Follow The Leader (or are you still with me?)

Okay, so earlier I posted my recap of Follow The Leader. It was such a great episode that I felt, in order to do it justice, I needed two posts.

Follow The Leader was about taking charge. Radzinsky took control of Dharma. Eloise took control of her future son's fate. Jack took control of his own fate. Locke is taking steps to ensure his control of the Others.

I have a few questions.

1. Is Locke really supposed to be the leader of the Others, or, through a series of crazy time loops, did he set himself up as the leader? It's a sort of what came first, the chicken or the egg dilemma. For four seasons John has been told that he is special, that his destiny is not as a regional collections officer at some box company. In light of last night's episode where we see the scene of John and Richard at the Beechcraft from a different perspective and learn that John was watching the exchange between himself and Richard's. So, I wonder; would Richard have assisted John at the smuggler's plane if John hadn't taken him there. Would he have told John that he had to die? And did the island tell John to tell Richard to tell flashing John this in the first place?


2. Is Eloise already pregnant with Daniel in 1977? I've searched for Daniel's date of birth but can't seem to find anything stating the date he was born.
   
3. Is Richard as attuned to the needs and wants of the island as we've been lead to believe? Would the island not have told him about Ben's return, especially after judgement day beneath the temple? And didn't they hear the plane crash? I know it didn't break up in mid air, but didn't it make a great big noise hitting the trees? Richard didn't know that Ben was back and he didn't know where John had gone. Did they even bother to look for him after he flashed away?
   
4. Did anyone notice how freaked out Ben and Richard were by the new Locke? Its almost like they have been running the biggest scam on island, like selling candy to school children out of their back packs, and the new principal is about to catch them.
   
5. When is Sun going to realize the John has no intention of even attempting to reunite her with Jin? He keeps giving her platitudes, words that are meant to keep her calm but really don't promise anything. She needs to get ruthless again.
   
6. How does Jack know for certain that his reason is to detonate Jug Head and possibly stop the plane from crashing, thus reversing everything that has happened in the last three years? Yes, I see him making decisions and having faith that they are the right ones! He reminds me of someone standing in line at the convenience store buying everything on the counter just because it's there. They never really planned on buying the Tic Tacs in the special anniversary packaging. I understand why he wants to explode the bomb, I just don't see how it is going to work. Wouldn't the fates of EVERYONE on board that plane need to not be connected to the island? John Locke? Mr. Eko? Daniel? Charlotte? Doesn't he realize that some of the survivors don't want to erase the past?
   
7. What's with Sawyer and Juliet making a deal and leaving their friends behind? What happened to loyalty? What happened to looking after each other?
   
8. What's in Hurley's guitar case? Seriously, it's not a guitar. At least, it better not be. I have a feeling that it carries something that is going to help them return to 2007. Either that or it's the largest collection of Twinkies on the planet. I've never had one of those things and I hear that they'll survive a nuclear explosion and still be edible.
   
9. Where has Sayid been hiding out?
   
10. Did Hurley pack a can opener when he stole the food?

Here's what I'm thinking.

I think that, despite detonating the hydrogen bomb, the accident at the Swan site will still occur. Radzinsky is intent on drilling and even the threat of cataclysmic failure isn't about to stop him. Jack will not be able to stop the incident at the Swan station. I don't know anything about the explosive power of a hydrogen bomb but I'm pretty sure it's mighty destructive. I wonder if it will be strong enough to neutralize the energy that is released when Radzinky begins to drill into the ground. Somehow I doubt it. The universe will make sure it happens and no matter how frequently one goes back in time and changes what has been done leading up to the major event, it will still happen. The outcome will be the same with minor changes along the way.

Quotables!

Ben - His name is Richard Alpert. He's a kind of.....advisor. And he has had the job for a very very long time.

Ben - What John, don't you trust me here with my former people? Afraid I'll stage a coup?

John - I'm not afraid of anything you can do anymore, Ben.

Ben - Well, in that case, I'd love to come along!

Sawyer - Son of a bitch! *after Phil hits Juliet*

Radzinsky - Who the hell is Hugo Reyes?

Phil - He's the fat guy.

Ben - Your timing was impeccable, John. How did you know when to be here?

John - The island told me. Didn't it ever tell you things?

Ben - Uhm, no.

This week I have two favorite quotes.

Richard - Well, you seemed pretty convinced, especially when I said you were gonna die. I;m certainly glad that didn't have to happen.

John - Actually, Richard, it did. *stunned look from Richard*

And

Richard - I'm starting to think that John Locke is gonna be trouble.

Ben - Why do you think I tried to kill him?

I have few thoughts about Jacob. Who he is, where he came from and can he be killed, but that will need to wait until tomorrow. Until then...

Arcticroses

The Variable

Variable (adj) apt or able to vary or change.

I just wanted to make sure we have a clear definition of the word.

Charles Widmore is Daniel's father. Who didn't see that one coming? But is he really his biological father? Is Eloise his biological mother, for that matter. How do two people have a child and then systematically raise that child for one purpose only? We're talking about a human being not a pet rock!

From every flashback we see, we get one important message. Daniel, it would seem, was conceived in order to return to the island and die at his mother's hands. By adhering to the idiom that one can't change one's destiny, Eloise Hawking has directed every stage of her son's life in one direction. Eloise Hawking has some major redemption of her own to fulfill. It's like she conceived Daniel for the sole purpose of directing his life to the point where she shoots him in 1977, believing that fate is set and there is nothing they can do to stop it. They denied him the small pleasures of life, pushing him toward a destiny they believed he had no chance of avoiding.

