# Lost 5.15 "Follow The Leader" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 6, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571 "2009-05-06T18:38:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/101 "2009-05-07T23:02:59Z")
I think Widmore has been the man in charge for a long time (with Richard as a transitional leader in 1954, like he’s been for the past three years.) Ellie is more of the “woman behind the man.” Sort of an unofficial second-in-command. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/102 "2009-05-07T23:23:16Z")
> [@Birdmonster](#): > > You’re right. There’s no way this can backfire at all. And if the hydrogen bomb doesn’t work, I think there’s an atomic bomb under the Black Rock. That should even everything out. “What could possibly go wrong?” - Mike Rowe, Dirty Jobs 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/103 "2009-05-07T23:45:47Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > Also, if Jacob is the leader for only “big” decisions, wouldn’t nuking the island qualify? You, sir, are obviously not a “big picture” thinker! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/104 "2009-05-08T00:11:32Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > Define “lead”. Jacob tells people what to do and when, he just doesn’t have to fill out all the paperwork. Sounds like the leader to me. > > -Joe We were talking about Richard objecting to the bomb though, not Jacob. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/105 "2009-05-08T00:15:28Z")
> [@Birdmonster](#): > > I’m incredibly satisfied he ends up shooting his own head off. What a total turd. I’d LOVE to see Sayid kick him around a little while I enjoyed the sadism comfortably from my couch. Mini-series! ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/106 "2009-05-08T00:37:05Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > “What could possibly go wrong?” > > - Mike Rowe, Dirty Jobs 😛 “How hard \*could \*it be?” –Jeremy Clarkson, **Top Gear** (Generally while planning a project like turning cars into boats. Then driving across the Channel.) ---
**Author:** ![TooSchoolforCool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tooschoolforcool/32/19621_2.png) [@TooSchoolforCool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TooSchoolforCool)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/107 "2009-05-08T02:23:37Z")
I didn’t get how Kate’s plan “I’m going to stop you Jack!” turned into “I’m going to leave the Island so that I can fuck up Sawyer’s love life!” Put me down for not understanding how a nuke can possibly prevent massive energy from being released and destroying the world. But then, Daniel HAS been studying this stuff for 3 years, so I’m at least going to give them the benefit of the doubt on that. On the other hand, I’m no so impressed that the Others somehow mistranslated Daniel’s instruction to “bury the bomb in concrete” to mean “let’s put the unshielded bomb in our sacred caves and cover it with a blanket!” ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/108 "2009-05-08T02:25:11Z")
> [@TooSchoolforCool](#): > > On the other hand, I’m no so impressed that the Others somehow mistranslated Daniel’s instruction to “bury the bomb in concrete” to mean “let’s put the unshielded bomb in our sacred caves and cover it with a blanket!” I thought the same. ---
**Author:** ![Birdmonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/71e660/32.png) [@Birdmonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birdmonster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/109 "2009-05-08T04:56:16Z")
> [@TooSchoolforCool](#): > > I didn’t get how Kate’s plan “I’m going to stop you Jack!” turned into “I’m going to leave the Island so that I can fuck up Sawyer’s love life!” I shudder at defending Kate, but if I recall, she fled the Jack/Sayid/Eloise/Richard cohort and went back to Dharmaville. I’d guess they scooped her up because she was one of the faux new recruits. The blanket comment cracked me. ---
**Author:** ![Hometownboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/5e9695/32.png) [@Hometownboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hometownboy)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/110 "2009-05-08T04:56:29Z")
All I could think of this episode was that I wanted the torch concession on the island. There’s an easy fortune, I’m sure. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/111 "2009-05-08T05:20:49Z")
I’d like to take a break from our regularly scheduled programming to talk about how much I LOVE the music on this show. They’ve created these great themes that repeat and change over the seasons. I had a little “Yippee!” moment when the Others were leaving their camp, and a remix of the “trek across the island music” that was used a lot in Season 1 and 2 (and not so much the last few) started playing. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/112 "2009-05-08T05:34:59Z")
The sub reminded me strongly of those in the original Disneyland rides. If they had asked for an E ticket I would not have been suprized. > **[Yesterland: Submarine Voyage](https://www.yesterland.com/submarine.html)** "\* “This is the captain speaking. Welcome aboard. We are underway and proceeding on a course that will take us on a voyage through liquid space. En route, we will pass below the polar ice cap, and then probe depths seldom seen by man. Make yourself comfortable, but please remain seated at all times. And no smoking please—the smoking lamp is out.” \* ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/113 "2009-05-08T05:50:57Z")
