Lost: Season 3, Episode 15 Review: Left Behind

Left Behind

Original Airdate: April 4, 2007

Writer: Damon Lindelof and Elizabeth Sarnoff
Director: Karen Gaviola

With this episode, they are quickly approaching the end of the middle section of the season, and this episode sets up the end of this phase. It wouldn’t be fully resolved until the following episode, with the one after that setting up the stage for the resolution. The end of this middle phase of the season feels anti-climactic. For all the trouble the rescue party go through to get Jack back, the end result is The Others just leave all of them behind and disappear. Not to mention the lack of Rousseau, who was always a possible avenue for complication to the mission.

Much like the last phase, Kate gets the focus of one of the latter episodes. One problem with Kate’s story is that it revolves too heavily around the men in her life rather than her own issues that lead her to kill her father. It’s clear even when they aren’t around, as Jack is a major piece of conversation between Juliet and Kate in this episode. This makes her the weakest developed character of the prominent leads and often those focused on her tend to be weaker as well.

The story has some strong parallels though: Kate bonds with another woman who helps her achieve some goal, despite the other woman’s reservations over why Kate wants to succeed. Cassidy helped Kate maneuver around the security the Marshal set up to speak with her mother, while Juliet and Kate survive a night in the jungle with the Monster. Both Cassidy and Juliet are confused about Kate’s motivations, and so is the audience. Kate’s mom disowned her for what she did, and Jack explicitly told her not to come back.

This resilience/stubbornness in Kate is similar to Jack’s obsession with saving people, but it hasn’t been fleshed out the way they have with Jack. In both past and present, her resolve gets her in trouble. Killing her father was so heinous and extreme that her mother accused her of doing it more for herself (an accusation that is true to a degree). Currently her journey to the Barracks indirectly sabotaged Jack’s getting off the island because Locke tagged along. She’s going to do what she wants and there is a lot that can be done in that area but it is never clear why.

While it may not be much, it’s an interesting coincidence that Kate was the one to convince Cassidy to throw Sawyer in prison. Such a correlation reinforces the notion that they were meant to be on this island and their actions were responsible for bringing other people to the island as well. Had Sawyer not gone to prison, he may not have ended up on the flight.

Fans still waiting for a pay off to the “dad in a box” revelation in “The Man from Tallahassee” must’ve been disappointed not to see any follow up again, but it at least we’re seeing how seeing his father again on the island affected Locke. He hasn’t assimilated with them, but as I’ve suspected earlier, he’s latching on to The Others in hopes of learning whatever they know regarding the island and its power. The bandage on his hand is also another “Lost” worthy piece of speculation

They teased the Monster briefly in the last episode with the dot matrix printer sound before Nikki was bitten. This episode has some additional insight. It can’t pass through the sonic fence without being blasted, which doesn’t kill it, but stuns it so it’ll fly away. Some may complain that there is a plot hole in that the Monster can float, but we’ve only seen it a few feet above the ground, not 10-15 feet to clear the pylons. One questions I’m dying to know, where do the trees the Monster up roots go?

Seeing the Monster emerge towards the fence in three different directions was also interesting, adding credibility to the “The Monster is Cerberus”, Cerberus being the mythological three headed dog, theory that’s been around since “Lockdown”. Why the Monster split up like that is up for discussion. Each separate cloud may play a unique role in its operations and could function on its own, but requires to be together to work at peak capacity.

There is also the subject of what The Monster did when it faced Kate and Juliet through that little tree enclosure. The flashes of light recall what Locke’s description of the Monster in “The Cost of Living”. It fluctuated between darkness and light during the stare off, which could mean that Juliet and Kate have significantly different personalities. Producers have said that the flashes were the monster taking pictures of Juliet. As the Monster confronted Eko in “The 23^rd Psalm”, we saw flashes of images of Eko’s life in the cloud. Perhaps the light the Monster projected on Juliet was a similar deal, but required the light to get the information from her.

The Others may not have knowledge or at least direct control of the Monster. Neither is whether the Monster was Dharma made or already there when the Initiative set up shop. However, it’s possible that The Others know more than Juliet is letting on, and released it to create a perilous situation where she could bond with Kate. The Others, including Juliet, are very good at deceiving people, as seen when Juliet stood in fear tricking Kate to believe that the Monster was something she wasn’t familiar with.

Assuming The Others did in fact cast Juliet out, they had to have been aware of what a liability she would be to them. Juliet did kill one of their own, and was branded as a result. She was going to leave the island, but Locke stopped that. What does Ben or even Jacob want to do with her now and how can they figure she’s still loyal to their operation? Perhaps dumping her in the jungle was supposed to leave her as fodder for The Monster and have it take care of her.

Although I’m inclined to believe Juliet is on the level with the castaways, she is clearly no pushover. She has the upper hand both during her trek in the jungle with Kate and when she lays Kate down after she tries to attack her. Where does a fertility doctor learn those moves? And how did she dislocate her shoulder three times before this episode?

The highlights of this episode are the tense confrontations between the two women in the jungle. It recalls prison movies (and maybe a few dirty thoughts) where the mismatched pair somehow get along. Juliet had to figure a way to get enough good will on her side to allow her to go to their camp, and cuffing herself to Sayid could’ve resulted in him ripping her arm off rather than dislocating it (which seems to have healed completely at the end of the episode).

Sayid’s suspicions about bringing Juliet should be taken seriously. If there is any true consistency on this island, it’s that Sayid is incredibly talented when it comes to reading people, although his vendetta against The Others could be clouding that judgment. Clearly she isn’t going to assimilate into the main group like the tailies or Desmond: she’ll have to answer a lot of questions, and given that this is “Lost”, that could be difficult.

Some wondered why the freed captives wouldn’t just gather the castaways and move them to The Barracks as their new residence. It’s a valid point: these houses are certainly more comfortable than the beach and the perimeter could protect them from The Monster. However, I wouldn’t necessarily be so sure that they would just leave their houses forever. There’s no guarantee they couldn’t come back and ambush the castaways. Since they’re making us believe this is permanent, where are they going and why do they have to leave The Barracks so suddenly?

Hurley’s leadership role in the castaways’ camp has been increasing as the season’s progressed and this episode gets to show his influence on others as an influential advisor. Considering that Sawyer needed the boost in popularity following his bumbling in the last episode and possibly out of fear of what would happen if a banishment vote were to happen, Hurley takes it upon himself to get the de facto leader to step up in his behavior. While Sawyer thinks it’s the worst con ever, it does well for him, as his difficulty playing nice shows a newfound genuine nature to the conman.

While this episode was a bit of a disappointment, it is only the second of two episodes from the spring season that ranked average or below. Considering how high the bar is set for “Lost” this season, it’s easy to be overly critical. However, there isn’t much bad going for it to warrant such a thrashing.

Overall Score: 7/10