“Our righteousness is in Him, and our hope depends, not upon the exercise of grace in us, but upon the fullness of grace and love in Him, and upon His obedience unto death” John Newton
Super-Duper Brief Recap
Season 5 Episode 16 “Follow the Leader”- Ellie kills her future son and then invites Jack and Kate back to her tent for tea explanations.
Jack wants to play with Jughead; an activity that Kate wants no part of. They fight.
John, Richard and Ben re-unite. They make an odd trio.
Sawyer protects Kate and is brutally beaten by Radzinsky.
Phil proves that he really is the son of a motherless goat, when he hits Juliet.
It’s disgusting.
Miles gets closure on his Daddy issues.
Team Jack and Team Ellie merge to create Team Destiny, forcing Kate to strike out on her own and form Team Free-Will.
The Island Really IS in a Time Loop
Author’s Note: I’m in Hawaii. I will be here for a long time to come. I was unreasonably stoked to watch “Follow the Leader” and next week’s “The Incident,” in the land where the show is shot (okay, I’m on Maui, but the idea is there…)
I waited all day, forcing myself to avoid the Internet during the interminable six hours between the East coast airing and the Hawaiian airing…
Finally, at 8:56pm, I turn on the television, flip to ABC and see… Juliet and Sawyer.
On a submarine. And she is asking him ‘what they will do when they get to Ann Arbor.’
And my heart breaks. Apparently, one must never take for granted that LOST airs at 9pm everywhere on Earth. It does not.
My record totally skipped and my only consolation is that at least this nonsense didn’t happen during the finale.
As an aside, my Sirius Satellite Radio does not work here due to ‘poor signal quality,’ so I am currently seeking volunteers to help triangulate a signal and get that beast transmitting. Just saying….
Alas, here is my belated take on “Follow the Leader…”
“Take Me to Your Leader…Whoever the Hell He or She May Be…”
Post-tragic-Daniel-death, Kate and Jack hide like ‘rats’ in the Jungle and argue.
Jack wants to charge the camp and save Daniel; Kate thinks this is a really bad plan.
Jack preaches the merits of blank slate.
Otherwise known as ‘Tabula Rasa.’
Kate preaches the virtue of the experience.
Otherwise known as ‘Kate-is-sad-that-Jack-wishes-they’d-never-met.’
Jack doesn’t give a hoot.
The argument is unceremoniously ended when Widmore clocks Jack in the head with his gun resulting in the capture of K&J.
Ellie and Charles have a lover’s quarrel, which Richard wisely attributes to the fact that love is ‘complicated.’
Thank God we have Richard on board as the resident Island consigliore, because that ‘love is complicated’ stuff was a total gem and not at all obvious.
Anyway, Ellie wins the argument and Jack and Kate are untied.
They retire to Ellie’s tent for bourbon and cigars and re-join their Jungle disagreement, already in progress.
“And the Beat Goes On…” Sonny and Cher
Radzinsky beats Sawyer in vain attempt to acquire intel re: Kate’s whereabouts.
Sawyer ain’t playin’; which seems more than a mite vexing to Juliet.
Horace proves to be a super shitty leader and also a massive wuss, when he bitches out in the face of Radzinsky and Phil’s collective fists of fury.
Once an 815-er…
Jack done taught Hurley well.
Miles and Jin send Hurls to the Barracks to collect rations to sustain them at the beach.
Hurley believes that they are about to embark on ‘Operation Save Suliet,’ and is quick to remind his cohorts that Sawyer would never leave them behind.
This turns out to be a false statement.
Still, Hurley was clearly trained in the ‘No man left behind,’ ‘live together, die alone’ school of Island survival, and he cannot help but return to his roots when the going gets tough.
Dr. Chang: So you fought in the Korean War? Hurley: There’s no such thing.
Best. Hurley. Dialogue.
Maybe ever…
The interrogation scene, between Dr. Chang (trying to get Hurls to admit that they are from the future) and Hurley (denying this balderdash,) was brilliant.
It was classic, loveable Hurls.
After admitting that they are indeed from the future (which finally seems to be the ‘get out of jail free’ card it was always meant to be,) Miles and Pierre share a completely unremarkable moment of ‘Oh, so yeah… we are related…’
In their defense, I guess the imminent cataclysmic event on the cusp of occurrence, could be regarded as something of a buzz-kill.
Miles vouches for Danny’s pristine ‘time-related-event’ accuracy record, and P.F. Chang orders the evacuation of the Island.
