Lost Season 6: The Substitute (Episode 4)

Usually, when I watch LOST I know I’m going to write a recap about it. I have a don’t-forget-about-that eye going in. Last night about 20 minutes in I said, “Oh, I just remembered, I’m going to recap this tomorrow.” I think it’s because I have NO IDEA what is going on in this final season of Lost. Although I’ve been confused for the last few seasons, we’ve still had this sense of an obvious journey to a resolution (ie. getting off The Island). Now we’re introduced to two new story lines: new LA and the Locke-ness Monster’s (Doc Jensen‘s title, my fave!) mission. Am I the only one who feels a little out of sorts?

Of course, this episode could not have been any more exciting for me because it involves my two most favorite people: Locke and Sawyer. So, who should we start with? How about the actual real (dead) Locke…

The Island Others-Other Islanders

Ilana is crying in the foot of the statue. Ho-hum. Who cares? Ben approaches and he explains what happens (ie. Locke is really a smoke monster who killed Jacob.) Lying! That man is always lying!! Ilana picks up Jacob’s ashes and puts them in the bag. (Hoo-boy, this girls fallen for it hook-line-and-sinker!) She instructs everyone else to follow her to The Temple. Sun won’t go until they bury the-real-Locke’s body. As they carry Locke’s body, Ben asks a few questions to Ilana. (Not enough to satisfy me, but at least someone’s asking questions!):

1. What is he doing now? Recruiting.
2. Why did you bring Locke’s body? To show everyone what you were up against.
3. Why doesn’t he just change bodies? He can’t. He’s stuck.

They get to the Losite graveyard and (How many times do we have to see this man buried?!) Ben says some final words. You know the typical, “He was a better man than I’ll ever be. I wish I hadn’t murdered him.” To which everyone is surprised. Really?

Meanwhile on another part of The Island…

Smokey is looking for something, or someone. We’re seeing things from his perspective–running through the Dharma barracks, through the the jungle until he sees a machete. He stops and picks it up…with John Locke’s hand. Oh, I love this.

Now our unLocke (like his new name? I made it up on Twitter this morning!) cuts down a large package hanging in a tree. And what’s inside? Dharma issued peanut butter? Nope. Dead bodies? Nuh-uh. It’s RICHARD. Old Sexy Eyes was looking a little worse for the wear. unLocke tries to convince Richard to go with him—to be on his side. Richard is just shocked that the Man in Black looks like Locke. This mystifies our new Locke, “You mean Jacob never told you? You’ve been following him all this time not knowing why? I would have never done that.” Still, the spineless Richard refuses to go with him. Interestingly enough, while they are speaking, unLocke sees a Other-looking blond haired kid staring at him through the jungle. But Richard can’t see him. Of course.

Soon we see unLocke walking to Sawyer’s house in Dharmaville. Sawyer is unimpressed by his arrival. He says, “I thought you were dead.” To which unLocke replies, “I am.” Sawyer (who is drowning his troubles in Dharma-issued whiskey) pours unLocke and himself a glass and then says, “You’re not Locke. Locke was afraid. Even when he was pretending he wasn’t. You’re not afraid. Who are you?”

Here, Terry O’Quinn is just brilliant because he pulls out his signature Locke-eybrow-lift and says, “What if I told you I was the man that knew the answer to the most important question in the world?”

Sawyer laughs. And unLocke says, “I know why you’re on this Island.”

Sawyer says, “I’m here because my plane crashed, my raft sunk and my helicopter had too much weight on it.”

UnLocke somehow convinces Sawyer that he does know the answer. And Sawyer decides to go with him. (Is this the story of The Island or what? “Hey, I know something. But I won’t tell you till we get there…”)

They travel through the jungle until unLocke sees the little blond boy again. Sawyer sees him, too and unLocke begins chasing him. He stumbles and the little boy says, “You know you can’t kill him. You know the rules.” Who is this kid?!

While unLocke and the kid are talking, Richard comes out of the jungle to find Sawyer. He gets all Other on Sawyer and says, “Come with me to the Temple! You’ll be safe there.” Sawyer is not remotely swayed by the fearful Richard and he doesn’t even think twice. He’s sticking with unLocke.

They travel to a cliff. With a giant ladder (Jacob’s ladder?) descending to it’s mysterious fathoms below (<—random Disney reference!). After an almost fall or eight, they make it to a hidden cave. A cave housing a scale–one side is a black rock and the other, white. unLocke picks up the white rock and throws it into the ocean.

Sawyer is again unimpressed by this. In typical Lost-fashion this answers NOTHING. Until unLocke pulls out a torch to reveal some graffitti on the wall and celing of the cave. Hundreds of names and numbers are written on the walls and then scratched through…except for a few:

23-Shepherd
8-Reyes
16-Jarrah
42-Kwan
4-Locke
15-Ford

Hmmm…now where do we know those numbers from?!! HELLO! The Numbers are in play again! FINALLY. Sawyer is finally imressed. unLocke tells him these names are up here because they are all candidates. Candidates to be Jacob’s replacement–to protect The Island. Now, Sawyer has 3 options…

1. Do nothing. (Here unLocke crosses out Locke’s name. Weird seeing as how Locke is the ONLY one that did something.)
2. Take over for Jacob. (Sawyer asks why the Island needs protecting. unLocke says, “It doesn’t! It’s just an island!”)
3. Leave the Island. (unLocke tells Sawyer they can leave together.)

