5.15 Follow The Leader

Sorry for the sheer length this week, the longest writeup of the year to date for an individual episode, but I had a lot to say. Next week is the season finale two- parter. This week is the prime moment to theorize about many things, while the next week or two will probably be more reactive summary and speculation to next season. If you are brave enough, read on.

Well, the title of this week’s episode recalls the famous tug of war between Jack and Locke throughout the first 4 Seasons of Man of Science vs. Man of Faith. Both were constantly vying for the overall leadership role, many choosing to follow Jack, and eventually ended up with two factions. So, we have arrived at this point in Season 5, with Jack leading the Hostiles along with a couple of Oceanics in the bomb plan, and 30 years later Locke leading the Others by the necessity of his found purpose since being reborn. Some things never seem to change: Jack still is a fock up. Some things actually do: Locke is supremely confident and talks with a demeanor of someone that knows what the answers are to every single question he asks. Locke is getting a bit cocky. But can you really resent that at all, considering his life pre-plane crash and now he has been treated by Ben since? Nope, no resentment from me.

As I’m watching the “Previously on Lost” segment, I was reminded of the scene where Daniel explains that they can prevent the Swan from being built, the Oceanic 815 plane lands in Los Angeles, and none of this (the Lost TV show, basically) ever happens. Logically, why is this necessarily a good thing? Couldn’t detonating the bomb cause MORE damage to events on this planet. Maybe the Swan was meant to be built. I know I’ve conversed about Groundhog Day, and the concept of that movie where a certain amount of time is repeated over and over again in an infinite loop until the desired effect is attained. And it’s not just to get into Andie McDowell’s pants. Maybe starting from this very day, a day where the incident happened in 1977, that Faraday even says starts off a chain of events leading up to and beyond the Oceanic plane crash, maybe this day is the beginning of the loop. And it ends….well…we don’t really know. But something happens and we get cycled back to 30 years ago to correct it, much like the numbers cycling back to zero when the button was pushed every 108 minutes. Like the universe imploding from a time-space cataclysmic event on the island. Maybe, this time, the events have changed based on the variables in Dharma 30 years ago. Maybe, the Whatever Happened Happened mantra is the ultimate reference that events of this loop cannot change, yet Daniel was eventually conceding that they can. And here we are with a loop that I suspect is very different. A loop that has the course correcting Eloise Hawking nervous and babbling about instability and unpredictability and not knowing what happens next, despite reading Daniel‘s journal which I‘m sure is at least partially responsible for the Others being as aware of what is really going on and how they stay one step ahead of visitors to their island like the Oceanic folks for example. Ben is baffled by current events, or at least is trying to look baffled. Nobody seems sure of the future anymore. With one important exception. Locke. If the island is ready to correct the loop, get it right once and for all, this is the best opportunity it has ever had.

Geez, I’m this far in, and I haven’t even gotten to the beginning of the episode. This is probably going to be a long read, based on how many notes I took. Strap yourselves in; it’s going to get ugly.

