LOST: He's stuck this way.

6.04: "The Substitute"

A quickISH review of revelations from tonight's episode...

LOST2's LOCKE.

Paralyzed. Went on walkabout when he was supposed to be at a conference for his job at Hurley's box company. Still with Helen, planning their October wedding, and someone they refer to as his father is on the guest list.

Maybe Locke was adopted in this reality, instead of being bounced from foster home to foster home. I think the Man From Tallahassee stealing his kidney and pushing him out a high-rise window is still the reason he's in a wheelchair. In the aftermath of that fall, it would still require a jump start from Jacob to revive him, wouldn't it?

In LOST1, Locke was turned onto the idea of going walkabout by Matthew Abaddon. I want to believe that's how it happened in LOST2 as well.

Hurley plays Mr. Fix-it when Locke is fired from BoxCo and sends him to Rose at his temp agency. She talks him down from a chip-on-the-shoulder job in construction and into a gig as a substitute teacher, which Locke really seems to fit into nicely. I was hoping to see Walt among his students, but alas, not to be. However, it's in the teacher's lounge at this school that we meet...

LOST2's BEN.

Benjamin Linus, European History. How does he end up here? In 1977, little Ben is shot by Sayid and then saved by Richard and the spring waters of the Temple. When he recovers, he doesn't remember being shot, and Widmore explains that he's now one of them. Soon after, Juliet and Jughead trigger the Incident. Sometime after that, the Island sinks. Apparently Ben makes it off the Island in that time. Has he taken the mantle of Other leadership, after exiling Widmore? Maybe all the Others were forced into exile in the outside world, and Widmore's activities wouldn't be grounds for banishment. In either case, maybe Ben is still an Other, or an Other sleeper, placed here in anticipation of encountering John Locke.

Or was Ben still a child when he had to leave the Island, evacuated with Uncle Rico along with the survivors of the DI, and slipped back into the regular workaday world?

In any case, it looks as if Ben and Locke are destined to meet in both realities.

Overwhile, back on the Island...

LOST1's LOCKESAU.

Yeah, I'm gonna keep calling him Esau until we get a name that's better than "Man In Black." Let's see, what do we find out about him this episode...?

1. Alanna tells Ben that Esau's "stuck" in this human form. John Locke's that is.
   
2. Esau tells Sawyer that he's trapped in his current existence (as Monster on this Island), and that he was once a man.
   
3. When he's the Monster, Esau's POV is very similar to that of Sam Raimi's EVIL DEAD. Goofy, but satisfying. =)
   
4. He and Sawyer can see a little boy that Richard cannot.

So, given item 1, until we see Esau somehow killed, if we see any reanimated dead, it's not the Monster. I'm not certain, but I'll bet that Christian stops appearing to people on the Island (he shows Sun and Lapidus the DI class of 77 photo) just before the Ajira survivors find Lockesau standing in his funeral suit in the ocean. Which would fit the theory that the Monster was also playing Christian.

This notion of him being stuck in a single form is a classic set-up for a vulnerability. At this point, tho, I'm not sure how it can be exploited, given that we've seen him change to and from the Monster at will now (in the beginning of this episode, spying on Sawyer and returning to Richard). Maybe he can be subdued or die as Locke if he's taken completely by surprise, or tricked into it, like, being served poison, or... bitten by one of those paralyzing spiders!

Esau was once a man. He makes it sound like he was turned into this Monster. Did Jacob do it to him? Is he a worst-case scenario of infection/being claimed?

Esau is surprised to see a boy, with a pretty crisp set of Other-like togs, appear in the jungle. The first time, he's with Richard, and Richard doesn't see the boy. The second time, he's with Sawyer, and he DOES see the boy. When Esau runs after him, he trips (ha!), and the boy comes back to tell him...

Boy: You know the rules. You can't kill him.
Lockesau: Don't tell me what I can't do.

