The Substitute

Wow. What an amazing episode...

Island
Unbelievably great scene of the smoke monster flying across the island and then turning into Locke. Locke releases Richard and reveals to him that the reason he looks like Locke is because he knew that through Richard he could get access to Jacob, and that John was a candidate. This is where it gets confusing. Apparently, Richard has been doing everything that Jacob has instructed without knowing that it was to find a potential candidate (we'll discuss later what candidate means). However - Ilana, Bram, and the other members of their group used the word 'candidate' repeatedly, so why did Jacob share the overall vision/mission with them and not with Richard? Locke then sees a vision of a young blond boy, which Richard does not see. I am going to throw it out there that this young boy - is a young Jacob, at the age when he and 'the man in black' came to the island. Locke meets up with Sawyer, and tells him that he is indeed dead. Ilana wants to get the group to the Temple, and tells Sun that her husband, if alive, will be at the Temple.

Sawyer and Locke start walking out into the jungle, and see the young boy. The fact that Sawyer can see him comes as a surprise to Locke. So - why can Sawyer see him? Why can't Richard? The boy - Jacob - says to him "You know the rules...you can't kill him." - The rules. Hmm...I'm going to conjecture that Jacob and man in black are two guardians/security systems of the island. They replaced a man and a woman (Adam and Eve from the caves).

The boy shakes his head and walks away. Locke screams out "Don't tell me what I can't do!" Very cool for this smoke monster Locke to use John Locke's old mantra.

Richard comes out of the jungle, and tries to warn Sawyer away from going with 'Locke'. Sawyer does not pay heed. Sawyer and Locke walk along, and Sawyer references Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, where George takes Lenny out to a field and shoots him in the back of the head, then he pulls his gun on Locke.

Locke reveals to Sawyer that he is trapped on the island, and doesn't remember what it's like to be free. Umm...if this ends up being a six season version of the Star Trek episode "Power Play"...

They make their way to a cave on the side of a cliff - something we have never seen. They walk in, and John sees a white rock and a black rock on a scale. He takes the white rock and throws it out the window. (see below for black/white issues and references)

Long story short, Locke shows him the list that Jacob made on the wall with everyone's last names and a number beside them...and the majority of the numbers left are our numbers: 4, 8,15,16,23,42. Now - 4 is crossed out, as Locke is dead. The 42 is a bit ominous, because we don't know if it is Jin or Sun. My money's on Sun...

Pretty much...I thought that these are the rows they sat in on the Oceanic flight. Jack - 23. They may not be. Anna Lucia sat in row 42, not the Kwons...Hurley was in row 20. Locke was in 24. Hmm...


Flash sideways We start off with Locke being a victim...a prisoner to his wheelchair, again. He and Helen are getting married. Again, something else that never happened.

Helen rips up Jack's business card. Is it destiny that our Losties connect no matter what reality they are in? She then mentions that 'we should get her parents, and your dad, and do it shotgun style'. Whoa...so this means that Locke and his father are on good terms...the bomb truly reset everything from 1977 on.

Randy fires Locke, and reveals that Locke went to Australia for a convention, but went on the walkabout instead, and fires him.

John heads to his car, only to see that he is blocked in by...none other than Hurley's Hummer. Hurley is full of confidence, a bit slimmer, has impressive lambchops...looking good. By the way, there was a great line of Locke's: "You need to stay inside the lines". That kind of sums up the difference between the person that the island made Locke into and who Locke is at this point.

Locke's interview...priceless. "What kind of animal do you describe yourself as?" I would have looooooved if he would have said "Polar bear". And the supervisor is...Rose! It was heartwrenching to hear her speak about her cancer, and knowing that without the island, she will die, and Locke will remain in his chair. Note - she is wearing a wedding ring, but there's no indication at all as to whether she's married to Bernard.

Thoughts and conclusions We see that there are two forces at work on the island, and have been since day one. One force wants everyone off the island, one force wants to keep everyone on. The visions that the Losties have seen have all wanted to get everyone off the island. Almost all of the visions (with some exceptions) have been geared to breaking relationships, galvanizing people to action, etc. This is the smoke monster/whatever. The Others - 'we're the good guys' - have since day one been trying to keep people on the island.

Black and white: Not just the best cookies ever. 1) Locke shows Walt a black white backgammon pieces. 2) All dharma logos are black and white 3) We see a black rock and a white rock on Adam and Eve. Hmm... 4) Claire's dream: Locke has one black eye and one white one. 5) I'll just throw this out there. The Lost logo - the one that flies in at the beginning of each episode: white letters on a black background. At the end of the fifth season, the bomb goes off, and then the end logo comes up...black letters on a white background. Easter egg??

Best moment of the show: Frank Lapides "This is the weirdest funeral I have ever been to."

What Kate Does

What Kate does...I am going to separate my comments between island and flash-sideways, for the sake of continuity and flow.


Island
We start with Sayid regaining consciousness in the Temple, and Sayid telling Kate that he plans on running. I have to say, this plot function is getting a bit old...I've seen this movie before.

