Left Behind (S03E15)
Airdate: 4 April 2007
Written by: Damon Lindelof & Elizabeth Sarnoff
Directed by: Karen Gaviola
Running Time: 43 minutes
Humans are, as Aristotle keenly observed more than two millennia ago, social animals, and, as such, being isolated is considered a terrible fate that should be avoided at all cost. Being deliberately shunned, whether by one's family, one's colleagues at work, or a faction on a deserted island, is an even more wretched predicament. This is the general theme that inspired Damon Lindelof and Elizabeth Sarnoff when they wrote Left Behind, an otherwise not particularly inspired episode of Season 3 of Lost. The notion of abandonment and exclusion permeates every strand of the narrative, yet the execution seldom matches the conceptual weight of this worthy theme.
The episode is centred on the character of Kate, and the flashback describes events a few years earlier in Iowa, when she was a fresh fugitive from the law. Using the alias "Lucy," she attempts to get in touch with her mother, Diane. Along the way she stumbles into Cassidy Phillips, who, after being conned by Sawyer, is financially desperate and engages in petty jewellery sale cons. Kate recognises the con immediately, and her intervention saves Cassidy from being reported to the police by an unhappy customer. The two women befriend each other, and after Kate explains why and how she killed her stepfather, Cassidy volunteers to help her meet Diane. The encounter, however, does not go as planned: Diane declares she will never forgive Kate for killing her husband and warns that the next time Kate attempts to contact her, she will alert the police. Cassidy later reveals she is pregnant by Sawyer, and before the two women part ways, Kate advises her to report Sawyer to the authorities. It is a competently constructed flashback, but one that struggles to justify its existence.
Back in the present day, Kate is a prisoner in the Barracks. She meets Locke, who informs her that the Others will evacuate their small village and that he will join them. Kate, meanwhile, will be left behind, together with Jack and Sayid, with Locke apparently expressing his disgust at Kate's criminal and murderous past. It is a moment that underscores the episode's thematic preoccupation with ostracism, though Locke's sudden ideological shift remains inadequately contextualised.
Before they evacuate, the Others incapacitate Kate with tranquilising gas. She wakes in the jungle, handcuffed to Juliet, who has also been left behind by the Others. The two women are distrustful and hostile towards each other, with Juliet pointedly reminding Kate that she had sex with Sawyer, suggesting this might be the reason why Jack, heartbroken, did not want her around. After some physical altercations—and Juliet having to contend with a dislocated shoulder—the two women are pursued by the Smoke Monster. They manage to evade it, thanks to Juliet apparently having a key to the handcuffs and access to the pylons, whose sound barrier proves effective against the creature. Kate and Juliet return to the Barracks, collect Jack and Sayid, and Jack decides to go back to the beach, reluctantly taking Juliet with them.
Back at the beach, Sawyer is informed by Hurley that his fellow survivors have had enough of his selfishness and arrogance, and that rumours are circulating about a vote to banish him from their settlement. Sawyer suddenly realises he cannot survive alone, so he decides to win the vote by winning hearts and minds. His fellow survivors are baffled yet appreciative of his unexplained bursts of kindness. In the end, Sawyer learns there was never any vote, and Hurley confesses that he invented the whole scheme to improve Sawyer's character, arguing that with Jack, Sayid, and Locke absent, Sawyer is the closest thing to a leader and needs to develop his people skills. It is a delightful subplot, cleverly executed.
Left Behind is a conceptually strong episode, competently directed by Karen Gaviola. The scenes depicting Kate and Juliet's adventures in the jungle are the most exciting, involving entertaining scuffles, both women getting thoroughly covered in mud, and clear references to the classic 1958 film The Defiant Ones. The tension between the two characters is palpable, and the performances from Evangeline Lilly and Elizabeth Mitchell elevate material that might otherwise have felt pedestrian.
The segment dealing with the politics on the beach is also very good, although more perceptive viewers will have guessed the major twist—in which a con artist once again gets conned—well before it arrives. Nevertheless, the pleasure lies in the execution, and Josh Holloway and Jorge Garcia share an appealing chemistry that makes the subplot thoroughly enjoyable.
The episode also offers a tantalising glimpse of another major twist—Locke being turned, either by coercion, manipulation, or ideological alignment, to the Others' cause. This leaves a narrative gap that is bound to be filled in at least the next episode, though one wishes the series had provided more groundwork for this development.
Yet, for all that skill, the episode fails to answer questions about the true alignment of Juliet, or what her purpose was in being handcuffed to Kate whilst holding the key, or why she deliberately lied about not knowing about the Smoke Monster. Without providing at least some hints of answers to these questions, much of Left Behind does not make sense, and the viewer is left with the frustrating impression that the writers are withholding information not for dramatic effect but because they have not yet worked out the answers themselves.
Although in line with the general theme of the episode, Kate's flashback looks like another uninspired "filler," with the character's past having already been covered extensively in previous instalments. The idea of crossing her path with Cassidy, a woman from Sawyer's past, looks like another overly "soapish" coincidence in a series that has always struggled to balance its mystical elements with its character drama. It is not a bad episode, but it is not a particularly memorable one either.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
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