Season 5, Episode 15:
Follow the Leader
In 1977, Jack and Kate witness Daniel being shot by Eloise. They try to run, but are caught by Widmore. Eloise realizes that they are from the future, and Jack tells her that she can undo Daniel's death by following his plan. Eloise agrees to take them to the Jughead bomb, with Richard reluctantly following. They are joined by Sayid, who shoots an Other when he tries to stop Kate from leaving. Kate leaves to find help in stopping them. Richard and Eloise lead Jack and Sayid to an underground tunnel beneath the Barracks, where they have hidden the bomb.
At the Barracks, Radzinsky, Horace and Phil interrogate Sawyer and Juliet. Sawyer tells them he will tell them what they want to know if they let them off the Island on the submarine later that day. Pierre tracks down Hurley, Miles and Jin, and confirms that they are from the future, and that he needs to evacuate the Island. Miles witnesses Pierre forcing his mother and his baby self to leave, and realizes he pretended to abandon them to save them. He also sees Sawyer and Juliet being put on the submarine. Kate, having been caught heading back into the Barracks, is put on board the submarine next to Sawyer and Juliet.
In 2007, Locke, Sun and Ben meet Richard and the rest of the Others. Sun asks Richard if he met the survivors in 1977, and he confirms that he did, and that he saw them all die. Locke takes Ben and Richard into the jungle to run an errand. At the beechcraft, Locke instructs Richard to treat the bullet wound of his past self, flashing through time, to tell him that he has to die, and to give him the compass he gave him in 1954. Richard agrees to grant Locke an audience with Jacob, and Locke arranges to bring all of the Others with him, much to Richard's dismay. Locke tells Ben that he plans to kill Jacob.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Break Her Heart to Save Her: Pierre Chang has to make his wife think he's abandoning her and baby Miles so they'll get on the submarine and evacuate the island. On seeing this, the adult Miles realises that this is the real reason why his father wasn't a part of his life.
- Brick Joke: In "Namaste", Hurley worried about not knowing who the President was in 1977, and Sawyer reassured him he would never need to know. Pierre catches him out and confirms that he is from the future by asking him that exact question.
- The Chessmaster: The Man in Black, appearing as Locke, uses Richard to tell the actual John Locke that he needs to leave the Island and then die... the chain of events which leads to the Man in Black being able to assume Locke's form in the first place.
- Double-Meaning Title: The title refers both to Richard following his leader Eloise, against his better judgment, in her plan to help Jack detonate the Jughead bomb, and to the Others in 2007 following their new leader, Locke, to his meeting with Jacob.
- Dramatic Irony: Jack tells Sayid that he trusts Eloise because in 30 years she's going to help him get back to the Island. The audience already knows this does nothing to prove her trustworthiness, since the previous episode revealed that she sent her own son to the Island knowing that his destiny was to travel back in time and die at her hand.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He's closer to an Unscrupulous Hero than outright evil, but Sayid is absolutely baffled as to why Kate saved young Ben.Kate: Sawyer and me took him to the Others so that they could save him.
Sayid: Why did you do that? - Once More, with Clarity: Locke's meeting with Richard from "Because You Left" is shown from Richard's point of view, revealing that Locke from the future was the one who instructed Richard where and when to save him.Locke: How did you know there was a bullet in my leg, Richard?Richard: Because you told me there was, John.Locke: No, no. No, I didn't.Richard: Well... you will.
- Only Sane Man: Kate is the only person in Jack's group who thinks that blowing up a hydrogen bomb on the Island is not the most rational idea.Kate: Since when did shooting kids and blowing up hydrogen bombs become okay?
Jack: The three of us disappeared off that plane and ended up here, ended up now, because this is our chance to change things.
Kate: And if you're wrong, then everyone on the Island dies. Do you understand that? - Retroactive Preparation: Locke helps out his own past self by telling Richard where and when to be to patch up his wound after he is shot by Ethan.
- Shout-Out: The soundtrack that plays over the final scene is titled "Sawyer Jones and the Temple of Boom".
- Time Travel for Fun and Profit: When they're being put on the sub, Sawyer tells Juliet that they'll invest in Microsoft and bet on the Dallas Cowboys for Super Bowl XII in 1978 so that they'll be set for life.
- Wham Line:
- When Sun asks Richard if he met Jack, Kate and Hurley in 1977:Richard: Yes, I was here 30 years ago. And I do. I remember these people. I remember meeting them very clearly, because... I watched them all die.
- Locke hits Ben with one after they set off on their journey to meet Jacob.Ben: Then why are we going to Jacob?
Locke: So I can kill him.
- When Sun asks Richard if he met Jack, Kate and Hurley in 1977:
- Would Hit a Girl: How does Phil intend to get answers out of Sawyer? By striking Juliet. It’s telling that someone as paranoid and belligerent as Radzinsky is appalled at this.
