Season 5, Episode 15: "FOLLOW THE LEADER"

Sorry....I know, I know. Tonight is the SEASON FINALE and I still have not posted my recap from last week's episode yet. Been a rough week. Anyone who has had ever a baby with acid reflux will understand.

Anyway, I will keep this short since the season finale starts in 30 minutes anyways. But here is my short recap from last week:

The main thing from this episode that I want to mention is that it seems our characters are changing into the people that they once were against. Jack is "becoming" Locke, and it seems Locke is "becoming" Ben. Hear me out...

For example, Jack - who has always been the "man of science" is now becoming Locke - the "man of faith." For the first time, Jack believes in fate, he believes they all have a purpose and that they were meant to come back to the island. However, when they were all on the island together in 2004, Jack would not listen as Locke tried to get him to believe in fate and purpose. Even in Locke's suicide note to Jack, he told him "I wish you had believed me." Maybe it took Locke's death for Jack to finally understand that they have a purpose on the island. But now it is Jack who is trying to convince everyone about fate and destiny, a total opposite of the man he used to be.

Furthermore...it seems that now Locke is almost becoming like BEN. I remember when Ben told Locke that he was the new leader, just before moving the island, he told Locke that there is sacrifice involved in being the leader. I took that to mean that sometimes you have to do things you don't want to, in order for the greater good, even if not everyone can see that, but it is all part of being the island's leader. It seems now that Locke has taken on that role as well. He is becoming manipulative, scheming, just like Ben always was. He lied to Sun about helping her find Jin when he had no intention to. He says that he wants to kill Jacob, and he makes all the Others "question" the entire existence of Jacob.

This reminds me of something I talked a lot about back a few seasons ago when we first saw Ben (who we first knew as Henry Gale) when he was first "captured" by the survivors. I talked a lot about the Wizard of Oz reference, and how on many levels it was a similar situation in the whole idea of "The Man Behind the Curtain." How Ben was calling the shots and acting as leader, but really he was just the man behind the curtain, pushing the buttons behind the scenes but deep down not really having the "powers" of a true leader. And now, Locke is starting to question Jacob's existence - just like in the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard turned out to be just a man behind the curtain. Just like with Jacob, if no one has ever seen him, how do they know if he even exists? Or in the case of the Wizard of Oz, it could be someone that has been right in front of their face the whole time, just "hiding" behind the curtain. (My husband thinks that Ben is Jacob - I tend to disagree...but if that's true I guess that would make sense for him to be visibly shaken to learn that Locke is out to kill him).

Obviously a lot going to be happening in the season finale and hopefully we will get some more answers. I'm very intrigued as RIchard Alpert explains to Sun that he has in fact seen her husband along with the other 1970's folks and that he "watched them all die." So does this mean that when Ben carried out the purge on the Dharma Initiative that they were all killed along with everyone else (as it really did happen?) Or was it the "incident" that left them all dead, therefore altering the entire future events of the island as that would mean they would never come into existence??????

Excited to watch the season finale!!!