As Daniel is facing down Richard with his gun, Jack and Kate have decided not to spring into action nor flee. Rather, they have put on a kettle to boil so they can have a spot of tea while they have a leisurely chat about this and that. The Undynamic Duo are arguing about destiny. Jack has latched onto the concept of blowing up the bomb being their destiny, like a pit bull latching onto a child’s leg. Jack, as we all suspect, has been tremendously incensed about Juliet’s outrageous behavior a few episodes ago when he stepped out of the shower and Juliet did not stare at his junk. How dare she not look, Jack brooded? Or maybe it was Juliet questioning why they came back, what was their purpose, and they better figure it out fast. Nah, it was the lack of staring at his crotch that did it. Finally, Jack has stumbled over something. Now, he is ultimate example of knowing how to respond to a good verbal beating hours and hours later. I should have said that and that. Hey, the jerk store called, and they are all out of you. Jack can now tell ‘ole Juliet, Hey we were meant to come here to blow you up to smithereens. How do you like them apples? While all this is going on, Daniel gets shot. Kate has her familiar running shoes on and is about to go anywhere else but here. She is just so identified with “there goes Kate running again” it’s scary. Jack is trying to keep Kate from fleeing and trying to desperately to have a thought at the same time, and you can see the veins bulging on his face from the effort of multitasking. That’s gotta hurt. And that was before Widmore comes by on horseback to smack him in the face like a polo player smacking one into the goal. Eloise is examining Daniel’s journal for the first time. Is it just me, or do the Others kick some ass in the past? They seem so aggressive, so angry, so vibrant. Now, go back and compare these ass kickers to the bunch of drugged up sheep that are looking at reborn Locke. Was is the brainwashing they endured at Hydra island like Karl was rescued from by Sawyer and Kate in Season 3 that sapped the life out of them? Is it that they know, consciously or subconsciously that they are chattel, meaningless bit players in a time loop, not afraid to die for the cause because they know they will be reborn. Think back to the confrontation at the Flame hatch in Season 3, the one John Locke blew up. As Mikhael held a gun, Mrs Clugh told him, in Russian, to shoot her. She obviously thought nothing of dying, willingly giving up her life for the greater good. But as we see the beating they give Jack early in this episode, as we recall them shooting all those flaming arrows at the time travelers early this year at the beach, as Widmore broke a comrades neck, hunting castaways in the jungle in order to kill them, getting rid of the military sent to the island, can we really believe their eventual clan years later is a bunch of haggard, sluggish fruit gatherers. How the mighty have fallen. Eloise is giving out orders concerning what to do with Jack and Kate, and you have to wonder, is she a co-leader of the Others. Charles certainly has said in the past that he was the leader of the Others, but was Eloise as powerful as him, or just carried herself that way because she was romantically involved with him? Seemed odd to me. Old Richard is building a ship in a bottle, namely the Black Rock, the ship aground the island that we saw back in Season 1. We have a very good comparison point in Season 4 in the Desmond mind time travel episode, when Charles Widmore was at an auction, and bought a journal of one of the crew member’s of the Black Rock. We saw a picture of the ship, and lo and behold, guess what is in the bottle? I know I’ve speculated in the past about Richard possibly being a member of that ship, maybe even captain. And one possible explanation put forth by another knowledgeable fan is that Richard does not age because he died, and the island brought him back to life, to serve a purpose, much like John Locke. Since you are/were dead, maybe you don’t age anymore. I can’t remember if I’ve talked about this in the past, but I thought I’d bring it up just in case since this writeup obviously isn’t going to be a long one and I needed more filler material. Yes, that was sarcasm. Locke strolls up to the Others beach condo community and basks in the glory of his return. Oh, and he has some errands to run with Richard since he “has a purpose now”. John is apparently totally in sync with the island and it’s needs. While Richard does not seem excited about Locke’s return, and he doesn’t seem to have any emotion other than blank stare, he seems concerned about Ben returning as well. Ben explains to Sun that Richard is an “adviser” and that he has been around a “very, very long time”, which seems to be common knowledge with the show’s fans, but I think they needed to bring up some excuse for Sun to confront Richard with the Dharma 1977 photo. Have I mentioned how much this reminds me of the Desmond/Penny photo scenario earlier in Lost history? When you think back on Naomi parachuting onto the island back in Season 3 with that photo, we can safely assume it was because Widmore was her employer and Desmond was the man her daughter was in love with. Or maybe it was because Desmond was the “constant” to his son Daniel according to the journal that the Others now possess. Will we ever know for sure? I doubt it. Nevermind that Richard looks around 40 years old right now, and Sun without knowing that Richard is ageless confronts him with a photo despite the logic of math placing Richard around 10 years old when the photo was taken. But let’s not quibble over details as I never have done that. Richard sets up a riveting scenario for the Season finale. “I remember clearly, I watched them all die.” Well, as much as I despise Jack and Kate and wish death upon them and would salt the earth over the top of their graves so no flowers could ever grow there, ever, how could the show continue with most of the main characters dead? But, this still does not debunk WHH theory. As Daniel said, they might have traveled to the past, this is still their present, so they can die, and it doesn’t change their specific lives in the future. And this is just the first commercial break, and I just can’t stop typing. Just so much stuff happening in this episode. Just like last season, when they have like 8 different storylines going and kept jumping from place to place, a breathless pace. Well, they are doing it again. And every storyline right now is fantastic.

