Thoughts on "Follow the Leader"

The Locke-Ben-Alpert relationship is really interesting to me right now. Something is clearly off with Locke, and Alpert's attitude around him only confirms my suspicions. Alpert was acting wary and almost jumpy when dealing with Locke... my current idea is that Locke is being controlled by Smokey. There is evidence for and against this, but the longer it's apparent that Locke is not exactly himself, the more I like it.

Two literary references I pulled from the final minutes of last night's episode. The first is from the book of Exodus in the Old Testament. Moses has freed the Israelites from the Egyptians and they are now in the wilderness. In chapter 19, Moses prepares the people to meet God.

And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.

And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

Very similar to the idea of Locke taking the Others to meet Jacob. It's important to note that the Children of Israel never actually meet God, as they are intimidated and would rather not deal with that experience.

Then Locke discloses his plan to kill Jacob. This is very similar to a major plot point in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy. You are familiar with the first book in the trilogy, The Golden Compass. I read all three books a couple summers ago, and they are essentially a thinly-disguised rant against the Catholic church, and to a lesser extent, organized religion in general.

In the final book, our young protagonists kill "The Authority" (the god of their universe), by freeing him from the prison The Authority's right-hand man had placed him in a long time ago.

Jacob's "help me" to Locke. The circle of ash around Jacob's cabin. Locke's assertion that Ben has never actually seen Jacob. It all works.... Locke is going to the cabin to kill Jacob, thereby freeing him. Big time stuff is about to go down.

The undercurrent of Ben still wanting to kill Locke, but fully aware that Smokey will destroy him if he tries (not just kill, destroy) puts Ben in a tough spot. If Richard supports Ben's plotting, that may give Ben a sense that the Island approves, but in the end, Smokey supports Locke, and Smokey is the true power on the Island. Smokey has been on-Island for centuries or even millennia... I doubt anyone has any kind of control over him.

Shaping up for an intense season finale.