Season VI, Episode 4 – The Substitute

Line of the night – “This is the weirdest damn funeral I’ve ever been to…” – Captain Frank Lapidas.





Soooo do the paper lists originate from the ‘cave of chalk names’, and how did Jacob come up with these names, and why did Jacob have to touch each individual off the island to bring them to the island, and why were there numbers before each name, and why didn’t Sawyer ask about Kate’s name??? More and more questions…

We start out in 2004 and John Locke arrives home from his Sydney flight. I say to myself, “A hundred bucks says the ramp doesn’t go down…uhhh yahtzee.” Then I say, “double or nothing he’s gonna try to hop off the ramp and fall flat on his face.” Man, I should be at the Craps tables in Vegas right now! How sad is John Locke…really? A sad, unfortunate man to say the least. We get a nice surprise from the front door when Peg Bundy aka ‘Helen’ walks out to help him. Locke’s enjoying a Mr. Bubble bubble bath (I know I do) and Helen mentions that she would rather forego the lavish wedding, and just have her parents AND “YOUR DAD” be there when they get married. Interesting that in this 2004, John appears to have a good relationship with his father (so why is he in a wheelchair???).

John is no longer a man of faith, but now a man of science and pessimistic reality. He mentions to Helen that he met a spinal surgeon, and she responds with, “what are the odds of you running into a spinal surgeon…maybe its destiny?” John’s not buying it at all.

Whoosh to the jungle. “Alright Richard, it’s time to talk!”
Ricardos – What do you want from me?
Flocke – For you to come with me.
Ricardos – Why do you look like John Locke?
Flocke – I knew he could get me access to Jacob, and he was a candidate, or at least he WAS a candidate.
Ricardos – What do you mean…candidate?
Flocke – Jacob never told you…you followed all those instructions without question or reservation, and he never told you?
(Just then something, or should I say someone, spooks Flocke and we see a blonde haired boy in ‘others’ clothing with blood on his hands in the background). Flocke really seems freaked out. Richard’s not going anywhere and he bolts. Flocke takes off, manifests into Smokey and heads for Dharmaville. So who's this kid? A manifestation of Jacob? God? Aaron all grown up?

We transition to the beach and Jordin Sparks aka Ilana is crying. Ben lies about killing Jacob, and I hear the John Williams symphony orchestra in the background playing Indiana Jones music. Ilana takes some of the ash from the fire pit and puts it into a sack (I’m guessing she’s going to use this to offset the weight of some golden deity at a later date). Ben asks why Flocke took Richard. Ilana’s response, “he’s recruiting.”

Flocke enters Dharmaville in his human form and visits a wasted Sawyer drinking whiskey in his boxers. Stay classy Sawyer. “I thought you were dead!”…Flocke’s response, “I am.” “Well I don’t care if you’re dead, time traveling, or the ghost of Christmas past.” Love that line too. Sawyer knows that Flocke is not Locke because Locke was always scared, even if he pretended not to be. This intrigues Flocke. “What if I told you I was the person who could answer the most important question in the world?” Sawyer’s not concerned about that, he’s only concerned about his whiskey…until Flocke says, “Why are you on this island?” (Umm…hey Sawyer…tell Flocke that you’d like to find out, because this has been on ALL of our minds for 5 years!!!)

Whoosh to 2004, and John Locke has just been fired by Randy Nations. He can’t gain access to his van because a Yellow Hummer is blocking the door. Now who do we know that owns one of those…enter Hugo Reyes. Hurley owns the company, and also owns a temp agency where he tells John to go for a job. “Chin up dude, things are going to work out!”

Flocke and Sawyer are now in the jungle and Sawyer sees the same kid Flocke sees. Flocke runs after him (why didn’t he manifest into Smokey?) and falls to the ground. The boy says, “You know the rules, you can’t kill him.” Flocke responds with, ironically, a classic John Locke line, “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!!!” Sawyer’s back in the jungle calling for Locke and Richard comes out to tell him to follow him to the temple. Sawyer has no interest.

Back in 2004 and Locke meets Rose at the temp agency. She’s the supervisor and still has terminal cancer. Poor Rose.

Welcome to the Jungle, we’ve got fun and games, we’ve got everything you want…including an interesting dialogue between Sawyer and Flocke. Sawyer explains a scene from ‘Of Mice and Men’ and pulls out a gun to see what happens if he puts a bullet in Flocke’s head. Flocke talks him out of it, “What I am…what I am is TRAPPED. Before I was trapped I was a man just like you. I could feel joy, I could feel pain (LIKE SUNSHINE AND RAIN…GIVE IT TO EM’ ROB BASE), I could feel anger, fear, to experience betrayal, and I know what it feels like to lose someone you love." Aha, Flocke is trying to empathize with Sawyer to get him on his side (the dark side). Nice move Flocke.

