. Listen to what John says will happen: “a man” will come out of the jungle with a gunshot wound. He doesn’t say “I”. He does, however, tell Ben that the man is “me” when Ben asks who the man is. It all seemed a little odd to me. Something is definitely off with John Locke he’s acting more and more like creepy Christian every episode.

WHAT YOU SAID NOW, CAN’T STOP THE WORDS FROM RUNNING THROUGH MY HEAD

We watch the scene of Richard taking the bullet from John’s leg again as Ben and Locke watch it happen. Ben asks if it feels like an out of body experience and John says it feels something like that. Ben asked John how he knew when they had to be at the plane and John tells him the island told him. Locke asks Ben if the island ever told him things and Ben said it didn’t. Locke then suggests that Ben never saw or heard anything from Jacob. By the look on Ben’s face John might be right about this. Never thought Locke disappearing would make such a loud thumping noise. Richard tells John that it went well and he thinks "past" Locke believed what he had to tell him. Richard comments that he is glad that the part about John dying didn’t happen. Watch Ben’s “Whoops, I’m snagged.” face as Locke tells Richard “Actually, I did.”.

WHAT YOU SAY AIN’T ALWAYS TRUE AND I CAN SEE THE TEARS IN YOUR EYES

Eloise asks Kate and Jack if they can swim but Kate says that she can’t continue on with them. She tells Jack she is going back to the DI. Jack and the red shirt Other try to stop her but she isn’t having any of it. So, who thought Kate was shot? Turns out it was the red shirt who got it when Sayid comes to the rescue. Richard asks Eloise what is going on and she tells him that if Jack does what he says he is going to do none of this will have happened. Jack tells Sayid that they can change things by getting to the bomb and detonating it. Sayid tells them he has already changed things because he killed Ben Linus but they are still there. Kate tells Sayid how they helped Ben and that he isn’t dead. Kate vents about what is right and wrong and tells Jack again that she cannot go with them. Jack uses the “D” word and he is now officially a Man Of Faith. Kate tells Jack that he sounds like Locke and that Jack always said that Locke was crazy. Jack says he knows he sounds like Locke. Kate leaves and heads back to the DI.

AND WHAT I DO TO GET THROUGH TO YOU BUT YOU’D ONLY DO IT AGAIN

Miles watches as Charlotte and her mother are taken to the sub. His mother and the infant version of himself is next. Miles watches what happens between his parents and he finally understands what really happened. His mother was wrong about what really happened but she thought she was right. The group watch as Juliette and Sawyer are taken to the sub next. Hurley says Sawyer always has a plan. Seems the only play Sawyer is working on is how to make a lot of money when they get off of the island and back into what they call the real world. He apologizes to Juliette for not letting her get on the sub three years ago. She tells him she is glad he talked her out of it. Sawyer bids the island “Good Riddance” as he goes into the sub. Notice he does give the island one last look back, almost as if he will miss it after all. Which he might seeing as how the last three years were possibly the most normal years of his life.

SO FOLLOW THE LEADER DOWN AND SWALLOW YOUR PRIDE AND DROWN

Jack dives under the water and goes to what Eloise calls the tunnels. Before he does he tells Sayid that if he decides not to go with him, he will understand. I kept thinking the swim that Matthew Fox had to do couldn’t have been easy for the nearly two pack a day smoker. Eloise joins Jack and Alpert on the other side as well as Sayid, who throws in with them to complete what I think is the oddest foursome of the show ever! Sayid tells Jack that one way or another it will all be over and this will be the end. He's so right.

WHEN THERE’S NO PLACE LEFT TO GO MAYBE THAT’S WHEN YOU WILL KNOW

Locke and his group make it back to camp and he tells Richard that he wants to leave to go to see Jacob immediately. Locke addresses the group of Others and questions them about Jacob and his very existence. Sun asks if Jacob will tell them how to get Jin and the rest of their friends back. John tells her he will. John tells the group that all of them are going to go to see Jacob. Richard knows where to find Jacob and he will lead them to him. It seems the Others accept Locke as their new leader and agree that they should all go to see Jacob. It almost seemed that the Others were “laying hands” on their new leader as well. In a moment that reminded me of the scene where Jack told Kate that if blowing open the hatch worked they were going to have a Locke problem, Alpert tells Ben that be thinks Locke is going to become a problem. Ben comments that that was why he tried to kill him.