Right on schedule.
Speaking of ‘Right on Schedule…’
Three years after his hasty departure, John waltzes back to the Others camp toting a massive boar and a brand new attitude.
Richard acknowledges the latter and John credits the change to ‘having a purpose.’
Ben appears not to be so lucky.
He is battered, bruised, and (thanks to Smokey) forced to follow Locke around like, well…like Locke is the leader.
Witty repartee between John and Ben ensues but ends quickly due to time constraints.
John Locke is on a mission. And Ben and Richard live but to serve him.
Praise ye fearless leader…
The incongruous trio head toward the Beech craft so that John can walk Richard through saving him, which he does… exactly as he should. Or did. Or will. Or always has.
“In this journey, you’re the journal, I’m the journalist. Am I eternal or an eternalist?” Eric B & Rakim
This episode focuses on leaders and such, and in following that theme, I must state my open concern for the current condition of the D.I. hierarchy.
First, Radzinsky wrests control from Horace as he and his bitch-boy Phil, commence training for a future in the UFC all over Sawyer and Juliet’s faces.
Then Chang, whom I’d assumed was an upper-echelon Dharma-guy, also allows his authority to be wholly mitigated by the Swan-architect-turned-terrorist, Radzinsky.
This entire thing is way disturbing and though the D.I. is in an understandable state of turmoil, why is Radzinsky suddenly the go-to guy?
I blame this egregious leadership failure on the Republicans.
I’m not sure why precisely, but blaming the GOP seems super-effective these days; thus I shall take the cue from my leaders and follow suit…
“Then away he’ll schlep on his elephant Shep while Fella and Ursula stay in step” George of the Jungle
Kate’s totally over the merger of Team Jack with Team Ellie.
She decides she’d rather leave on her own, than swim into bomb-laden tunnels with ‘Team Destiny.’
Sadly, this is simply not in the cards, as Ellie feels she’s already said too much in front of her new ‘friends.’ Just as some heathen named Erik, cocks his rifle in Kate’s direction, two shots ring out and Erik keels over. Sayid, doing his best George of the Jungle impression, emerges from the foliage.
Ahhhhhhhh! Watch out for that tree!
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat: “we’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.”
Kate remains steadfast in her belief that while arson is sometimes excusable, detonating bombs and shooting children is never okay.
Jack pleads ‘innocent by reason of destiny.’
Kate equates him with that other crazy F.O.D. (Friend of Destiny), John Locke.
She vows to stop him and runs off to gather the rest of ‘their people.’
She hopes they’ll have her back…
Speaking of Having Someone’s Back…
Sawyer has Juliet’s. And he tells her so.
Juliet loves Sawyer. She tells him so.
He loves her back… which he openly states.
There is so much communication happening here that I almost forgot that I was watching LOST.
Until Kate falls down the rabbit hole steps through the submarine hatch.
Then I remembered…
And so did Sawyer.
And so did Juliet.
Ben Sawyer Always Has a Plan…
In this case, the plan is to run far, far away from Ann Arbor and use his future-knowledge to pick stocks and bet big on sporting events.
That sounds just like what Widmore did to make his fortune…
Still, something tells me Suliet may never make it Ann Arbor, let alone their local O.T.B. facility.
“You’ll find he is a whiz of a Wiz! If ever a Wiz! there was…”
John gathers his people and makes a Jack-style speech about not blindly believing in that which we cannot see (read: Jacob).
He tells them that he intends to unmask the wizard (read: Jacob).
He also intends to kill the wizard (read: Jacob), but he (wisely) doesn’t mention that fact to his people…
And on his ‘people…’
I couldn’t help but notice that Richard seemed just a smidge condescending towards John and his ‘new leader-whims,’ throughout this episode.
He seemed to be placating John the Baptist.
It’s almost as though Richard is allowing John to believe he is the actual leader while in reality, he is merely paving the way for Jack , the true prodigal son.
Just thinking aloud…
“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” Theodore Roosevelt
Tags: LOST With Lyndsey
28 Responses to “LOST With Lyndsey…”Follow the Leader””
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I was waiting for Kate and Jack to be offered tea and crumpets. Really, Ellie’s tent was well equipped, don’t you think?
Ooh, ooh! I want to play. Please? While Team Destiny appears to be an appealing, romantic choice, I am going to have to go for Team Free-Will for $800, Alex.