Sun is grieving on the beach, showing us how upset she is that she hasn’t had a chance to cheat on Jin in a while and obviously not even remembering that she has a newborn child back in Korea with a babysitter clearly working overtime hours. How’s that alliance with Widmore working out for you? She goes from the lead female villain in the show at the start of the season to a quivering mass of jello sitting on a beach shedding tears about so many hours of not ruining Jin’s life going to waste. Locke approaches Grendel’s mother none the less, and tells her that he doesn’t think they went to all this trouble of returning for nothing. And I very much agree with that statement, so let’s move on. Locke invites pouty, surly, throwing a tantrum Ben along for the mission. While Ben is acting defenseless and changed from the judgment of the Smoke Monster and the island, let’s not forget how he has said in the past “I always have a plan”. Ben has not given up. Let’s face it, he is a d!ck. He is seemingly setting Locke up for some kind of shenanigans when Locke’s guard is down. Yet again. Locke promises to help Sun reunite with Jin, most likely because he doesn’t like Jin. If you are looking for a mushy “Isn’t love great?” comment from me, beat it. You’ve come to the wrong place. Jack gets a beating in the tent, from someone other than me. As we saw at the end of Season 3, and Season 4, those that dish out the punishment at the end of seasons end up dead by the end of the season. People seem to die in droves in the cliffhangers, and if the writers are trying to soften the blows, what better way than to vilify the soon to be dead with their reckless actions against the fan favorites. While I acknowledge that Jack is a key character and a fan favorite, his character has the mental capacity of a dead bole weevil. But let’s not be too harsh on Simple Jack here. Kate is about to say some horrible stuff right here. She is about to say some legendary stuff.
K “Put things back, Jack?”
J “Our plane lands. Everybody we lost, will be alive.”
K “But what about us?”
Holy Focking Hell. What. About. Us. What about us? Are you focking serious? I’m sure Evangeline Lilly is nice enough person in real life, and can’t be happy about the lines the writers are giving her. But you have to put up a fight over a line as ludicrous as if she said Joseph Stalin was a nice guy, she was happy 9/11 happened, and that Indiana Jones can survive a nuclear bomb by hiding in a refrigerator. Hundreds of people have died, Kate. Hundreds. And all you think about is What about us? This is so selfish, my mind is having a hard time wrapping itself around the concept. The Kate is a Wh0re Moment of the Week. If the island is Little Egypt, Kate is a Babylonian Wh0re. Kate is some kind of muppet. She just says infantile platitudes, shows no range of emotion, and everybody seems to think she is adorable. She would have made more sense by simply saying “Frrrrrrunkis” than What about us. I’m checking in and out of a Law & Order: SVU marathon yesterday, and Mariska Hargitay is just acting her ass off in a great role. Then, I rewatch Lost last night, and Kate is giving me “What about us?” Uma Thurman is kicking ass in Kill Bill 1 and2. What about us? Tell you what, Kate. How about you tell Libby as she is bleeding to death in the Swan hatch “Sorry, kiddo, but I don’t want to lose the memory of sleeping with an idiotic alcoholic doctor and traumatizing an infant for life by kidnapping him, so you have to die missy.”
J “All the misery will be wiped clean.”
