Explaining LOST - Follow the Leader

“Follow the Leader”

 

So this episode was rumored to be a Richard episode and it only sorta is. Basically this episode is getting everyone in place for the finale and he is in a lot of scenes in different decades. Speaking of Richard, he starts off this episode by watching Faraday get shot. Still sad. Yet we see Jack and Kate’s view of it as they panic a little. Yet before he gets shot Jack is really getting into this idea that this is the reason why they were brought here. It is their destiny to put things right. Well then Faraday gets shot and some dude on a horse beats them. How do the Hostiles have horses? Hey it’s younger Widmore on the horse. Then he beats Jack a few times. Understandable.

Eloise starts flipping through Faraday’s journal and is a bit surprised to see her handwriting on a page. This confuses her. Richard is confused too, but that is a common theme for this episode. Eloise puts Jack and Kate in her tent. Widmore is wondering why Dharma has chosen now to declare war against them. Eloise somberly says that they aren’t from Dharma.

Meanwhile in 2008, Richard who is the same age is making a ship in a bottle. This guy is an intellectual badass. Only thing more extreme would be to do a crossword with a bloody knife as a pen. Then one of the Others tells him that “he” has returned. Jesus? Nope, Locke. I was close. They both rose from the grave and both are undeniably white. I diverge. So Locke walks into their camp with a boar over his shoulders. That makes sense. Richard is confused though. He brings up the fact it’s been three years since they seen each other. Richard says there’s something different about him. Locke says that he has a purpose and they have an errand to run. Sun and Ben walk into their camp. Richard isn’t thrilled to see Ben. Sun runs up to Richard and asks him about the 1977 Dharma picture. He says he does remember them because he watched them all die. Whoa.

So that’s upsetting to Sun, understandably. Locke doesn’t believe she should give up hope. Locke asks if Richard still has that compass. He does and then Richard, Ben and Locke go into the jungle. Back in 1977, Jack is still being kicked in the face. Hey he looks like Ben. Why do all the characters I like get beat up a lot? Or die? LOST doesn’t like me. Anywho, Jack says they need to change the future because everyone that has died would still be alive and all the misery would be gone. Kate says it wasn’t all misery. Jack said “Enough of it was.” Eloise comes into the tent demanding why they need the bomb. She starts rambling about all that has happened and Jack says it doesn’t have to be that way. They can change all of this. Eloise said she’ll take them to the bomb, but the only problem is that it’s located underneath the Dharma village. Awkward.

So they take Sawyer and Juliet to the room with all of the TVs. Radzinsky starts beating on Sawyer to get answers about who Jack and Kate are. Radzinsky says he’s taking over the reins from nice guy Horace. Despite all the beatings, Sawyer isn’t budging. Hey it’s another character I like getting beaten. That’s probably the last one of my favorites they’ll hurt. So Phil pipes in saying he knows how to get him to talk. So he sucker punches Juliet. Whoa! Seriously stop it. Now I know this episode will end with Hurley and Ben getting trampled by horses. Radzinsky gets a manifest and noticed that Jack, Kate, and Hurley were the last minute add-ons so they start the search for Hurley. 

Hurley is grabbing good and going into the jungle with Miles and Jin. Turns out they don’t have a rescue plan but just going to the beach. Chang noticed Hurley and walked up to them. He is starting to believe Faraday so he asks Hurley some questions. In a very funny set of dialogue Hurley gets the one question he was worried about receiving: Who is President in 1977? So Hurley admits they are from the future. Chang now believes and he wants to get people off the island. Back at the Hostile camp, Eloise puts Faraday to rest and starts to head off to the bomb with Jack and Kate.

Back in 2008, Richard and Ben are following Locke into the jungle. Locke said after this little errand he wants to see Jacob. He’s the leader and he wants to see Jacob. They arrive at the drug plane Eko’s brother crashed onto the island many years ago. Locke gives Richard very specific instructions on what to do next. Then, sure enough, Locke walks towards that plane. Yep. It’s the scene from the first episode of the season where Richard helps get a bullet out of Locke’s leg. Locke instructed him on how to save himself. Trippy. What’s trippier is how he got the exact right time. Ben asks him that very question. Locke said the island told him and then calls out Ben for never seeing Jacob. Ben is now very scared. So Richard comes back with a bullet and says that fortunately Locke didn’t have to die. Locke smiles and says he did. Now in that scene Richard gives Locke the compass. Then Locke travels back in time to the 50s and gives Richard the compass so years later Richard can give Locke the compass so he can travel back in time to give the compass to Richard and OH MY GOD MY HEAD HURTS SO MUCH. Where did the compass come from? My head…

