The Substitute- Episode 6.04

I think Lost is finally gearing up to something, especially after seeing this episode. Let’s jump right into it!

We’ll discuss the flash-sideways first. I feel like this episode furthers my thought that the bomb isn’t the sole reason why the flash-sideways was created. For instance, Locke is with Helen. They had been broken up for a long time in the original timeline. Also, the comment that Helen made that they should just get Locke’s dad and her parents and do a small wedding. Why was Locke still cool with his dad in this timeline? I feel like that doesn’t have to do with the Island blowing up. However, if that is the case, why is Locke in a wheelchair? It was his dad that put him there. I think other things have changed in the flash-sideways than just dealing with the bomb blowing up the Island. Plus, can a hydrogen bomb really sink the Island? Maybe if it reacted with the pocket of electromagnetism it could have greater ramifications but I don’t know.

Going back to the actual flash-sideways, I thought it was very fascinating to see everyone showing up in Locke’s story. We have already known that even in the original timeline Hurley owned Locke’s box company. However, seeing Rose and especially having Ben appear was really cool. It is very interesting to see that Locke isn’t a man of faith in this timelime. Does this mean that Jack isn’t a man of science? Have they reversed roles? Don’t count Jack out for fixing Locke. I’m sure it will happen.

Someone shared this theory with me not too long ago, and I could possibly believe it. As I’ve already stated numerous times, I think more than just the bomb going off has changed the timeline. Could it be that we are seeing a timeline where Jacob did not touch people? He met and touched many of the survivors at various points in their lives as shown in the season five finale, “The Incident,” and also re-shown within this week’s episodes. This is an interesting theory that still needs more to make it work, but I’d be willing to think about it having some truth to it.

Now as far as the original Island timeline we have had a lot of interesting developments this past week. Locke was buried. Maybe we should take that very seriously. Two big reasons why. One: Is that why the Smoke Monster is now stuck in that form permanently? After all, he took Yemi’s and possibly Christian Shepherd’s forms and they weren’t buried. Is that why in season three the others cast Colleen’s body out to sea and set it on fire, so nothing could happen to it? Seems like a possibility. Two: The other thing we should take note of is that people keep saying things like “yesterday” or “one day ago.” Days keep getting specifically referenced. Will Locke come back alive after three days? In a photo shoot for this season Locke was sitting in the middle seat as the shot resembled the famous painting, “The Last Supper.” (Click here to see the Lost picture.) However, that Locke could have been Smoke-Locke. I do not mean to be sacrilegious at all by saying this and I hope they do not use this metaphor, but it is a possibility. The show does borrow from a great deal of things such as religion. Maybe he won’t come back alive, maybe three days after he was buried the timelines will “resolve” in some way and Locke will come back alive because something will happen between flash-sideways Locke and original timeline Locke. However, they can’t have two Locke’s running around, so IF he came back to life then I feel like something would have to happen to Smoke-Locke and I’m not sure I see that happening.

Does anyone trust that the Smoke Monster just wants to leave the Island? I believe he does, but not without doing harm to it or the people on the way out. Maybe he does want control of it, but to also be able to leave it. Which leads to the first big question, who was the little blond kid? I have a few theories. Jacob reincarnated, an Island manifestation of a younger Jacob, or Jacob has a kid and this is him. (Why was there blood on his arms?!) After all there is a huge father-son motif on this show. Almost all, major character’s have daddy issues on this show. Either way, why could Sawyer see him and not Richard? Does this correlate to Sawyer also being able to see Kate’s horse? Why did the boy say, “you know the rules, you can’t kill him.” What are these rules we keep hearing about? Remember in the season 4 episode, “The Shape of Things to Come,” Ben told Widmore that he (Widmore) had changed the rules. Did anyone else notice that Smoke-Locke yelled to the kid, “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!” This was an interesting homage to one of real Locke’s most recognizable phrases.

A real quick point needs to be made before we go any further. I am interested to see what power Jacob’s ashes will have. We saw Ilana picking them up before going to bury Locke. Will all of the ashes that people have been using be revealed to be former Island protector’s ashes? (I highly doubt this) I also want to point out that I like where Ben is now, totally lost and confused, and I really enjoyed his words at Locke’s burial, a serious but comedic eulogy.

Perhaps the biggest thing we need to address is the cave. That was possibly the next big game changer we have been looking for. We now know a little about what the term “candidate” means, Jacob’s replacement as Island protector. Locke, Hurley, Sawyer, Sayid, Jack, and one of the Kwon’s were all written in the cave with the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42 respectively corresponding to each one’s last name. This is interesting to see that “Jacob had a thing for numbers.” Seeing their names means they are all candidates for Jacob’s job as Island protector. I was blown away by the black and white stones sitting on the scale. I thought that was very cool and intriguing. The episode ended with Smoke-Locke presenting Sawyer with what we believe are his only three options at the time concerning his role as a candidate.

• “Do nothing. See how all this plays out. And possibly your name will get crossed out”
• “Take over Jacob's job and protect the Island…from nothing, there's nothing to protect it from, it's just a ____ island”
• “We just go. We get the ___ off this Island and we never look back. We do that together.”

Sawyer heartily agrees to the final response, thus further dividing our survivors up. One literary thing I want to point to before I end this is Sawyer’s discussion of the book, Of Mice and Men. This was cool because he mentioned this book in a season three episode titled “Every Man for Himself.” Also, Smoke-Locke said that Of Mice and Men was a little after his time. The book was released in 1937. Now we knew he is old, but it was still cool to hear him say that. Other interesting things about the Smoke Monster were that he said that he is trapped and has been for so long that he has forgotten how it feels to be free and that he was once a man that experienced emotions too. If that isn’t an eerie thing to hear then I don’t know what is.

For tonight, if the season 1 to season 6 pattern is still holding up then tonight will be a Jack episode. While Jack is annoying (I say that because I am a Locke fan) his episodes are usually pretty good.

Here are the sneak peeks ABC has put out for tonight’s episode. Watch at your own risk!






In the words of Smoke-Locke “You are so close; it would be such a shame to turn back now.”

Until next week when we have seen a little bit more Lost, Namaste.

Steven