LOST – Follow the Leader (s5e15)
You know, there only used to be a couple of leaders to even follow.
This ep didn’t have a ton of major points, it was basically a building episode for the double-ep finale next week. That being said, that didn’t make it bad.
Lock is back. Old school Locke that is. Great opening with him waltzing into the Other’s camp with a boar on his back. I was almost waiting for a “Honey, I’m home.” Locke obviously is very different than the previous Locke. When he first came to the island, he was ready and willing to do anything that the island asked of him. Unfortunately, the island wasn’t so much into just specifically telling him what he needed to do, so it involved a lot if trial and error and Locke eventually losing faith.
Now we have what I like to call “sentient” Locke. He seemingly knows everything he needs to know about the island and what’s going on. Ben questions then why doesn’t he know where Jacob is. I think he does. I think Locke is playing the game better than Ben ever has. His manipulation of Sun is a textbook example of how Locke has grown into these shoes.
John is telling people to do things and asking questions, because that’s what he needs those people to do, not because it’s what he needs.
Sawyer and Co. were having a rough night. Radzinsky is a frickin psycho. My wife was really hoping to see him die during the incident or something, but we already know that he’s allegedly going to swallow a mouth full of shotgun in the Swan later with Kelvin, so sorry, at least not in this season.
His reasoning for acting this way really isn’t that crazy though. They’ve obviously dealt with the hostiles on the island before and it appears that Radzinsky knows what the hostiles are willing to do, so he is willing to react in the same way.
When they have Sawyer tied up, they tell him that they’ll let everyone leave on the sub if he draws them a map to where the hostiles are. What does Sawyer draw? As far as we’ve seen, Sawyer met with Richard with Kate to give them Ben. Is the map to here? The fact that they get put onto the sub tells us that he drew something.
The sub interaction was classic LOST. Sawyer and Juliet ready to go home and be in love forever, until Kate had to come ruin the party. Just when you thought it was going to be nice and easy. Not that it really matters, because obviously, they aren’t going to stay on the sub and go home. That and the fact that the “next week on LOST” showed them back on the island. But, we’ll worry about that next week.
I really enjoyed the stuff with Jacko and Eloise. She and Widmore’s relationship is so complex, their interactions are always great to see and hopefully we get a little more before the end of the season. There is definitely so much more going on there and I don’t think we can fully grasp why anyone is motivated until we can learn that.
Seeing the tunnels was pretty sweet. It makes me wonder if this tunnel system is more for the people on the island or for Smokey. It seems like it would be a convenient way to move across the island, minus the whole “hold your breath until you are almost passed out while swimming through the underwater cave” side to it.
We’ve seen so much stuff involving what I’ll call the “ancients” on the island. The temple area, Smokey’s lair, the tunnels, the hieroglyphs, the statue and Ben’s secret chamber are good indications about the origins and belief system of the ancients. As time goes by, I’m also getting more and more convinced that Richard is an ancient. The interesting point there is, if he is an ancient and knows so much, why is he in the advisor position and not the leader himself?
Which segues us nicely into the title of this episode. Who is the leader? Sawyer, Jack, Richard, Ben, Locke, Eloise, Widmore, Jacob, the Island? Everyone here seems motivated to get something and is trying to get others to follow them. So, who is going to win out in the end? Locke is on his way to kill Jacob, or at least that’s what he told Ben. Is this what Locke wants or what the island wants?
The one thing I do know, next week’s season 5 finale is going to be mind-blowing.
May 8th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
The look on Juliet’s face when Kate got on the sub was priceless. She just glared at Sawyer.