K “Not all of it was miserable, Jack”
J “Enough of it was”
FACE. Not only is losing friends to death miserable, so is Kate. Piss off. Since Kate is now being snubbed by Jack, I guess it’s time for her to put on her boogie shoes and run to Sawyer, never mind that he is in a committed relationship. You know what, maybe I am a romantic at heart. Hey, Kate, I hear Roger Linus is available Saturday night. And you have so much in common with him. He has a son named Ben. You stole his son from an infirmary. Should be loads of giggles. Back to the tent. Eloise wants answers about Daniel’s return visit and her handwriting in the journal. Jack says she can change all that. Of course, Kate shows yet again how she does not “have Jack’s back” and tells Eloise she is not going to agree with him. Eloise explains that Dharma built a village over the bomb. This is interesting in the sense that we saw Miles visiting his mother, dying of some kind of illness, possibly cancer. If Jughead is leaking, and she lived for any extended amount of time near the leaking bomb, she could very well have gotten a disease later in life from it. Since the purge happened, we haven’t really seen any other Dharmites get sick from it. Unless you count Ben and his back tumor. Hmmm. Charlotte was the first to die from time traveling, and she was on the island for a few years too. Anyway, Eloise says Jughead is fairly easy to reach from the Barracks. Really? To reach a bomb buried? Tunnels!!! Yes, since Season 1, when the Smoke Monster was pulling Locke into the ground, we have suspected an underground network of tunnels. We’ve seen the Temple underground a couple of episodes ago. But I think there is a wide tunnel system that we may or may not see by the series conclusion. We’ve seen Ben and his ancient toilet hidden in a closet that is used to summon Smokey. Are there more hidden tunnels around that Dharma hasn’t discovered? Obviously, they knew the toilet was there, since they built the house and the entrance was directly from the house. Did they know of any other ones, like the Others apparently do and think are easy to get to? Sawyer is handcuffed and being beaten by Dharma, while Juliet is still in her red shirt for the third straight episode. OK, we get it. She is going to die soon. Radzinsky usurps Horace’s power, a bit like Sawyer did 3 years earlier when Richard came to dinner. Horace is a total zilch. But why such an all encompassing obsession with the Swan, Radzinsky? Why in such a rush?

Where is your girlfriend? It’s bad enough Sawyer is stilling receiving punches to his face. But the nerve of Radzinsky calling Kate Sawyer’s “girlfriend”. I mean waterboarding is one thing, and it’s something I’ve done to my self with pitchers of beer, plastic tubes, and a crowd full of hooligans cheering me on when I was younger, but the idea of Kate being somebody’s girlfriend just makes me want to tell an interrogator my life story just so they would stop tossing that term around willy nilly. So, where did your girlfriend take the boy? Um, fellas, he has been missing a few days. Nobody went to visit him. But when he shows up on a video tape, oh, well, mountain out of mole hill. Stop it with it being about the boy. Juliet starts with her crap. “We are not bad people” Then Phil comes on down the aisle and slugs Juliet in the face. Well, I was a bit surprised at that punch, sort of the reaction I had when Mongo in Blazing Saddles punched out a horse. Not from Juliet taking a punch, which was funny in an absurd kind of way. But you know windshield wiper eyebrows Phil will die in the season finale. Hell, Sawyer just said “I will kill you”. So, even though we won’t have Phil to kick around anymore, at least he brought a comedy element to his upcoming death. Oh, and they’ve made the Hurley connection. When it rains, it pours. After swiping food, Hurley reunites with Jin and Miles and collectively, our three stooges have no plans other than run. Sigh, the Kate strategy. Since Hurley has size, camouflage skills, and movement of a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade balloon, Dr Chang confronts the non threatening gang of mush. Is Faraday telling the truth? What year were you born? Who is the president? OK, dude, we are from the future. That was fast. It’s a good thing Dr Chang isn’t interrogating Sawyer. Realizing the truth of their relationship, Miles and Chang have their moment of awkward staring at each