We see that Sayid's wound is closed. Therefore, the waters of the island have healing powers. We have seen before that the island has healing powers - i.e. Rose and John. Is it super-concentrated in the water?

Sawyer gets a gun, and decides to leave. He has become the ultimate nihilist. He instructs Kate not to come after him. Gee...what will happen...this is What Kate Does...she doesn't listen.

Dogen has Sayid strapped down in a manner that reminds us first of Danielle Rousseau having strapped Sayid down in the first season, but also it looks a bit like the torture scene from The Princess Bride.

Dogen blows a bit of the mysterious dust over Sayid - the dust that is supposed to repel Smokey. Nothing happens. Dogen straps electrodes to Sayid's chest, and starts a-crankin. A very poignant moment - Sayid the torturer looks at Dogen and asks "why are you doing this?"

He takes a hot branding iron and seemingly disinfects the wound. Lennon, the hippie tells Sayid that it was a test.

Note - there is a baseball on his desk...this has got to be a tribute to Deep Space Nine, as Benjamin Sisko famously had a baseball on his desk!

Jin and Kate go out into the forest with two Others, looking for Sawyer. Aldo admonishes Justin when Justin is about to tell Jin and Kate about the Ajira flight. He admonishes Justin again when he is about to tell him about Rousseau being dead for years. Aldo then reminds Kate that she knocked him out when she escaped from the Others' camp. She takes the opportunity to do it again.

Sayid is brought back to Jack, Hurley, et al. He tells them that they tortured him. Why? "I don't know. They didn't even ask me any questions." Absolute definite reference to Empire Strikes Back, when Han Solo is returned from his interrogation session.

Dogen and Lennon tell Jack that Sayid is infected, and that he has to give him a pill, because Sayid needs to take it willingly.

Jack tells this all to Sayid. Sayid says he implicitly trusts him, and so if he wants him to do it, he would.

Kate finds Sawyer in his old bungelow on the Others' kibbutz. She admits to Sawyer that her purpose for coming back was to find Claire. He admits to her that he wants to be alone.

Jack confronts Dogen and Lennon. They tell him that they believe Sayid has been claimed, as has his sister - Claire.

Aldo and Justin confront Jin, but are shot and killed...by Claire! Dum dum dumm....


Flash-sideways
Kate gets into the cab with Claire. The cab driver, it should be noted, is David H. Lawrence, who portrayed Doyle on Heroes. They get delayed by a clumsy Dr. Arzt (have I mentioned before how funny it is that Arzt is German for 'doctor'? So, Dr. Doctor...can't you see I'm burning, burning...Thompson Twins? Anyone?

Kate ditches Claire, and later realizes she has Claire's baby items. She feels intense guilt, and decides to get the baby items back to Claire. This plays very well on the connection that Kate has to Aaron.

Kate takes Claire to the birth parents that she was going to give the baby to, and there finds out that the potential adoptive parents have split up, and the mother doesn't want the baby anymore. Kate goes with Claire to the hospital, where her obstetrician is Ethan Rom, aka 'Dr. Goodspeed'.

Love it!

Thoughts and conclusions
Well, we now know for sure that the bomb going off in 1977 drastically altered the timeline. With the bomb going off, and the Others leaving the island, there is no recruiting of other "Others" to come to the island, hence Ethan is never on the island. Neither is Juliet, etc. However - the lives of everyone are still intertwined.

Regarding Sayid and the infection, this would be the same 'infection' that infected Rousseau's colleagues. This is why she kept talking about the sickness. What does it mean that Claire is infected? Tbd...

Lost Reduced - to 10 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eJ3IC0Rkw0

LA X Parts I and II - First Impressions

Wow. What a way to kick off season 6 - completely throw off every expectation...

There are some revelations:

1) Richard Alpert was a prisoner on the Black Rock

2) Whoever/whatever Locke is - is also the monster, and probably also the 'man in black'

3) The monster/man in black/whatever was also on the ship with Richard

4) The island's mysterious healing power is super-concentrated in the springwater. This is probably how Richard also saved the life of a young Ben Linus. However - Ben had memory loss that Richard apparently filled in...what will be with Sayid?

Questions:

1) What is the ash, and why does the monster respond to it as though it were a barrier?

2) Why was Desmond on and then off the plane?

3) Who is this fella from Japan?

4) Was an alternate reality really created?

5) Why was the island underwater when Oceanic flew overhead?

Overall first impressions:

1) Great to see everyone we saw on the plane...Charlie, Claire, Boone, Frogurt. We still need to see others like Shannon, Anna Lucia, Libby, and Mr. Eko. Paolo and Nikki, anyone?

2) For crying out loud...it's the last season and Jack gets set up for having to deal with having caused Juliet's death, et al? Although - it does set Jack and John up similarly...both failed to achieve their 'destinies'/aims, so - will Jack end his own life? Will Ben help out?

3) Awesome to see Hurley come into his own.

4) Why didn't anyone take any action re: monster taking Richard?

5) Great to see the group that shlepped to the Temple so long ago. Great to see the kids and the stewardess.

More to come...