Lost - Follow the Leader

Kind of a Richard Alpert-centric episode, but not really. Although this is as much characterization we've seen from him in all the episodes of Lost he's been in. But then, he is still as mysterious as ever.

This episode was mostly a setup for the "Season Finale Event" next week. What? The season is ending? No!

POTENTIAL SPOILERS

In the future, Locke, Sun and Ben meet up with Richard of the future. Locke wants to see Jacob. Ben and Richard are wary. Locke asks them to come along for a brief mission -- and we get some sort of recursion that I just have to accept because I won't be able to put my brain around it:

Locke tells Richard to tell a "man coming out of the forest" that in order to bring back his friends to the island he needs to die. That man of course is Locke himself when he was bouncing back and forth in time during those flashes of light. And then the loop: Locke asks Richard if he still had the compass he gave him in the past. Richard has it. Locke tells him to give that compass to the flash-of-light-time-traveling Locke -- who then gives Richard the compass in the past. That thing had no beginning and end. Crazy.

Locke meets with the rest of the Others and they go on a trek to meet Jacob. Ben tells him that Richard is unsure of what they are doing. Locke says: "I'm not going to talk to Jacob -- I'm going to kill him."

In the past, after Daniel was killed, Jack and Kate get captured by the Others and meet up Richard. Eloise freaks out a bit with what Daniel told her before he died ("Mother!") so she talks to Jack and Kate. Jack is convinced that they need to detonate the hydrogen bomb as Daniel said to "correct everything" -- and Eloise agrees to help them. Fortunately-unfortunately, the bomb is now located underneath the Dharma Initiative village.

Richard, Eloise and Jack go -- but Kate doesn't want to do it. Sayid arrives and kills a guard about to shoot Kate. Then Kate delivers a great line to Jack and Sayid: "Since when was killing a child and detonating a hydrogen bomb the right thing to do?" Nice. She goes back to Dharma.

Jack and the rest go underground and find the bomb. Richard: "So what next?"

Over at Dharma, Sawyer and Juliet are interrogated. The Dharma guys are ruthless! Meanwhile Dr. Chang spots Miles, Jin and Hurley. He asks if they are indeed from the future. They say yes. He decides to evacuate all the women and children as Daniel had advised last episode.

Dr. Chang goes to meet the security people who are beating up Sawyer. Sawyer says "Yes, we must evacuate. I will tell you where the hostiles are if you let Juliet and I go on the sub." The guys agree.

Sawyer and Juliet go inside the sub in handcuffs. They profess their love. And then the guards bring down Kate in handcuffs. She's going with them as well to the real world. Ooops!

Next week, Juliet goes on a fit of jealousy, Jack tries to detonate a bomb(?) and a power struggle among the Others!

I love Lost!