Back in 1977, Sawyer is still bleeding. Chang walks in saying they all gotta get out of here. Radzinsky says he refuses to stop drilling. Sawyer says he’ll tell them everything if they put him and Juliet on the sub. Radzinsky continues to be a jerkface and demands a map of where the Hostile are first. Speaking of  Hostiles, Eloise leads them to a pond they have to swim into. Kate says she doesn’t want to play this game anymore and decides to leave. A Hostile pulls a gun on Kate, but he gets shot BY SAYID! Boom shakka lakka! So he’s dead. Richard is confused and upset. Eloise doesn’t care because she thinks all of this will be erased if they change time. Sayid doesn’t want to brag, but he says he already changed the future. He killed Ben Linus. Kate pipes in that she saved his life. Sayid is so sad. Kate starts to leave, but Jack tries to say this is our destiny. Kate says Locke was crazy and now he’s crazy. So she exits stage right.

The submarine is being loaded with women and children. Miles watches as Charlotte gets on and he also watches Chang tell his mom and baby him to get off the island. He yells at them to get on. Then Sawyer and Juliet are being loaded onto the sub as well. His plan? To buy Microsoft and bet on the Cowboys. They’ll be rich. Juliet is happy he talked her out of getting on the sub three years ago. There’s a moment when I thought Sawyer was going to jump into the water, but he just looks back at the island and says “Good riddance.” 

Richard, however, does jump into the pond. Jack follows suit as he finds a passageway underneath the waterfall. It leads to this mysterious set of tunnels, above water. They are filled with hieroglyphics. Then Eloise comes through too and then Sayid decides to join. Why not? He heard there could be an explosion. So they start their hike through the tunnels.

Back in 2008, Richard is still confused. They return to the beach and Richard says they can leave in the morning. Locke says they should leave now. Richard says let’s sit down for a little bit. Locke decides to ignore that and give a speech to the Others/Hostiles. He says I’m sure there’s a reason why Jacob is so secretive but he doesn’t know why. So he wants to see Jacob right now and he wants everyone to come with him. Sun is game because she thinks Jacob can help get Jin back. Anyone else getting a strong Wizard of Oz vibe? That happens a lot on this show. Richard comments to Ben that Locke could be trouble. Ben shrugs and says, “That’s why I tried to kill him.” Who in the world is on whose side?

Back in 1977, everyone is still getting on the sub. They handcuff Sawyer and Juliet to a table on the sub. Sawyer believes that once they dock they are free because Radzinsky and friends aren’t cops there. That’s the real world. They have a touching moment where they say their love but then Kate gets handcuffed next to them. What an awkward third wheel she is. Then the sub is going under. We can tell this because they have the captain say they are beginning dive. Then the show makes a mistake. They show the dive with the worst CGI the show has ever had. Seriously. It looked like a poor video game. Why would they show it for so long and even have the nerve to zoom in on it?

Speaking of nerve, Jack and Sayid are going through their tunnels. Sayid doesn’t trust Eloise, but Jack does. They arrive in a big room where they use torches to light it properly. Underneath a tarp is Jughead, our trusty bomb from earlier in the season. Then Eloise asks the good question of: “Now what?”

Back in 2008, Locke starts the trek to Jacob at daybreak with the awesome music. Ben mentions to Locke that Richard is concerned about this journey. Ben tries to convince Locke that he is now 100% loyal to him. So if he wants to be reunited with his people, then he’s all for that. Yet that’s not what Locke wants. He wants to kill Jacob. Yeah. That just happened.

L O S T

So wow. We have a lot of stuff to happen in this finale. I could geek out in wondering if it’s even possible to kill Jacob. What would even happen if Locke pulled that off? What is even up with Locke? What’s up with the Ajira people? Is Jack going to kill everyone? Are Sawyer and Juliet and Kate gone for good? Will they change the future? If so...what in the world is going to happen in the final season? From interviews I’ve read with the cast, this could truly be the craziest finales of the show. I cannot wait. So expect my reaction a week or so after it airs. Get excited.