I'm wondeirng if she left the island because she shot her own son.

For Daniel's part, he just wanted to make her proud. Everything he did in his life was in hopes that his mother would love him and be proud of him.

Daniel: "Will...will it make you proud of me?"

Eloise: "Yes, Daniel. It will."

Wow. I have never thought so ill of a woman as I do of Eloise Hawking at this point in the show, but then, I see the pain in her eyes during the confrontation outside the Marina Medical Center at the end of the episode.

Charles:"Unfortunately, Eloise, my relationship with Penelope is one of the things I had to sacrifice."

Eloise: "Sacrifice? Don't you talk to me about sacrifice, Charles. I had to send my son back to the Island knowing full well that..."

Widmore: "He was my son, too, Eloise...."

Slap!

What's important here is what Eloise said. "I had to send my son back to the Island knowing full well that...."

Charles and Eloise know exactly what is going to happen to their son.

The winds of change are coming to Dharmaville. The jig is up and the interlopers know that it is time to flee. What with Kate stealing away with young Ben to the Hostiles, Sawyer helping her, Daniel on a whole new level of crazy. Something had to give and Stu Radzinsky is angry and aggressively paranoid and has been itching for a fight for too long. He finds is in the motor pool and gets a shot by a physicist for his trouble. His next fight is at LaFleur's place, only this time he wins.

Jack, Kate and Daniel head for the jungle to seek the others, while Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Jin and Hurley get ready to depart for the beach. Sawyer and Juliet are arrested and Phil is apparently freed from the closet. We have no clue what happens to Miles, Jin and Hurley.

Daniel leaves Kate and Jack in the jungle and walks into the Hostile's camp demanding to see Ellie, who shoots him. The following exchange says it all.

Richard: "Why did you do that?"

Ellie: "He had a gun on you."

Richard: "He wasn't gonna shoot me, Eloise."

Daniel: "Eloise. You knew. You always knew. You knew this was gonna happen. You sent me here anyway."

Eloise:" Who are you?"

Daniel:"I...I'm your son."

Charles and Eloise raised their son, nurtured his gift, just so they could send him back to the island to be shot by his mother. Either they are so dedicated to the island and their fate that they were able to coldly allow Daniel's promising life to come to this.

WHAT I'm WONDERING

1. Radzinsky annoys the H E L L out of me! That man is such a cheat and a crook that his every action is suspect. He's always been annoying, but what exactly is in his job description?Too bad Daniel only shot him in the hand.


2. Juliet was sure quick to give Kate the code to the sonic fence when she heard Sawyer call her Freckles. Getting rid of the competition?


3. Speaking of Juliet, she knows way more than we think. She's up to something and it has little to do with saving her own butt. Her operating on two people was accepted way to easily. When Sawyer asked if she still had his back, she asked it back. What is she hiding?


4. Jack is finally realizing what his purpose is. He has to lead his people back to 2007 and Locke, then he needs to deal with his father issues.


5. Kate, too, is returning to her purpose and realizes she needs to get to 2007 and find Claire.


6. Richard hasn't changed his shirt is a few days. He has that same purple shirt on. Doesn't anyone in the camp know how to do laundry? And how did he know that Daniel wasn't going to shoot him?


7. Is Charles Widmore really Daniel's father, and if so, what kind of a man would purposely send his own child to his death for the sake of protecting a bloody island? I don't think the Island wanted it that way.

QUOTES OF NOTE

Sawyer - Phil, Jack. Jack, Phil. *closes closet*

Daniel - Think about it. A Chinese man named Miles, the same name as your son, shows up with me from the future.....

Daniel - Why would you tell me that?

Charles - Because come tomorrow, you won't remember I did.

Sawyer - Your mother is an Other?

Sawyer - Welcome to the meeting, Twitchy. Good to see you again. Pound cake's in the kitchen. Help yourself to the punch.

Jack - You need a gun to talk to your mother, Dan?

Daniel - You don't know my mother.

And my all-time new favourite!

Jack: I'm kinda getting used to insane.

SPECULATION

Here is what I think. I think Jack doubted that they were supposed to land in 1977 and has been waiting for confirmation, which he got from Daniel. Now he will emerge to lead his people to rescue Sawyer and Juliet and then find their way back to 2007. During their fight, the incident will occur anyway, but certain "events" of the future will never happen as a result of their actions in 1977. At least I hope so.

Think about it. If Oceanic 815 had never crashes, Sawyer will never grow into the loving man he is with Juliet. Juliet will be trapped, the object of two men's desires. Kate will go to jail and will never have learned how important a mother's love truly is. Hurley will forever believe the numbers are cursed and would probably lose half his fortune in the credit crunch of 2008/2009, as well, he probably would never reconcile with his father. Rose would die from her cancer and Bernard would be completely devastated. Claire would have given up her baby for adoption and never would have known the joy of true love only having a child can bring.

Of course, all those people who died in and after the crash wouldn't have died. Ana Lucia, Libby, Mr. Eko, Dr. Artz. Ethan. Charlie would still be whacked out on heroin and Miles would still be scamming bereaved parents. Emma and Zack would still be shunted between parents. Boone and Shannon would still be playing their petty games and Paolo and Nikki would again be looking for ways to cheat each other out of the diamonds. Desmond would probably still be pushing a button every 108 minutes instead of finally connecting with Penny and having baby Charlie.

There's benefits and disadvantages to everything that happens in the world. Cause and effect. Action and reaction. The human condition that allows us to think, make our choices and exercise free will. Daniel was right. People are the variables! We will always be unpredictable. Wavering. Fluctuating. Mercurial.

Photo from Dark UFO