other. What, no hug? Widmore stares at dead Daniel. “He looks familiar”. Well, you might have seen him about 25 years ago during time travel, or you just recognize his features as he is your son. I don’t know if the familiar thing will amount to anything, but it sure was an odd line. Eloise declares untie them and we will go to the bomb. Widmore takes her aside to argue with her, and if you didn’t notice, he placed his hand over her stomach, as a man might do to a pregnant woman. Yep, seems like Eloise is pregnant right now, with Daniel or possibly Penny. We’ve never met Penny’s mother, but we do know who her father is. Richard tells us that love can be complicated, which is probably a catalyst for whatever reason Widmore is ultimately exiled for. Locke is making his way through the jungle. After the errand, Locke wants to go to Jacob. Ben informs us that’s not how it works and Richard is of the opinion why rush it. Well, they’ve arrived at the plane. Ben utters “What plane?” which I think is a lie. If you recall, Paulo was in the Pearl hatch when he saw Ben and Juliet come in to take a look at the screens and see the activity in the Swan. Now, my timeline might be incorrect here, but at some point soon after the Oceanic plane crash, Boone was mortally wounded when the drug plane fell from the trees. That plane was covering up the Pearl hatch opening, and Locke and Mr Eko had to physically move the plane to enter that hatch. So, the question is whether Paulo hid the diamonds in the Pearl toilet before or after the plane fell. If it was after, Ben had to know about a plane, because he had to move it or walk within a couple feet of it to enter the hatch. Speaking of hatches, does anybody else find it really odd how many hatches were built by Dharma outside of the pylons. The Swan, the Arrow, the Looking Glass, the Hydra, the medical hatch, the Pearl, the Flame, the Tempest, etc. You didn’t have to cross the pylons to get to any of them, as the Oceanics kept showing us. So were the pylons the line of truce with the Hostiles, or simply guarding a much smaller area for the sleeping quarters. It’s not like Dharma could sneak in a hatch when no one was looking. Those things took time to build. In reality, I see Dharma as the true Hostiles grabbing land that didn‘t belong to them. Locke gives Richard some instructions, and sends him on his way, as time traveling Locke hops out of the jungle right after he was shot by Ethan.

We see Richard redo his bullet removing scene with Locke, but from a much different perspective this time.
R: You told me about the bullet, John.
J: No I didn’t.
R: You will.
See how much more sense that makes this time around. My thoughts on this scene, from the first episode of this season centered around the concept that Richard was talking some weird sh!t, and I can’t even begin to speculate about it. What a journey it has been.
B: You’re timing was impeccable John. How did you know to be here?
J: The island told me.

B: No, John, the island did not tell me things. Why do you need Richard to take you to Jacob?
J: You’ve never seen Jacob, have you? (while smirking)
OK, some very, very key dialogue here, but let’s start out with a couple of quotes from me….
5.9 Namaste
How, how, how did the Others know? Jacob? Well, if my supposition is right that Ben can’t really talk to Jacob, then the answer is no. Ability to see the future? Maybe based on Walt’s gift, they were able to get some things out of the kid while he was a prisoner. Ben remembering things during time loops? My simple conclusion is that Ben is able to have knowledge of future events. That is how he stays in power. How, I’m not sure yet
5.12 Dead Is Dead
The very usual power structure is referenced yet again, as Richard reminds Charles how the island and Jacob make decisions regardless of who the leader of the Others happens to be. Which makes me wonder if the leader of the Others can hear Jacob at all, and Richard is the only one that can interpret. This could very well be the reason Charles is so frustrated with Richard. I know I’ve speculated about this in the past, Ben only pretending to hear Jacob, but I would like proof somebody outside of Richard (who could also be faking) and some of the Oceanic 815 being able to see Christian. Now, Locke may have arguably seen the real Jacob, but he was still in semi-faith mode, so it’s hard to tell if “help me” came from Christian or Jacob, but I think it was the latter.
