Well, Follow The leader was a nice setup episode leading up to the Season Finale tomorrow night which I’m looking forward to. It put everyone in their places so we can start the finale running. Points in no particular order, I’m still not liking the new Locke too much. Before I was didn’t think that Locke knew everything he thought he did, but was choosing to act like he did which is just cocky. Now though, after knowing the time and place of future Locke’s arrival with a bullet wound, I’m not sure. I’ve always believed Richard to be somewhat neutral in Lost. He goes along with Ben, but disagrees with a lot of his ideas, and is fair, non-aggressive. If RIchard is uncertain about Locke’s ideas, then I’m with him. Of course, Richard has proved to be surprisingly unaware of the goings on with the island. He seems as bewildered as the rest of us when the gang turn up in the 1950’s and in the 70’s and Sawyer gives him some time travel hints in LaFleur. He seems totally oblivious to the Island time traveling which I think was a surprise because I think many viewers assumed Richard was not only the man with all the facts, but he was a time traveler himself visiting Locke at different stages in his life without aging.

I thought Richards comment about watching them all die could relate to the purge, although since he made that comment, he has become more familiar with Jack and Kate so he could literally mean it. Perhaps he’ll meet with Hugo and Co in the finale which might make him more aware of them.

I’m hoping at least some of the finale is going to be Hurley being a game changer. Between the guitar case he carries round, plus the fact that he ends up on flight 316 after getting out of jail and swearing he isn’t going back to the island (as Ben wanted), I’m curious as to how he ended up on the flight (and who told him to bring the guitar /item). I’m wondering if this is the 3rd party at play again like they were with Miles. They promised Hurley freedom from the numbers like they promised Miles info about his father. I’m hoping some of the finale will deal with this.

Oh, and I agree with Erica, Phil is so very dead, and causal paradoxes are abound since Lock told Richard to tell him to do things, which he knew to do because Richard (and thus Locke) told him to. Ditto with the compass. Where did it come from originally. I hope we get some idea of how this is resolved, especially since it was noted that the compass was rusty when Richard gave it back to Locke, but we can assume that back in 1954 (and even when wounded Locke gets it) it is not rusty.

Here’s a thought on Jacob. Twin Peaks has been noted as an inspiration for Lost, and in Twin Peaks, the killer is first seen on screen as Bob, a long haired disheveled character. However, Bob is not real, Bob is a mask for someone else, the real actual physical killer. He just appears to victims as Bob. The character of Bob was also a way for the Twin Peaks writers to show the killer in a far more menacing way, to not only make him more dangerous, but also to hide the actual killer and also to throw the audience off. They would be looking for Bob as an actual person in Twin Peaks when Bob is really a figment of your imagination. The character of Bob was played by Frank Silva who at the time was a set dresser on the show, and who also worked as a prop master.

When Jacob briefly appeared in The Man Behind The Curtain, he was played by Rob Kyker who is a prop master on Lost. Also note, he appears in the Ace of Cakes LOST episode and introduces himself by name to one of Ace’s gang. My point being, is that using a prop guy might be giving props to Twin Peaks, but I’m not sure we’ll be seeing Rob Kyker playing Jacob through the last season. I’m wondering if the nod is more than that, that Jacob is more a figment of our imagination, a personification of the Island. Perhaps, like Bob, Jacob is a mask behind which someone we know lies, just like Bob hid Laura Palmers killer in Twin Peaks. Either that, or Locke really will kill him off, even though I think Locke’s intent to kill Jacob is more of a help , not hinder kind. Something along the lines of Locke freeing Jacob by killing him so he can…be free and come back as someone else or something like that.

I’m really wondering where this season finale will leave us at the end. Previous finales have given the clue about what the next season is about. Will we end up in 1977, 2007, will the incident happen, and will things change, or will whatever happened happen? I’m hoping we don’t end up with ’something changing’, like Kate has short blond hair or something to indicate that something changed, and we spend the hiatus wondering if anything did change, and if so how much.

I’m in the Whatever Happened Happened camp simply because it’s what the writers have told us all season, and it explains everything logically so far. If things can change in the past, then they have already done so immeasurably. The smallest event will cause changes that ripple through time and completely change the future and negate 5 seasons of Lost. To say otherwise is just putting great big holes in the plot because you can always make the case that any event in the past would have completely changed things.

Something I just thought about as I write this, I wonder if Miles is The Variable? Perhaps his psychic ability isn’t psychic at all, he can just tune in to different points in time, almost like time flashes at will, and oriented around one person. The reason I mention this is because we know for sure one thing that has changed in Lost, when Miles went to see Mrs Gardner and the pictures and their frames changed in Confirmed Dead. If whatever happened, happened, then it would take a whole new theory to reconcile the picture changes.