Lost - Season 3, Episode 15 - Left Behind
The latest chapter in the Lost saga works more as a segue than a real episode. Nothing much happened, but it was necessary filler before next week's big reunion episode. Let's get right down to it, then.
The episode starts with Kate awakening in the Others' rec room. She hears a rustling near the door and grabs a pool cue. The door opens and Kate immediately attacks Juliet, who was carrying a sandwich. Somehow - we don't get a real glimpse how since it happens so fast - Kate is on the floor. Juliet stands over her, condescendingly. (Okay, I know this was suppose to be a homage of some kind to when Jack attacked Juliet when she tried to bring him a sandwich, but this is feeling redudant and we're only about one minute in.)
In the first flashback sequence, Kate is by the side of the road with a tow-truck driver. Behind her is a massive farm. The driver says it's gonna be about three days to fix a broken gas belt in her engine. Three days? Kate is surprised. The driver says, "Welcome to Iowa." The driver takes her back to a station where a familiar woman is trying to pull a simple con on a local. The man threatens to call the police before Kate intervenes. The woman, whose name is Cassidy, is grateful and gives Kate a ride into town in exchange for a drink. Cassidy is familiar from a past episode, she played the victim of Sawyer's in the episode "The Long Con" and played the incredibly troubled prostitute, Joanie Stubbs, in HBO's wonderful Deadwood.
Kate's been in unconsciousnesses-land (any way similar to Flashback land?) until someone else comes in to see her. It's Locke! Kate starts to ask him questions but he shrugs them all of and tells her he's "leaving" with "them." Kate is confused. Locke has turned traitor? (like everybody else?!) Locke just says, "I'm sorry," and leaves. Cue LOST logo.
On the beach side of the Island - hey looks like I was wrong - Hurley is telling Sawyer that a "vote" is coming. The inhabitants of the camp want to banish Sawyer for being a jerk and calling everyone funny names, but, if he wants, there's still time to play nice. Sawyer pffs! and says, "Fine! I can live on my own," and spends the next couple of scenes trying to catch and gut a fish before finding Hurley out and saying, "Okay. What do I have to do?"
We open again on Kate still in the rec room. There's a commotion outside. Looks like Locke wasn't lying! The Others are leaving. They have huge backpacks and lots of little bags. They look like they're getting ready for a long trip. Suddenly, they all put on gas masks and a canister is thrown into the rec room. Kate tries to find a way out but collapses.
In a quickie flashback, Kate and Cassidy are at a bar drinking. They quickly admit their big secrets (wow, Kate, way to be secretive) and Kate says she's here to find her mother. Cassidy agrees to help her because that's what minor characters in flashback world are for!
In the jungle, Kate awakens from her gassed slumber and looks down to see that's she still handcuffed, but to Juliet! Juliet seems surprised as she is by her situation. Kate is initially skeptical but quickly decides to trust this woman and together they head off to follow the trail of whoever took them here, to go back to Othersville to save Jack. (Yeah, again.)
In flashback land, a woman comes up to Kate's mom's apartment. She knocks on the door and the Federal agent and a bunch of cops come flying out and tackle her to the floor. Obviously, it's not Kate, but Cassidy. Next, we see Cassidy coming into a nondescript hotel room with the real Kate. Cassidy wants to know what's so important that they're risking themselves against so much heat. Kate says she wants to know "why" her mother, whom she loved, sold her out for her no-good husband whom Kate murdered.
Back in the jungle, Kate and Juliet are walking through the jungle at night. Juliet is challenging Kate about her motives. She blames Kate for ruining Jack (and her) chances of leaving the Island. Kate gets pissed and the two start fighting, Beat-It style. Kate wins this time and dislocates Juliet's shoulder. She cries out in pain but it's another sound that makes them stop. An almost mechanical clicking and scratching. The sound is very familiar. It's the monster.
Kate pulls Juliet up and they rush towards a large mangrove. They hide in between the branches (very similar to the first time Kate hid from the monster) but this time the thing seems to come up close to them and flashes them with a bright light as if scanning them. As usual, it slinks away.
On the beach side, Hurley convinces Sawyer to make a nice gesture towards Claire. To ask about baby Aaron and to give them a present, a blanket. In a funny aside, Sawyer hands her the present and says, "I don't like blankets."
Back to the action! Juliet is shocked by the encounter with the monster but Kate, as usual, is skeptical and says, "You don't know that thing?" Juliet then asks Kate to help her push her shoulder back into place. When Kate refuses, Juliet says that the only reason her shoulder is like it is is because she didn't listen when Jack told her to stay away. Kate is stubborn and says that Jack was just trying to protect her. But Juliet says, "No, Jack saw you with Sawyer" and the reason he wanted her to stay away was because she broke his heart. Finally, Kate agrees to help Juliet.