> [@Baracus](#): > > The same one that ok’d that horrible CGI of the sub leaving the island? I’m glad it wasn’t just me! Lost has some of the worst CGI I’ve seen. I wish they would just do away with it and either use more practical effects, or omit them altogether (seriously, we didn’t need that shot of the sub–inside the cabin as they were departing was enough to convey the idea.) I wonder if the show’s budget has been cut, seeing as it has fewer viewers than when it started? It also had better effects (such as the plane) in the first 2 seasons. ---
**Author:** ![PerditaX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@PerditaX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PerditaX)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/114 "2009-05-08T12:50:45Z")
> [@UncleRojelio](#): > > Wasn’t the bomb leaking thirty years ago when Faraday first scoped it out? And didn’t Faraday tell them to bury it? I’d think that even in 1954, they’d know that burying a _leaking_ H-bomb means covering it tightly with dirt, not, you know, sticking it in a big tunnel connected to a water-source. I found myself wondering just how much radiation had built up in that tunnel. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/115 "2009-05-08T13:06:17Z")
> [@PerditaX](#): > > And didn’t Faraday tell them to bury it? I’d think that even in 1954, they’d know that burying a _leaking_ H-bomb means covering it tightly with dirt, not, you know, sticking it in a big tunnel connected to a water-source. I found myself wondering just how much radiation had built up in that tunnel. Maybe (MAYBE!) there will be some sort of explanation, like time moves slower in the temple or something? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/116 "2009-05-08T14:05:27Z")
Maybe they did it on purpose as a fail safe against the Dharma Initiative. Because of the kookie timelines, they knew it was where the DI would build their barracks… ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/117 "2009-05-08T14:06:28Z")
> [@TooSchoolforCool](#): > > Put me down for not understanding how a nuke can possibly prevent massive energy from being released and destroying the world. But then, Daniel HAS been studying this stuff for 3 years, so I’m at least going to give them the benefit of the doubt on that. Ever since the frozen bomb-battery stupidity, I’ve 100% given up on trying to guess how bad at science the LOST writers are. As long as they’re consistent, I no longer care how well their science jibes with anything resembling the real world’s science. If they wanna say that freezing a battery (so, presumably the chemical reaction doesn’t work) DOESN’T trigger the booby-trap, but, say, drilling a hole in the bottom of the battery and draining the battery goo (so that the chemical reaction doesn’t work) DOES, hey, who’m I to argue? If they say an A-bomb will stop an energy release, it’s no less silly. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/118 "2009-05-08T14:55:31Z")
> [@TooSchoolforCool](#): > > Put me down for not understanding how a nuke can possibly prevent massive energy from being released and destroying the world. But then, Daniel HAS been studying this stuff for 3 years, so I’m at least going to give them the benefit of the doubt on that. I don’t. I think Daniel is wrong about the bomb, and I think the show writers know that. I hereby predict that they will not end up being able to blow up the bomb, or if they do, it will not have the intended or expected effects. Daniel was right the first time. You can’t change the past. He only started spouting nonsense about “constants” and “variables”\* after he’d gone past the awkward phase and had spun right down into crazyville. \*Please, God, let that stupid stupid speech be a sign that the writers know Daniel is wrong and not a sign that they think people are “variables” in any general sense meaningful to a physicist doing physics. Not that the show’s past gives confidence here… ---
**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/119 "2009-05-08T15:08:03Z")
Well, Daniel’s theory is just that the bomb just needs to disrupt the timeline so that Desmond never ends up in the Swan station pushing the button. It doesn’t matter if it seals up the energy source, or kills everything on the island, or whatever, as long as it ends up preventing the plane crash in 2004. It seems like Dharma is about to release the energy just by drilling near it, so it might be possible that the bomb would just collapse their tunnels and seal things up. Of course that ignores the fairly major issue that the whole point of this is to create a paradox, since the plane crash is required for Jack to come back to 1977 to prevent the plane crash. But I think that can be written off as Daniel being a little crazy (or just wrong) and Jack being Jack. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Composer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Composer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Composer)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571/120 "2009-05-08T15:16:40Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Not to mention how are they planning to set it off? Draw straws to see who will smack the tip with a hammer? I thought the previews for next week showed Alpert (or maybe Jack) doing just that: hitting it with a sledge hammer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lost-5-15-follow-the-leader/495571.md?page=7)