My Thoughts on “Follow the Leader”

Coming Full Circle
A lot of things came full circle; some things continued their progression in a strait line. One of the biggest things that came full circle is Locke’s journey. We found out from this episode and from a previous one this season that not only did Locke control his destiny by giving the compass to Richard in the 5o’s and thus causing Richard to visit young Locke and test him and instill in him the idea that he was special, but he also was the one to send Richard to fix up his shot leg when he first started time jumping and to give him the compass that he would later give to 50’s Richard and was about to tell Locke that he needed to die to bring the Oceanic 6 back to the island.

A lot of people are saying that Locke & Jack are switching their Man or Science, Man of Faith roles, but I see it as both of their continued progression on the path that they are supposed to be on. Both of them are the men of science & men of faith. Darlton actually said in the commentary for the season 2 opener titled “Man of Science, Man of Faith” that Jack was actually both. I think that Locke is also. Locke has always gone up and down when it comes to his faith, but now his faith is knowledge, and he’s more comfortable with himself. The island is communicating with him.

Before he had his moments of surety, like when he demanded to Ben in season 3 to take him to Jacob but couldn’t see him but did hear him. But now his faith is constant. He asked again to see Jacob, both times seeming a bit skeptical of whither or not Jacob really exists or if in reality Jacob is just a man behind a curtain like the title of the episode. So it will be interesting to see exactly what Locke finds when he gets there. Locke’s speech also reminded me of season 3 where the castaways were headed for the ? Station and Locke said that everyone was invited to come. So the new Locke is actually the old Locke just wiser and surer of himself. It will be interesting to see if Ben is able to throw a monkey wrench into Locke plan to kill Jacob.

Jack is the same, still stubbornly tries to fix everything, but I think that was why the island/Jacob chooses to bring him to the island, because it knew that Jack would fix things. Whether the problem was the Dharma Hatches/Dharma or something else Jack is the guy needed to set things strait. Kate just like Ben is another problem, will detonating the bomb is equal to Locke destroying the Swan hatch or will it save them all? We might not find out till next season.

Freighter Babies
Another thing that came full circle was the story of Miles & Charlotte being transported off the island. It was nice see the moment of acknowledgement between Chang & Miles that they were father & Son and later of Miles realizing that his Father kicked his Mother & him off the island to save them. Chang’s History quiz for Hurley was great also.

Tunnels
Another thing that came full circle was the revelation of the tunnels and their use for both the Smoke Monster & the Others to pop up anywhere on the island, kind of like the employee tunnels under the Magic Kingdom in Disney World. (Let’s hope that Mickey Mouse doesn’t start kidnapping children. I also loved the moment when Sayid popped out of the water and Jack got all excited that Sayid actually followed him.

Eloise, Charles & Daniel
I like to watch TV with the closed captions on, just to be able to understand what people are saying. Because of that I actually caught something that a lot of people missed. When Widmore & Eloise are talking Widmore quietly says to her not to go because of her condition and puts his hand on her stomach. Which I’m guessing meant that she was pregnant with Daniel at that moment.

Map
Last of all Radinsky made Sawyer draw a map to the Others camp which sets things up for a big attack on the Others and a major battle. I’m excited for everything that’s about to happen in “The Incident”! I also loved the moment between Sawyer & Juliet on the sub.