S6E04 - The Substitute

What a great episode! Answers, Answers, and (oh yeah) More Questions!

The Cave of Names

Let's start off with the biggest reveal in the episode. (not)Locke took Sawyer to his cave, where he revealed a list of names on the wall.... all possible candidates to take over Jacob's role of Island Protector. We were shown the obvious ones (all that Jacob touched): Locke, Hurley, Jack, Sayid, Sawyer, and either Jin or Sun. The obvious question... why no Kate? My theory-- she's on another part of the cave. That simple. What would've been a better reveal is if they would've panned around the walls of the cave to show the other names a little better. Here are some of the names that other viewers spotted on the walls (courtesy of LostPedia):

Lacombe (one of Rousseau's team members)
Mattingly (one of the Army guys from the 50's)
Rousseau (Alex or Danielle?)
Brennan (from Rousseau's team)
Rutherford (Shannon)
Martin (Karl, Alex's boyfriend)
Burke (Juliet)
Troup (Gary, another Flight 815 survivor)
Linus (Ben or Roger?)
Lewis (Charlotte)
Straume (Miles)
Pace (Charlie)
Carlyle (Boone)
Jones (Army guy from 50's)
Jenkins (Steve, from Flight 815)
Mars (Edward, the US Marshall from Flight 815)
Littleton (Claire or Aaron?)
Cunningham (Army guy)
Fernandez (Nikki, of Nikki & Paulo)
Henderson (Rose's maiden name)
Faraday (Daniel)
Chang (Pierre.... Miles' dad)
Goodspeed (Ethan, Amy, or Horace?)
Pickett (Danny or Colleen.... both Others)
Sullivan (another Flight 815 survivor)

Seeing this list of names is HUGE. And we see that the ones that are NOT crossed off (the ones associated with our favorite Losties) each have corresponding numbers. Actually, every name on the wall has a number... but THESE numbers are special. 4-8-15-16-23-42. Yes, you guessed it... the infamous LOST numbers!

So, who is the candidate going to be? The obvious choice, I think, is Jack. It'd be great to see Jack and Locke in these polar-opposite roles. If REAL-Locke convinced Jack about the island's power and Jack takes over as protector of the island, that would be a great way for REAL-Locke to get his redemption... even though he's dead.

And my final prediction (of course, only until they prove me otherwise, which is probably in tonight's episode) is that Jack will take over Jacob's role, (not)Locke remaining in Locke-form, and Sawyer taking on the role of Richard (the mediator).

Professor Linus

Ok... how the hell is Ben alive? If the bomb went off in 1977, present-time Ben was still on the island, so how is this possible? Sit back while I theorize...

The timeline that we're experiencing right now is NOT a "what would happen if the bomb worked" situation. This timeline is how their stories end. They all got to the island and had nothing to live for. They had no reason to go back to their real lives. This "new" timeline is everyone living happily ever after. I know what you're gonna say... What about Kate? She's still on the run! True... but do we know what she's on the run for? Maybe she's innocent? I'm starting to think that maybe (not)Locke is the (not)Bad guy. Maybe his goal is to help all of the Losties get back to lives that were not "affected" by Jacob. Perhaps all of the things we saw happen (Hurley having bad luck, etc.) were the effects of Jacob "pushing" them toward the island. If (not)Locke can reset it, then this is the outcome.

Boy... that sure is a lot of rambling, just to figure out why Ben is alive, when the real answer could be as simple as, "Ben is special". It wouldn't be the first time someone was able to break the rules on this show.

**COUGH**Desmond**COUGH**

The Inside Joke

My favorite part of this episode was when (not)Locke took the white stone from the scale and threw it into the ocean. The symbolism of there no longer being a balance of good and evil was great! I feel like at that moment, I got on a freight train headed straight to answer-ville. We shall see if tonight's episode delivers.

Jacob's Ashes

Ben interrupted a clearly disturbed Ilana, still grieving over the deaths of her team. When she asked what happened to Jacob, Ben told her that he burned up in the fire. She proceeded to pick up the ash and pour it into a pouch. What for, though? Is this the same ash that is used to block smokey? (I warned you that there were new questions)

Off-Island Connections

Simple and sweet... Locke worked at a box company. His boss was Randy, who was Hurley's boss at Mr. Clucks (chicken shack). After Hurley won the lottery, he bought a box company and hired Randy to work there after the chicken shack was hit by a meteorite.

That stuff, we already knew.

But after Locke was fired, he ran into Hurley (who, as far as we know, goes by "Hugo" in this timeline). He referred Locke to the temp agency that he also owes. The first person Locke encounters (who asks him what kind of animal he would be) was the psychic who Hurley's dad took him to in order to rid him of the "curse" of the numbers (though, that was the old timeline, so who knows). Her boss was Rose! And we got confirmation that she still has cancer. DAMN IT!

Jungle Boy

A young boy with blond hair and (oh yeah) blood-covered arms appeared to (not)Locke and Sawyer in the jungle. When (not)Locke chased him down, he reminded him that he wasn't allowed to "kill him". Who's "him"? Sawyer? Jacob? Richard? And who is this boy? A lot of online speculation has this being young Jacob, or maybe Aaron... though this seems like too easy of an answer. I'd be willing to bet against both of those. Instead, I'm thinking maybe this boy is his son, who died hundreds of years ago because of something that (not)Locke did. No, we don't know for a fact that he had any kids, but he did make it a point to tell Sawyer that he does know what it's like to lose a loved one. Not a great theory, but a theory nonetheless.

Helen

It was great to see Helen again, and I loved thinking that Locke was finally being dealt a good hand. But I heard something on The Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack that gave me chills, so I've got to share it. Remember in "The Constant" when Desmond kept bouncing back-and-forth between times, carrying over memories between the two? Well, when Locke fell out of his van and onto the lawn, Helen came running out of the house to help him. Back in season one, Locke was attacked by a boar, and spun to the ground, standing up saying, "I'm okay, Helen. I'm fine." Could these flash-sideways be the same thing that was happening to Desmond? Was this "confusion" from season one a result of jumping between time lines? OOOOooooooOOOOOOO (to be read as a spooky sound)

No Such Thing

The new off-island Locke is not the same man that we knew in past seasons. When Helen brings up the idea of miracles and he said that there was no such thing. And when she mentioned destiny, his reaction made it seem like he was just humoring her. So what happened to Locke? Was it surviving the fall out of the window and Jacob saving him that gave him the faith? And who knows how he got paralyzed this time, but there's no denying that he is a different man.

So if there is always supposed to be a balance in life, does this mean that Jack is now the "man of faith"? He did say to Locke in the airport that nothing was irreversible. I'd really love to see Jack's story soon so that we can see what has changed in his life. Maybe he is still married to Sarah. We do know that his dad is dead still... though we don't know how he died.

Man... the producers weren't kidding when they said that this season would feel a lot like season one. I really hope that the show doesn't end with Jack and Locke looking into another hatch (maybe one with actual stairs). :)