Well, how interesting. Locke is asking all the right questions right now. Again, he is in sync with the island. Ben never was, but claimed to be in sync with Jacob. Well, first of all, the island and Jacob are not necessarily one and the same. We know the island exists, Jacob, not so much. We know Christian is running around the island, but he could very well be a manifestation of the island itself, nothing to do with Jacob. When Ben first met Christian, he asked if he was Jacob. Christian smirked and said no, but he can speak for him. Like the island was laughing at an inside joke. So, why would all of the sudden Locke question Jacob’s existence. Well, remember when Ben was judged by Smoke Monster. We have seen in seasons past with Mr Eko, Juliet, and more recently with Ben, the monster seems to scan a person’s brain, grabbing images, and acts like a judge. Now that Ben was very recently scanned, and since Locke is in sync with the island, I put forth the theory that Locke now has unlocked Ben’s head and knows the answers to a lot of lies. What better way to convince your followers to do your bidding than to build up an image of a all powerful man who will get really pissed off if you disobey the orders. Like the Cuban government yelling at Cubans to keep doing what they are doing, or Castro will get you, even if he is in a sick bed behind the scenes. Jacob is the Wizard of Oz, pull back that curtain, and Ben and possibly Richard use this to their ultimate goals, whatever they may be. How about that. OR if Jacob does exist, he was trapped for some time by that volcanic ash and/or salt ring around the cabin, but has been released. But I think the Jacob is a hoax is more fun, so I will go with that for now. Richard told Locke how powerful the message of Locke needing to die was, and Locke informs Richard that he did die. Richard almost blinked for a second. Yes, Richard, besides your non aging, other miracles are happening. I suppose Ben and Richard might have had some sort of master plan in place after Ben lost his mind when the freighter invaded. Promote Locke to the leader of the Others, let him fail, and then Ben reascends to his rightful place. But that is not happening and Richard and Ben are starting to scramble a bit. In any case, be wary of when Locke smirks. He is just oozing with non poker face. You can tell right away how sure he is of something with that creepy grandpa smile of his. Ben was funny with his where did you go, John? Either he was mocking John, or Ben just never saw first hand the time travel up until know. I’m still weary of the hot potato game with the compass. I bet Locke has 23 compasses in his pockets right now, Richard has 27 plus a bunny rabbit. Enough about the compass. Chang hustles into the security station at Dharma and declares that this is a good time to evacuate. Radzinsky tells Chang that Horace is no longer in charge and that he came to kick ass and chew bubble gum and that he was all out of bubble gun. Then Radzinksy ripped off his shirt and did some Hulk Hogan poses before strutting around the ring and making obscene gestures to the crowd. Sawyer offers a trade of information for a submarine ride with Juliet. Sure, Sawyer is asked to draw a map of where the hostiles are, but what will he actually draw? A place for them to go right smack dab into a trap? The sketch that becomes the painted hatch mural at the Swan station when the blast doors dropped and trapped Locke’s leg underneath? Which Radzinksy painted. And I guess the reason we saw the weird murals on all the walls of the Swan hatch was because Radzinsky was trapped inside pushing a button, bored, and likely out of his mind. Maybe he didn’t put the shot gun in his mouth like Kevin Inman (Desmond’s hatch partner, the American torture guy with Sayid in Iraq) told us, but Inman shot him because Radzinsky was crazy or annoying or both. Think: Cameron Diaz. I mean, who doesn’t want to shoot her? Well, Eloise tells us they need to go for a swim to reach the tunnels. Like we mentioned before, I am pleased that the show is going a bit more underground, more mystery, more ancient. Kate, wants to run away. Again. Well, she can’t just walk away with all that new knowledge dying of loneliness in her cavernous empty skull, so the guy that was beating Jack in the tent pulls out a gun. And a gun shot goes off and for a brief moment, hoping, I peed a little. Nope, Sayid returns just in time to shoot the Other. Well, I guess he didn’t have to wait until the next episode to die. Another Other is expendable. Like Mrs. Klugh. But let’s not overlook the fact that Kate supposed came back to the island to find Claire. Here, she has a chance to undo all the misery of the past few years with Faraday’s plan. Remember her tear stained promise to Claire’s mother. But she throws all that out the window because she is mad at Jack. The Kate is a Wh0re Moment of the Week, the sequel. Seriously, am I the only one that sees how ridiculously retarded and selfish Kate is? Am I taking crazy pills? Jack doesn’t love me anymore. Whaaaaaa whaaaa whaaaaa. If I was the last man on earth, and she was the last woman on earth, I would not hesitate for a second before I started to choke the life out of her. Who’s going to send me to jail?

