VACATING THE VILLAGE (PEOPLE): LOST, EPISODE 3.15 – “LEFT BEHIND”
Here are some thoughts and theories about last night’s new episode, “Left Behind.”
JULIET
Jack is just as gullible as Locke. Juliet is totally pulling a Henry Gale. Ben (as Henry) allowed himself to be captured to learn more about the Losties, and now Juliet has manipulated Jack to the point where he’s protecting her and bringing her right where she wants to be – among the Losties on their beach. She knows exactly where the Others went and is just doing her part for their master plan…whatever the hell that might be. Perhaps the Others are testing Juliet’s loyalty since she was punished for killing one of their own (Pickett).
Then again, why on earth would the Others need to gather any more information about the Losties? They certainly seem to know everything about everyone already. And now they have Chatty Cathy Locke, who will tell them anything they want to know about his fellow castaways. 
Kate and Jack were quite groggy when they awoke from their tear gas stupor. Juliet was only pretending to be knocked out. Her quick, lucid grab of Kate’s wrist as she went for the pocket knife indicate as much.
What kind of fertility doctor has such quick reflexes and strength? Juliet has clearly had some kind of physical training or expertise. Also, letting us know that she has dislocated her shoulder on 4 occasions is a clue. To what, I have no idea.
Juliet knew that Sayid and Jack were also left behind, and didn’t mention Locke, so she must have been aware that he left with the Others.
Timeline wise, I thought it was very interesting that Juliet said she knew how Jack’s dad died. He was not dead for very long before Jack flew to Sydney to retrieve his body and bring it back on Flight 815. Is the Others’ intel really that up to date? Or was it because the Others and/or Dharma had something to do with his demise?
Like Locke, Juliet predicted the rain. She also anticipated and quickly reacted to Kate’s assault in the rec room. Is she ‘special’ like Walt, or is it just another coincidence?
BLACK SMOKE MONSTER
We’ve never seen the Black Smoke Monster use flash photography before. Perhaps it is the Monster’s way of collecting data about a potential new victim. Or perhaps it was erasing or implanting memories…
The Black Smoke Monster could have gone up and over the security perimeter, but it ran directly into it instead, heading right for Juliet. We’ve seen it up high before (the dead pilot up in the tree, for example). Which means that whatever it is, Juliet and the Others do have control of it, she is only pretending to be frightened by it, and it purposely didn’t go up and over the security system to kill her.
THE OTHERS
If the Others were only throwing tear gas into the locations where Kate, Jack and Sayid were being held, why did all of them don gas masks?
They each had a backpack, which could signify a short trip. Were the Others only temporarily relocating? Did they set off the tear gas so that Sayid, Kate and Jack wouldn’t know/see where they were headed?
Sayid said that the Others left no tracks after they abandoned their village. And Ben’s wheelchair should have left a trail. I think that the Others went underground. I’ve said all along that there are tunnels and a rail system of sorts beneath the island, and that would explain why Sayid couldn’t track which direction the Others headed. Sayid did find that damn cord coming from the water in Season 1, and we now know that there was a sonar system and beacon connected to the communications center in the Flame Hatch. Don’t be surprised when we’re introduced to a subterranean and/or underwater hatch.
Or did the Others relocate outside of the security perimeter, to the main part of the island where the Losties live, because they all need to be healed in some way? They were very quick to trust Locke, and Ben was more than fascinated by his miraculous ability to walk after the plane crash…perhaps they were just following their new leader.
LOCKE
Now this is where I’m confused. Just days ago, Locke killed Mikhail, one of the Others. And now he’s on his high and mighty pedestal, telling Kate that the Others aren’t very forgiving of HER past?? Why is it that Locke is getting a pass? They must truly believe he is ‘good.’
CASSIDY
Sawyer’s ex, Cassidy, told Kate that she’d fallen in love with the wrong man. Looks like Kate did too (did you see the look on her face when Jack asked about Juliet?).
If Cassidy knew she was pregnant, why did she go have drinks with Kate at a bar? Because she wasn’t actually drinking; we only see Kate throwing back a few.
If Cassidy lost her life savings in Sawyer’s con, and she knew Kate was a wanted fugitive, wouldn’t it have made sense to turn her in for the reward money?
KATE
Why is it that Kate recovered fairly quickly from the tear gas, and yet Jack was still knocked out after Kate and Juliet had already been in the jungle overnight?
Kate’s got car issues. She crashed the farmer’s truck and then saved his life. She crashed her ex-boyfriend’s car while trying to escape with him, and he died in the accident. She and the Marshall crashed while swerving to avoid the black horse. And then she was stranded in Iowa after her car broke down.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
Um…where the hell is Rousseau?
Ok, so both Nikki and Paulo are indeed dead. Double yawn.
Not that anyone tells anybody about anything they’ve seen on that island, and not that it matters now that he’s dead…but wouldn’t it have been great if Paulo was still around when Juliet came to their beach, and he recognized her from when he was hiding in the bathroom of the Pearl Hatch?
Backgammon Alert! Kate was playing the game by herself in the rec room. Locke taught Walt how to play on the beach in Season 1, and then Walt beat Hurley.
Why is it that the Black Smoke Monster seems to take many forms, and kills many people, and yet it can’t get to people when they are hiding in clusters of very thin tree trunks?
In a Season 2 flashback, we saw Kate’s mom serve Sawyer and his friend at the diner as they were talking about a con job…Cassidy.
Kate’s “Cowboy Up” baseball cap is a total shout-out to Jack. That was the catchphrase of Jack’s beloved Red Sox and there was a Jack-centric episode in Season 1 called ‘All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues.’
Why the hell don’t the Losties move off of the beach (winter is coming, after all, in Lost time) and into the abandoned Other homes? They would be surrounded by a security system, with plenty of food and shelter.
There were references to ‘good’ and ‘bad’ again on last night’s episode: Cassidy told Kate that Sawyer was a bad guy (without actually saying his name; it is Lost after all), and Locke told the Others that Kate was a good person.
CRAZY THEORIES OF THE WEEK
1. We know how obsessed the Others are with children. And conveniently enough, Juliet is a fertility doctor. Way back when, while eating breakfast with Ben on the beach, perhaps Kate had to promise that she’d hook up with either Jack or Sawyer. To get pregnant and produce a child for the Others. SO…did the Others leave Juliet behind because they knew she’d come in handy for the pregnancies of both Kate and Sun?
2. Locke didn’t really blow up the submarine. He entered the sub completely dry, but emerged drenched, which wouldn’t have happened had it still been docked. He anchored the sub underwater somewhere away from the dock, swam to one of the Others’ boats, brought it to the dock and blew that up instead.