Lyndsey, the intro to my take on this has me singing, “Following the Leader,” which you point to here…how is it that it happened that way?
Wait, are we in season one? Season two? Season three? Because doesn’t all of this
*indicates*
“Post-tragic-Daniel-death, Kate and Jack hide like ‘rats’ in the Jungle and argue. Jack wants to charge the camp and save Daniel; Kate thinks this is a really bad plan. Jack preaches the merits of blank slate. Otherwise known as ‘Tabula Rasa.’ Kate preaches the virtue of the experience.”
This sounds awfully familiar to me.
‘Hear the beat’ of Juliet becoming redundant. But Hurley seems to be the one in a red shirt.
What is up with Horace? This does not seem to make sense when contrasted with the unanimous vote for Sayid’s demise. But then the entire episode to me seems as if it was written by someone who has never watched Lost.
Are we really sure that Sawyer doesn’t have a plan? I really want him to have a plan.
I love that Hurley is confronted with the one fact that he was worried he would have to provide: Jimmy Carter – and I love that he never followed up and made someone tell him.
My issue with this scene however, is somehow Chang magically *waves fingers* believes Daniel now?
Not the Republicans, silly, at least not here… I think it might actually be the socialists this time.
Thank you, Sayid for stepping in and saving your friend.
“You should learn not to kill children or blow up hydrogen bombs,” said Kate with some severity. “It is very wrong.”
I would have liked to have seen Kate making herself be caught or getting caught because it doesn’t seem believable to me that she would be caught and Jin, Hurley, and Miles are born free in the jungle. But down the rabbit hole is um…awkward. And I still find it a little hard to believe that Sawyer would just abandon everyone.
John the Baptist! I love it. Maybe he should stay away from Ben and Richard and serving platters.
And Teddy’s quote is why Jack is not a good leader.
Excellent points, all, my dear Alice, I mean, Lyndsey. And it was entertaining, as always.
Little Blue One,
Sawyer does indeed have a plan. Even if he doesn’t know it yet…
But I too am hoping upon hope, that he does.
Total ironic perfection that Hurls got caught out on the Carter query. Though I think he may have been sunk when he claimed to be 46…
Also, solid point on the ‘Kate-Caught’-'Others-not’ front.
I’m thinking we’ll get some exceptionally clear and plausible answer on that next week…
Whilst scrabbling around trying to find an online stream of the episode, another link kept froming up. Turns out that there’s another “Lost” show that had an episode with the same title:
Lost In Space – Follow The Leader
John Robinson is possessed by an alien spirit. The alien forces the family to prepare to return to the spirit’s home world, even if it requires he sacrifice Will to keep his secret from the rest of the family.
Would it be a leap to far to suggest that there’s any link at all..?
interesting… perhaps the significance could lie in John Locke being possessed by the Island? Or Smokey?
“In this journey, you’re the journal, I’m the journalist. Am I eternal or an eternalist?” The Great Talib Kweli
I love a fellow hip hop head, so I will happily point out that we are both correct.
Eric B and Rakim uttered that phrase in 1990 on the title track from their album “Follow The Leader.” Talib did it in 2000 on Eternalists from his album “Reflection Eternal”
Something tells me Talib was dropping a shout-out to some of the pioneers with that line…
P.S.~ I firmly believe that Talib is one of the strongest lyrical MC’s of all time, so please don’t think that I was taking anything away from him…
Thank you for the recap. I grew up in Hawaii, so just a heads up, Hawaii does not recognize the two times a year time change either.
Mahalo!
I found it very weird Widmore calling them ‘rats’. I think the only reason they use this phrasing is to a) sound English, which is rubbish as I’ve never heard anyone say this or b) to make us think back to Faraday’s rats. They are now the rats in the maze.
I also hate how they think all English people say is splendidly and bloody like we live in the 1940′s still. If Eloise speaks like this next week I may just go insane.
I just luuuuv her accent!
That’s funny, but I like your ‘rat in a maze’ theory…
Also seeing Faraday is his son. Perhaps the family just really like rats.
I prefer her boobs, dude! Never thought about ever getting interested in Eloise Hawking ;>
Yep… Younger, island hottie Eloise and Juliet. Now THAT’S boob-alicious!
Mmm… I think we need a scene where they bathe in a stream on the island, one asks the other to get that “hard to reach spot,” and then…
Well, you get the idea. And yes I AM shallow, thank you.
Remember when Kate and Juliet handcuffed themselves together and mud wrestled?