Back to the beach and Jordin Sparks wants to get to the temple. Ben’s concerned that Flocke will change his appearance and Ilana responds with, “he can’t…not anymore…he’s stuck this way!” (OK so why is that?) Sun is surprised to learn that Jin may be at the temple too, and is ready to mobilize but first they must bury John Locke’s body. They visit the Flight 815 make-shift cemetery and I can see Sun putting a flower on the grave of Nikki and Paulo. Ben gives a quick eulogy and Frank Lapidas delivers the line of the night.

Whoosh to 2004, John Locke doesn’t believe in miracles. You essentially just have to deal with life as it comes to you…these are the cards that you are dealt. Peg Bundy thinks that miracles happen all the time.

Back to sidekicks Fred and Barney as they make their way to the edge of a cliff. Sawyer almost falls into the ocean as the ladder gives way, but Flocke is there to save the day. We see a scale that is perfectly balanced with a white stone and a black stone (light and dark, good and evil, angels and demons, Jedi and Sith Lord). Flocke throws the white stone into the ocean, “Inside Joke.” Flocke leads Sawyer deep into the cave and “That’s why you are here!” The walls of the cave are covered by names proceeded by numbers! I can see the following: 19-Almeda, 195-Pace (Charlie Pace?), 222-O’Toole, 90-Troup, 8-Reyes, 16-Jarrah, 15-Ford, 42-Kwon. Holy s--- what the hell does this all mean?

Back from commercial and John Locke is a substitute junior high school teacher. And now we find out what happened to one of the ‘others’. Ben Linus - European History…and he’s anal about making more coffee…just like me. You kill the Joe…you make some Mo…

Now I want some answers from the cliffside cave. Sawyer wants to know what’s up with the numbers before each name. Flocke’s response, “Jacob had a thing for numbers.” (Weak sauce Lost writers) We get a number of transition scenes showing Jacob making physical contact with members of the Oceanic survivors as Sawyer reads the names off the cave wall. Flocke also reassures James Ford that some time in his life when he was miserable and vulnerable, Jacob visited him and ‘pushed him to the island’. (4 – Locke, 8 – Reyes, 15 – Ford, 16 – Jarrah, 23 – Sheppard, 42 – Kwon) Note to self, I did not see Kate’s name any where in the cave. I did see a 313 – Littleton, which is Claire's (and technically Aaron’s) last name.

We finally get some very important answers from Flocke to end the episode, but who knows if he is telling the truth. Jacob thought he was the protector of the island so a candidate is a nominee, so to speak, to take over that job. Flocke explains that there are 3 choices: 1) Do nothing and see how all this plays out and possibly your name could be crossed off. 2) Accept the job, protect the island (but it’s just an island and there is nothing to protect it from...its a joke). 3) We just go; we just get the hell off this island and never look back.

Sawyer asks, “How do we do that?” Flocke – “Together…so what do you say James, are you ready to go home?”

Sawyer - “HELL Yes!” BAMMMM - LOST

And now the dark lord of the Sith has his apprentice...Mwhahaha. These writers love to throw in Star Wars references all the time.

OK – I’m going to take it one superlostnerd step further, because I believe in the theory that Aaron is the key to everything. Maybe Aaron is the “candidate” that will replace Jacob and ‘protect the island’ in the future. I went back and checked the numbers proceeding his last name in the cave (313-Littleton). I looked up some bible versus (since there are so many Christian theology overtones in the show), to see if any one verse made sense to go along with the show. Here is what I came up with.

Matthew 3:13 – “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.”
Luke 3:13 – “Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told.”
John 3:13 - “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.”
Acts 3:13 – “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. You handed him over to be killed, and you disowned him before Pilate, though he had decided to let him go.”
Mark 3:13 – “Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.” (Maybe some significance here? – Jacob bringing those individuals to the island?)

I don’t know if it matters at all, but just found it interesting. It is going to be extremely fascinating to see how this all plays out and what, if any, significance Aaron has in the grand plot of LOST.

It's also interesting that Ilana knows that Flocke can't manifest into any other individuals moving forward. Why is that? It's a little disappointing because Smokey has only ever appeared as people that have died...it would have been cool to see Juliet appear to Sawyer (Smokey in disguise).

Until next week, Namaste and Good Luck!

-Slice