I like that Esau uses Locke's own words in a situation that, at least on the surface, would be very familiar to Locke. The first time the boy appeared, I thought, "Aaron!" But when we get a good look at him, definitely not. The boy actually strikes me as a young Jacob. Not sure how that would work, tho. Also, who do we think the boy is talking about when he says "him?" Jacob's already passed. He's visited Hurley from the other side. Is he talking about Sawyer? Perhaps, Richard? I say that the reason Sawyer can see him but not Richard is cuz Sawyer's a candidate.

CANDIDATES.

The numbers! 4 8 15 16 23 42. Not really an explanation, but at least, a connection, a possible apparent source. We see Jacob's master list chalked onto the cave walls and ceilings. Names with numbers, and most of them crossed out. The ones I could make out...

* 2/17/2010. Broke down and went searching for cave wall screencaps and updated the list below... "Austen" is conspicuously absent. Anyone see a "Hume" or a "Gale?"

• 4 - Locke
  
• 8 - Reyes
  
• 10 - Mattingley
  
• 15 - Ford
  
• 16 - Jarrah
  
• 20 - Rousseau (?)
  
• 23 - Shephard
  
• 42- Kwon
  
• 125(?) - Pace
  
• 131(?) - Littleton
  
• 171(?) - Straume
  
• 222 - O'Toole
  
• 291 - Dominguez (?)
  
• 346 (?) - Grant
  
• ?? - Troup
  
• ?? - Goodspeed

Esau explains that Jacob had a "thing" for numbers, as if they're not really important. I'm sure Hurley would beg to differ, but whatev, that's as much as we're getting for now. These are the names of candidates (both Esau and Jacob's Shadow bodyguards use this word), potential protectors of the Island, replacements fo Jacob. Esau tells Sawyer this is the answer to the question, "Why are you on this Island?" Because Jacob manipulated his and the other Losties' lives, came to them at crucial points in their lives and nudged them just so, ultimately resulting in their ending up on the Island. He goes on to explain to Sawyer that as a so-called candidate, he has three options.

1. Sit back and end up like the other crossed out candidates.


2. Take the position of Island protector (even tho the job is ridiculous, "It's an island!")
   

   Esau: Become the new Jacob. Protect the Island.
   Sawyer: From what?
   Esau: Nothing, James. There's nothing to protect it from.

   
   
3. We just go, get the hell off this island
   

   Esau: What do you say, James? Are you ready to go home?
   Sawyer: Hell, yes.

Looks like Esau's got his first recruit, but I want to believe that Sawyer's playing along, and his gears are spinning hard now. That he's looking for angles to turn things around on Esau, con him. He knows right off he's not dealing with Locke, and that he's likely not dealing with a human being, but something in the form of a specific human being. And a good con man is gonna be a pretty brilliant student of human nature and motivation. We'll see how it plays out.

While visiting the cliffside cave (Jacob's summer home?), Esau crosses out Locke's name. Littleton's is crossed out, but Jarrah's is not. Can we assume that a crossout = death? In that case, Claire's dead. Sayid probably is, but Jacob's no longer around to update the list, right? Does Esau know or sense Sayid's current condition? I don't recognize numbers 222, 291, and 346, but Goodspeed could be Horace or Ethan, and Troup would be Gary Troup (anagram = purgatory), the writer of the novel BAD TWIN, the manuscript of which Sawyer was reading, but never finished, on the beach. Interesting that he was actually a candidate. Is it possible that Shephard could refer to Christian or Ray instead? I suspect we're seeing names from every group of visitors to the Island, including the Blackrock, the DI, Rousseau's ship, and 815. In any case, seems like Jacob's done a *lot* of reaching out and touching over the years, eh?

* 2/18/2010. Hey! Straume is crossed out on Jacob's cave wall, and Miles is still walking around. So, either a crossout does not necessarily equal deathness (but rather, disqualification for some reason), or... Jacob believed that Miles died, or... Miles IS actually dead... For now, given that Miles is still walking around in the Temple, and until/unless we see how Jacob would consider him dead, I'm gonna say that Jacob disqualified him.

Also! Forgot to mention how much fun it was to see Richard completely discombobulated as a totally freaked out Renfield type! =)

Will try to get a summary up before next week, too.

Keep on keepin on~