Sunday, February 21, 2010

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 Jac
ob 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."

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