On the beach, Sawyer's "being nice" day continues with him helping Desmond on a boar hunt. Sawyer talks about how politics is won by bribes (truth) and since money doesn't mean anything on this island, he has to do his best in other methods.
In the anti-climatic flashback scene, Cassidy is eating at the diner where Kate's mom works. She spills some soup on Kate's mom and, in the ladies bathroom, Kate confronts her mother. Obviously, nothing gets solves. Kate's mom still blames her for her actions despite Kate saying she did it for her. Kate's mom says, "You can't help who you love," before telling her to get lost and never - ever - to return.
In the jungle, Kate and Juliet are back on the trail to Othersville when they hear that familiar mechanical clicking. The monster is coming! They rush through some brush before they come upon the sonic fence from a few episodes back. Kate won't go any further, she knows what that thing does. But Juliet tries to convince her it's turned off and won't affect them. Juliet then wips out a key and unlocks the handcuffs that have bound them both. She heads to one of the spokes of the fence and begins fiddling with the buttons. She screams, "Kate! Come on!" and Kate walks through the fence perimeter behind her. Juliet hits a button and the fence turns on.
Between the trees, the smoke monster forms and approaches Juliet. Juliet just stands still. Upon hitting the sonic fence, the monster dissipates and retreats.
(Update! Video footage of the Monster being repelled on the sonic fence, via Lost Easter Eggs. Moments like this are - sci-fi stuff- is what got me into Lost in the first place, so I'm always glad to see it, even in a so-so episode.)
Kate fixes Juliet with an I'm-Gonna-Rip-Your-Throat-Out-Bitch look. Juliet says that she just wanted to befriend Kate and that maybe if she convinced her they were in it together, she wouldn't be left behind again. Kate seems to show compassion for her and they continue together.
On the beach side, Sawyer is hosting a boar party. Everyone is happy to be eating some fresh meat. Sawyer tries to see how Charlie will vote now. Charlie says, "What vote?" Sawyer, pissed, goes to Hurley, who laughs and says, "But wasn't it nice to be Nice?" Hurley then says that with Jack, Locke, Sayid, and Kate gone, they need a leader and Sawyer's the best last choice. Sawyer thinks about that as a cheesy musical montage shows everyone eating and smiling at each other.
Back in Othersville (finally!), Kate goes to find Jack while Juliet frees Sayid. She finds him in the hallway they met two episodes back. Jack wakes suddenly and asks, What's going on? Kate tells him the Others left. She then starts to apologize and to cry and says she should have listened to him when he told her to stay away. Jack, unfortantely, doesn't say much and the Lost writers have a perfect opportinity for a nice speech about forgiveness and friendship and all they've been through. But Jack just asks about Juliet and then they go outside.
Sayid and Juliet are waiting for them. They have backpacks ready (that was fast!) and as they get ready to leave, Sayid says that she (Juliet) is not coming with them. Jack says she is. Another missed opportunity: Kate should have said something for Juliet's behalf which would make everything that happened in this episode somewhat worth it, but Kate just looks at the floor and all four of them leave without any further protest.
* * *
So, as you can tell from my recap, I didn't like this episode. I felt like it was a lot of noise for no good reason. If Kate had stood up for Juliet for her to come with them back to camp, I would have understood why this episode existed at all, but since she didn't, it's just pseudo-boring filler with some classic Monster-time thrown in to spice it all up.
The retread over Kate's already retread background added nothing to the mix. Seeing the great actress Kim Dickens with barely any good lines was a crime (anyone who watched Deadwood knows she's capable of much more) and the Sawyer storyline was equally pointless!
Disappointing, for sure, and ruins the momentum (at least in my mind) that the series has had going for it since the beginning of the 16-episode run. This episode wasn't quite as bad as Jack's recent episode with his Thailand-escapades (that episode was just kinda boring) but it was, like I said, ultimately pointless. Let's see if LOST can redeem itself next week.
As always, images from the great Lost-Media.com.
The episode starts with Kate awakening in the Others' rec room. She hears a rustling near the door and grabs a pool cue. The door opens and Kate immediately attacks Juliet, who was carrying a sandwich. Somehow - we don't get a real glimpse how since it happens so fast - Kate is on the floor. Juliet stands over her, condescendingly. (Okay, I know this was suppose to be a homage of some kind to when Jack attacked Juliet when she tried to bring him a sandwich, but this is feeling redudant and we're only about one minute in.)