WELL I CONFESS, I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO MAKE FROM ALL THIS MESS

Sawyer and Juliette are locked into the sub and he tells her that once they get back to the real world they will finally be free. Sawyer tells her that no matter what, he will always have her back. She says she loves him and he says he loves her back, cute scene. All of this happens right before we get a late addition to the party. Kate is ushered onto the sub and we have a very uncomfortable reunion between the three. Kate and Juliette are once again handcuffed together. The sub carrying Kate, Juliette, and Sawyer heads back to the main land. Now if you thought the CGI work of the freighter exploding at the end of last season was bad, well, the dive of the sub made that scene look like a Ray Harryhausen special effects masterpiece.

YOU FEELIN’ DOWN, I DON’T KNOW WHERE I’LL BE WHEN YOU COME AROUND

Sayid questions Jack’s faith in Eloise Hawkins and Jack says that he trusts her because she is the one who told them how to get back to the island in the first place. Eloise asks “Now what” as they get to the bomb and looks around at everyone. Anyone else find it funny that they all have this “Uh, IDK” look on their faces? What are they gonna do all grab hammers and start looking for the soft spot? In another scene that made me think of another scene, Locke and the group begin their trek to the radio tower, err, I mean to see Jacob. It looked like the radio tower scene to me, I think they might even have used the same music or at least a similar tune. Ben tells Locke that Richard is becoming worried about him and doesn‘t think he knows what he is doing. Locke thanks Ben for the information and Ben tells him that he will do whatever it takes for John to be able to reunite his people. Locke tells him he isn’t interested in seeing his people reunited. He tells Ben that what he told Sun was a lie. Ben asks what the real reason is that John wants to go to see Jacob. John tells him that it is so he can kill Jacob. Ben stops in his tracks and gives John a “Say wha?!?!” look as we are down to just the two hour season finale left for this year.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Some claim that this episode does is not a specific character centric, but I disagree as I believe this is as close to a Richard Alpert episode that we are going to get. Possibly forever, if not, at least until next season. Richard is shown to be the one “following the leader” as the episode claims. In the 70’s he is following Eloise who we can assume is sort of a co-leader of the Others with Widmore. Thirty years later he is now following the new leader of the Others, John Locke. In both time periods he is following the directions of the leaders but it actually is him that is doing the leading. To find Jacob and to find the bomb, respectively in the two time periods. The comments that Alpert makes saying that Locke is the leader isn’t necessarily what he says as it is how he says it. He is allowing Locke to believe he is the leader of the Others for as long as it is feasible and not a moment longer. Richard is more that just an advisor, as it turns out he may just be the islands constant. Anyone else catch Eloise saying; “all right, let’s get started” like she did at the Lamp Post Station to Ben, Jack, Sun, and Desmond? Richard tells Jack they can move the bomb out the same way they got it in there. Which is how exactly? Did Smokey have anything to do with getting the bomb to where it is? People are freaking out about Richards comments to Sun about the people in the Dharma picture she shows him. He says he saw them all die but it doesn’t really mean that much to me as I think he is just assuming since they were in the DI and he was in on the purge that they all died in the purge. Just who the hell is Radzinski anyway? He seems to be able to take control away from Horace a little too easily. He is adamant about the Swan station being built as scheduled, but why? What are his connections with Ann Arbor? Is he taking his orders from someone other than Horace is? I think Stu’s big payback comes later after he allows the Swan to be built and he sees exactly the devastation that is caused by the “incident” he will at least be partially responsible for allowing it to happen. Is this what happens to make him end up a stain of the ceiling of the Swan hatch? What better way for him to be paid back for what he does wrong than to be forced to be confronted with it on a daily basis. Make him man the button that will allow him to be reminded of his errors every 108 minutes. Anyone want to take bets on just where the map that Sawyer drew will take Radzinski and his men? I’m guessing it will take them someplace they are not expecting to go and quite possibly into a world of hurt!

See ya after the finale!