I think it was in “Left Behind…”
That was fun.
Uhhh, we English do still use the words bloody and splendid. Bloody often, actually…
Lyndsey in Hawaii….how did you score that? I was wondering when I would see your recap.
I enjoyed your take on “Business Casual Dockers” Richard this week.
“It’s almost as though Richard is allowing John to believe he is the actual leader while in reality, he is merely paving the way for Jack , the true prodigal son.”
Speaking of future leaders, it got me thinking (which can be dangerous). I could have sworn that I read somewhere that AARON was the true prodigal son and was really the key to the whole show. Yet he is back on the mainland with Grandma. WTF? Also – have we really seen the last of Walt? He seemed to ‘special’ to be gone for good from the island?
On Hawaii: I was here in September ’08, and ever since then these weird people have been calling my house late at night and whispering garbled messages. Then dead and un-dead folks started turning up with messages from the Island that it “wanted me back.” I had to obey. And now, I am here…
On Richard: yeah…I’ve suddenly become wary of him. Though, I guess we should always be wary of ‘guyliner’ wearers…
His snide little side convo with Ben made him super suspect in my mind.
On Aaron: I’ve also heard the Aaron theory, but A) you’re right he is on the mainland (though I’m sure he and Kate/ Claire will be re-united in S6, just as Ji-Yeon will prob. make a comeback) B) wouldn’t you be a bit dissatisfied if this whole journey leads back to Aaron? For me, it just feels like a long road to have traveled for a kid who has uttered six lines in the past five years and was commonly referred to as “Turnip Head.”
“Mommy, I wanna go home.”
What if Aaron’s in that metal box of the Shadow People?
I guess Claire wouldn’t be too happy with Kate, then, would she.
Also, I still think Kate’s preggers, and she’ll tell Jack just in time for something horrible to happen!
Bwahahaha!
If not these things, well, I’m sure the writers have something equally cruel and devilish cooked up!
You can’t blame Radzinsky’s takeover on the Republicans, silly. Carter was President in 1977, and he’s a Democrat.
Good call, but I am reporting from the future, so I am basing my blame on what’s currently trendy
Politics and time travel don’t mix.
Unless you’re a Whig.
did anybody else hear the theme from “three’s company” when kate was brought on the sub with sawyer & juliet?
Ha! I actually heard the theme from the shitty spin-off “Three’s a Crowd”
“In this case, the plan is to run far, far away from Ann Arbor and use his future-knowledge to pick stocks and bet big on sporting events.
That sounds just like what Widmore did to make his fortune…”
good call. nice review. i liked how this episode expanded on the last one by showing more of ellie’s backstory and thus, offering more insight into why she’s made the choices she’s made. we now know that when she told jack in LA, “but i am helping, dear,” it wasnt the first time. a very subtle reveal, but not an insignificant one.
“did anybody else hear the theme from “three’s company” when kate was brought on the sub with sawyer & juliet?”
yes, but it had slightly altered lyrics, which went:
come and enter our sub,
we’ve been waiting for you
where the donkey wheels are frozen, the island’s chosen
our destiny too
do you believe in fate?
or free will what’s to do?
smack phil up just like a bitch
and shoot at radzinsky too
when suliet’s gettin’ steamy
kate wants to watch too
she’s a horny chick not matter who she’s with
jack, sawyer or ben’s dad (boo!)
Juliet’s no chrissy snow
kate no janet, it’s true
but lefleur could make like tripper with his zipper
that’s sawyer for you…
whoops, here’s the complete lyrics:
come and enter our sub,
we’ve been waiting for you
where the donkey wheels are frozen, the island’s chosen
our destiny too
do you believe in fate?
or free will what’s to do?
smack phil up just like a bitch
and shoot at radzinsky too
you’ll find that time is a loop again
the island is calling for you
ellie’s future is clued, what’s a physicist to do?
when suliet’s gettin’ steamy
kate wants to watch too
she’s a horny chick not matter who she’s with
jack, sawyer or ben’s dad (boo!)
Juliet’s no chrissy snow
kate no janet, it’s true
but lefleur could make like tripper with his zipper
that’s sawyer for you
come and enter our sub,
we’ve been waiting for you
are the women and children safe, or is smokey there too?
I just sang this entire song aloud. You are kind of a genius. Please post an MP3…
pretty please…
Just when you’re feeling a little let down by something like The Variable, they throw Follow the Leader your way and remind you that it’s still LOST.