3.15 - Left Behind

Title’s significance: Kate is left behind by The Others on the island and by her mother in her flashbacks; Juliet, too, is left behind, as are Jack and Sayid.

Recap: In Kate’s flashbacks, she meets up with a post-con Cassidy (Sawyer’s girl); Cassidy poses as Kate in order to help Kate see her mother one more time, learning that Kate’s mother has the marshals ready to go; Kate is miffed that her mother chose her dead husband over Kate. After spilling soup on Diane, Cassidy enables Kate to see her mother, who says that Kate’s murder was a selfish act and promises to call for help the next time she sees Kate; in return, Kate tells Cassidy to call the police on the man who conned her (Sawyer). In the Barracks, Locke says goodbye to Kate, saying cryptically that he doesn’t want to go home. The beach camp debates about whether to banish Sawyer as The Others gas Kate and abandon their barracks; Kate wakes up in the jungle, handcuffed to Juliet. Kate and Juliet try to make their way back to the Barracks but engage in some fan-gratifying wet mud wrestling before the smoke monster shows up. Hurley puts Sawyer on a publicity tour of sorts to win votes against banishing him, with hilarious results. When the monster returns, Juliet reveals that she has the handcuff key and activates the sonic fence, which repels the monster. When Kate and Juliet make it back to the Barracks, they find that The Others have gone – leaving Jack and Sayid. Sawyer learns that Hurley conned him into being nice – there was never going to be a vote – but Sawyer has been “elected” the de facto leader. “Wasn’t it nice,” Hurley asks, “being… nice?” Against Sayid’s better judgment, Jack brings Juliet back to camp.

Thoughts: While this episode isn’t the most exciting, at least the season keeps moving forward. Rejoining the survivors after last week’s Nikki-and-Paulo-sized detour, “Left Behind” blurs that line between survivor and Other by moving Juliet into the middle of the Venn diagram this season’s been drawing. The stuff with The Monster is obviously the most fulfilling, but this season really demonstrates that – if on nothing else – the writers know what they’re doing when they write Sawyer, since his snarky cowboy loner character is pitch-perfect here.

Favorite moment: “Your baby’s not as wrinkly as he was a couple weeks ago” might be the greatest compliment Sawyer has ever given.

Characters introduced (in order):

• No new characters introduced in this episode.

What we learned:

• Though Locke initially disagrees, The Others say that Kate is a bad person.
• Cassidy says that Sawyer is a bad guy.
• The Monster can emit white light.
• Juliet’s shoulder has been dislocated four times.
• Diane promised to call for help the next time she sees Kate.
• The sonic fence repels the monster.
• The Others don’t know what the monster is.
• Cassidy really was pregnant.
• Kate told Cassidy to call the police on Sawyer.

Questions:

• Why is Locke’s hand all bandaged up?
• Why did the smoke monster shoot Juliet with white light?
• What happened the other three times Juliet’s shoulder was dislocated?
• Where did The Others go?
• Why did The Others leave Juliet behind?

Things that are going to be important in Season Six:

• The monster’s white light here reminded me of the judgment that Ben endures in Season Five in The Temple with The Monster. Was Juliet being judged at this moment, and if so what was the judgment?