In the first flashback sequence, Kate is by the side of the road with a tow-truck driver. Behind her is a massive farm. The driver says it's gonna be about three days to fix a broken gas belt in her engine. Three days? Kate is surprised. The driver says, "Welcome to Iowa." The driver takes her back to a station where a familiar woman is trying to pull a simple con on a local. The man threatens to call the police before Kate intervenes. The woman, whose name is Cassidy, is grateful and gives Kate a ride into town in exchange for a drink. Cassidy is familiar from a past episode, she played the victim of Sawyer's in the episode "The Long Con" and played the incredibly troubled prostitute, Joanie Stubbs, in HBO's wonderful Deadwood.
Kate's been in unconsciousnesses-land (any way similar to Flashback land?) until someone else comes in to see her. It's Locke! Kate starts to ask him questions but he shrugs them all of and tells her he's "leaving" with "them." Kate is confused. Locke has turned traitor? (like everybody else?!) Locke just says, "I'm sorry," and leaves. Cue LOST logo.
On the beach side of the Island - hey looks like I was wrong - Hurley is telling Sawyer that a "vote" is coming. The inhabitants of the camp want to banish Sawyer for being a jerk and calling everyone funny names, but, if he wants, there's still time to play nice. Sawyer pffs! and says, "Fine! I can live on my own," and spends the next couple of scenes trying to catch and gut a fish before finding Hurley out and saying, "Okay. What do I have to do?"
We open again on Kate still in the rec room. There's a commotion outside. Looks like Locke wasn't lying! The Others are leaving. They have huge backpacks and lots of little bags. They look like they're getting ready for a long trip. Suddenly, they all put on gas masks and a canister is thrown into the rec room. Kate tries to find a way out but collapses.
In a quickie flashback, Kate and Cassidy are at a bar drinking. They quickly admit their big secrets (wow, Kate, way to be secretive) and Kate says she's here to find her mother. Cassidy agrees to help her because that's what minor characters in flashback world are for!
In the jungle, Kate awakens from her gassed slumber and looks down to see that's she still handcuffed, but to Juliet! Juliet seems surprised as she is by her situation. Kate is initially skeptical but quickly decides to trust this woman and together they head off to follow the trail of whoever took them here, to go back to Othersville to save Jack. (Yeah, again.)
In flashback land, a woman comes up to Kate's mom's apartment. She knocks on the door and the Federal agent and a bunch of cops come flying out and tackle her to the floor. Obviously, it's not Kate, but Cassidy. Next, we see Cassidy coming into a nondescript hotel room with the real Kate. Cassidy wants to know what's so important that they're risking themselves against so much heat. Kate says she wants to know "why" her mother, whom she loved, sold her out for her no-good husband whom Kate murdered.
Back in the jungle, Kate and Juliet are walking through the jungle at night. Juliet is challenging Kate about her motives. She blames Kate for ruining Jack (and her) chances of leaving the Island. Kate gets pissed and the two start fighting, Beat-It style. Kate wins this time and dislocates Juliet's shoulder. She cries out in pain but it's another sound that makes them stop. An almost mechanical clicking and scratching. The sound is very familiar. It's the monster.
Kate pulls Juliet up and they rush towards a large mangrove. They hide in between the branches (very similar to the first time Kate hid from the monster) but this time the thing seems to come up close to them and flashes them with a bright light as if scanning them. As usual, it slinks away.
On the beach side, Hurley convinces Sawyer to make a nice gesture towards Claire. To ask about baby Aaron and to give them a present, a blanket. In a funny aside, Sawyer hands her the present and says, "I don't like blankets."
Back to the action! Juliet is shocked by the encounter with the monster but Kate, as usual, is skeptical and says, "You don't know that thing?" Juliet then asks Kate to help her push her shoulder back into place. When Kate refuses, Juliet says that the only reason her shoulder is like it is is because she didn't listen when Jack told her to stay away. Kate is stubborn and says that Jack was just trying to protect her. But Juliet says, "No, Jack saw you with Sawyer" and the reason he wanted her to stay away was because she broke his heart. Finally, Kate agrees to help Juliet.
On the beach, Sawyer's "being nice" day continues with him helping Desmond on a boar hunt. Sawyer talks about how politics is won by bribes (truth) and since money doesn't mean anything on this island, he has to do his best in other methods.
In the anti-climatic flashback scene, Cassidy is eating at the diner where Kate's mom works. She spills some soup on Kate's mom and, in the ladies bathroom, Kate confronts her mother. Obviously, nothing gets solves. Kate's mom still blames her for her actions despite Kate saying she did it for her. Kate's mom says, "You can't help who you love," before telling her to get lost and never - ever - to return.