Any guess for which one Sawyer chooses? That’s right. Door #3.

And now for our new Locke…

Present Day LA

A minivan pulls into a normal suburban neighborhood. The side door opens, a handicap lift is seen and Locke rolls out. However, he gets stuck and tries to catapult himself off the lift. Which sends him on his face in the grass. And of course, the sprinklers come on. *sigh*

But just then HELEN runs out of the house to help John! Yay! Locke is with his real true soul-mate!! They are planning a wedding and seem to have a normal good relationship. It *almost* made me like the flash-sideways!

The next morning Locke’s rolling into work, reluctantly pulls up to his desk when his boss, Randy approaches. Randy begins to grill him about the conference in Sydney. Locke confesses that he didn’t go to the conference. He apologizes and insists he doesn’t want to talk about it because it’s personal. Randy, in his usual jerky self fires Locke on the spot.

As Locke makes his way to his van, he sees a bright yellow Hummer parked next to it—so closely that he can’t get his wheelchair lift down. Poor guy. Locke decides to make it pull down anyway and hit the Hummer, but it gets stuck. This is so typical pre-crash Locke, I’m feeling sorry for him again. Anyway, he bangs on the side of the Hummer making the alarm go off and who comes out to inspect?

The new owner of Locke’s company: HURLEY (dressed in a suit, no less!). They talk for awhile about why Locke didn’t park in the handicapped space, his boss and soon Hurley tells Locke to go to a temp agency he owns. He says they’ll take care of him.

When Locke gets to the temp agency, he is unimpressed. He asks to see the supervisor and who is it? None other than ROSE! (I knew it! I did! This is just who Locke needs to see!) Rose encourages him by telling her story–she’s got terminal cancer but once she got over that fact, she’s living her life to the fullest (really? by being a manager at a temp agency?).

This does something for Locke. When he gets home he confesses to Helen—that he was fired and he lied about his trip to Sydney. He shows her his knife collection from his lost luggage (recently delivered). Then in a beautiful speech he opens his heart and tells Helen that he doesn’t want her to wait for him to be a whole person. He doesn’t believe in miracles. He just wants to live his life and not think of how much better his life would be out of his chair.

She tells him he is the miracle, kisses him passionately and then rips up the business card from Jack Shepherd, spinal surgeon. (Hmmm. That’s one connection that seems closed.)

The next day Locke is happily substitute teaching in a High School. When he rolls into the Teacher’s Lounge who does he hear complaining about the coffee? None other than BENJAMIN LINUS, European History teacher. Oh, lovely day. I think I see a new BFF in the future.

Stuff To Talk About:

1. The Numbers. If we put the numbers & people in order it would be: Locke, Hurley, Sawyer, Sayid, Jack and Sun/Jin. That order has no significance to me. Except Locke died first. And why didn’t we see Kate on the wall? Did you happen to catch any other names that were already scratched out?

2. Locke. As in LA Locke. Why is he alive and in the wheelchair? Helen mentioned having the wedding with only her parents and his dad. There didn’t seem to be any weirdness with his dad. So, if his dad didn’t push him out the window and Jacob didn’t touch him to bring him back to life, then HOW and WHY is he paralyzed and alive today? What’s the sideways backstory?

3. Ilana. She’s getting on my nerves. Why does she know so much about Jacob? Is what she knows true? Or just what Jacob told her was true?

4. White/Black. Lost always tempts us with good and evil. One day Ben is evil, one day we’re rooting for him and feeling sorry for him. One day Juliet is evil, the next we want her to have Sawyer’s baby. So, today, I have to admit that I’m on the Black Team. I get the feeling that Jacob is more manipulative and selfish than we were led to believe in Jacob’s beachy backstory from last season. I’m wondering if his winsome ways are just a decoy to lure in his brainwashed followers. If that’s the case and the Man in Black is the victim…well, it seems probable. Of course I may just be blinded by my extreme love for Locke and Sawyer.

5. Ben. So, why do you think LA Ben is teaching European History? I just love the thought of them being friends in this reality!

6. Richard. Is this man for real? He seemed so all knowing until recently. For someone who’s been around hundreds of years, he certainly doesn’t know much, does he?

7. Sawyer. If unLocke is truly evil we should be worried for Sawyer. Gulp. I don’t like to think about that.

8. The Kid. At first my husband thought he was a young (or reborn) Jacob. But then he seemed to be talking about Jacob. Of course, he may have been talking about someone else…

Conclusion.

First of all, I’m sorry this was so long. I had hoped to keep it short today. The dialog was just so yummy this week I wanted to transcribe it!

So. I have no conclusion. No real theory. It’s like I said at the beginning. I just don’t get the we’re-coming-to-an-end vibe here. Or maybe I do, but I don’t like where it’s headed. How are you feeling about this final season?

I had tons of fun twittering about Lost this morning. Why don’t you join me @oohamanda? Of course, you can always find me at my blog, ohamanda.com!