Eloise is fully committed to Team Jack, not paying any attention to the Other laying dead on the ground. Great, Eloise has turned into oblivious Rose. Sayid is bragging about how he killed Ben. Uh, no, you didn‘t. Kate brags back that she helped save him.
S: Why did you do that?
K: Since when did killing children and blowing up hydrogen bombs become OK?
Wow, Kate come on down, for your next Kate is a Stupid blah blah blah. Look, I don’t blame Sayid for shooting at Ben. He thought he was doing the right thing is trying to save innocent lives or at the very least lives in the future by getting rid of the evil genius of Benjamin Linus. Kate, if she had a chance to go back in time, would shake Jim Jones’ hand, wave to his followers, and tell them to enjoy the Kool Aid. You are on a magical island. The Swan hatch exploded, and everybody lived through it. Why not detonate the bomb if Faraday says it’s OK? He is a physicist. You are someone that will soon enough be dancing on a stripper pole in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon in a Hoboken dive bar, hoping to make a few bucks to buy your next vial of crack. Even Simple Jack has bought into it. What kind of life are you trying to protect? Oh, yeah. You are a fugitive in handcuffs if the plane lands. And I don’t think your mother is going to sabotage the case this time because she wants to see her grandson who is really not her grandson. Almost forgot. Selfish, selfish, selfish. I’m getting tired of beating up Kate today. I’m just glad she doesn’t do anything else selfish the rest of the episode. Right?
J: We can change things
K: Everybody will die
K: Do you know who you sound like?
J: Maybe I was wrong
K: Maybe you were right
Well, a lot of people did die after the plane crash and purge, so why not roll the dice Kate? Oh, yeah. The selfish thing. Also, Kate is just so damn smug to think Locke is a doddering old fool while in reality he has turned into a superhero in the future and has been right about just about everything all along. Jack is admitting to his mistakes, and I continue to give him credit for that humbleness. Kate decides that she needs to find people to stop Jack, so her bright idea is to go recruit help from the people that were just shooting, trying to kill her a few hours earlier. Oh, how many moments of the week do you want me to give her? Even I’m getting tired of it. The only flaw in my argument is that what if the incident wasn’t caused by Dharma, but by Team Jack. They caused the irregularity that became the Swan hatch by detonating the bomb. Then, Kate will have been right, but I certainly will not take back anything I’ve ranted about. The comic relief trio are spying on the submarine, and we see Charlotte getting aboard, and Chang yelling at his wife to make her leave and make her hate him for the rest of her life. Miles has closure on his family story, and basically his overall story. The only reason I can think of to keep him around is the talk to recently dead Faraday, to find out exactly what the bomb plan is. Other than that, well, to be the wiseass on the show. Personally, I’d like to see him stick around, but you know how it is in finales. People die. Well, Sawyer always has a plan, and right now he is Biff Tannen with a sports almanac from Back to the Future II about to go nuts in getting rich. Symbolically, Sawyer turns to the island before getting in the sub and says good riddance. I think this could have been Sawyer talking to Kate as much as the island, if not more. I smiled at the thought. Jack and company dive underwater and emerge in an ancient hieroglyphic encrypted tunnel, probably connecting to the Temple part at some point that we saw before as Ben was being judged. “That was a longer swim than I expected” Odd line from Jack, as if they passed through some kind of time/space rift. But then again, I take note of odd comments like that all the time, and file them away for future reference.
R: No Jack, we are not taking the bomb out through the pool.
Do I really need to bash Jack yet again for being as cunning as a bowl of oatmeal. Moving on….Sayid confirms that he still has a death wish and really doesn’t care if he dies. A nice wildcard character if I’ve even seen one. Who will detonate the bomb? I vote for Sayid, and he gets his wish to die too. As Locke, Richard, and Ben return from one mission, Locke is already giddy to leave for the next one.
J: Is this everyone?
R: There is another group at the Temple.