In the jungle, Kate and Juliet are back on the trail to Othersville when they hear that familiar mechanical clicking. The monster is coming! They rush through some brush before they come upon the sonic fence from a few episodes back. Kate won't go any further, she knows what that thing does. But Juliet tries to convince her it's turned off and won't affect them. Juliet then wips out a key and unlocks the handcuffs that have bound them both. She heads to one of the spokes of the fence and begins fiddling with the buttons. She screams, "Kate! Come on!" and Kate walks through the fence perimeter behind her. Juliet hits a button and the fence turns on.
Between the trees, the smoke monster forms and approaches Juliet. Juliet just stands still. Upon hitting the sonic fence, the monster dissipates and retreats.
(Update! Video footage of the Monster being repelled on the sonic fence, via Lost Easter Eggs. Moments like this are - sci-fi stuff- is what got me into Lost in the first place, so I'm always glad to see it, even in a so-so episode.)
Kate fixes Juliet with an I'm-Gonna-Rip-Your-Throat-Out-Bitch look. Juliet says that she just wanted to befriend Kate and that maybe if she convinced her they were in it together, she wouldn't be left behind again. Kate seems to show compassion for her and they continue together.
On the beach side, Sawyer is hosting a boar party. Everyone is happy to be eating some fresh meat. Sawyer tries to see how Charlie will vote now. Charlie says, "What vote?" Sawyer, pissed, goes to Hurley, who laughs and says, "But wasn't it nice to be Nice?" Hurley then says that with Jack, Locke, Sayid, and Kate gone, they need a leader and Sawyer's the best last choice. Sawyer thinks about that as a cheesy musical montage shows everyone eating and smiling at each other.
Back in Othersville (finally!), Kate goes to find Jack while Juliet frees Sayid. She finds him in the hallway they met two episodes back. Jack wakes suddenly and asks, What's going on? Kate tells him the Others left. She then starts to apologize and to cry and says she should have listened to him when he told her to stay away. Jack, unfortantely, doesn't say much and the Lost writers have a perfect opportinity for a nice speech about forgiveness and friendship and all they've been through. But Jack just asks about Juliet and then they go outside.
Sayid and Juliet are waiting for them. They have backpacks ready (that was fast!) and as they get ready to leave, Sayid says that she (Juliet) is not coming with them. Jack says she is. Another missed opportunity: Kate should have said something for Juliet's behalf which would make everything that happened in this episode somewhat worth it, but Kate just looks at the floor and all four of them leave without any further protest.
* * *
So, as you can tell from my recap, I didn't like this episode. I felt like it was a lot of noise for no good reason. If Kate had stood up for Juliet for her to come with them back to camp, I would have understood why this episode existed at all, but since she didn't, it's just pseudo-boring filler with some classic Monster-time thrown in to spice it all up.
The retread over Kate's already retread background added nothing to the mix. Seeing the great actress Kim Dickens with barely any good lines was a crime (anyone who watched Deadwood knows she's capable of much more) and the Sawyer storyline was equally pointless!
Disappointing, for sure, and ruins the momentum (at least in my mind) that the series has had going for it since the beginning of the 16-episode run. This episode wasn't quite as bad as Jack's recent episode with his Thailand-escapades (that episode was just kinda boring) but it was, like I said, ultimately pointless. Let's see if LOST can redeem itself next week.
As always, images from the great Lost-Media.com.
posted by Elad at 10:08 PM
2 Comments:
well, this is what i'm thinking.... cant be a mistake the others left juliet. has to be reason and im thinking more along the lines of her being a traitor to jack. and then, from this episodes flashback with kate, shows kate never knows when to listen, because sometime last season we see kate with that guy, hs sweetheart or someone? she convinces him to help her see her mom again and he dies. this episode defly shows her stubborness and stupidity. and also, i think there has to be something coming abt sawyers kid. i cant exactly recall, but i remember something abt that before....
interesting point about Sawyer's kid! yeah, i left that last little scene with Cassidy's pregnancy confession out of the recap because it seemed like a tacked-on non-sequitor, but I should learn that nothing is unimportant in the world of Lost. we've seen some random mention of a possible child of Sawyer elsewhere, I can't exactly remember where either, but it's possible it might be important.
If Locke's father is really on the Island, it opens up the possibility that maybe the Others went back to "the World" and captured those close to our characters to use as leverage for future encounters. It's a stretch, sure, but what isn't in this show? If so, we might definitely see a child of Sawyer in a future episode.
As for the episode illuminating Kate's stubbornness, I see your point but still feel that the ep felt like more of the same retread into her already covered ground.
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