As we’ve known for quite a long time, there were Other Others on the island. Their affiliation to the Others was not truly clear, as somebody snatched Tailies the first night, despite Ben’s orders not to do so, and I was convinced there were multiple groups on the island. Plus, the children have to be somewhere, along with Cindy the Oceanic stewardess. Which makes me wonder why there are two groups of the same cult? A failsafe group just incase something happens to the first group that can continue to do what is necessary to keep the world from going *Poof* like pull of smoke? Locke gives the speech of his lifetime.
J: You’ve been accepting orders from Jacob, whose existence seems to be a secret kept from you, I want to know who he is, um yeah Sun he can help us find Jin now please sit down, (smirking) and Richard will take us there. We are going to have a party and you are all invited to come.
R: I’m starting to think John Locke is going to be trouble
B : Why do you think I tried to kill him?
Richard and Ben the conspirators. Oh, you boys should be ashamed of yourselves. What secrets are you rascals hiding? Richard doesn’t quite seem so omnipotent anymore.

Sawyer and Juliet exchange got your backs and I love yas, just in time, as Kate beats the clock and comes on board the sub, much like Hurley in catching the Oceanic 815 flight and Ben catching the Ajira flight, all at the last second. Juliet just cannot catch a break. Meanwhile, Kate has completely abandoned her quest to find Claire, Claire? Claire who? is now stalking Sawyer. The sub starts to submerge. But, they can’t really leave, can they? I don’t want a Season 6 devoted to Sawyer as Jack Tripper, Juliet as Chrissy, Kate as Janet, Widmore as Mr Roper, Eloise as Mrs Roper, and all their shenanigans. Something goes screwy, maybe the island won’t allow them to leave, maybe Hurley, Jin and Miles do something, but they can’t leave. Right? But….young Charlotte and young Miles DO leave the island. Right? So, how can this be resolved. Scriptwriter Impossible, or the future has changed. Bingo. There is your answer. WHH, beat it. We aren’t listening to you anymore. So, Team Jack arrives at the bomb chamber.
E: Now what?
Jack looks at her with a completely blank expression on his face and I think I detected a little drool at the corner of his mouth. At such a critical time to save everybody, it so clear that Jack has not only not planned beyond this moment, he has absolutely nothing in his head right now. Crickets. The hamster is not running on the wheel. The light bulb is not lit. His head is full of warm banana pudding. Nada. Zip. That blank expression was infuriating and hilarious. Even saying “What’s on second“ would have better than such a empty stare. Good grief. Jack Sucks Moment of the Week Part Two. I mean, come on. I tired to giving out so many awards this week, but this was just ludicrous. If Kate and Jack had to sit down and fill out a survey to determine who was dumber, Kate would run away with the pencil and Jack would stick the pencil in his eye. Damn. I love this show. Really. I do. But these two. Infuriating and hilarious. The Others are marching along the beach.
B: Richard has concerns. Jacob is nervous about seeing a lot of people. Richard has reservations.
J: OK. Thanks.
B: But I’ll do whatever to help you. (classic weasel strategy of good cop, bad cop)
J: We are not going to reunite our people
J: I know what I told Sun
J: We are going to see Jacob so I can kill him.
Some powerful dialogue. Locke is not known for being dishonest, but he has lied. For example, when Boone fell in the plane, Locke did not tell Jack exactly how he got hurt. Sun has been less than truthful; well let’s face it, I’ve been calling her a cold hearted reptile for a couple of seasons now, and even more so after her Widmore aliance. So she can go screw. She will turn on Locke first chance she gets despite what Christian said about Locke being able to help with the Jin situation. More powerful is Locke’s final chilling words, going to kill Jacob. Or, rather, the myth of Jacob in it’s present form. Locke did hear somebody say “Help me” in the cabin in Season 3. Has Ben or Richard ever heard Jacob speak? I doubt it. Do they just use his reputation to lead the brainwashed Others? I can’t imagine a different scenario at this time.

This was long winded, repetitive in that I keep bashing the same characters. But they sooooo deserved it this week. Enjoy the next few days until the madness of the season finale unfolds. I’ll probably have to break out the writeups into 3 parts. First episode, second episode, and a wrapup/preview for Season 6 maybe a week later. So expect this War and Peace sized novel from me soon.